My report...my bike suddenly came down with a case of the death rattles
Yep, disappointed that my RM250 let me down for the first time. It's probably never had new main or rod bearings and one of those bearings decided the time had come to complain about needing some attention. I first noticed a knocking noise halfway thru practice and as it got worse I pulled in before practice ended.
I figured even if it was running like crap and could potentially throw a rod through my cases at any time that I was going to see if it would hold out.
I rode 50+ B and there were 10 riders and I somehow ended up with the holeshot in the first moto and lead for about 3 laps before getting passed and ending up with second. I really think I could have held the lead if I wasn't so distracted with the knocking noise and the heavy vibration that went along with the noise...besides babying it along, I was worried it was going to lock up at any moment and always kept my fingers on the clutch ready to pull it in if the rod let loose.
After making it through the 1st moto, the noise and vibration was even worse when I got it started up for the 2nd moto. The tank was shaking badly enough that my vent hose was swinging back and forth to the knocking noise and it was running pretty poorly. Again, I somehow ended up with a pretty clean holeshot in the 2nd moto and lead for maybe a lap before the same guy passed me but at that point I really didn't feel comfortable revving the motor at all. After going maybe another lap I ended up falling over in one of the 180s and not to make excuses but it was really rough to concentrate on riding when it felt like it was going to let loose at any time. After tipping over, I thought it was best to limp it back to the truck and be happy with getting out of there with 2 holeshots and my motor still in one piece.
After the race I was feeling bummed but kind of relieved that I didn't put the rod through the case and that I had 2 good starts, but then I went up and saw the results and saw that if I had kept going after getting up from my tip over and finished the race in the position I would have been in that I would have at least trophied with a 3rd overall. Oh, well...I'm still happy that nothing catastrophic happened.
The old RMs are good off the starts....I've been to 3 vintage events this year and have holeshot 6 consecutive motos so far!
As for the track this year...yep, I liked it and mother nature's timing with the rain couldn't have been better to make for great conditions. I was also very happy to see that they did away with the hand on helmet starts.
The one thing that bit some people is the $30.00 admisson they had to pay even if they were just attending Sunday's PV race...$30 gate fee plus $50 race fee is pretty steep! I came on Friday and bought a pass for the entire weekend for $35.00. Which brings me to another thing about the gate fee...on Friday, I bought my weekend pass and the guy at the gate was nice enough to point out that I could get a $10.00 discount if I had an AMA card or a AAA card...so I paid $35 rather than $45. On Saturday, my wife came with me and told the guy at the gate (different guy) that I wanted a Sat/Sun pass for her and he told me it was $45.00. When I showed him her AAA card, he said he didn't know anything about a $10.00 discount. When I pressed harder on the discount, he picked up a laminated sheet and then said "Oh, ok here it is...ok $35.00". Makes me wonder how many people were even told they could get the discount...some guy at the gate could just skim $10.00 off each $45.00 entry and pocket a good amount for the day.
Looking forward to next year!
