Well, my adventures began Thursday evening. On the way to Valdosta, just before the junction of the FL turnpike and I-75, it sounded like somebody suddenly stole the exhaust manifold off of my truck! After 30 minutes or so trying to locate the source of the tremendous exhaust leak, I finally resigned to turning around and heading for home, about 2 hours back the way I came. Once the truck was raised I was able to determine that the flared end of the pipe where the passenger side tail pipe connects to the manifold, had snapped clean off. I just happened to have the correct size flared end on my welding cart, so off came the pipe, new flared end welded on, pipe reinstalled, put the tools away, and finally laid down to get some rest about 2:00 A.M. Friday morning. Back on the road about 9:00 A.M. finally arriving in Valdosta about 1:30 Friday afternoon. Managed to get one test run and one qualifying run on Friday. Learned that launching at 5K wants to lift the front wheel... and that traction is not an issue for me!
Saturday qualifying pass, and first two rounds of eliminations now gave me a total of five passes on the new build after having to tear the top end off to jettison the substandard cam chain tensioner components. Replaced the 62mm slugs with 65mm C.I. 836 pistons while I was at it. The lack of seat time left me watching from the sidelines after redlighting round two.
Sunday was a whole different affair, after finally getting the first win light when it mattered most, in the second round of eliminations. Hot damn! I'm going to round three! From there I managed to pull yet another winning pass in round three. Hot damn! I'm going to round four! At this point, Frank and I are the only two left with a shot at SOHC/4 contingency money. As much as I would have liked to see an all CB750 SOHC final, it was not to be. I missed a shift in round four and got beat by what appeared to be a very seasoned and accomplished rider. Congrats!
POPS, sure was good to spend time bench racing with you and Mr. Hondamatic John Weeks, along with Larry, Frank, Trey, Bill, Mark, Donnie, Jim, Dave, Mike, and every one else that dropped in and out of the pits, especially during the extended wait times between Street ET elimination rounds. What was it, something like almost seven hours between round three and round four on Sunday? I'm glad you guys were able to make it. John even managed to pull some decent runs on a bike he had never ridden before. POPS, the rev limiter is definitely at the top of the list before the next test and tune session, especially based on my uncanny ability to miss a shift on about every 4th or 5th pass! Big thanks to you for coming well equipped for a trackside swap meet.
It sure is a lot of work, but I happen to enjoy every minute of it!
And here's a few picts. First up, the cantankerous tow rig:
The "Evolution" pits:
Bikes in attendance, of course there was the "Evolution" project:
Then Larry's CB750:
Larry even brought a lil' "Matic" for John to ride:
Bill delivered Marks newly restored CB750 from Atlanta that Mark came and picked up on Saturday:
and then there was Bill's "Nitro Dream":
Of course, Frank was there:
What a blast! If you ain't racing, you're just watching!
