Trip to the USA.

[JAP 454]

There's time alright, Steve, I just can't get the Handbrake off !!!
Foss

[VMX247]

Love ya work Peter and Colleen.

hijack:anyone at the Southwick,MA on 11th August for the AMA ?
cheers

[JAP 454]

From our Travellin' Two this morning,









Hi Y'all,
After Ashland, we went back to a bloke we meet last year in Ashland and DuQuion, he runs the dummy grid for the AMA and as every racer knows you got to be his friend. Dave and Jean live waayy out in the country and are really really great people, they have several bits of property for hunting and self sufficiency. Dave had a son who raced, made it to pro status by eighteen, raced 3 times as pro before being sadly killed in a roll over. After a couple of days we had the sad story from Dave and he showed me the bike from 1989 that Don rode (he also has the Rotax 600), descibed the the day before he died, where he competed in Springfield in great detail.I had tears rolling down my face that morning.
Really great people, we met the whole family,sad to leave.

The last pic of Dave with his hand out sums up the bloke.

PS on the way to Rushmore.

What a moving yarn, it just show's to go , it's not just the Racin" , it's the People ! , thanks for that Pete and Colleen,

Foss

[JAP 454]

Just came in for lunch and found this note and pix from Ashland from Pete and Colleen





Just a quick note to say our mate Tim Hagar (fastest one-eyed flattracker in the US) is OK and his back is healing well, thats him with Ziggy, a really great racer (pro), they had a modern race for the pro's in Ashland. It is really nice that they pay attention and respect to the older guys over here.

Ziggy only rides the one way as far as I have seen high and wide, carries a huge amount of corner speed and makes an XR look even quicker.

Foss

[JAP 454]

Pete and Colleen have been travelling about and meeting some of the locals,

There's a bear in There

We made it to Yellowstone,spending a lot of fuel money, and we were rewarded with a real life,in the wild, Grizzly. What a buzz, he stayed forever, digging grubs.
Seen all the others, bar a moose, but we seen one last year.
All is good and I have conned Colleen to return to Sturgis, to compete in short-tracks on Monday and Tuesday nights, half-mile on Wednesday.
It should give me more of a chance on the smaller (eighth mile) circuts as our bikes are down on power compared to the competition.
Colleen is rapt as it is her birthday on the 7th and it is just what she wanted to do, Ha.
Seeya



The Sturgis meet run by the Jack Pine Gypsies is a big event with a huge history since 1938, it is really run by the MC racing club, the short track was put down in 1962 and the Half mile is from the 40's reworked and moved around 4 times but great read on the history of the event, there are bikes everywhere (as there was last week before we went to Yellowstone), they had 600,000 here in 2000 and the word is 700,000 this year, they are staggering numbers mate.
Seeya.



Hi all,
Done the first night at Sturgis short track, 3rd in heat and 3rd in the main. Heat race was the usual 2nd row start and rode well to finish 3rd, gave me a good position for the final (main) and got the perfect gate, lead for 5 laps until 2 fast guys ran me down and had to settle for 3rd place.
My bike is number 17, pics are from the heat race.
Stugis is huge some 650,000 people have come and it is a great spectacle, we ran into filming of American Pickers, got very close to Frank and whatshisname.
Hope to do better tonight, may be riding the twin in an event.

Seeya

Racing Dirt Track in the States, Yellowstone, and making it to Sturgis !! I'm jealous !!!

Foss

[JAP 454]

Here's the latest from Sturgis

Hi All,
Just a quick update, 3rd in the second short track meet in Sturgis (same as the first nite) and third in the Half mile on Wednesday again in Sturgis.
Bit sick of third but all is good and hopefully do better in Kanzas in a couple of days.

Pics are of the little short track (fastest speed clocked was 68mph, Chis Carr,last year).

New mate with bigger trophy, one Mark Erickson.

Half mile pics from lap 1, then lap 2, then it just got worse. (the big Yamahas running flat slide carbs, clearly not vintage, but this is an "outlaw" event and anything goes.

Me with the wrong trophies (should be first), never mind, met Rob "Buggs" Pearson, the people that were so kind to Michael Kirkness when he campained last year.

Thanks for the update Pete and Colleen, thirds or not, I'm still bloody jealous, give 'em heaps mate !!
Foss

[VMX247]

Third....your names going down in the history books in  Sturgis USA.    Well done to you.Some of the west aust vmxsidecar pilots attemded Sturgis in 2010..Mecca gathering as you mentioned all kinds of strange getups.Thanks for the awesome updates.Safe miles down the yellow brick round to Kansas City cheers

[Shaun G]

The "safety" fence on the half mile track looks ummm interesting 

Cheers
Shaun

[Grasy 6]

Hi Pete ,
I Thought only the Pom's complianed .3rd is great mate on the little bike well done mate now go wash ya face Ol Fart . Hope Col had a great birthday.Give ya wife a peck on the cheek from Kel & me
All the best Grasy(rode the twin at Nepean won it the thing god damn goes just linear power)up along 750 & 650cc engines & left em for dead.

[colmoody]

Is it just me or is Grasy speaking in tongues.

[Curly3]

Maybe a case of too many tongues, Grasy loves a bit of tomgue and even tried to slip me the tongue on Sat night.

[Grasy 6]

Steve ,
The only tongue I would give you is a Honda(ya must of been near by around they camp fire at Nepean when I was giving Ned a kiss) .Cause they are fast & reliable not like that Suzuki stuff.LOL

[VMX247]

hopefully do better in Kanzas in a couple of days

   Hope it all went well in Kansas City.! Always an Aussie winner where ever u place.

[52]

The "safety" fence on the half mile track looks ummm interesting 

Cheers
Shaun

On the short track you could have reached out and touched the riders as the went by, in the pro class, I felt uncomfortable being so close and stepped back a little, there was a couple of big wrecks (crashes) and 4 went to hospital. Probably to tell the doctor they tripped over, such is the health system.

[JAP 454]

Heres the goss from Kanzas

# 31  is Jim Monegan (68 year old pro), the bloke is my hero. Really wanted to do well here in Kanzas, had a good talk to Jim and as every racer knows but needs a reminder at times, you can't win everywhere and you are always going to come up against track specialists that are unbeatable on their home track (you gotta go at them again,according to Jim).

# 33 is Ron Long and me going at it in the heat (Ron fresh from winning the Sacremento mile (vintage) fast and safe). Managed to reverse the finishing order of the heat with a win in the final.
Also won the Open Amateur Vintage on Daves Honda.

What !! No thirds ?? Just jokin', great stuff Pete 

Foss