By: Flat_Black_Rat
The beast in the fog before the sun cut away the dark.
After the massive push down to the 11ish hour to get the Husky ready to go for race day I found myself dragging my ass out of bed before the sun. The issues I had on Friday night that made what should have been a short night in the garage and a full night of sleep and very late and sleepless night. Driving south down I5 with the sun starting to break though the darkness was pretty cool, same feel as a building crescendo at the beginning of a song. Some coffee, cold pizza and a bunch of miles latter I pulled into the track and found parking. The air was still chilly and the sun was still burning off the fog and cold from the night. After refilling my coffee from my thermos I wonder over to sign in for my races, vintage amateur open and vintage amateur +30 (should be -40 but they never changed the name). After that it was time to unload the bike, get my riding boots on and warm the bike up before the riders meeting. The riders meeting was the typical stuff, it’s a nice day, have fun, don’t be stupid, ect.. Then it was time for practice.
Pretty shot of the Husky pre-practice.
I was stoked for practice, the fraction of a mile of pavement I had been able to ride the Husky to make sure it was in good working order was not the preparation I had wanted heading into a race. I had also never raced motocross of any sort, I have always claimed to be a woods guy, and have a few hare scrambles in the C class under my belt. With the bike warmed up I dawned my chest protector and helmet and headed to the start point. I pulled to the back of the starting area. I had no intention of trying to warm up with the expert riders on bikes that might have been only a few years newer than my 1972 Husky CR400, but the technology on the evo class bikes (1974-1980 and unlimited suspension travel) dwarfed what my Husky offered. I will say it was an impressive lot of hardware present. I would guess there was at least 100 bikes waiting for the green light to run the track. I have seen dirt bikes of this number before, but normally modern era stuff, not vintage and post vintage (evolution). It was everything from mid 1960s Euro bikes to 1980 vintage Japanese stuff there was even a v-twin Harley in the mix. When practice finally started I waited for the guys chomping at the bit to tear off and started my bike up to get a few laps in. The torque this bike puts down is impressive, from I am guessing about 2k it starts pulling like a tractor until it runs out of steam at 7kish. I guess the shocking part is not the fact it pulls low, but it pulls like a two-stroke (which it is) from so low without the huge two-stroke hit at the end. After the first few turns and table tops I am starting to get the feel for the bike. The new tires are biting good and I know I pulled the front wheel off the ground a few times going over some of the crests. After each turn I was feeling more and more comfortable on the bike. It didn’t really feel like any other dirt bike I have owned, but I guess if anything it was vaguely reminiscent of the 2006 Triumph Scrambler I had abused off road a few time. Just for the fact the suspension was lacking, don’t get me wrong I mean vaguely, the Husky is a lot lighter and felt a lot more sure footed. After I finish the first lap and start getting into the second on I am really starting to feel good on the bike, then the motor dies.
I pull off to the side of the track and try to refire it, but the kicker is doing nothing. I am not talking about the bike does not want to fire, rather the kicker is not moving the piston. I can tell it is moving the transition, so I push it back to the truck. On the walk back I am trying to figure out what could have failed, going through my knowledge of motorcycle drive trains. I figured the motor wasn’t seized since the transmission still was functioning with the kicker and a seized motor would mean the kicker would not do anything. Back at the truck I grab the shop manual and drop the tailgate of the truck and start to look at the parts fiches. I figured baring splitting the cases the problem would be under the left side case cover, so I get to work on that. The sun is out now, I can see it is going to be a beautiful day, but I am more worried about getting this fixed before practice is over, or at least before my first moto. I drain the oil and remove the cover in what I felt was a respectable time. I find the nut that holds the gear to the crankshaft that moves the power from the crank to the gearbox sitting at the bottom of the case.
The gear and nut in question are the ones all the way to the left meshing into the clutch basket.
The gear and shaft that it mounted to were both tapered, so since I lacked the proper tools to do this I used the best method I could think of. I wiped both parts down, then tapped the gear with a dead blow hammer to seat it. I got lucky and had a penny in the cab of my truck to stuff into the gear then proceeded to torque the nut down as much as I could, I think the torque spec was 90nm. After that I tried the kicker and could feel it was moving the piston, awesome I am still in the game! Get the cover back on and dump some oil back into the cases. Try to kick it and damn it is hard to kick, a lot harder than before. The big dumb animal in me came out and I jumped on the kicker like a retard, after a few tires I stopped winded and thought some. I pulled the plug to check the plug and clear out the motor. Still kicked a bit hard, then went back to normal. Hmmm, soft seize maybe? Then I check for spark, there was none. Try another plug, still no dice, change the plug boot (the one on it was old) no love. I skipped over checking the coil even though I brought a spare, and went right to the right side cover and the flywheel. Sure as shit the flywheel ate another woodruff key.
Game over in my hand.
Sitting on the ground after a good and semi effective effort (one problem was fixed) at fixing the bike, with the sounds of practice dieing down I admitted defeat. Strangely I was ok with it, not angry at all, even with all of the mid-night oil I burned this past week and the large chunk of money I had spent to get the bike ready for this race. Not to mention the fact I dropped $25 on the gate fee and another $45 for entry fees I got only one lap of practice in. Deep down with all of the sins and signs of a rough past I knew I should have checked the motor over better, but I ran out of time and rolled the dice, and went down swinging. With a silent promise to myself that I will be ready for the next race and I will just watch this race sitting in my riding pants and boots.
As I was settling in sitting on my bike stand to watch the races one of the guys parked by me wandered by and ask if I was going to get it running before I had to race. I admitted failure and explained what was wrong. His buddy came over too and mentioned that he knew someone who might have one, and I should just walk around asking everyone with a Husky or any Euro bike with if they had a spare woodruff key for a Motoplat flywheel. They walked around with me introducing me to people and helping me canvas the area. End of that still no part, it really isn’t a trackside repair type part. I did realize that this was a really cool group of people, everyone was friendly and I believe they were honest when they were like “If I had on I would hook you up.” At this point I call off my friend that was on his way down to watch me race and settle back down into my bike stand with a bottle of water to watch the races for a while.
One of the guys that helped me look for a woodruff key (I cannot remember his name for the life of me) came back over and said “I have an old Yami 250 in the trailer if you want to race it.” I was a bit stunned, and said yes, not worried when he proceeded to go though the things that were wrong with it, little things like shagged out tires and hates to start or idle. With a new spring in my Alpinestar Tech 6’s I wander over to the tower to change the classes I wanted to race and the number I would be racing under. The lady working was super helpful, and even asked someone else to help figure out what two classes I would be able to fit into, since some of the evo amateur stuff was running on the same moto. I ended up getting into the 250 Evo Am and the -40 Evo Am classes. I guess this type of thing is pretty normal for vintage racing, I know I heard at least one person when I had wondered through the pits talking to someone about how one of there bikes were broken and they needed to change classes. Anyways with that I jogged back to the truck to get geared up again.
Not sure what moto they were up to I ride over to the start gate and wait for my first moto (250 Evo Am) to be on deck and go to the gate. This is where I finally got the race feeling in my stomach, the little bit of nerves and stuff. I sorta laughed to myself that I was lining up on a bike borrowed from a complete stranger to race my first VMX race. When I get up to the gate I look down the line and realize I am the only one on a four stroke trail bike, everyone else is on proper two smoke mx bikes. The gate drops and I get a pretty good start in my mind, edge out the Husky to the left of me before the first turn. On the first lap I was able to pass a few people and get used to both the track and the bike, I could feel myself getting a little faster towards the end of the moto. I ended coming in 8th that moto our of 15 riders on the gate.
After heading back to the truck to grab some water I make it back to the gate with not much time for my next moto (-40 Evo Am) this time there were two classes racing at the same time, but I was still the only thumper there. When the gate dropped I came close to looping it, forgot about the concert pad under the starting gate and got a bit too much traction. Once again I was able to make a few passes on the first part of the first lap. The bike I was on just could not match the power of the two smoke bikes out the gate. By the second lap I found myself behind a Bultaco. It turned into a good battle, or it did to me at least. I kept trying to pass and he kept closing the door. On the last lap I was able to get on the inside of him on a mild turn, but was passed back the next turn. That was the way I finished up, behind the Bultaco, on his back tire coming out of the last turn, but the short straightway from the last turn to the finish didn’t leave me enough to pass him. I knew that coming out of the turn, since during the other laps I had to wait until the turn to pull him in again.
After this I headed back to the truck to wait to go again, it was a nice long break as I was racing on motos 12 and 16 out of 19 motos. Waiting and drinking water it was fun watching the other classes. The little kids were a lot of fun to watch, it was like the adult racing but slower, it was so cool to watch on kid on a XR50 pass one on a XR70. The differences in speed and riding style between the classes was cool to see too, the vintage bikes were slower in lap times, but the straight line speed I think was not to far off from the newer stuff. The racing was just as fierce no matter the class, clean racing but still lots of passing, late braking into turns to shut the door, drag racing down the straight aways, and all the other things that make racing a good time. Racing lines were a lot different too, vintage cut the turns tighter, while the evos were clearing the table tops in the faster classes. I also took this time to walk around the track and watch the lines other people were taking. I noticed during my first set of motos that I was taking a different line in some spots and now I was taking notes where other people were passing and such. I was determined to be more aggressive in my second set of motos and try to get a podium.
I head back over to the start area for my second round of motos. For the 250 Evo Am I ended up taking the same gate I had for my first moto, figuring it work good the first time so I should stick with it right? I felt my start was good, I was able to stay on line with the bulk of the pack until about 3rd gear on the drag race to the first turn. The bike I was riding didn’t have the power to beat anyone I was racing in a drag race and I hit my brakes earlier than I probably should have going into the first turn losing a few spots. I was able once again to pass a few people on the first chunk of the first lap. If memory serves me right by the second lap I was pretty much running in my own bubble or there might have been someone else I was running with that I was not carrying the speed to actually pass. I could tell I was riding faster, and going a lot further when I was jumping onto the table tops, I think I was not hitting the big table top by the start at least on gear up from what I was doing at the beginning of the day. I dropped the bike on one turn towards the end of the last lap, but was able to get the bike back up without it stalling or getting passed.
I make my time at the truck shorter this time being as I almost missed my start last time. By a few turns in I find myself behind the same Bultaco again. I am determined to pass him this time. One the first lap I realize he is blocking me on a few of the inside lines I have been using to pass people most of the day. Quickly the white flag is out and I am really dropping the hammer. After going wide on a few turns in the tighter sections and not being able to pull the ground I go wide and stay on the gas on a big sweeper on the back of the course and get by him. A few turns later I look over my shoulder and he is not breathing down my neck. With a few turns to go I am feeling pretty good, I knew he wasn’t even in my class but it still felt really good. As I head over the big hill two turns away from the finish I see the yellow flag is out, someone went down. I pass the downed rider on the second to last turn then proceed to drop my bike on the last turn. I managed to stall it too. I can see the finish like less than 25 yards away and the bike does not want to start, I though about trying to push it across the line even. I get passed by both the formerly downed rider and the Bultaco before firing the bike and crossing the line. Looking at the scores later if I had not crashed I would have been able to pull third for the class (they combine the score for both motos), but it didn’t matter it was still a blast.
At the end of the day the whole event was awesome. I am sure I missed some details in my account of it all, I know there was more passing and stuff, but so much of it blurred together into a big blob of awesome. The people were great, racing again was a lot of fun, the track was nice, and I could not have asked for better weather. Speaking of the people, besides getting loaned a bike to race on from a stranger everyone seemed more than willing to help each other. I didn’t worry when I left my toolbox sitting open when I had to rush to the line for my first moto after getting a bike to ride. When the racing was over I even saw on guy go and make sure another racer who beat him didn’t think was mad at him when he was swearing in his helmet after the race, he was just mad at himself for having a bad race and told the kid that he had done a great job. I had heard good things about this series, and I was still blown away in a good way. At the end of the day I finished 6th out of 15 racing in the 250 Evo Am with 8th place finishes in both motos and 5th out of 7 racers in -40 Evo Am finishing 5th in both motos. I am really happy with those finishes being this the first time I raced any sort of motocross or vintage race, and all on a bike down on power that I had never ridden. I can not wait for the next race in a month, I am going to start the total tear down of the Husky motor this week and get parts on order so I will be ready for the next race. I have some ideas as what might be wrong and want the warm fuzzy that everything is correct, and there is not any other loose hardware.
The information about the series can be found here: http://www.siegecraftnw.com/hammer.htm. When they get the results up I was racing under number 95, next race I should be back to 603.
