Best VMD in Years!

My only complaint was that I went to
Signup only to find out that my 84 yz 250 can't race the post
Vintage hare scramble. Would
Have to race it against 96's. Either the bike is post vintage or it's not. It is legal in Evo 3 in mx but not hs? Doesn't make sense.

Luckily for me my dad has an 81 that he let me race and I ended up winning the 201-250cc A class in the hare scramble. That layout was a blast. It was a little slippery lol but what can you expect with all the rain we have had. Aside from the rules issue on my 84 I had an awesome weekend!
 
Yeah the PA system is pretty weak there at Mid-Ohio. They only use it once a year when VMD happens.

I'll add a FM Transmitter to my 2016 Wants list. On that list I already have a PW50 Youth class, more signs for directions (for instance, Staging signs, stay off track signs, etc.), I want a structure for going over the top of the finish line.
 
If transponders were free to rent, would you want to use them?

or is it stupid to have transponders on Vintage bikes? Thoughts?
 
I agree with everyone else on the track layout, Its' the best I've seen at VMD and running the track in this direction had a better flow...very fun! The jump into the stutter bumps was cool, a number of corners were much wider to allow more lines for passing and the small step up double in the middle was easy but fun. Initially, I wasn't a fan of the 3 moto format but it did come in handy with Saturday having perfect weather and Sunday being rainy...at least with the split days, everyone got a chance to ride at least one moto with good weather.

If I had to think of something that could be considered constructive criticism, that would be related to the start being in a lower area that didn't dry out as well as the rest of the track and that the mini-chicane first corner allowed for some bottlenecking of riders as you essentially navigated through 2 first corners rather than 1. I also personally liked the old start position better as far as viewing and easy access.

Job well done to the AMA and thanks Alex for keeping us all in the loop heading up to the event...great job!
 
I am going to try and get out of the swap meet next year and do some racing. Finally have a few vintage legal bikes ready to race.
 
Alex on the transponders if they're free I am sure nobody would object. If anything I think it might help your scoring crew more than us. Am I right in that this is not a regular function for them? Someone told me your mom was helping out-if so that is pretty cool. You'd probably need to get a deposit via CC or something for it though. I don't think anyone, or many, would actually do it on purpose but some might drive off and neglect to send it back unless they were out money.
 
Another happy customer with a big thank you to the AMA, Alex, and all the people that helped make this a magnificent event!

I really appreciated the format, the efficient execution, and the fun!!! I could tell the event staff was having a lot of fun as well - it showed in their enthusiasm, engagement with the riders, and positive attitude through-out the weekend.

Impressive PitRacer turn out and it was great to catch up with friends and meet some more PitRacer aficionados. Kevin and Ben (KRH) - nice meeting you.

Positives
  1. Pre-posted accurate time schedule for races - let me watch a lot of racing and not worry about keeping track of the race order. I just needed to be on time for my races and it worked great.
  2. Class combinations and race order - really liked the organization of the classes - I got to see some very competitive races and fast guys.
  3. 3 moto format - as John said - gave everyone the best opportunity for good race weather, extended that post race euphoria and anticipation fun factor for a second day of racing, liked watching vintage races and post vintage races.
  4. Track - great layout and track maintenace
  5. Post Race Interviews - fun to hear and fun for the winners
Suggestions
  1. Re-establish the vintage/post vintage series. 1 event is fine for VMD event champions but I don't think it is a substitute for the series.
  2. PA system was difficult to hear. As suggested an FM transmitter would be very nice.

Looking forward to next year.
 
Echo what Dano said --- I usually just blow off Saturday and wander around aimlessly spending money and never watch the "vintage" racing. With this format I was basically forced to participate in paying attention to vintage races that I normally wouldn't have, and I enjoyed it.

Transponders -- I really don't care. I own one already. If the cost was minimal or free I can't see how people could complain. Kind of ironic though --- "vintage" bike racing with electronic scoring...haha.

Class suggestions -- I think it would be really cool to get some youth classes put in there for kids to race on old XR75's and dual shock XR80's. For many of us growing up those were the hot thing. Then also some 80cc classes for the 2 stroke MX bikes like KX80, RM80, etc. I would start with adding those before adding in PW classes.

Watching some races with fast kids on XR75's could be the highlight of the weekend!

The whole series thing was cool, and I'm glad I raced it for several years. I just don't see how it can work though -- as we discussed before the AMA is not a promoting body and they simply can't manage a series like that. At this point I think growing some regional races like Monster Mountain and others (how about tying into Red Bud Vet Fest with an AMA Vintage race?) and then having the Mid Ohio Championship race is the way to go.

BTW this year ended my streak of 6 straight AMA National Titles! I have won a class in either MX or HS in 2009, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and this year I could only muster two 3rd places! I'm retiring with RV!
 
I agree with Pit, watching kids riding vintage mini's would be so cool ! I got excited watching the 125 class, think I'll try and build one. Mini's would be off the hook!
 
Had an interesting VMD 2015. My racing plans went awry but a good friend of mine bought my 1982 CR250R to race there. It is a bike I totally built from the ground up back in 2007 to race AHRMA Post Vintage classes. I ran it in Florida, Michigan and at Mid-O in 2008 (actually is in my avatar from that race) but when I moved south in 2009, it sat in a barn here in Ohio until I moved back.

I ran into my buddy Brian Belsole at an auction I was at a little over a month ago and he told me he wanted to race VMD but had no bike. I told him I would let go of the 1982 and he was all over it. Well, he waits until a week before VMD to come look at it, ride it and load it up. It hadn't really been ridden in 6 years and was stored dry before pulling it out. It had a small leak in one water hose that I mentioned he should replace.

So, he puts about 30 minutes on it and his track at home. Mentions that the drum brakes suck (they all did if you compare to a modern disc braked bike like his KTM250) but all was well power and suspension-wise he said "for an old bike".

Practice Friday was sloppy but he was roosting mud, and being a GNCC guy, liked the track. I am up on the spectator hill when he comes through, I hear the bike at a million RPM as he pulls off the track. Go down to check it out and he said the spark plug backed out. So off I run to the pits to try and grab a plug and wrench (Thanks for the quick service Mosher and advice Mooch!!) I get back, and we notice one cylinder base stud snapped off, causing the base gasket to blow out and cause enough vibration to back the plug out. He was like "WTF!. I told him old metallurgy is fickle sometimes. At 5 pm I am ripping through the swap meet looking for a gasket set to no avail.

We do a campsite teardown and fortunately the piston wasn't scarred up, we improvised a base gasket fix right before dark and fired it up. She runs again.

He was in moto 7 & 9. First race, got a bad start but worked up to 2nd in his class but then yard sale'd it on the big sweeper. Second moto was E3, got another crap start that was red flagged due to a gate malfunction, then promptly had another awful start but hauled a$$ and made a last corner pass to win. Now the rad hose is leaking like a fire hose and we are having to top it up between motos. You could smell the glycol as he passed every lap.

Second race of moto 7, he gets a good start (even ahead of Evomx and his KTM!) and is doing well until tucking the front end and going down to basically write off that race. Moto 9 for the second start, got off nice but it was red flagged due to a downed rider on the start. Re-start was a disaster, back of the pack. He blew through everyone and went on to win. With the 3rd motos cancelled he came away with his first Number 1 by winning both moto 7 races.

He was stoked. Still says the bike has no brakes and the power is like a light switch. I told him "Welcome to Vintage bike racing". He is hooked.

p.s. I yelled out to you NQ as you walked by but you and the missus were engaged in a discussion and didn't hear me. Great to see the other PR folks having fun (Vet261, DMX153, Mosher, the Babet's, Matheis, Smitty). Missed catching up with some of you guys (Stanford, Dano, NQ) as I turned out to be working on the bike most of the time we were at the MX track.

p.s.s. The impromptu flat track racing was pretty off the hook Saturday night in the campground.
 
Vet261 said:
Echo what Dano said --- I usually just blow off Saturday and wander around aimlessly spending money and never watch the "vintage" racing. With this format I was basically forced to participate in paying attention to vintage races that I normally wouldn't have, and I enjoyed it.

Transponders -- I really don't care. I own one already. If the cost was minimal or free I can't see how people could complain. Kind of ironic though --- "vintage" bike racing with electronic scoring...haha.

Class suggestions -- I think it would be really cool to get some youth classes put in there for kids to race on old XR75's and dual shock XR80's. For many of us growing up those were the hot thing. Then also some 80cc classes for the 2 stroke MX bikes like KX80, RM80, etc. I would start with adding those before adding in PW classes.

Watching some races with fast kids on XR75's could be the highlight of the weekend!

The whole series thing was cool, and I'm glad I raced it for several years. I just don't see how it can work though -- as we discussed before the AMA is not a promoting body and they simply can't manage a series like that. At this point I think growing some regional races like Monster Mountain and others (how about tying into Red Bud Vet Fest with an AMA Vintage race?) and then having the Mid Ohio Championship race is the way to go.

BTW this year ended my streak of 6 straight AMA National Titles! I have won a class in either MX or HS in 2009, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and this year I could only muster two 3rd places! I'm retiring with RV!
Click to expand...

With all those national titles does that mean you should have moved up to expert by now :) Heck around 2010 or so . . .
 
AHRMA361 said:
Had an interesting VMD 2015. My racing plans went awry but a good friend of mine bought my 1982 CR250R to race there. It is a bike I totally built from the ground up back in 2007 to race AHRMA Post Vintage classes. I ran it in Florida, Michigan and at Mid-O in 2008 (actually is in my avatar from that race) but when I moved south in 2009, it sat in a barn here in Ohio until I moved back.

I ran into my buddy Brian Belsole at an auction I was at a little over a month ago and he told me he wanted to race VMD but had no bike. I told him I would let go of the 1982 and he was all over it. Well, he waits until a week before VMD to come look at it, ride it and load it up. It hadn't really been ridden in 6 years and was stored dry before pulling it out. It had a small leak in one water hose that I mentioned he should replace.

So, he puts about 30 minutes on it and his track at home. Mentions that the drum brakes suck (they all did if you compare to a modern disc braked bike like his KTM250) but all was well power and suspension-wise he said "for an old bike".

Practice Friday was sloppy but he was roosting mud, and being a GNCC guy, liked the track. I am up on the spectator hill when he comes through, I hear the bike at a million RPM as he pulls off the track. Go down to check it out and he said the spark plug backed out. So off I run to the pits to try and grab a plug and wrench (Thanks for the quick service Mosher and advice Mooch!!) I get back, and we notice one cylinder base stud snapped off, causing the base gasket to blow out and cause enough vibration to back the plug out. He was like "WTF!. I told him old metallurgy is fickle sometimes. At 5 pm I am ripping through the swap meet looking for a gasket set to no avail.

We do a campsite teardown and fortunately the piston wasn't scarred up, we improvised a base gasket fix right before dark and fired it up. She runs again.

He was in moto 7 & 9. First race, got a bad start but worked up to 2nd in his class but then yard sale'd it on the big sweeper. Second moto was E3, got another crap start that was red flagged due to a gate malfunction, then promptly had another awful start but hauled a$$ and made a last corner pass to win. Now the rad hose is leaking like a fire hose and we are having to top it up between motos. You could smell the glycol as he passed every lap.

Second race of moto 7, he gets a good start (even ahead of Evomx and his KTM!) and is doing well until tucking the front end and going down to basically write off that race. Moto 9 for the second start, got off nice but it was red flagged due to a downed rider on the start. Re-start was a disaster, back of the pack. He blew through everyone and went on to win. With the 3rd motos cancelled he came away with his first Number 1 by winning both moto 7 races.

He was stoked. Still says the bike has no brakes and the power is like a light switch. I told him "Welcome to Vintage bike racing". He is hooked.

p.s. I yelled out to you NQ as you walked by but you and the missus were engaged in a discussion and didn't hear me. Great to see the other PR folks having fun (Vet261, DMX153, Mosher, the Babet's, Matheis, Smitty). Missed catching up with some of you guys (Stanford, Dano, NQ) as I turned out to be working on the bike most of the time we were at the MX track.

p.s.s. The impromptu flat track racing was pretty off the hook Saturday night in the campground.
Click to expand...

Your buddy about took me out in the second plus 40! moto, he was going to get t bone but fell before I had the chance and damn near took me out again.
 
AHRMA361 said:
Had an interesting VMD 2015. My racing plans went awry but a good friend of mine bought my 1982 CR250R to race there. It is a bike I totally built from the ground up back in 2007 to race AHRMA Post Vintage classes. I ran it in Florida, Michigan and at Mid-O in 2008 (actually is in my avatar from that race) but when I moved south in 2009, it sat in a barn here in Ohio until I moved back.

I ran into my buddy Brian Belsole at an auction I was at a little over a month ago and he told me he wanted to race VMD but had no bike. I told him I would let go of the 1982 and he was all over it. Well, he waits until a week before VMD to come look at it, ride it and load it up. It hadn't really been ridden in 6 years and was stored dry before pulling it out. It had a small leak in one water hose that I mentioned he should replace.

So, he puts about 30 minutes on it and his track at home. Mentions that the drum brakes suck (they all did if you compare to a modern disc braked bike like his KTM250) but all was well power and suspension-wise he said "for an old bike".

Practice Friday was sloppy but he was roosting mud, and being a GNCC guy, liked the track. I am up on the spectator hill when he comes through, I hear the bike at a million RPM as he pulls off the track. Go down to check it out and he said the spark plug backed out. So off I run to the pits to try and grab a plug and wrench (Thanks for the quick service Mosher and advice Mooch!!) I get back, and we notice one cylinder base stud snapped off, causing the base gasket to blow out and cause enough vibration to back the plug out. He was like "WTF!. I told him old metallurgy is fickle sometimes. At 5 pm I am ripping through the swap meet looking for a gasket set to no avail.

We do a campsite teardown and fortunately the piston wasn't scarred up, we improvised a base gasket fix right before dark and fired it up. She runs again.

He was in moto 7 & 9. First race, got a bad start but worked up to 2nd in his class but then yard sale'd it on the big sweeper. Second moto was E3, got another crap start that was red flagged due to a gate malfunction, then promptly had another awful start but hauled a$$ and made a last corner pass to win. Now the rad hose is leaking like a fire hose and we are having to top it up between motos. You could smell the glycol as he passed every lap.

Second race of moto 7, he gets a good start (even ahead of Evomx and his KTM!) and is doing well until tucking the front end and going down to basically write off that race. Moto 9 for the second start, got off nice but it was red flagged due to a downed rider on the start. Re-start was a disaster, back of the pack. He blew through everyone and went on to win. With the 3rd motos cancelled he came away with his first Number 1 by winning both moto 7 races.

He was stoked. Still says the bike has no brakes and the power is like a light switch. I told him "Welcome to Vintage bike racing". He is hooked.

p.s. I yelled out to you NQ as you walked by but you and the missus were engaged in a discussion and didn't hear me. Great to see the other PR folks having fun (Vet261, DMX153, Mosher, the Babet's, Matheis, Smitty). Missed catching up with some of you guys (Stanford, Dano, NQ) as I turned out to be working on the bike most of the time we were at the MX track.

p.s.s. The impromptu flat track racing was pretty off the hook Saturday night in the campground.
Click to expand...
That was a hillbilly roundup....not a flat track....i could smell that coolant on the line in moto 9. I thought it was me. I checked my bike over and over'
 
It always amazes me just how fast some of you guys still are. (I say this honestly and respectfully).

My 1st 40+ moto went bust due to my bikes mechanical issues, but that gave me initiative to push harder in my remaining races.

While burning off my race videos to DVD last night, Nancy and I could both see that I'm riding much more aggressive this year, than previous. I'm off the seat more, diving in and sweeping corners faster, charging harder in the straights, etc. But a lot of the time I'm almost by myself in my track area with nobody in sight. And when I cross the finish, you guys are already in the pits soaking your bare feet and on your second beer.:rolleyes:

As racer726 said..... There's always Next Year!
 
Perhaps I was a little mad, most likely a good thing he went down, with my luck I would have try to take him out and went down myself.
 
AHRMA361 said:
First race, got a bad start but worked up to 2nd in his class but then yard sale'd it on the big sweeper.
Click to expand...
Good to see Brian at MX races again, I haven't raced him in about ten years. That bike though....man...."race ready" at its' finest! haha

Just a point of clarification though --- if he worked up to second before crashing that would have meant I was in the lead because I was told he was trying to catch me when he crashed. LOL
 
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