Family racing news!



October 12, 2008

– Hurricane Hills – Sean’s bike had blown front shocks going into this race, no rebound dampening at all, good thing we have two weeks for Jay Rapp at Get Real Racing to do the rebuild. Sean crashed bad on the first turn of the holeshot, experts don’t back off so somebody has to loose, he got pushed into the gigantic hay bale and flipped violently, see the clip in our video gallery. The front brake lever/reservoir got ripped loose and useless and it was jamming the throttle cable. By the time Sean got going again the experts were a half lap ahead and out of reach, and, the Quad B class was long gone. The only sport left was to chase down the B gang which he did. Jacob, #1 B rider, took some catching, he is fast on a bone stock Yamaha. Jacob needs more machine for his planned move to expert. In the second moto Sean was pretty shaky and traded 3rd and 4th with Van Ness to finish 6 and 4 for a 5th for the day. Sean has pretty well locked up D34 Quad Open A 3rd place. Tommy and Pat traded 1 and 2 with Pat taking the day. Tommy has a new motor guy, maybe the blown motors are behind him.

September 21, 2008

– Walden - Sean took a 3rd out of 9. #41 showed up again to blow everyone away with his Baldwin 14 to 1 TRX. He took one holeshot award and Tommy took the other. Sean got two bad holeshots and had to work his way through, he has never ridden better. Tommy had his backup bike without the better suspension, no big jumps but the track was rough. Pat ran into the bike ahead in the second turn of the second moto, pretty much putting him out of contention with a 5th overall. Jason was mixing it up with the leaders, taking a 4th overall. In the second moto Sean passed Tommy and held 2nd place for most of the race, even gaining ground on #41 for a while. Tommy fell back then came on strong to sit on Sean’s butt, hitting Sean more than once just to put the pressure on. On the last lap, Sean missed a shift in the air next to the lake, going into a false neutral, and landing hard, Tommy went by, Sean was too exhausted to try to catch him in the whoops before the finish. This is the second race in a row Sean has led multiple laps over Tommy, at least making him work for it.

September 14, 2008

– Hurricane Hills - State Championship – This race was the State Championship. The track was so muddy on the 13th practice day, Sean didn't take the quad out of the trailer. On race day, things didn't improve much, Sean used the stock backup quad for practice. Several racers complained of being sick, including Sean and Pat. The first motos got a thumbs down from all the riders, Sean took a 5th out of 5 in the Open A. Pat suffered from water in his fuel for the first motos in the multiple classes he ran. Tommy came back with a strong motor after blowing it the previous week. The for the second moto (see th holeshot in the video section) the track was only marginally better, no one was able to do the full jumps, watching the videos everyone was landing short and brutally hard, suprisingly we did not see suspension failures. Sean lined up far left with Van Ness next to him, while Tommy took a straight shot from the far right. Sean was even with Van Ness going into the first turn, and because of that drag race they were really hot going into the turn. The video shows sean almost laying on the inside nerf like flat track. Tommy had the straight entrance into the corner and tried to sneak by Sean and Van Ness on the inside. It ended up a three bike side by side drag to the second corner where Sean's center position won him the lead while the other two had to deal with the respective berms. Sean led the first lap until Tommy took the inside line and cut Sean off going into the ten comandments. Up on the flat track Tommy went in tight and out wide, Sean went in wide and out tight, producing a drag race down the back stretch which Sean won to take back the lead. Sean held on to first with Tommy on his bumper until next to last lap when Tommy did the same pass as the first time and pulled away several bike lengths. With a half lap to go, Sean started closing the gap and crossed the finish on Tommy's bumper. Van Ness slowly faded and Pat hung way back for the whole race. Sean was 2nd in the second moto and got a 3rd overeall for the state championship.

September 7, 2008

– Hurricane Hills - Quad Only, Tri-State Championship Qualifier – This race series, covering three states with a generous payout, got the attention of a wide range of riders, with 11 experts showing up. East Coast ATV showed up with their big guns in a big Nascar stacker trailer. ECATV's Shawn Walsh, National Pro-Am rider, took 1st in both motos. Coming into this race Sean was 3rd out of 22 listed racers in District 34 Quad Open A class. Sean was 6th out of the gate and dropped to 7th to finish the first moto. We found the settings of the compression on the front shocks was vastly different side to side causing a significant pull to one side. Also the hand grips were both loose making it hard to hold on to the handlebars. In between motos we corrected both issues. In the second moto, Sean came off the line in 5th. Tommy blew his motor on the down hill triple causing him to first go off the track then back on. When Tommy cam back on the track he caused Pat Trichilo and another rider to bunch up, allowing Sean to sneak by into 3rd. It took about a lap and a half for Pat to repass Sean. The last picture posted in the photo section shows Sean on Pat's butt just before the 10 commandments and the finish. Sean took a 2nd moto 4th, and 4th overall. The top 5 finishers qualify for the Tri-State Championships at Walden November 2-3. When we got home we found 7 frame cracks and a motor mount that split. This track is really punishing the machines and riders.

September 1, 2008

– Hurricane Hills – Coming into this race Sean was 4th out of 22 listed racers in District 34 Quad Open A class. Sean was 3rd out of the gate in both motos behind Tommy and Pat the # 1 and 2 district riders. He finished 3rd out of 5 for both as well. This moves Sean into 3rd place overall in the district in this class. In the second moto Sean was looking to pass Tommy in the first two laps but faded just a little in laps 3 - 5. See the pictures in the photo section, I used a 20x telephoto lense to try to bring in the full track from the bleachers on top of the hill.

August 17, 2008

– Hurricane Hills – District 34 finally back-posted all of Sean’s data, thanks Jeanene. Coming into this race Sean was 5th out of 22 listed racers in D34 Quad Open A. In the first moto this weekend Sean was 4th out of 5 out of the gate. Tommy, #15, was in first until he flipped in the mud on a back stretch double. Tommy hurt his knee but limped over the line to at least finish. Sean moved into 3rd but the motor started popping badly, so he backed off and finished 4th. Dad the mechanic had to work on the carb and dis-assembled the silencer and repacked it, between motos. In the second moto with the engine running fine again, Sean took the hole shot, was passed by Tommy and another rider but stuck on them to finish 3rd out of 5. Training 3 days a week is starting to show.

August 10, 2008

– Walden – The experts always run the big track here and today were scheduled as race #4. The first moto made it out on a dry track but the skys opened up and put the second moto out on a muddy course. Six experts showed up with one new face from central NY on a Baldwin/Sparks TRX450 running 14.5 to one compression. For a big guy he rode well enough to take out the field for moto 1. They ran six laps on the full track; a long race as far as local tracks go. This guy got about 1/3 track ahead of Tommy before Tommy started to hunt him down. The flagger did not put out the white flag for one lap to go so the checkered was a surprise to all. If Tommy had one more lap he may have prevailed. Sean took a 5th. On the second holeshot everyone overshot the first turn so Sean went in tight and got into 3rd behind Tommy and our NY friend out front. On the step up on the far side of the lake the NY guy went right off the side of the landing. Sean stayed on Tommy's butt for 1 1/2 laps showing the torque of our 490 and aired down tire pressures found traction and powered through the mud. After that Sean's air filter accumulated too much water and chocked off the motor to end his day with a moto 2 DNF. Tommy held on to take the day. The NY guy came back with one pass but ran out of time.

July 26-27, 2008

– Hurricane Hills – It was a great weekend as usual, Joe Fritz always looks after the racers. On saturday he added a new small extension to the track, left of the start line. On sunday he opened up the flat track up on top of the hill as an extension after the step up. It was a long track but the racers loved it. On saturday Sean took a 4th and 3rd out of 4 for 3rd over all. On sunday Sean took a 5th and 3rd for 3rd overall. On sunday moto 1 Pat Trichilo #3 took a bad header on the downhill adjacent to the finish line, which put him out for the day. We hope he is ok, he really gives Tommy a hard time, fun to watch. Moto 2 sunday, Sean finally got his act together and took the hole shot, and hit every jump except the downhill triple. It took Tommy only a half lap to pass. Sean still needs conditioning but looked spectacular on the flat track. Sean lost two places in the mud 180 turn just left of the start. We get a weekend off before Walden on August 10th.

July 20, 2008

– Englishtown – Sean was rusty and stiff after most of 7 weeks off. In the first moto he was 5th right up to 100’ from the five lap finish when he went off the berm and dropped to 9th out of 18. In the second moto he stayed in the top five tight group for three laps then faded to 9th, unable to hang on from arm pump. We’re not sure what the overall finish position was, will update this when the results are published. The day was a successful trial of the repaired bike. Englishtown allowed Sean to regain his confidence on the big jumps. Sure was hot and dusty.

June 1, 2008

– Broome-Tioga – After good results the preceding day, Sean was out to make it a good weekend. In practice he noticed the others were not trying one of the doubles, sooo, he figured if he could get that jump he would be one up on them. BAD DECISION. He cased it. It didn’t seem so bad, the bike landed, seemed sluggish, then the rear tire and part of the axle went by him. He rode it out never flipping. As his mechanic, I have seen some horrendous crashes, but have never seen so much damage in one crash. The unbreakable RPM axle snapped, the race swingarm cracked, the engine case broke off where the swingarm bolt goes through, the chrome molly cross member under the frame snapped, and an engine mount broke. I fixed the frame, Performance Trailers welded the swingarm and engine case, Hanover our new sponsor, came through with parts for all the bearings and seals, chain guides and rollers, …. RPM refused to honor the axle warranty on a technicality, what a disappointment after a long history of great products and support. The time to get all the parts and effect the repairs with some delay in funding it all, the bike was down for seven weeks. Hanover offered us an ’08 YFZ 450 at an attractive price. Sean jumped at it for a practice bike and rode it at Hurricane Hills on practice day.

May 31, 2008

– Hurricane Hills – Sean’s first race of the season, every thing worked well. Sean took 5th in the first moto with Tommy Lombardo one of the top district riders having equipment failure and one other rider DNF. With everyone back in it the second moto Sean took an 8th, resulting in a 5th out of 10 overall for the day.

June 15 - 17, 2007

- Mt. Morris NATIONAL, High Point Raceway Pa. - 3rd and 5th places. Got the motor back Thursday 6/7, $1200 total expense. Finished the install and fired it up Tuesday 6/12. We decided to pack up the big trailer and head to the National, using Friday practice to break it in. Sean got in three runs but the carb adjustments were off causing popping on both acceleration and decelaration. Dad adjusted the air screw and needle and managed to get acceleration under control. On Saturday Sean entered two classes, Open EXpert A, and 16 - 24 yr old Open. Entering two classes ended up a good thing. Open A did not go well for the weekend with a 5 out of 5 finish. Only 5 entries but a tough seasoned field with Tommy Tantill0, #1 national rider in this class and +40 for three years now. Sean was last out of the holeshot and finished 4th the first day. He was penilized one place to 5th when he slid off the track and re-entered a place ahead. On the second day, the gate dropped, the tires spun, then the motor dropped to idle -- Broken Throttle Cable, DNF. Thanks to John DeRussa, who blew a motor, for lending Sean the throttle cable from his bike. Much better results for the 16 - 24 class. With 11 entered and 10 off the line. The first day sean was late off the line but in the first turn took a different line than the pack and came up in 3rd position which he held for remainder of the race. On the second day, again last out of the start with 10 riders. Sean slowly passed his way to 5th place. When the leader crashed the big uphill double and then got hit hard by the 2nd place rider, Sean passed into 4th to finish. The result was a 3rd overall out of 11 entered, a good father's day present. Now we need to solve Sean's holeshot problem. Historically, the holeshot has been Sean's best asset. We know the bike has plenty of power. Our assesment is that the big bore power is reducing time in 1st gear causing immediate shift to second and allowing the other riders to sneak ahead before Sean can put the power to the track. Solution is to change gearing. For technical reasons beyond the space of this report we cannot change the front sprocket. We need to drop the size of the rear sprocket, raising overall gear ratio, probably 2 teeth, which will return the usefullness of 1st gear, and boost the total top end as well.

May 21, 2007

- Dean called just befor 10pm, exhaust valve stem broke leaving the keepers on the floor of the head and dropping the valve head where the piston hit it and bent the rod. Need new head, piston, rod, and valves. The only good news is the new big bore cylinder survived. All were ordered on Tuesday from our sponsors at Lou Kosco's RT 15 Powersports and from Motorcycle Madness, Thanks to Lou and Tom for their support. Dean will need at least 6 hours to port the new head, 5 angle valve seat work, press the new rod on the crank, and re-assemble the motor. He will check everything since the case will be cracked anyway. He is also looking into how to add oil cooling to the motor, not stock on the CRF as it is on the TRX. By the time the parts come and we get them to Dean we will not be able to practice or race Diamondback this weekend. Guess we take the holiday weekend off.

May 20, 2007

- Hurracaine Hills, Clifford, Pa - After several days of bad weather and rain during the night we set out early not knowing what to expect. When we got there some areas of the track were muddy but to our surprise they were watering the track. Sean decided to skip practice and let the track dry up a little. There were track changes; the big double was shortened about 4 feet and the deep center was filled in a bit, the steep uphill to the flat track level was changed to a severe step up. The new step up quickly became severely rutted due to the soil not yet being packed. The expert class only had 4 entries so it was combined with the 3 B class entries, not normally done as a curtesy to A class riders. Sean stalled at the start of the first moto putting him behind the B riders which he soon passed but by that time he was out of the expert pack. He easily made the big double but not the new step up. He took 4 out of 4. In the second moto he was slow to start and tangled with one B rider. It took a 1/4 lap to get by but Sean was still with the Expert pack. In lap 2 the 3rd place expert crashed giving Sean that place. In the 3rd lap, just coming into the spectator whoop section Sean's motor locked up, Day Over. Sean was riding much faster and cleaner, continuing his progress back to his old riding level. We packed up and left for home immediately. On the way we contacted Dean at Fastways, our motor builder, and arranged to bring him the motor that night. We arrived home at 5 and had the motor out and Sean was on the road before 6. Dean took a quick look that night and determined the motor swallowed an exhaust valve. Tear down would need to wait for Monday night.

May 13, 2007

- Walden Playboy Club, Walkill, NY - It was a good day at the track. The weather was very cool and very windy. The expert class had a full 20 riders at the gate which made for lots of wheel banging on this tight technical course. Sean had two bad holeshots, rider error getting used to the new bottom end behavior of the motor now running to potential. First moto resulted in 9th place. The second holshot was better, after the second turn Sean got into serious traffic and was forced off the track. The flaggers jumped out of the way as Sean keeped the throttle wide open and rejoined the track in 5th place. He lost two places to 7th by the checkered flag but never backed off from fatigue. There is only one real jump, about 60ft into a 90 degree turn, on this track but the bike flew level and controllable. Sean was landing all the jumps smoothly gaining confidence in the air. Overall placing was 7th out of 20. Great improvement with shades of the old Sean.

May 9, 2007

- Walden Playboy Club, Walkill, NY - Sean skipped work for some much needed practice and spent the day doing 20 min heats. The carb adjustment was dead on.

May 6, 2007

- Hurracaine Hills, Clifford, Pa - First race of the '07 season, 5th out of 5, Quad A, Open class. With less than 1 hour of track time so far this year Sean decided to use this race as practice, and dial in of the shocks. The new big bore motor has exceptional low end power and screams to the limiter. There was a hesitation on the low end which we expected as the FCR carb is notoriously touchy on low end adjustment and the new big bore has different low end fuel requirements. Dispite the hesitation he almost took the second holeshot. Not having track time on the rebuilt shocks, Sean rolled the two big jumps taking him out of competition, however on the ground he had good speed. More conditioning and more air time are needed to get back into the pack. When we got home we retrofitted an aftermarket carb air screw with external thumb wheel from Zip Tye racing so the adjusment can be done without removing the carb. Driveway testing indicates the low end hesitation is gone but only track time will tell.

April 29, 2007

- Diamondback, Modena, NY - Sean could not get off work during the week to practice this track so this race was to be a practice and shock dial in on the big jumps. Morning practice went well. 20 minutes before his first moto Sean walked his girlfriend to the bathroom. On the way back they passed by where the racers exit the track. A youth racer failed to turn of his motor on exiting the track and lost hold of the clutch lever while in gear. The bike shot forward and hit Justine from behind, throwing her into the air and slamming her head to the pavement. Race day was over before it began with a precautionary trip to the hospital. since the FCR carb is notoriously delicate on air screw adjustment, and the big bore motor has different low end fuel requirements. Sean almost took the second hole shot, hampered by the low end stumble of the carb. The shocks seem ok but Sean rolled the to big jumps for now until he gets confidence in the feel of them in the air. On the ground he looked fast so we are optomistic about this season as he gets more conditioning and time in the air. When we got home we spent the time to retrofit the carb with an aftermarket air adjust screw, from Zip Tie Racing, that has an external thumb screw for easy adjustment without carb removal. We adjusted and driveway tested and the hesitation seems gone, only more track time will tell.

April 21, 2007

- Walden Playboy Club, Walkill, NY - Sean skipped the National this weekend because weather has not allowed for break-in of the new motor rebuild. Sean attended the Saturday practice portion of the NEATV weekend at Walden. The motor has substantially more torque on the bottom end and the shock rebuild seems dialed in. However, the left side gasket on the motor blew out and emptied the crankcase of oil in one 15 minute session. First thought was that an oil passage hole in the new 490 kit was not punched properly backing up oil pressure and starving the top end. Not wanting to blow the new engine, Sean skipped the Sunday race. On wed he took the bike back to Fastways our motor builder in Hightstown. Diagnosis - the new oversized piston is making far more crank case pressure than the 450 and the valve cover vent hoses back to the intake boot were restricted, causing crankcase pressure to blow out the gasket. New hoses and routing, new gasket, and a hardening gasket sealer solved the problem.

2006/2007 Winter layover

- Sean races the open class both locally and at the nationals. Our race prepped crf 450 has been competitive until late this past season when Sean started loosing the holeshots to bikes like trx520s and KTM customs. It was time to take our motor up a notch. After some research and consulting with Dean at Fastways our motor builder we settled on a plan. We started with the popular Athena big bore kit, choosing the 100mm version resulting in 490cc. This motor cannot be taken too radical because the lower connecting rod is a known week spot. The only solution is a $650 modified crank and rod which is out of our price range. The standard 490 kit comes with a 9.6 to 1 compression piston. Since our 450 was at 10.5 to 1, it seemed we would be trading horsepower for a mild torque boost. Dean proposed the standard race car approach, deck (shave) the cylinder a couple of thousands. Not having done the math, estimates are that puts us just over 10 to 1 addressing both horsepower and torque. The big bore piston is substantially heavier than the stock 450 which would have altered the internal balance of the motor. Dean removed material from the underside of the dome to lighten the piston to match stock. Early experience during break in is validating our goals. Time will tell.

September 21 2003 Diamondback

Took video of Expert first moto but only pics for second moto. Only a few turned out due to darkness. Sean had new tires on just like the last Diamondback race. The new Holeshot MXRs have too deep a tread and when new either cause wheel stands on the holeshot or tip you in the turns. Same happenen this time. Sean had a wheel stand in the first holeshot and had to shut down to get back on the ground, giving the Tommy Lombardo the first place spot but Baldy was in third. All three got the uphill tripple, what a site with all three in the air at once. Same on the new spectator table. Sean got sideways before the uphill tripple on the second lap giving Baldy the opportunity to get by. The finish was Tommy Lombardo, Baldy, Sean. Tommy Lombardo's clutch basket center hub seperated from the basket causing momentary quasey netral like a missed shift. We all tried to get it back together for the second moto but no good, he sat it out. Sean got a bad holeshot again and Baldy got the lead and stayed there. Baldy got 1st and Sean 2nd for the day. I did not get the amateur class bacause they shared a split gate with the experts and my attention was on the experts. In novice there were two qualifiers. Jeffery Dolak walked away with his moto. The yellow 400 (902 I think) was leading the second qualifier and cased the table breaking the frame on both front uprights above the upper shock mount and between the upper and lower on one side (no gussetting per our warning on the site). He was back for the final but was somewhere around 4th with Dolak taking the day. Most of the final pics did not come out due to darkness.

July 13, 2003 Southwoods

Sean took both holeshots from Tommy Lombardo, having to wheelie the whole holeshot straightaway to get the second one. What a battle of horsepower and flying dirt for both. Sean made Tommy work hard for both moto wins and the day. This is the closest battle between these two ever. The holeshot pics are about the best I have taken.

June 29, 2003 Walden

What a day for District 34 Quad racing. Expert class had 14 entries including both Walsh brothers, Carlotto, Tommy Tantillo, Carl Dawes, Tommy Lombardo, Sean Hubbard, Dave Miller, Mikey Brown, Kermit, ... Yes your heard it right, TT is back and looked strong. Carl is back from his broken bones but the arm is a little weak. The Walshes walked away with the day. Sean was running 4th in the first moto but faded due to arm pump, lifting weights mid season does not work. He went wide in second hole shot ending up behind Carlotto and Tommy Lombardo. Carlotto hit the tires in the second turn, Tommy hit him, and Sean hit Tommy. Sean got around and Carlotto got free leaving Tommy with the hard start problem of the Yama 426. Tommy eventually got started and rode like a wild man but really was out of it. Sean had a moment of inspiration catching the big boys and passing TT (did not talk to him after so I don't know if he had any problems), then crashing in the whoops. Took a long time to get started and was out of it. Carl had the new Yamaha 440 to display, Walsh may have taken it home to do some engineering for it. Corey Ellis road one in Pro Production at Mt Morris, had loanstar/pep suspension, yama race silencer, open air box, and jetting. Had a bad start but pulled on Gust with the fastest lap times of the class. Look for this bike to show up this season in competition. Only three amateures showed up with 444 taking the day. There were two gates for Novice. Old man Scott Dolack was in second and in contention when the shift perch shattered making him clutchless. Half time had him fixing the problems and looking to the final. We took video of first expert moto and pics are posted for second expert and first motos for amateur and novice.

June 15, 2003 Diamondback

First time in months that the forcast said zero chance of rain. What a great day for racing and the track was perfect. Carl is still out from the two broken bones in the forearm, might be back for Southwick National. Tommy had a flawless day. He has the bike running perfectly after having someone put sand in his tank causing weeks of failed troubleshooting. He had two wins and a holeshot contest win at the Wildwood race. He returned to Dist 34 still in top form. He took both holeshots by two or more bike lengths and never looked back. Mikey Brown had one of his best days ever, he is a great rider. He took a 3 2 and 2 overall. Sean had two bad holeshots and continues to bobble the corners with these new MXR tires. His riding style of roostering the corners is thrown off by the refusal of the new tires to break loose, even with the power of the 450. Hope we wear them down some before the next race. The problem from last race of the bike dipping down and left in the air seems to be corrected. Sean and Tommy hit the spectator table every lap of practice and each moto. Tommy had been to OP but Sean came in cold to practice not having done this table all this year. Sean was on Tommy's butt for the first lap of practice, saw him going for it and just followed. Neither rider hesitated for the rest of the day. They both were going for the smaller mid course table as well, with Tommy getting just a little more distance than Sean but both out distancing the rest of the field there. Sean took 2 3 and 3 overall. Dave Miller was not the threat this time that he was in his first expert race last time at Diamondback. Good rider and improving along with better equipment, watch him. The amateur class continues to be small, running a split gate with the experts. Novice continues to be a big class, great news for dist 34 future quad racing. The Dolaks are back. Scott did well for the first race of the season but brother Jeff had some problems. They both snuck down to our Fastways engine builder to pump up the volume a bit. Scott had the cylinder studs pull out after the rebuild, Fastways stood behind their work and fixed the failure. Talk to them about the results. Mike Murdock, novice z400 rider, had the chain break at Southwoods cracking the case. His motor is at Fastways for a fix, AND MORE, watch out novice when he gets back. Our #2 Honda ex rider who has been dominating novice has some stiff competition (see the pics), and broke either the axle or hub in the final, putting him out for the day. He'll be back so watch novice this year, shoud be interesting.

May 25, 2003 Diamondback

Carl is still out from the two broken bones in the forearm, might be another month, too bad, hope he is back soon. We finally got a chance to show off the 450 at district 34. We put new tires on the back just before this race. This is the first time we used the new ITP Holeshot MXR tires. Big mistake. The deep lugs and smaller width would not break loose for corners, even with the power of the 450, and had a very different traction on jump ramps. Sean had a terrible time, almost flipping in turns and wild and jerkey side forces, and a bad left front dip in the air. He just about lost it on the spectator table, got his foot cought in the nerf web, almost went over the handlebars in the whoops, .......... Really bad first moto, lapped by the whole field. Between motos we removed the shocks to see if the a-arms were binding, swapped the shocks side to side to see if it would dip the other way, just could not find anything wrong but new tires. Second moto he was better prepared, wheeleid the holeshot and hit the first corner two bikes ahead but too fast. Almost flipped the second corner, and by that time Mikey Brown and Dave Miller when by. Dave rode very well and consistant in his first expert race, good job. Mikey flipped in the turn after the rollers and ended up last. It took Sean a lap to pass Dave, looked like Dave just let him by on the jump after the whoops. Then Sean was gone. Tommy got a reasonable first holeshot but had to work his way to the front taking the first moto riding well as usual. He still has problems with holeshots but was not pushed at all for the rest of the track time. In the final he left the line and then immediately after the gate stalled. The hot start problems of the YZ then cost him about half a lap. He steadily pulled on the leaders and did the table as Sean finished. EXperts finished the day with Joey Rodgers first, Tommy second, Sean third. Amateurs had a bad turnout and shared a split gate with the experts. Novice continued the year with a strong turnout and two qualifiers. Pete borrowed our 425 with stock suspension and came in 10th in Novice qualifier, one place shy of making it to the final. That #2 yellow Honda took a 1 1 for the day in Novice, very consistant, will be in amateur soon.

May 4, 2003 Pine Grove

Continuing with out plan for this year of getting more experience outside of Dist 34, we went to the Dist 6 Pine Grove race (Flying Dutchman). In addition to the kickstart issues from Budds Creek and waiting on parts, Sean discovered weld failure in about 1/3rd of the swingarm welds. A call to RPM president found that there had been a run of manufacture with insufficient weld bead. Per their policy of product support they offered to strip, reweld, inspect, and repowdercoat the swingarm (or replace if warented). The turnaround time for this is outside the tolerance of our race schedule so they authorized us to have Rich Buckley tig weld the swingarm and when we get a break send it back for inspection, remedial welding, and powdercoat. If we could afford a backup swingarm this kind of product support would be the perfect answer. No one else backs their race products this well. To race we had to put the finishing touches on our backup bike with the 425 for this race. Because we have not implemented our full backup strategy and outfit that bike with extended brake lines, swapping the race suspension was out of the question (shame on us). Result, Sean had a powerful bike and pure stock suspension. This track was constant turns and loooong tables. Sean managed to do every jump on the track but took a big pounding. Trying to keep the front down with the short swingarm and high power kept him from performing well. He took 6,7 and 7 overall out of 10. See the jump pics in the photo gallery. C&G George and Jay were still too banged up from Budds creek to race but George came to support the team. 14yr old Kyle ran his second race on his blaster with a second place finish. We saw no other Dist 34 racers. The kickstart parts are in and Rich Buckley should be back from Red Bud national in MI to weld the swingarm. Hope to have the 450 back race either Walden or Dist 6 this coming Sunday.

April 26-27, 2003 Budds Creek

Sean was on his own as I had a business trip. Practice went ok untill the kickstart gear stuck to the shaft locking up the motor. Disassembly, removal of the gear, reinstall the shaft left him with push start as the only option. This is common and prevention requires adding more than Honda recommended oil quantity to the transmission, which we will begin to do. He missed his class start due to the above but made the consolation heat. Taking 4th there he was included in the final. He was in 4th place near the end of the first lap when he was hit from behind stalling the motor. With little option for restart that was the end. Mikey Brown and Dave from Dist 34 were there but I have no results. Carl was a no show, don't know if he is still hurt from Southwick. The C&G crew all crashed, George and Jay got baged up with Jay going to the ER.

April 15, 2003

New host and some new looks now up and running on our own web address. I left out the pics from 2000 and 2001. If anyone needs a shot from there let me know I'll send it our I can temporarily load up a particular race. Send an email or post the the message board what you like and don't.

April 13, 2003 Southwick Mass

Went with C&G Cycles to experience this track for the first time in prep for the national there later this year. Lots of sand and very rough from mid day on. No big jumps. Jay, George, Bob, and Pete. Carl, Dave, and Mikey were there as well. Sean entered Pro Am 4st and 4st A. First moto in both he stalled and took so long to restart he was last out of 14. Came back in both for 8th. In Pro Am final had a 3rd in the holeshot and held it into the last lap when he pooped out gave it to Carl and dropped to 11th for a 10th over all. In A he had a 4th in the holeshot and held it for a 4th finish and a 4th overall. Jay took the final in 2st Open but don't know the overall. Carl did well till he crashed bad in is second final. I'll try to add more detail on the riders finishes later.

April 9, 2003 VA National

The screaming 450 is done. First track test was at VA national. Sean took 5th in his 16 - 24 age OPEN qualifier. Second day cancelled for snow (yes drove 10 hrs south for snow cancell after Saturday in shirtsleeves getting a tan). Averaged over two qualifiers ended him in 9th. Carl did well riding the Cannondale in both 4 stroke A and production because his front wheels on the 426 were too wide. He got one first, don't know the other. Dave and Mikey Brown were there but don't know their finish. We went with the C&G Cycle team. Jay took a qualifier 5th and 10th overall. Sean went to the Walden OP and shreaded the titanium header. Got it welded and shreaded it again at the Pig Farm practice track. Stainless pipe on order. Pics of the finished bike will not be posted untill our hosting issue is resolved, should be soon. If the weather cooperates we will go to Southwick this Sunday to get on that track for the first time in prep for the national later this summer. We hear Little Tommy has a yz440 from TC ready to do battle. The 450 is a screamer though.

December 17, 2002

We are hard at work executing our plans for next year. Last year's 425, detuned (to about 36 hp) with stock cam and carb and slip on exhaust is now a hot trail bike in the backup frame. Backup stock motor used for base of complete rebuild of new better than before 425 (approx 42 hp at wheels). Complete Hinson 8 plate clutch, bottom end rebuilt with new bearings, new gears (cryothermed), new HD rod, new ceramic coated LRD 12 to 1 piston, fresh cylinder bore, new ported head/valves/seats/springs/retainers, same factory race cam, titanium Yoshamura exhaust, race version 39mm Kehim FCR carb. This will go into old race frame as a race backup (only need to change over suspension to race). New primary race bike will be CRF450 (55 hp) in new stock ex frame (very modified), same lobo II front end with axis, same rpm swingarm and dominator axle, new long travel dual/dual axis rear shock, modified titanium factory 450 exhaust, 40mm factory Kehim FCR carb. Scott #10 is going to duplicate our 425 using our motor builder Dean at Fastways. Tommy is building his yz440/walsh. Haven't heard any changes from Carl since he fixed the tranny on the yz426/Hauser. Heard Mikey bought Tommy's old R frame. Wayne has ordered a walsh swing arm. Scott Dolack got Walsh "a" arms, swing arm, and PEP shocks. Scott, Wayne, both Dolacks, and James #27 are going to the Harrisburg areanacross. That's all we have heard. Drop us an email your your plans for the new season and if you are going to Harrisburg. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

October 27, 2002 Walden

Another rain out. Track was sooo bad, didn't practice and got money back and went home. Season is over with no change in expert standings since before nationals. Tommy first, Carl second, Sean third, Mikey fourth. Bike still not running right after rebuild from problems at nationals. Motor has bad stumble in mid range, can't find it.

October 13, 2002 Diamondback

After $1100 and working all week to get the screaming 425 back to race condition we went to the track to run. Mud was soooo bad the experts decided as a group not to run. With that decision Carl has no shot at taking on Little Tommy for 1st place. It is also over for the 3 - 4 battle as Mikey Brown crashed bad in OP. He was mixing it up with some bikes going hot into the Bowl turn and lost it, cart wheeling to a broken collar bone and concussion. Little Tommy and Carl took him to the hospital since waiting for an ambulance for OP is a long wait. Mikey did not know where he was, totally disoriented for some time. He should be out for the season but OK. Carl finally got the gears necessary to put the YZ back together but did not get to ride it as Mikey crashed just as he was ready to practice. Little Tommy picked up a cherry but used full Walsh setup for a YZ cheap and ordered new axis shocks. He is waiting for the bike to come in to tear the motor out and become a 4-stroker convert. Should be really interesting for this long term big bore 2-stroker. Joe threatens to be back next season. Sean is looking for a 450. Kermit is doing well. Next year is shaping up to be hot. Dolack was back at the track yesterday to race after rehab on the broken wrist. We did not stay for the race so don't know how he did. Sean's mechanical problems at the Nationals were partially due to the swingarm not clamping the bearing carrier fully. Sponsor RPM responded with an immediate shipment of the latest model, now thats product and racer support!!! Sean picked up a new sponsor, C & G Cycles in Hackettstown. George, one of the owners, is an expert level MX, TT, and Flat track oval rider and race mechanic. They know most of the pros and major motor shops and are hooked up with most of the key parts suppliers we use.

October 5 - 7, 2002 Budds Creek NATIONALS

Took all video no pics, sorry. Great weekend but terrible for Sean. This track is in a giant bowl at the end of a gourge and runs up and down around the bowl. This is a power track without fast straightaways, few big jumps, but lots of off camber 180 degree turns. Uphills were like everest and two downhills were like the olimpic ski jumps. This track is two miles long and has hosted the bike nationals before. The quad pros were running within 6 seconds of National bike 250 Pro Ricky Carmichel's lap times, that is fast. We saw Jerimiah Jones, Tim Farr and other big names. Carl, Mikey, Dave Miller, were there. Dave did not make the final. Carl and Mikey ran two classes and raced both days but got bad holeshots and were back in the pack. During Fri practice the swingarm clamp tabs on Sean's bike which have deformed over time, were not clamping the axle bearing carrier tight. The carrier turned, and the chain came off. We got that fixed for Sat practice. During one of the practce runs During Pro Am practice the clutch basket shattered, must have been damaged the day before. One piece of basket jammed the cam chain causing the piston to bend both intake valves. We swapped the head and clutch from the backup bike and sent him out again. Got just over one lap when two large pieces of the previous blown basket that we missed when cleaning out the case, got caught between the pressure plate and the side case. The pressure plate disintegrated and the side case broke open. We became spectators. We dropped the head off at Fastway on the way home. At home we assesed the damage and found a blown trans (must have been stray basket pieces). We have ordered all hinson replacement parts with the 8 plate clutch set up. We ordered a heavier back spring plate from East Coast. We will have Fastway move the top end to the backup motor bottom end and install the rebuilt head. Things are on track to be at Diamondback this Sunday with the screaming 425 intact, additional head porting, full Hinson clutch setup. Sean needs to keep ahead of Mikey for two more races.

September 29, 2002 Walden

Again I am posting this several weeks late due to work schedule and preparing for the nationals therefore I don't remember much detail. Took video for experts and pics for other classes. Sean did pretty well with a 3rd in the first moto behind Carl and Tommy but ahead of Mikey. In the second moto he went off the track running third and got stuck on a berm. He ran faster than the leaders to catch up but lost a photo finish for 3rd taking a 4th but 3rd overall. This put him 2 total points ahead of Mikey for the season. Tommy ran away with both motos with Carl taking second.

September 22, 2002 Diamondback

I am posting this several weeks late due to work schedule and preparing for the nationals therefore I don't remember much detail. Pictures are posted. In the first expert moto Sean was running well with the leaders until the seat latch broke landing the spectator table. By the time he got going again it was too late to do better than 7th. In the final He was back in the front pack for a 4th giving him a 5th overall. This was one point behind Mikey giving him a tie with Sean for 3rd in district points. Carl broke three gears on the yz motor in practice and had to switch to the Cannondale for the race. Yamaha said no gears in the country, will arrive in November. Carl walked away from Tommy and the pack and supprised everyone and himself enough to cause a rethink on what to run for next year.

September 15, 2002 Walden

Did not go due to weather forcast. Turned out to be a very bad decision as the expert class went out first and got both motos off. This gave Mikey Brown a chance to come within 1 point of Sean for the district points race. No one has given me any details of what went on so I have nothing else to report.

September 8, 2002 Walden NEMX

NEMX ran two one day races at Walden, same format as Dist 34 with three quad open classes. Sean went onnday only as practice since there were no points. There were 20 quads total, good for NEMX but not that great for Dist races. The 5 experts and 4 Amateurs were combined into one moto with two gate drops, Novice had their own moto with 11 riders. Track was the same as the last Walden race with the back section open, apparently they ran something different on Sat but Sun was the same as last dist race. Experts were Sean, Little Tommy, Mikey Brown, Paulie, and a Nationals A rider from Hackettstown, ?Derosa. Sean took 2, 2, and 2 overall behind Little Tommy. Sean stole the holeshot in the final almost overshooting the first turn in the process, just stayed on the throttle longer to take a chance, see the picture to see he almost went right through the turn. Little Tommy did not pay enough attention to the swing arm bearings in previous weeks and cracked both sides of the motor case. He had to get a new motor from NACs during the week. That motor was visibly stronger than the previous and Tommy screamed all day with Sean not far behind. Mikey's bad luck year prevailed as he was towed in again with a snapped steering stem. Paulie's hand is still hurting, he was lapped by Amateur Scott #10. ?Derosa rode well, staying fairly tight behind Sean. He was a major competitor to Sean last Feb in the Harrisburg Arenacross, supported by C&G Cycles, great guy, likes to party, rides well with a hangover. He had no hangover this race, maybe that was the problem. Carl showed up just in time to watch the final, having spent 4hrs a day and most of the Weekend trying to get his YZ450 put together. Hauser makes a good product but says little to nothing about what else is needed to put the bike together. Latest latst minute supprise is they designed the new frame to use the Honda CRF450 brake master cylinder. Watch for him soon to tear the place up. NEMX first place expert is Rich Buckley from NJ a fellow private track, Pigfarm member to Sean. A no show this week, and all year at Dist 34 tracks. Sean would like to take a shot at you Rich if you are listening. Scott Dolak #70 and fellow Novice rider #11 both showed up with new motor mods from Vinnie, stock bore but higher compression pistons and new cam. Scott took the day with a last minute battle at the finish with a New England rider on an R, see the photos for a side by side final double. Scott's motor was hitting the rev limit in the first moto so we lent him a modified box which solved the problem. It was running lean which he will fix this week at OP. He has some momentum so watch him the rest of the season. Scott #10 took the Amateur class against three riders. Fresh from dominating the Novice class, watch him the rest of the season, won't be long till he calls on the experts.

August 25, 2002 Diamondback

Diamondback ran two extra classes at the request of NEATV, +30 and Pro AM. I took all video for the Pro Am and Expert so no pics. Look for us to show the videos at the next race, just look for the Hubbard Starship Enterprise, can't miss it at 50' long. I also left the lens cap on and lost 15 pics of the second motos of novice and amateur. Sean continues to improve with the competition around him. He took one holeshot and took second in two more out of four. He took 4th overall in Pro Am against 9 riders and 2nd overall in Expert against 11. Carl and Sean were the only ones doing the spectator table. Sean, Carl, and Mikey were doing the center track table. ONLY Carl was doing the uphill triple, but only when he had to like passing Sean after he won the holeshot. Carl was awsome either taking the holeshot or quickly passing into the lead and then slowly adding distance till the end of the moto. Mikey had one good holeshot and stayed behind Carl for a good finish, the rest of the motos he got bad placing by the first turn and couldn't catch the leaders. Little Tommy got some bad positioning in the start of several motos but passed his way up the line. Twice he stole a place from Sean by staying inside on the turn, but he had to work hard for it and eat a lot of mud. Vinny showed up to watch his motor self destruct under Artie who borrowed it while Tom Carlson builds him a 426 killer. Sean is finnally using all the power in his bike and is ready for more. He will have to make do till we see what Honda announces in the dealer show in Sept (Dirt Wheels says totally new 450 motor, not from the CRF450, with better bottom end and stronger trans). By the way, the New England riders showed up for the Pro Am and also ran the Expert, one had a KTM520 custom bike, and two had blue plates, NONE OF THEM CAN TOUCH THE DIST 34 RIDERS, they were totally shut out. Jeffry broke a shock shaft on the Raptor in his first shot at expert. Scott #10 was back from his Walden crash (took a BIG bar and a lot of effort on the steering stem) to get his final Novice points. Scott Dolak #70 took the second holeshot in novice on his pure stock 400 and held it for half a lap before Scott and Kevin passed him to finish 1,2,and 3. Our Banshee rider, who borrowed an R in the last race (and got the Walden lake double for the first time), is desperately trying to assemble an R of his own, coming soon. Amateur had an interesting battle out front between two bright yellow EXs, see the pics. Scott Dolak also rode the +30 with a good showing dispite some electrical problems. Randall showed again to watch and socialize. Danny came late just to watch, had to work in the morning. Tom Westervelt was a no show, maybe he couldn't find a motor case to replace the one taken out by the chain at Walden. Dave Miller also had to watch.

August 18, 2002 Walden

Randall showed up, looked great, it was good to see him. He will be back next week to Diamondback so be sure to say hello, it means a lot to him. Sean remembered how to ride a real track after riding several races at Southwoods. He took 3, 4, and three overall against 9 riders and behind Pro racer Carlotta and Carl Dawes. The addition of the back end of the track, missing for so long, was welcomed by all riders. The track waterers severly and negatively impacted the race outcomes by turning critical turns and jumps into slick mud responsible for crashes and slid outs over the berms. Carlotta outclassed the expert riders taking the lead from the start and staying a healthy distance ahead for both motos. Carl was not far behind in both motos but unable to keep the gap from very slowly increasing. Sean had a last place hole shot in the first moto but rode well and consistant past several riders and capitolized on slid outs by Little Tommy and Mikey. Artie seemed to be hampered by injuries from the previous race and was not his usual agressive self. Sean had a better start in the final but still not good at 7 out of 9 out of the first turn. He rode well again and passed his way to 4th behind little Tommy. Tom Westervelt had another bad luck day with a broken chain taking out the motor case. There was a small entry in the amateur class with the Raptor rider dominating all day for his final points before moving to expert. We will be watching his debut next week. Dave came this week with a new cylinder/piston that actually were matched generating sufficient power for him to stay with the leaders. During the week he tore down the very weak motor that has kept him in last place and found almost a quarter inch of play between the piston and cylinder. It is a wonder the thing ran at all. Our banshee rider had a machine problem so borrowed an R for the day, he may never ride the banshee again. Novice had a full gate with 19 I think. Scott #10 had a bad mid air collision on the center track double leaving him face down on the track for most of two laps. The other rider involved got up first but suffered a broken bone. Scott's bike was busted up enough to put him out for the day. We took advantage of the expert class being the first moto to split early and beat some of the heat so there are no reports or pics for the amateur or novice finals. As always this is from memory so anyone with corrections or additions just email me and I'll fix it.

August 4, 2002 Southwoods

A BIG THANK YOU to all who donated to the benefit of Randall Dawson. I will mail your donations and a card with your names on Aug 6. Anyone who still wants to donate contact me or Randall directly at the email on the main web page. I found out Dist 34/MSC had no knowledge of Randall's accident till I informed them this weekend. I expect them to react. Sean had another good day at Southwoods with top 2/3 holeshots and 2/4 and 3 overall. The first expert moto saw Carl spin out before the second turn loosing 3 places, then hitting the fence in the S's stalling and DNF. Mikie Brown had a spactacular start and led strongly till he broke a ball joint and a DNF. Ricky Sneider always does well on Southwoods and did it again on the Cannondale. Little Tommy had a carb problem all day hurting his performance. In the expert final it was a tight pack of very fast racing with Carl/Ricky/Artie/Sean/Tommy/Mikie. Carl dominated with Ricky not far behind. Artie went wide on the berm of the first turn of the S's in an early lap but cut back in before Sean could capitalize. Artie did the same on the next lap and Sean gunned it to close the hole. Artie turned back in anyway, collided with Sean and went up the fence. Artie rolled over and was trapped under his bike. He was hurt and out of the race. Tommy was on Sean's bumper for several laps, and took a last lap all or nothing shot and passed Sean at the end of the long downhill and cut in front for the single jump, nice riding. Mikey borrowed Dave's front end parts to get back to the final but was last for the whole moto. The track was VERY bumpy. We backed off the compression all the way on all of Sean's shocks but in the first moto the back end was kicking wildly. For the second moto we closed the rear rebound all the way giving him a smooth ride and kept him in the battle. This was the tightest expert pack for a full final I have ever seen. In novice Scott #10 started out good but got grounded on the center berm in the second S costing him most of a lap. He came back for a win in the final. The banshee took both hole shots. Sean advised Scott that he was liable to loose the final holeshot to the banshee so plan to tuck in behind and follow him through the first turn. Scott executed the plan perfectly and was very appreciative of the advice. #13 rode very well, nice jump style, good finish, but needs to look at his style entering and rounding the hard corners. He stands too high on the bike and tips on two wheels, and should be way down riding sidesaddle (see the photos), this will improve his lap times greatly. #70 rode well all day and #11 was back a little but in the fight. James #27 was off from previous showings with a mid pack ride. In Amateur, Tom Westervelt got his final points to move to expert dispite a carb problem all day. Our only Raptor rider took the day again riding well. Dave had his persistant power problems holding him back and fighting with his banshee nemisis again. Dave needs some bucks for a new top end. The Dolak brothers were there with only one riding, the other just finished getting the pin in his wrist and reduced to being a photgrapher. As always this is from memory so anyone with corrections just email me and I'll fix it.

July 14, 2002 Southwoods

Sean had his first good day ever at the Southwoods track, 3 and 4 and 3 overall out of 8 entries. Southwoods spread out the quad classes and a big thank you for their respect. In expert Carlotta took first and Carl took second. Sean had two bad holeshots but emerged from the first turn in 3rd/4th place. Tommy and Carl had bad positions to start but Carl was able to break through. Mikey had a bad day. He had great position in the second moto but spun out letting Sean and Carl by. Paulie showed up partially recovered from injured thumb from Walden OP crash. He did poorley in the first moto but got a great holeshot in the final. However in the final he tired rapidly and incurred some criticism regarding letting faster riders past, this is always a judgement call with no right or wrong answer. Ricky Schneider had a good finish on his Cannondale. Artie camped nearby the night before but awoke under the weather race day and headed home. In Amateur Tom Westervelt had parts availability problems for the top end of his 250R and stayed home. He is having problems getting the last 10 points to move to Expert. Same bad luck that Mikey had. Rumor is Cannondale dealer will supply a replacement ride to the previously supplied machine which had hard to resolve problems sucking oil into the airbox. Alex was a no show. Wild time were had in Novice. Scott #10 suffered a bad bearing in the axle carrier which in turn took out the press fit mount for the sprocket. Annihilation Race team loaned a stock axle and carrier. Scott still had a bad day with bad holeshots and handling problems from the skinny stock axle. Fellow expert rider #13 rode well, see pics for views of his courious standup holeshot style. The lone Raptor rider rode well again. Great pics of #11. Also one great pic of the whoops, three bikes in perfect sync, all in the air at once. Took some great pics of all classes, took video of expert final so no pics there. I am making headway on computer equipment to allow posting of more video in the future.

July 7, 2002 Diamondback

Diamondback paid their once yearly respect to quad riders scheduleing their motos in the center of the round. Thanks to John Coen. However the water guys significantly altered the outcome of the quad motos, especially Scott #10 on turn two, and Tom Westervelt on the 180 before the whoops. In the expert class two riders were hurt. No fault of the track. Both expert riders, Artie Daub and Mikey Brown paid the price on the uphill triple. This jump and the spectator table are the price of entry into this class of riders. Both brave soles crashed. We hope they are OK. Sean had a good day with a 4 and 3 showing for 4th overall against 6 riders including the two district points leaders and Dave Troast (Sp?) who took the weekend off of a full and successful season at the nationals. First moto had Carl and Dave doing the triple and table for the fans with Tommy Lombardo and Sean behind. Second moto Sean and Tommy got the hole shot and blocked Carl for several laps till Carl picked them both off by flying over their heads on the triple. Sean had no trouble power wise against the Dawes 426 as the video shows powering out of turns and up the straights. We used our last power trick and took the lid off the air box to keep the screaming 426 competative. As stated above Artie crashed in the first moto and went home with a possible concussion. Mikey crashed in the final. Sean should move back into 3rd in Dist points after trading that place to Mikey in the last race. In amateur Tom Westervelt came to the track with just his R and blew the top end in practice. Mr. Chris Dawes saved the day lending Tom his trick Walsh prepped Cannondale. Tom kept riding it like a two stroke and you could hear it hit the rev limiter all around the track. Tom also kept bottoming it out on the soft suspension setting. In Novice Scott #10 spun out twice on turn 2 costing him dearly in the first moto. He came back hard in the second with a great holeshot and good riding. #27, our 16yr old rookie had a bad start and stayed back in the pack in the first moto but rode well with great passing in the final.

June 30, 2002 Walden

Featured today is Debbie (Showtime) in her first race in the women's class aboard a Honda CR 125. Congradulations Debbie, making a showing in the sport sharing a bike with two teen sons riding the 125 class. Sean broke the clutch pull shaft and pressure pull pin in practice on Wed, glad we have a backup bike for parts. Carl blew a front shock resovoir hose on Wed and had to swap shocks with an amateur rider between each moto. Paulie crashed on Wed tearing up his thumb (may be broken), and stayed home from the race. When I got Jack to let the quad experts set their number of laps during the drivers meeting, Carl screamed out 7. So it was set at 7 on a 90 degree day with the back section of the track back on line. Sean had a great day with 6 and 4 with overall 5 out of 12 with two pro's (Carlotta and Richie runs Pro AM). In the first moto we had to take the top off the air box to lean down the mixture to compensate for the heat and a sputtering motor from practice. The 8 plate clutch expanded from the heat in practice and altered the adjustment so much that in the start of the first moto Sean could not disengage it at the start so he did an in gear start and came out late. When the motor hit he did a wheel stand across the start field to catch up with the pack. He rode the moto shifting without a clutch. Sean stayed ahead of Mikie Brown and right behind Artie for several laps with all three bumper to bumper till he got tired and got passed by Mikie, then he shut down with the stamina problem again but managed to stay in front of Mr Darussa and his 250R. Second moto Carlotta cut into Sean in the start (see pic) putting Sean in 8th from the hole and behind Mikie and Artie. Sean stayed in the fight this time using his palm to push the throttle due to arm pump (stamina problem again). When Mikie pushed Artie into the hay bales in the whoops Sean shot past Artie. Sean then capitolized on a Mikie mistake in a turn to move into 4th (they passed two others in the process including #27 with a Honda 450 power plant). Sean finnally wanted it bad enough to stay in the fight the full race. Mikie had a sputtering motor all day even with a carb change between motos. Artie is still waiting for his new motor and running Vinnie's tired 425. Carl the hero who wanted 7 laps lost a chain in the first lap of the first moto (dad did not check the master link) and sat out 6 laps. In the second moto our hero, fresh as a daisy, stalled next to the lake half way through and did not have the energy to quickly get back into the frey. Thanks for the 7 lap motos CARL! A bad day for Carl. Little Tommy was right with the pro's all day with an excellent 3 2 and 2 showing, GREAT JOB!!! In Amateur Tom Westervelt decided not to partition OPEC to raise their oil production output and brought the 250R, leaving the smokey but free Cannondale in the trailer. He had a lack luster day, don't know why. Alex had one good moto, leading all the way on the red and yellow (identity crisis) Honda 425. In Novice our 16yr old newbie #27 showed his stuff, hanging onto that 250R to take the first moto, but got a bad start in the final combined with an engine sputter, with a mid pack finish. Scott, with his yellow on yellow #10 stock (except for back shock) 400, had a great second moto, showing his skill. He and #27 are going to do battle this season, especially when he finnally gets his walsh swing arms and new shocks installed.

June 23, 2002 Southwoods

I got there late and missed pics from the first motos for Novice and Amateur. I am writing this one week late due to busy schedule and forget most of the details. Sean has a terrible day with 10 out of 11 overall. First moto Carl got hit and spun into the fence in the S, when Sean tried to go around he got stuck in the sand so bad he had to get off and lift both ends off the berm loosing half a lap. In the second lap he flipped coming down the straight mountain down hill. Actually had the bike land on him pinning his helmet into the sand. THANK YOU to the burly flagger who threw the machine off Sean. Sean's hole shots were top three but he was still suffering from lack of stamina running out front with the top experts. Carl had power and showed his skill passing at will on a single lane track. He suffered one stall which is time consuming on the YZ426 with the hard start problem. Tom Westervelt showed up with his fully sponsored Cannondale Moto. His machine was sucking oil into the air box and dumping it into the intake producing a white smoke screen wherever he went. The number of tools and the time to just get at the airbox revealed the major drawback to racing the complex high tech machine. The Cannondale Moto model, extra cost and supposidly set up for racing, is too tall and jumps poorly. Buyers are better off buying the lesser cost trail machine and adding a good aftermarket suspension. In Tom's second moto a banshee rider was clearly out to get him at all cost. The banshee rider had a cheering section screaming for him to get Tom all the way. The tone was clearly hostile, not just the good natured competitivness Dist 34 quad riders are known for. With Tom in the lead with the banshee on his tail, Tom went into the bad turn coming down the mountain. Just as Tom's machine got squirly on the bad berms, the banshee rider deliberately hit him from behind flipping him over the handlebars. After the moto a fight broke out including riders and spectators with Tom's Dad getting attacked. This cast quad riders in a bad light producing declarations by the track president that quads were lucky to be racing at all, ruined the track, and may be banned.

June 16, 2002 Diamondback

Due to a busy schedule I did not write this news section right away. And now, two weeks later I forget. Sorry. It was fathers day, 52 dads did battle in two qualifiers. Chris Dawes blew me away with his Cannondale in the qualifier. He made the final and got stuck in the first lap with out a finish. I did not make the final.I just remember Sean got a 5th overall with a 3rd in the first moto. There were 6 or 7 experts. Artie had a bad flip in the first turn of one moto (see track page photo for a great shot). Tom Westervelt showed up with his fully sponsored Cannondale and had the white smoke problem (see news above). Alex had a good day in Amateur. The novice class had a highlight, a rider showed up with a Honda powered national class mini quad (somethng like 80cc) and stayed with the front of the pack all day.

June 9, 2002 Southwoods

Many expressions of concern all day from many riders for Randall Dawson and Tommy T. Dist 34 Quad riders thoughts are with you both. I took video for the first expert moto so no pics but lots of pics for other classes and the expert final. Sean had a bad day. In the first moto Sean had a decent holeshot but the motor was missing badly at top end. Combined with fatique, he shut down mid way and coasted and did some sight seeing. Carl had a stunning first race on his new 426 taking the lead soon and never looked back. Little Tommy had a good day with very consistant riding, second overall. Mikey Brown never got off the start with a bad throttle cable. Artie was using Vinnie's motor and could not get top end power, subsequently found the throttle cable was not adjusted and the carb was never going full throttle. Sean T-boned Artie in a turn, SORRY not intentional. Artie then came up short on the double before the whoops and went over the handlebars. Our Cannondale rider showed riding improvement, with a very consistant ride with third overall. Second moto Sean was third out of the hole shot with motor running fine. He bobbled a turn and let Carl and Artie by. Later he hit Artie in a turn trying to pass, got stuck in the sand putting him out of contention. He rode well for two laps for practice till he got tired, and coasted for a 5th and 5th over all. Artie had a 5, 4, and 4 overall. Carl got a bad start in the second moto dropping to almost last at one point. He rode hard into the lead for a 1, 1, and 1 for the day, nice job. Mikey threw a chain to complete his bad luck for the day. In novice there was a qualifier again. Banshee's out front all day. Our new 16 year old novice rode his R well, good form and nice jumps. He blew a head gasket and might have been out of the second moto if not for a big hand from Little Tommy. The power gain by second moto was almost unmanagable. Amateur was a small but exciting class. Our red haird Honda 426 rider dominated the first moto with Tom Westerveld on a new Cannondale Moto on his butt. Tom got a dealer free ride to see how he can do so in the second moto he got the holeshot and never looked back. The 426 got a bad holeshot and at one point was in last place. Send me emails with any commentary I missed and I will add it. See you fathers day Chris.

May 26, 2002 Diamondback

See pics in photo gallery. We all missed seeing Randall Dawson race, he is still recovering from his back injuries. Also missed was the great Tommy T aka Baldy, still convelescing from leg injuries. Many stayed away because of the weather, and there may have been a national because none of that crowd or usuals pros were present. It was another 2002 season typical disasterous weather forcast turned great. It was pouring rain with thunder when we got up race day but the day got better and better as it went along. The track was mostly dry and started out well groomed. Because in the last race two riders landed the spectator table long and each broke both femers, the track owner added a small single jump before the table. This did slow things down quite a bit and may stay that way for the season. The combined angles of the double, single, and table take offs were all out of alignment. This was not so bad for two wheelers but very tricky for four wheelers not able to hit the tackoffs square. Many close disasters. We strongly suggest this be changed to be safer. There was a light expert entry with 6 signed up and 5 racing, at least it was a points race and paid to second. In the first moto an out of district rider on a TC grand national HONDA 426 took the hole shot with Sean second and Little Tommy third, Mikey Brown and a Cannondale rider bringing up the rear. Sean took the lead out of the second turn and Tommy moved into second in the first half lap. Tommy literally rode and flew 5 inches off Sean's butt for the next lap and a half with both riders showing real expert riding until Sean almost flipped before the double in front of the spectater table, allowing Little Tommy to cut inside and take the lead. Tommy never looked back and Sean got tired and coasted to an easy second. In the final Sean and Tommy were last into the first turn and it looked like a hard race for the two of them untill the red flag came out due to a residual bike down on the track failed to clear for this heat. In the second start Sean was still last but stayed out of the bumping between Tommy and Mikey that left Tommy on the ground and out of the running. Mikey got out front and Sean soon cleared the pack into second. Sean chased Mikey with both riding hard untill Sean almost crashed the sequence before the table. That ended the chase with Sean coasting to another second. The help given to Mikey to set the toe in on his bike between motos must have made a difference as he rode at his best in the second. Amateur had a modest turnout, with Westervelt most likely partying somewhere but not racing. Our red haired friend showed up with a combination of red and yellow plastic on his 400, real identity crisis going on. He rode hard for a 3 or 4 finish. His riding and on the edge flying is featured in the photo gallery. After watching him in the first moto I suggested he sit back on the rear wheels on the straightaways which he did in the final with great satisfaction. He needs more power to match is riding ability. We did not know anyone in the large (two qualifiers) novice turnout, so no pics. Our Novice rider friend Chris had is priorities all wrong and spent the weekend partying at the Shore.

April 14, 2002 Diamondback

No pictures this race, took some awsome video though. What was supposed to be a very bad weather day turned out awsome. Diamondback groomed and tarped the track, great job!!. Sean took a 3rd out of 8 for a nice birthday present (18 now and legal). He got a gift in the first moto as Carl decided to do a head stand stunt in the whoops backing up several of the leaders so Sean could sneak into 2nd where he managed to stay for the last three laps. Sean got an honest 4th in the final. Sean is doing well in the holeshots but getting bumped back in the pack in the first and second turns, needs more experience. Little Tommy won both expert motos riding right on the edge which is his style. Carl is his usual agressive self doing all the jumps, just needs a new kill switch that actually attaches to the handle bars so he can find it in a hurry. Paulie needs to tear down his tired 426 again and do the full cylinder thing. Artie swears we won't see him again on that very tired stock suspension. I can't imagine the IRON MAN with a real suspension under him, LOOK OUT. Paulie said Baldy called from the Nationals, got a first from the old guys in the 40+. Seems Baldy is very serious about trying 4-strokes again, custom 450 in the works. Constantine will be back soon guys but is thinking motorcycle for next year. Joe still has his mighty 350 in parts in a box, but he will wake up soon. Miky Brown managed to stay out of the pond but was sporting some new bike graphics, "SS Minnow". In amateur we saw Randall get a first and the necessary points to move to expert, Congratulations Randall!! Tom W was back on the 250R, told the Cannondale dealer where to put his Cannibol. Tom rode his usual reckless style well doing the full table. He was also doubling some of the whoops, but got his foot stuck under the rear tire in the whoops in the final with Randall right on his ass. Tom got through the whoops and over the next table with his foot Still Stuck. He twisted his body sideways in the next turn to free his leg and pulled out the tether. By the time he got it running again Randall was gone. Chris C had a bad day. Got bumped several times from behind and tied up during the qualifier but managed to sqeak into the final. In the final he got the holeshot and was tied for first into the second turn and had the inside track. He skidded over the berm and bobbled the clutch in the shift, doing a wheelie into the berm. Two guys behind him promply smacked him in the rear locking him into the bank. By the time he got going again he was third from last. He rode well and got back to 10th out of 18. The skill is there, experience will bring it out. We did not see Danny or Shaun W.

April 7, 2002

Walden was Sean's first Expert class. He took 6th out of 17 which included one Pro, Mike Walsh, and one Pro AM Earnest Powers. Sean tied for the holeshot with Little Tommy in the final but went over the berm on the second trun and dropped to almost last. He fought his way back to 5th. Baldy got hit in the hand with a rock in practice. Bared the bone on one finger then took the front shield off his helmet. He went straight to the hospital and did not race. Joe did not have his bike together yet. Scott C is a no show so far this season. Miky Brown ended up in the lake in the final. In amateur Tom Westervelt rode a stock dealer Cannondale while he waits for his new one. He did every jump with those big tires. DNF in final but don't know why. Randall had a stall coming out of the whoops in the first moto may have been the crank, DNFd the final. Nate Walsh showed some of his brothers riding skills winning both motos. There was a qualifier in Novice. Chris Chuoko got hit from behind multiple times locking up the bikes and did not make it to the final by one position. Looking at the posted results it doesn't look like Danny made the final either, too much to ask of a Warrior.

March 17, 2002 Season Opener at Diamondback

Sean got his last 6 points (only needed 6 but got 10 just to make sure) to leave amateur class in the dust along with the competition. Actually there was little competition for him this time. Mikie Brown and Artie went into Expert (Mikie gave up on the last 5 points he needed to get bumped automaticly, Artie got bumped in last race of last year). Tom Westervelt hit the gate in the first moto and was out of contention, and did not return for the final. Randel Dawson stalled at the gate in both motos but worked his way through the pack well. Might have been a contender with a good start. Sean blew away (23 second lead) a District 6 rider with a $20,000 YZ426 and a suspicious BLUE number plate. Chris Cuako, in his first outdoor MX race, rode the hubbard backup bike to 5th out of 28 riders in the Novice class, Congradulations Chris!!! Chris took the holeshot in the final (Hubbard bike mods work!) but fell to 3rd by the finish (stop smoking and get in shape Chris). Carl Dawes got out his welder and filled in the stupid star holes LOANSTAR put in his expensive frame and it held up for him to out jump the rest of the expert field. Carl was the only quad yesterday doing the uphill triple, what a show. No expert and no other quad rider hit the spectator table. Tommy Lombardo rolled out his new Denton power valve 330. Good power and right up there on the holeshots but got passed overhead by Carl on the triple. IRON MAN Artie (still riding a stock suspension) broke his frame in two places and blew a shock in the first moto, along with adding more cracks to the a-arms. He came back to win the holeshot in the final, riding with some special mods from our buddy Rocky. Scott did not get a chance to practice so sat the day out. Vinny, Paulie, Tommy T, and Walsh were at the National. The expert class next race at Walden may be very interesting. The big boys may be back from the nationals and Sean will have his first shot at them.

March 17, 2002Season Opener at Diamondback

Sean got his last 6 points (only needed 6 but got 10 just to make sure) to leave amateur class in the dust along with the competition. Actually there was little competition for him this time. Mikie Brown and Artie went into Expert (Mikie gave up on the last 5 points he needed to get bumped automaticly, Artie got bumped in last race of last year). Tom Westervelt hit the gate in the first moto and was out of contention, and did not return for the final. Randel Dawson stalled at the gate in both motos but worked his way through the pack well. Might have been a contender with a good start. Sean blew away (23 second lead) a District 6 rider with a $20,000 YZ426 and a suspicious BLUE number plate. Chris Cuako, in his first outdoor MX race, rode the hubbard backup bike to 5th out of 28 riders in the Novice class, Congradulations Chris!!! Chris took the holeshot in the final (Hubbard bike mods work!) but fell to 3rd by the finish (stop smoking and get in shape Chris). Carl Dawes got out his welder and filled in the stupid star holes LOANSTAR put in his expensive frame and it held up for him to out jump the rest of the expert field. Carl was the only quad yesterday doing the uphill triple, what a show. No expert and no other quad rider hit the spectator table. Tommy Lombardo rolled out his new Denton power valve 330. Good power and right up there on the holeshots but got passed overhead by Carl on the triple. IRON MAN Artie (still riding a stock suspension) broke his frame in two places and blew a shock in the first moto, along with adding more cracks to the a-arms. He came back to win the holeshot in the final, riding with some special mods from our buddy Rocky. Scott did not get a chance to practice so sat the day out. Vinny, Paulie, Tommy T, and Walsh were at the National. The expert class next race at Walden may be very interesting. The big boys may be back from the nationals and Sean will have his first shot at them.

February 16-17, 2002 Harrisburg Arenacross

What a long expensive weekend. Our friends from Dist 34 all bailed on us. Sean took a first place in the 2 stroke B on Sat. On Sat he took 3rd in the 4 stroke qualifier but they only took the top two to the final. Second day he qualified 2nd in 2 stroke but got hit from behind in the final locking up the bikes long enough to put him out of contention. He won his 4 stroke qualifier and jumped the gate in the final putting him out of contention as well. Walsh entered several classes, doing fair on the 250R but looking like he was wrestling a gorilla on the Cannondale. He was not riding the fully preped Cannondale which is not ready yet. Our new racing friend Chris Chuako made his first full race debut. His highlight was taking the holeshot in the qualifier on the second day against raptors, 250Rs, ..... Unfortunately on both days he stalled the bike and because he had removed the stock clutch lever and not spliced the starter lockout wires he had to find neutral to restart the bike. This put him out of the running for both qualifiers. John Natalle the pro campaigned a custom YZ426. He stalled it repeatedly, and with no electric start and needing to flip the seat each time to get at the kick, he did poorly. Same issue plagued the other YZ riders. We saw two custom Honda 450s, ran good but not with the best riders. We came home with only a bent steering arm which beats the $400 crash last year. The new suspension worked perfectly. The motor was awsome, more powerful than last year. Sean took 1st or 2nd in every holeshot (by the time he came out of the first turn) except when he hit the gate.

November 18, 2001 Diamondback Fun Race and Open Practice

Only 4 quads showed for the fun race. Brian with his race warrior from LI, Chris our new race wanabe, and a Raptor. Chris did well for his first race experience. With our backup silencer, jets, and nerf bars he was doing most of the doubles. Look out Rocky. Sean used the OP to work on the spectator table and got it down pat. He still won't try the triple since his crash. If there was a good rider there to push him he probably would have done it. Sean only needs to get it once and it will all come back. He has never done the table and doing that was the last piece he needed to go after the experts. A new telephoto lens for the digital will give us some better shots for the web site from now on. I will be getting some new video equipment over the winter so invest in DSL or Cable internet hookups if you want to see next years action. Romor has it that Carl will be back next year on a dealer preped, walsh equiped, full race Cannondale. There might be a 440ex for sale soon. It looks like we will be going back to Harrisburg arenacross in Feb even though I swore we would never go back. Romor is Scott, Tommy L, and Rocky are going. Lets get a good Dist 34 showing for those dist 6 boys.

October 28, 2001 Walden

In the first amateur moto Sean lost the hole shot again but got into second place immediately. At the end of the first lap Artie went wide on the second turn and got slowed in the soft stuff. Sean sped by and walked away. In the second moto Sean won the hole shot (it has been quite a while) and never looked back. Sean finishes the season with the District Novice 3rd place, and District Amateur 1st place titles. He needs only 6 points to get bumped to Expert. Not bad for 17yrs old and first full season. Mikie Brown rode with his bad foot trying to get those last 5 points for the bump to expert. He has been trying for the last half of the season but his luck ran out. He was in the running in the first moto but did a wheel stand out of the whoops coming into the flag on the last lap of the second moto. By the time he got the bike flat again and restarted he had dropped out of the running. Should be a good first Amateur race next season with he and Sean looking to get bumped asap. I think Artie got second place and his points to get bumped to expert. Two new guys walked away from Rocky in the Novice, I think he got third. In the expert, first moto had a pile up in the second turn with Walsh spinning out on his first try on a Cannondale. Tommy Lombardo slid up to Walsh's side and got hit from behind tying Tommy up and brakeing his pipe. Baldy got out of it first with Scott on his tail. It finished Baldy, Scott, Walsh. Walsh went back and dialed in the shocks. The second moto got a clean start. Joe had a wicked crash. He ripped off a tear off in the air on the small bump after the spectator jump, came down one handed into a rut which took the bars out of his hand. The bike cart wheeled about two turns. He finished near the back. Scott took first with Walsh second. Not a bad showing for Walsh's untested mods on the Cannondale. Walsh will campaign the Cannondale under a local dealer sponsorship next year and is trying to figure out how to get to races with enough classes so he can still ride the 250R.

October 14, 2001 Diamondback

Diamondback has chosen to make far too many track changes without providing enough open practice time to test the track and allow the riders to dial it in. The consequence was 10 or more trips to the hospital (one helicopter ride) yesterday. On top of this they choose to mix an abundance of wood shavings into the track supposedly to make it softer for riders to crash on (I guess one issue serves the other). Two consequesces; land the uphill triple in fluff and almost go over the handlebars, ruts a foot or more deep on switchbacks. On top of this the quads get screwed out of the last points race of the season. Sorry! Back to yesterdays news. The lack of open practice on the track hurt Sean. During the practice laps he had steering and jumping stability problems. We got very lucky. Adjusting the toe in, more rear rebound damping, and less front rebound damping solved all the bike problems. At that point it took a couple of laps for him to dial in his riding. Still not quite the pre-crash performance but ok. He now has holeshot issues loosing the start badly in both motos. He took second to Tom beating Artie in the first moto. In the second Tom tried to ride with a blown hydraulic line on the rear but backed off after the pogo stick effect almost crashed him. Artie finnaly had the stock suspension fail after two years of pounding. The front left bottom shock mount ripped off the swing arm. Sean took first in the second moto and first overall. This gives Sean 59 points for the season in Amateur (his 32 points in novice before moving up looks to be enough to get him 3rd for the year in that class). I think this locks up 1st for the class year in amateur. With one race left and needing 16 more points his move to expert will have to wait till next year, best he can do is 6 points short. Scott broke an axel in practice. Joe came up with the part as usual. Scott ran the first moto glued to Walsh's butt with Joe flying over the handlebars on the whoops and getting run over by his own machine. Scott got a first and first overall when the stator blew on Walsh's bike in the second moto. Shaun's motor blew in the first moto but the backup allowed him to perform well in the second. Carl's dad did warn Carl to charge the battery. Not getting off the line in practice and pushing the bike up the hill may have got his attention. Just a frustration us dads have. Miky Brown may be back for the last race in two weeks at Walden. One more chance to get those last 5 points to move to expert. He has been half a season trying to get those last 5.

September 30, 2001 Walden

Sean is back after two bad crashes. He was still sore from Ellensvile when he crashed at Diamondback practice. We did not have the suspension redialed after installing the new longer swingarm. On the fifth lap Sean tried the uphill triple. He crested the top with the machine verticle and still rotating backwards. He could not get on the bike for a week and a half missing that race. The problem was traced to the added compression of the front suspension on take off from the forward weight bias caused by the longer swingarm, compounded by Sean making front suspension changes without telling me. The front compressed more on pre-take off and without a corresponding increase in rebound damping, just sprong back violently, accellerating the front end skyward too fast to control. We analyzed the whole suspension, making significant changes to all settings front and back. After a day at Jack Frost Saturday we made one more rebound change in the front for this race. The bike was perfectly balanced, landing flat on every jump, and taking the allegators by the Walden lake smooth. Sean lost both hole shots to another "400". That rider has not been around for a couple of years but used to race with the guys that now make up the expert class. Rumor has it that he is a Honda mechanic and has a motor built to the max. That is the bike that Baldy modeled his 425 after, which in turn was our model. Anyway, he had nothing over our bike. Sean was on his tail for three laps and passed him in the whoops. Tom was rignt on Sean's butt the whole way and passed that 400 guy in the whoops coming into the finish to take second. In the second moto, Sean passed the 400 in the air on the double on the far side of the lake in the first lap and walked away like he owned the track. Tom popped a chain early and was out of contention. In the expert class Joe was back taking both hole shots and riding the fastest I have seen him ride. In the first moto Scott was on his butt the whole way but could not get by. In the second moto Joe did the hole shot again but was quickly passed by Richie. Richie had a problem in the first moto and was almost last so we did not see what he had till the second. Rumor is he just rebuilt the motor on par with Joe's monster. Must be close to the truth cause he walked away from Joe. Joe said afterwards his clutch was slipping, it did seem he had less acceleratiion than in the first moto. It took Scott five laps to finnally pass Joe in the allegators for second, but first overall for the day. Carl is still not getting out well in the hole shots. He broke an upper ball joint putting him out for the first moto. In the second he battled in a tight pack with Shaun for the first half. In the second half after passing Shaun he was right on Baldy. I think he is getting the hang of the new motor and swingarm. He is using the two week gap till the next race to get some rear suspension work done, this year is not over. In Novice Rocky dominated with Baldy's old 425. He is still not doing the big jumps but against mostly stock machines he didn't need to. Shaun (there are too many Shauns, this is another one) cased the whoops, broke a spindle on his Banshee, which threw him fully into the lake. I mean under water. We have a week off then Sean has to face Diamondback and that uphill triple again. There is no open practice so he will be going in cold since his bad crash. With all the changes there and only 5 laps on it, he is far from comfortable. We will be bitting our nails on this one.

September 16, 2001 Walden

Finnaly a points race. In the novice class, Rocky bought baldie's screaming 425. That got him both hole shots and I think 3rd overall. With better jumps he should dominate that class for a while. Sean had all the current amateur talent show up at once (Artie, Mikie Brown, Tom Westervelt), with only a total of 6 riders. Poor Mikie Brown crashed bad on the double on the far side of the lake, breaking the front spindle off, putting him out for the day, but he was ok. Artie took both hole shots. He was in a mental slump for the first moto and finished 4th. After a baldy pep talk he looked more like himself in the second moto taking 1st but a 3rd overall. Tom rode well with a good hole shot and early lead, but his motor was bogging. Sean powered by him and continued to pull ahead for the rest of the first moto. In the second moto Sean took second in the hole shot behind Artie with tom on his heels. They rode tight like that for the whole moto. In the third lap, on the ripples on the right side of the lake, Sean's handlebars rotated down onto the tank (not tightened enough by dad in fixing last weeks mess). He attempted to hold his position fending off Tom for the rest of the moto, riding with the bars resting on the tank and the clutch and brake angled sharply upward. He stayed in second that way, till the final whoops when his knee hit the kill switch stalling the bike. By the time he got started again Tom had sneaked by. Sean finished that moto in 3rd getting a second overall. Dad promises to do better with the wrench. We will be installing the new RPM swing arm and trying to make Wed practice with it at Diamondback. Scott Constantine had a really bad day. In the first moto he got a stone between the front rim and rotor locking the tire and sending him off the track. By the time he got it free the moto was almost over. In the second moto he was back and forth with Walsh while the two were chasing down Joe. Walsh was bearly ahead of Scott just before the double by the whoops with Scott positioned to take him out, so Walsh deliberately cut Scott off using his back tire to sweep Scott's front end out, spinning the bike around and launching Scott into the middle of the turn right in front of the other riders. Very unsportsmanlike and predatory but typical Walsh. Scott was ok and didn't get hit by the following bikes. He finished that moto about 6th. Joe again got both whole shots, did better than ever on the jumps, and took second overall. Carl ran his new longer swing arm without any practice time. That may have hurt his results. He finished around 5th in the first moto, don't know the second or overall. Pictures of both expert hole shots (see photo section) put him even for last approaching the first turn in the first moto and last coming out of the first turn in the second moto. Practice this Wed will fix this I'm sure.

September 8, 2001 Evansville Pa

Suffering from boredom due to District 34 scheduling three off weeks for quads, we decided to get some experience under the lights at the Supercross (smaller tight format) track at the District 6 Evansville Pa . Sean entered two classes, Open B and 4-stroke B. There were 38 riders and 4 qualifiers for Open and 18 riders and two qualifiers for 4-stroke. Sean took second in the first moto of Open. He had a bad hole shot in 4-stroke but had already moved from eigth to fifth when he crashed. Sean was trying to pass in the air on a 40 foot double when there was contact with another bike. With 4 of us watching, we still cannot figure out who hit who. Both bikes crashed pretty bad. Sean hurt his hand and back. We drove straight home to Newton Hospital not trusting the local country hospital near the track. By 2:30 Sunday morning x-rays showed not broken bones. Take a look at the first two pictures for this date in the photo section to see two frames of the crash video. Sean was ejected immediately. The bike rotated on axis in the air before landing, with the handle bar/steering stem joint making first contact. The Bugard chrome molly stem snapped in half. The stem mounting point on the frame was pushed back almost two inches, ripping the frame tubing, and bending the support brackets. After some cutting, a lot of welding, and a new $300 stem, the front end is back in operation. The subframe is bent 1.5 inches from straight. The good news is that Sean proved he can go toe to toe with the B riders of District 6 on their own turf. We will go back to Evansville. Scott Constantine entered two A classes placing 2nd in one of them. He had taken 3rd places in the first race of the two race series and was back to claim the combined payoff. He seized his motor (crank) in the second moto of the first class putting him out of any payoff. He did place well however in the 50cc mechanics race, see photos. Carl Dawes also went, entering only the 4-stroke A class. He placed 3/4 out of 5 for the night. The A classes at this race had significant competition, possibly exceeding that of Dist 34.

August 19, 2001 Walden

Sean took a third. Sean lost both hole shots to Artie. Thomas Westervelt, in his first amateur class race gave his all to mix it up with Sean and Artie making it an exciting class. In Sean's first moto he traded second with Thomas as both slid over the berm on the bumpy upper section to let the other by. Sean pushed Artie hard and tryed to pass him in the air on the down hill double. Sean ended going off the track on the following turn and up a tree. By the time he got going he was in fourth and well back. Making the mistaken judgement that it was the last lap he coasted, wrong, bad decision as there was another lap. The same three rode bumpers in the second moto with Thomas trying to pass both Sean and Artie in the double before the whoops (got a great picture), that put him long on the landing, Sean turned tight and beat them both into the whoops (a trick Scott will use later) and just walked away from there winning the second moto. If Sean had coasted in second for the first moto he would have ended up first over all. He lost it going for first, like it should be. The novice class has a couple of new riders leading the pack and improving with each race. The expert class had nine riders and mostly no laggerds. Joe took both hole shots with his monster motor. Scot won both motos driving the best I have seen this year. In the first moto Joe went off a berm and rolled it putting him way out of contentioin. He stayed near the lead in the second moto. The pack was tight in the second moto with six riders in a bunch going over the rollers on the right of the lake. Joe's left rear actually went over the bank of the lake but he stayed on the throttle to climb back onto the track with the pack. Scott was fourth in the hole shot, passed one rider somewhere in the uper section, he came into the double before the whoops in third, took the turn into the whoops tight with the most amazing pass and came out to walk away with first for the rest of the moto. Same trick Sean used in his final. Baldy rode his best this year in the first moto but was way back in the second hole shot and never made that back. Shaun got another rock in his rotor in his first moto putting him near last. He stayed in the pack of 3rd to 5th in a tight race with Carl in the second moto. Carl says he is used to the new motor but his hole shots didn't show it (see the pics). He did get third over all behind the national guys with a lot of shake up between moto standings. Carl cracked the motor mount on his new Lone Star frame because Lone Star cuts their logo star with sharp points into the steel. That creates a stress point sure to break. Sean cracked his swing arm finnally after more than a year of racing, must be a record for 400ex swing arms. We did not know it till it was time to go out because he did not wash and inspect the bike after Wed practice, a habit that will bite him bad one day. We have now got an RPM on order. They just designed it and took a prototype to LL over the weekend. Went home with 53 orders. Will ship by end of next week at $550. Artie has the same motor and carb and still gets the hole shot. I think it is because his replacement swing arm is 1 1/4 inches longer keeping the front end down in the hole shots and coming out of turns putting more power to the ground and providing steering. With a new one to buy for Sean that will be the next tweak to our setup. Artie better get in shape, the rest of the season will be close. First to break looses.Mike Brown did not show up to get his final 5 amateur points. Next amateur points race will be a thriller if Sean, Artie, Mike, and Thomas are all there.

August 5, 2001 Southwoods

Southwoods track still sucks. Sean took a first. Best pictures yet for this season, take a look. Sean lost the first moto hole shot again to Mikie Brown and rode his butt to another second. Sean got mired in deep sand at the bottom of the straight uphill and lost a bunch of ground to Mike. Making that up in less than a lap clearly showed Sean was faster and just needed a way to get in front. In the second moto Sean won the hole shot fair. Mike got banged pretty hard by a yellow 400 damaging his wheel and putting him in third for the hole shot. Sean overshot the third turn and went off the track but stayed on the gas to re-enter second cutting off Mike. Sean took out the yellow 400 and led the rest of the way steadily adding distance as he went. Poor Mike continued to have trouble tipping over onto the fence on the long uphill. Mike took down a good portion of the fence getting restarted but smashed a front rim. Knowing he was out of it Mike backed off, letting Sean lap him in the whoops and the finish. Walsh was unbeatable again and dominated the expert. His hole shots get him way out front right from the start. Joe was late to the line which pretty much put him out of it for the day. Little tommy crashed on the triple, banging up his leg pretty good. He was back riding hurt in the final though. Scott had a flat rear tire for the last four laps but hung for 3rd in the moto. Shaun's new motor and some great riding put him in the front pack. The second expert moto was the most thrilling of any I have seen. Joe pushed on Walsh pretty hard in the begining. Tommy T seemed to finnaly figure out how to ride his new 2-stroke (want to buy his screaming 425, $8500). Paulie finnally got into shape enough to really ride the new 426 for a whole moto. He had a good practice at Walden during the week. Expect Paulie to pick up the pace for the rest of the season.

July 29. 2001 Southwoods

Southwoods track still sucks. Sean took second place. Interesting day in all classes. Vinnie really showed his stuff in the second Novice Moto with a fourth place and mixing it up with the leaders in the hole shot and all around the track. His 425 powered through the deep sand. He still needs some suspension. We finnally got the new FCR race carb dialed in for Sean's bike. It is like a second engine rebuild. Still a hint of a lag at very low RPM but out of the range to affect racing. Top end screams. He hit the extended rev limiter in 4th in the long uphill straignt. Best guess is 50mph on that washboard. We finnally got the hang of setting the suspension for this track. The bike floated over the washboard stuff. We put the stock front gear back on (we had previously reduced the gearing for second gear hole shots with the stock motor). The gear and carb combined to provide a blue sky wheelie in the first hole shot but still taking the first turn second behind Mikie Brown. Sean was on Mike untill he hit the straight uphill section on the second lap. In his second to third shift the trans went into neutral. By the time he got the rpm down and back into gear, Mike was gone. In the second moto Sean over compensated in the hole shot by sitting way up on the tank. No wheelie but too much tire spin. Lost the hole shot again, even to the Raptor, for shame. Sean got back to second and rode Mikie's bumper for 4 laps trying every thing to get by. Mike did a great job of riding and blocking. Sean got second overall and now has 17 amateur points. In the Expert class Scott Constantine had his hands full with the monster power from Joe Tufano's 300+cc R. Joe roled it at the base of the uphill straight to take the pressure off Scott in the first moto. In the second Joe powered into the lead from the hole shot. Scott got by through riding skill and taking the triple very long. Joe is not as good on the jumps and his suspension was giving him a rough ride. Scott led for a while with Joe able to pull on him on every straight. Scott then made the mistake of trying to double the whoops without a good take off. He cased it and literally crawled off the track on all fours. Scott got back aboard, passed his way back to second and first overall. Scott has to be very sore today (Mon).

July 15, 2001 Walden NEAMX

The riders voted to have one gate for all classes and 10 riders in all. Sean got 4th in the first hole shot but lost a place to Carl about half way finishing 5 out of 6. This reset Sean's ego some but probably came at a good time in the season. Sean rode well and pretty much stayed with the Expert pack but was out gunned. At 17 with one year of racing he was no match for experienced riders in their mid 20's, esecially Mike Walsh and second place 00 Buck both with Pro or National experience. In the second hole shot Sean got lost back in the pack. Before he got a chance to get through the novice riders he got into a berm of soft stuff trying to pass on the far side of the lake. A stone got cought in a hole in the rotor and when that hit the caliper it stopped the right front wheel dead. This sent the bike off the track. Sean also reported an electrical short. When he used the clutch, a strong shock was sent up his arm. It was the last lap before he got the stone dislodged so he could ride the bike in, but with a bent rotor and caliper mount. That's racing folks! Sean reported the motor was running strong and was pulling the front off the ground or lightening the front end often. This is almost a deterrent when it causes the rider to back off the throttle just to regain directional stability. It will take a while to learn to regulate the throttle when habit was formed with the stock motor to just keep it pinned.

July 8, 2001 Southwoods

Southwoods track sucks! No jumps, lots of rocks and ruts in the high speed sections. Those that did not back off the suspensions or had stock suspensions got rattled around pretty bad. Horsepower ruled the day. The pictures and results show that horsepower was the key factor in the holeshots and straightaways. Joe ruled the expert class with his 3xx cc motor. Paulie got two good holeshots with his new 426 (stock motor running pump gas). Vinney got a holeshot with his 425. Amateur had only 4 riders, so not points. Sean came in third with the three lead bikes glued together in a tight battle in both motos. Sean had the power (hooked up pretty good in the holeshots) but the bumps were not to his liking. Mikey Brown rode well! Sean would be happier in the air. By mid day Carl and his dad were talking more power, the 406 they built for the amateur class is anemic for the expert class, let's see what they do about it.It's only money guys.

July 1, 2001 Diamondback

This was Sean's amateur debut. He lost the hole shot but passed one after the first table and the second on the uphill tripple. After that he was gone winning his moto by half a track. It started raining shortly thereafter. It was not too long before the expert then the amateur riders patitioned the track to cancel those second motos and award based on the first moto. The Novice riders rode the second moto. In expert there was the most exciting field I have seen in the two seasons I have been attending. Walsh took the lead and with smooth riding just kept opening the lead. Constantine got into second and kept it with this annoying loud noise constently behind him (Tommy Tantillio and his 425). Very impressive riding while it lasted.

June 24, 2001 Walden

In the first moto Sean won the holeshot by one and a half bike lengths and just kept opening up the lead. In the second moto Sean had some kind of brain fart and was last out of the gate. In the first turn he ran into the back of two other bikes that stopped dead in the turn. By the time he got the bike untangled and going again the leaders were more than a half track ahead. The crowd went nuts while Sean passed 12 riders in the 4 lap race to take second in the moto and first overall. Pro rider Walsh #12 apparently had a friend in Sean's class and by his negative comments at track side was of the opinion that Sean had no business in that class and should move up. The truth is that as of that day Walsh was absolutely correct. Also the truth is that Sean has been riding for less than a year and I, his dad, mandated that he stay in Novice and earn his way out gaining the experience. Sean came into this race with 40 of the required points to move up. This well earned first place and yes dominance was in fact the trigger for the district to move Sean into amateur. Had Sean moved up on his own he would have rendered himself inelligable for the annual district awards for his class. My question to Mr Walsh is why was a well know and accomplished pro class rider dominating a local district race on the same day as a national race in nearby Pa? By the way, Walsh's friends desperate attempts to block Sean's pass for half a lap were unsuccessful. I took no pictures at this race choosing to video all the quad action. I will attempt to put some scenes on this page shortly especially Artie's axle snap on landing the table.

June 20, 2001 Practice at Walden

On Tuesday we received our new carb from Tommy Tantillio. This is the Keihn FCR race only carb used on the Yahma 426. We installed it as is since Tommy said he dialed it in on his 425. Sean tried it out at Wednesday practice for over an hour. No low end response, no middle, only acceptable at the high end. I noticed puffs of smoke from the exhaust on acceleration from low speed such as leaving the 180 and entering the whoops. We reinstalled the dialed in stock carb and all was well again. The new carb is a 39mm versus the 36 stock but was running a main jet of 160 versus the 170 in the stock and a 50 pilot versus a 45 in stock. It seems that dispite the higher flow 39mm carb it was set much leaner on the top and much richer at the bottom. We have ordered a variety of jets so we can attempt to dial this carb in later. The higher flow potential of the motor mods demand a larger carb.

June 17, 2001 Diamondback - Fathers day

Thinking all was well, in addition to Sean's entry I entered the fathers fun race. I couldn't beleive dispite my reaction in the drivers meeting they wanted to have the fathers do two parctice laps followed immediately by a three lap race (five laps total back to back when the real racers were only going four). Sean went out to practice and the bike would not rev, major stumble at any attempt to get revs. We worked on the carb till the first moto and though it was better. In the first moto the motor was just as bad. Sean managed to get second, sputtering all the way. The bike was just as bad for my racing debut although it was my skill not the bike that put me in 15th out of 23. Only three quads amidst 20 bikes. We spent the next several hours chasing what we thought was a carburator or jetting problem which did not make sense since it seemed dialed in at Jack Frost. After becoming frustrated changing everything including the carburator from the backup bike, Sean noticed one of the alternator connectors by the battery had a burned through the insulation. We determined that in the process of reinstalling the moter after the welding, the connector was not completely seated and was making poor or intermittent contact sending a poor timing signal to the CDI. After plugging and taping and returning the jets to the known good setup from Jack Frost, we had the screaming 425 back. In the second moto Sean wheelied ahead of everyone for almost the full holeshot, missing the first turn, and allowing two riders inside him, putting him in third out of the first turn. He passed both on the first lap while jumping the spectator table and finished half a track in front taking 1st for the day. I forgot to put the recharged batteries back in the camera so there are no pictures for this race. One picture of me after the fathers moto is posted on the Diamondback site.

June 6 - 13, 2001 Got the new motor

On June 6 found out LRD had shipped the reworked cylinder and new piston to LIATV on Long Island instead of to me. Drove 4.5 hours in LI traffic and $13 in tolls to retreive it and then deliver it to Fastways in Hightstown NJ for assembly. Dean at Fastways assembled the motor while I waited. Got home 11pm with new motor in hand. By Friday we had the motor installed and stated the breakin. Going slowly through increasing heat cycles we were ready for Jack Frost by Sunday. At Jack Frost Sean went through several heat cycles on the far track while we tried to dial in the jetting for the stock carb. Finnally got it dialed in and tried to move to the expert track. On entering the attendant told Sean he had to do one of the two big doubles or he would not be allowed to stay on that track. By the fourth loop Sean did the 60 ft double in the middle and was allowed to stay. We worked on dialing in the rear shock. After one and a half hours of pounding the bike Sean came in to cool it down and rest. While sitting and talking he looked down and saw the frame was broken clean through the vertical just above the foot peg. That ended the track time. We rushed home and had the motor out and the swing arm off by dark. By Wednesday the 13th we had the repaired bike back together. Ray, the service manager of Rt 15 Honda and expert race set up mechanic stopped by and reset the new valves. At that point we still had not solved the new carburator issue but thought we had a screaming 425 for next race.

June 3, 2001 NEATV at Walden

Lots of rain just before practice ruined the track. Sean did not go out for the practice or the first moto, even the experts weren't doing any jumps. The track was usable by the second moto. Sean was in the middle of the pack out of the gate but got t-boned in the second turn and the front tire of the other bike got stuck between the nerf bar and the rear tire. By the time Sean got going he was last and more than a half track behind the leaders. He cought and passed 8 riders before running out of time. No placing for this race. I took no pictures at this race.

May 23, 2001 Motor Buildup Proposal

See the link on the main page for our motor buildup proposal, comments welcome. (screaming 425)

May 13, 2001 Walden Mother's Day

See the mothers/wives race in the picture gallary. After breaking the end off the shift spindle in practice at Jack Frost we put in the motor from the backup bike. With that motor we installed the yoshamura titanium pipe and silencer also off the backup. The quad now had a great top end but no bottom like it did with the Supertrap. This combined with the change to the rear shock from the backup gave the bike a totally different feel, more like a two stroke in power band. Sean had no adjustment time except practice race day. Novice had 21 quads in one moto with no qualifier. Sean won the first moto after avoiding a crash in the first turn. In the second moto he was third out of first turn, passed into second, then rolled it in a mid track left hair pin. Fought back to 6th for an overall finish of 4th for the day. We now must deal with the race motor. Since the case must be cracked to replace the shaft it has triggered the rebuild previously scheduled for this fall. Stay tuned, we will have a seperate web page for the rebuild plan. (screaming 425)

April 28, 2001 Walden - NEAMX Round 2

Very low turnout for bikes and quads. Only 11 quads across all three classes. All classes combined in one moto. They ran extra laps, 8 then 6, tough on the riders. Carl took 2nd overall and 2nd in Expert with a daring pass in the final whoops and a flying tabletop finish. The only guy Carl could'nt beat was the Pro Mike Walsh. Sean took 1st in Novice against two other riders but 5th overall beating some Amateur riders. Look at picture 1051, I was sure we were headed for the hospital.

April 22, 2001 Diamondback - District 34 Season Opener

Great weather and track, large turnout. 34 novice quads to contend with. In the qualifier Sean won the hole shot but got passed by second turn. Followed the leader for a while looking for a mistake. Took the lead with a daring dive into a turn earning an "Awsome Pass" later from that rider. Won that heat. In the final make a throttle mistake in the hole shot putting Sean in 7th. Passed his way up to 2nd and ran out of time. 2nd overall is not a bad way to start the year. Congradulations to Carl for a first in amateur and to our favorite Susuki expert rider who refused to be intimidated by a national pro. Shawn, hope your back is better.

April, 2001

Finally got our new axel. Also spent over $450 repairing the damage from Harrisburg. Had to work at finding a place to practice and dial in the new parts.

February 17-18, 2001

We went to our first indoor arena race in Harrisburg, 2000 riders, flat track, MX, go carts, RC cars, you name it. 40 riders in Sean's class, 4 qualifer heats of ten. He got T-boned in the first turn, bikes locked. By the time he got free he was last. Made up five places but ran out of time. They only took 2 riders from his heat for the final. Second day he won the hole shot in the qualifier, led the whole way, almost lapped a rider. In the final he was 4th out of the hole shot. Was next to another bike in the center straight away, both flat out, when the back wheels hit just wrong. He was bounced into the air, cartwheeled, got hit with his own bike. Put him out of the race. He was not out classed, was able to do the doubles. $400 in repairs, he is OK. Tommy Lombardi did a head on crash, worst hit I've ever seen. He's OK but took 8th. Natale, key rider for NACs went to the hospital, broke his frame in 5 places.

February 2001

We had three newspaper articles published this year featuring Sean's Sleddog activities. For various reasons we did not get to any sleddog races. We did some decent training. Check out the picture gallery for some pictures of our training at Highpoint State Park.

January 2001

We received our entry and tickets for the Harrisburg Arenacross. Indoor MX racing in the dead of winter. The event is actually two races back to back the weekend of Feb 17-18. All we need now is our axel to arrive.

January 2001 MSC Award Banquet

Attend the annual award banquet to get Sean's 8th place overall trophie for Quad C. Sat with Carl Dawes and his family. See the photo section, look at how many trophies. 650 people attended

January 2001

Received notification of season standing, 8th overall for District 34, 2000 season, Quad Novice Class. Not to shabby for first year racing and starting half way through the season

December 2000 Sponsorship Notification

Received notification from Rt 15 Honda Yamaha on their acceptance of our request for sponsorship for the 2001 Season. THANK YOU CHRIS AND BOB.

November 14 2000 repairing and modifying

Bent sub frame in last race. Removed frames from both bikes and desinged and had welded additional bracing. Ordered smaller front drive sprocket based on hearing Paulie remark after racing Vinnie's bike "that thing could pull a battleship"

October 29 2000 pics posted in gallery

Finally installed new front end by 8pm Sat, it works. No test time, but got settings right, thanks to Tommy T. FIRST PLACE, TOOK OUT 8 BANSHEES.

October 15 2000 at Diamondback

4th out of 18, machine still stock. A-arms came in but not the shocks. Maybe for Oct 29 at Walden. Took pictures today of Mr. Constantine, our favorite #3 Sasuki, and Carl.

DiamondbackMX and WaldenMX web sites will now point to this page due to quality of photos.

October 1 Walden Race pics are posted in the gallery.

Top end rebuild due to excessive oil consumption, and 10% leakdown. Special Thanks to Ace mechnic Ray who put in personal time to set cam and valves like he would his own race bike. Noticable increase in peak torque, and wider power band. Despite driver error and crash, FIFTH PLACE, MORE POINTS.

September 24 Diamondback

Race pics are posted in the gallery. The new parts, tuning, and practice have produced results. THIRD PLACE, FIRST POINTS, FIRST TYOPHY.