My Motorcycle Weekend...

[rlucas]

...the best kind of weekend.

Saturday, I got to meet up with a few members from northern Illinois. Wildfire (an Irishman), Angry Scotsman (not Scottish), and Paul1965, all from the Chicago area. We met at Rock Cut State Park just outside Rockford, IL and then rode south to Dixon (birth place of Ronald Reagan!!! BFD.) via Route 2 along the Rock River. Pleasant ride, beautiful day. Then a 30-mile straight, flat, boring-as-hell ride home. About 250 miles all told.

Today, the AMA Vintage Half-Mile\District 17 points races in Henry, Illinois, about 20 miles from my house. http://stevenaceracing.com/mcatv.html :

"The 1'2 mile dirt oval at the Marshal Putnam County fairgrounds in Henry Illinois will see the return of Motorcycle racing this Sunday May 3rd. This track hosted hundreds of races in the sixties, seventies and eighties. Through hard work and by popular demand it returned last year to a packed grandstand. As a tribute to the history of the track, a Legends class was formed and riders who carried a National Number in the 1970's and 80's and competed at Henry were invited back for a reunion race. This Legends event will take place Sunday along with all classes of the AMA Amateur series, Vintage National Series, and a special Professional Class with a tribute to Davey Camlin from Rock Island, Illinois who lost his life competing at the DuQuoin Mile. Davey Camlins sponsor Springfield Armory has added an additional $10,000 to the Pro Purse on Sunday. Former National Champions Scotty Parker and Chris Carr will participate in a meet and greet at the track.

Mike Farley from Peru, Illinois will ride the Legends class along with Dave Aldana, Rich King, Dave Durelle, Charlie Roberts, Mike Caves, Peter Hook and a full field from the past. Farley will ride the same 1980 Harley XR-750 that he won the Illinois State Championship on at Henry in 1986. Also on display will be Mr Jimmy's (Elmer) Bultaco Frontera."

An old riding buddy from my mis-spent youth rides District 17 flat-track in the Over 50 class. I'm meeting up with a group of vintage riders from the area for the ride down – Indians, old HDs, interesting stuff. I addition to the illustrious names listed above, rumor has it that Springsteen will show up. That's Jay, not Bruce.

Should be another beautiful day, and the track should be effin' perfect. Pics to follow...



rossi

[Flying Scotsman]

Looking forward to pictures of the old bikes.
I had a BSA 350 scrambler back in England whan I was 16.
I am a Scot.Born there back in 61.I have been here is the US since 1977.
Had a good time yesterday I got back home at 11:00 pm left the house at 9:00 am.

[rlucas]

Pics from Sunday.

A beautiful day, with just a little rain in the morning. Hardly enough to call it rain, really. The group I rode down with. That Indian gets a lot of attention.





One of these things is not like the others.



Some more cool old stuff.









See that splash of pink with the #1 plate? Kinda cute, in an athletic sort of way. Tight t-shirt, leathers, nice face...a steel shoe and biceps the size of my calves.



She was also pretty damned good. Got the holeshot in her heat and then just...walked...away. There's a reason for that #1 plate.



The little guys got into it, too. And they were SERIOUS. On the other hand, some of 'em were too little to restart the bike if it died, and could barely reach the ground. The flagman literally had to pick one kid up to reposition him on the grid. It's kinda like a flat-track version of tee-ball; 15 kids in the heat and everyone transfers to the main.





There were couple of big names that showed up for the meet & greet. Photos, autographs, that kind of thing. The guy in the black leathers, OTOH, came to ride.



That's Dave Aldana. If you don't know who he is, watch On Any Sunday. He wasn't signing autographs out in front of the luxo-motorhomes; he was in the pits (which were open, BTW) wrenching on his bike. Just like everybody else. Cool.

Unfortunately, he didn't do well. Got a terrible start, but got a second chance when a minor first-corner mishap resulted in a restart. He was third on the restart, but the bike gave out after the first lap.

The only major injury of the day occurred in practice. A rider went waaaay wide exiting Turn 4 and smacked something solid. Apart from the grandstand, it's pretty much all chain-link fence, but he managed to hit something just before the exit to Pit Row. We never found out how he was, but they took him away in an ambulance.

All in all, a damned good day. A lot of excitement and entertainment for $15.00.

[wildfire]

I really enjoyed riding Sat. Thanks for the invite fellas. I made the amateur mistake of not checking tire pressures before I left . Rear wheel was all over the place

Scott the "flying Scotsman" is living proof that God loves FJ owners since there is more rubber contained in a  condom than he had left on his wheels    Never slowed him down for a second.

I thought Paul might end up in jail for almost wanting to assault a very senior citizen for suggesting that FJ's were crotch rockets  

[Paul1965]

I really enjoyed riding Sat. Thanks for the invite fellas. I made the amateur mistake of not checking tire pressures before I left . Rear wheel was all over the place

Scott the "flying Scotsman" is living proof that God loves FJ owners since there is more rubber contained in a  condom than he had left on his wheels    Never slowed him down for a second.

I thought Paul might end up in jail for almost wanting to assault a very senior citizen for suggesting that FJ's were crotch rockets  

Aw come on now Tom, I wasn't that mean to the old man! I was just talking loud cuz I just knew his hearing aid was defective.

Rock, I posted on the other thread from Wildfire that I was sorry for the mix up leaving Dixon. My GPS said we'd be turning left, then changed it's mind to turning right. Either way I'm glad you made the ride up and enjoyed it, I know I did 

[Flying Scotsman]

Looks like Henry was a good time thanks for posting pictures.

[wildfire]

Aw come on now Tom, I wasn't that mean to the old man! I was just talking loud cuz I just knew his hearing aid was defective.

Rock, I posted on the other thread from Wildfire that I was sorry for the mix up leaving Dixon. My GPS said we'd be turning left, then changed it's mind to turning right. Either way I'm glad you made the ride up and enjoyed it, I know I did 
[/quote]

I know.   I was just kidding with you.

[Paul1965]

I know.   I was just kidding with you.

Same here Tom, just having fun back 

Looks like we've got a crappy weekend in store, so no riding planned. Hopefully next weekend shapes up to be better.

[wildfire]

I know.   I was just kidding with you.

Same here Tom, just having fun back 

Looks like we've got a crappy weekend in store, so no riding planned. Hopefully next weekend shapes up to be better.

Yep lots of rain on the way.It would be cool to go to a bike rally some weekend

[Flying Scotsman]

12 hours ride to boone nc.
rlucas is going.

[Flying Scotsman]

You should organize one Tom.....

[rlucas]

12 hours ride to boone nc.
rlucas is going.

Yeah, but I'm not doin' it in one shot. 

Leaving Sunday; 2.5 days to get there, 4 days at the Rally, 2 days back.

[X-Ray]

Wow, that Maico in the photos is absolutely stunning. Would be worth a few dollars that one 

[Firehawk068]

Awesome pictures!
I love seeing these old bikes.
Flat-track is way cool!