One of the crown jewels of the meet was this beautiful pre-war Norton thumper, just back from once again completing the Portland Maine to Portland Oregon Cannonball race. Just out of the frame are two more near-identical bikes from Peckerhead Racing finishing the Cannonball without missing a segment!
I roosted my shirt a little on some of the field events, but this was nothing compared to what was yet to come…
The “H8-R Honda Z50R featured in an earlier post with the freshly re-painted tank I meant to show off when I had a chance. After several Motos, the race official told me he had some good news and bad news: “ The good news is that you made the Main in the minibike flat track event, the bad news is that you made the Main in the minibike flat track event.” It was a wild, muddy slog that ended with little idea among the riders or officials about who even won the event! So much fun, my victory was that I finished at all. Big thanks to Bell Helmets for their race gear!
The Jason Lee Triumph TR6C took second in the competition class. Behind is the Ariel/BSA racer that took the top award. I finally had a chance to give this bike a ride with all the dirt and mud we had, and was not disappointed.
After the flat track main. My shirt weighs about five pounds in this picture, and the parts of my hair hanging out of the helmet were thoroughly caked with chunks of mud. I was on street tires that slid horribly, but did a fine job slinging mud at me or anyone trying to get around me.
My buddy Shawn Henry and his teammate following a victorious run in the field events. The requisite congratulatory slug of Malort awaiting the victor. In that case, probably better to lose.
The burnout board. Late night burnouts are a custom, and pinstriper Alton Gillespie fashioned this one onsite. Kind of hard to read, but it says: ” Absolutely positively No Burnouts!” The Norton Club has a sense of humor and little regard for rubber tires.
Amazingly, the three hours the bike show was going on were relatively dry.
A couple of BSA beauties that caught my eye. Many of the bikes in the show were finely restored and modified, but there were grungy competition and street examples as well. By the end of the morning bike show, the rain was starting up again.
