Lake County, IN Fair Arenacross
I have to start by saying that I have been disgusted and frustrated with my Dale all summer and most of the spring. Now, with that said, until last Sunday night, I was still feelling that way. I traded my YFZ after last year's Fair race for $5500 and an MX cannibal. After collecting parts to improve it's MX capabilities all winter I thought I would have a good summer of riding and racing. That was not to be. I rode it once for practice in April and raced to a second place in the A class at a Dist. 15 Grand Prix race. The very next time I went out on the thing I locked up the crank. Not so bad, right. I mean now I have an excuse to put in a stroker and new piston and liner, etc. It took me a few weeks to get my $ together, I get all the parts and put it together and go riding. Now I am excited. Most of my best races and results came while riding an '02 Moto that Wistech now owns and I was very excited to be back on a Dale. I made it 10 laps at a practice track before it crapped out again. I had all kinds of wild theories about what might have gone wrong and all of them were wrong. 1 bucket stuck and started a chain of events that ended with only Timbo's stroker crank being good. The head and everything in it were destroyed, the piston had a valve through the middle of it and the liner was cracked. Used head, new piston, new liner, all set. I get it all together and it pumps oil straight out of the airbox breather. We call Wistech for advice and he just happens to be 20 miles from the shop where I work on the quad and offers to stop by and help. He was on his way to Timbo's house and Karma decided to drop him on my doorstep. By this time I am ready to pack it in. It is Thursday night at 10:00 and I am supposed to race this quad Sunday and Monday night. Wistech very quickly diagnoses the problem and offers to stay all night with my boss, Elkapower and help get this thing going. Even though I am bummed out to be taking it apart yet again, I can't disagree with Wistech's and Elkapower's enthusiasm. We get the engine out and the sidecover off and find that I left a drive pin out of the scavenge pump gear. Problem solved and Wistech is able to get back on the road to Timbo's and everyone is happy. Except my wife maybe, seeing as how I didn't get home until 2:00 a.m. Fast forward to Saturday. I am going to go and shake this thing down so I can race Sunday. I make it 1 full lap, very sketchy, and the 2nd lap I go double, double, double, and on the third one I didn't have the speed to make it and nose into the top of the landing. Quad goes end over end 3 times and beats the crap out of me in the process. Tie rods are bent in half, stem bearing cradle is crapped out, but she is still running while upside down. Now, it didn't seem to have the power, but I foolishly thought "Maybe the motor is just tight and needs to be broken in" and that it would get quicker as the day went on. WRONG. As it turns out, when I tried to load Animals map it didn't take and we changed the fuel settings to accomodate the map. Quad was flat until about 7500 RPM and just wouldn't get out of it's own way basically. My boss, Elkapower, helped me out Sunday so I missed Sundays race but when he was done with it it was back to breathing fire like I remember them. On to Monday. I signed up for +30 only, due to funds availability issues. I would normally sign up for A also. I raced the qualifier in +30 and pulled a monster holeshot and ran away from 2nd place. Track was awesome and the whoops were nice and long. This was where I made the most ground on everybody. As I am riding through the pits after the race, I see a guy who owes me $100 for parts from last year and the first thing out of his mouth is "Hey I got your money". Music to my ears. I go sign up for the A class and I am too late for the qualifier so I get last gate pick. A Main is first. I line up 6th out of 6 and against my better judgement I do a first gear start. The track was very tacky and I didn't want to stall. I come out of the gate 4th and the race is on. I get the 3rd place guy with a block pass in the first lap and the 2nd place guy got passed in the whoops (my favorite part of the track). By this time 1st place is gone and even though I am catching up, 5 laps around a short track is not enough. 2nd place=$100. +30 is a race among friends. I have to tell you that there are some fast +30 guys in my area and nobody wants to lose. They are mostly former A riders who have been put out to pasture but are still very fast. Same old story, crappy start. In my defense, my daughter had just raced the moto before me and everybody was lined up on the line waiting for me. No excuses though. I started third and only needed a few turns to get around second place. Now I have to reel in my buddy Steve. I catch him on that same lap and close up to his rear tires right at the end of the whoop section (my favorite, remember?) and go for the inside line. He gets around just beforte me and the race is on through 2 tabletops before the next turn. I get the inside line for the next turn and I stall it. Wouldn't you know it? I get going and get one more opprtunity to show Steve a wheel and unfortunately just can't get it done. I am happy with a couple od seconds for not riding since May, but they both slipped away, which is frustrating. I have to say that I would not have been able to do this well without John(Wistech) and Henry's(Elkapower) help. I will be returning the Dale that I own to some race tracks in the future and hopefully win some races. Thanks.
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cannondale27
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- Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:41 pm
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dalewannbe
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- Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:41 pm