We did it! We did it! We f*cking did it!! 2021 Sportsman 750 Champion is in the house! I say "we" because an effort like this takes a village. My wife Ashley and son Jackson are my road warriors and personal cheerleaders and have been since this all started in 2017. Bryan at Kalamazoo Waterjet, Kenny at Cycle X for top-shelf parts and sage advice, Mike Rieck for a KILLER head, George for guidance and a general penchant for spending other people's money (and a very good friend to boot!).
Big Bob Burns out of Chicago worked with the rules committee 7 years ago to get provisional status granted to the CB750 for the Sportsman 750 class. I built the bike in 2017 and started racing. 2018 was another partial year but things were moving along. The last 3 years have been increasing effort combined with rider skill, leaving me with the Maid of Honor position in 2020. This year was a full kill effort to climb to the top of the box. I first beat my uncle at our home track, Gingerman, last year and that set the stage for the whole next season. I was riding and winning against the top dogs. The bike fits like a tailored suit, and works like a... well like a Honda should.
The majority of my season this year was heads-up battles with my uncle on his hot XS650 Yamaha. It makes decent power, weighs next to nothing and he knows how to use it like a surgeon uses a scalpel. The seasons exploits up to Tally came before this so read back to catch up on the all that.
Tally was always up in the air for this year. It was going to come down to needing the points to stay ahead of Jeff or not. Well the math wasn't completely in my favor at that point, so Ashely and I hit the road. Tally eats tires like nothing else (its paved with crushed seashells in the aggregate) so I put on a set of used tires I wouldn't race anywhere else but would grip just fine here, just like everyone does.
This game is often a war of attrition and it was on my side. Saturday's melee ended in me on the top step due to some transmission issues my uncle was having.
Sunday was, sadly a bit different. Lap one had my uncle out front and coming into the last corner of lap 1, he lost the front tire and went down, hard. It's not how I wanted to win that day, but that's racing, and he and the bike were mended.
At this point, the season was a lock for me, but how can any sane person miss a chance to race at the real fall classic, Barber Vintage Fest? So back to fresh tires for the smooth as butter surface that is Barber, and off I go.
My uncle's bike was fixed up but he was still not ready for primetime, so his son raced Sunday. I was able to pull out a win Saturday and climb to the top step for the first time at Barber. Sunday my cousin held me to the 2nd rung of the box, but my lap times were blistering fast and it was one of the best races I have been a part of all year.
So, what now? Well, 2022 isn't that far away. I used to think that offseason was some sort of vacation from racing, where in reality, its just a little longer between race rounds. So the engine needs some attention but the rest simply needs a very close look over to be ready to defend the title next year. 2022 is bringing some new tracks to AHRMA, and I plan on making 7 or 8 rounds, giving me plenty of on-track time with a buffer for any boo-boo's that may happen along the way in the run for a back-to-back title hunt.
SOHC Nation representing at Blackhawk Farms with a 1st and a 3rd:
Little Tally action, photo by Kevin McIntosh
Chasing my uncle, and racing with F750's very fast bikes, photo by Kevin McIntosh:
Barber, Saturday night, showing off that top-box wood:
