Hey all. Well my 350 twin has returned to the race track. Friday 1 P.M. after a few months of work in a secret mountain lab in the Appalachians I pick it up from the tuner. Derek has done what seems to be a wonderful job bring it up to race spec and putting as much zip into the 30+ year old putter. Friday 9 P.M. finally I finish safety wiring, belly pan fabricating, packing, and cursing. !0 P.M. sleep. 3 A.M. wake...wired, pre race adrenalin. 5 A.M. up, coffee, bagel, Maryke and I are on the road to VIR again. 7:30 at the track, the geriatrics and derelicts are manning the toll booth again, their most used phrase is "huh." 8 A.M. pull into the vintage pits and hear "nice Honda." Does the soul good to hear a compliment on the bike. 8:15 registration, torture, I believe I'm the only one who has purchased a transponder in advance. The wait is forever!!! 9:30ish after tech I'm on track having never ridden the new incarnation, and with a bit of reserve drive into the first corner on a very cold Virginia track. It feels wonderful, sticks to the track, even though I'm at a slow track pace it's much faster than the street and the bike feels so smooth. We are still breaking things in, so to speak, and I keep it at 8k for the most. Second practice, more familiarization, but the 350 tops out quickly on the front straight. Lunch. Derek insists we slap a new clutch in between race 1 and 4. No prob he says, and does. I presoak the plates in a Honda parts bag and play surgeons asst for the quick change. My first race is the bump up to 500 gp. I'm front and center row 1 in the middle. The green goes up, bikes scream a gaggle goes into turn 1 and just for drama someone looses a number plate. It always tests your cool to decipher flying parts threat level at speed in a pack of bikes bent on being first into a corner. So we all sort ourselves out and my immediate competition is a 250 Ducati and a V2 Honda 350 two classes above me. Great freaking fun, several passes and repasses. I set the Ducati up coming out of turn 6 and motor by him on the short back straight. Next lap he shows me a wheel on the inside at the top of the roller coaster and I let him in...I just don't do the defensive thing. He accelerates and rams John on the 350, wobble, wiggle and we all continue through the roller coaster and out on the front straight. Great race. Now my second race, 350gp, my class. Same deal the three of us jousting for position, me from row 10 this time! There is lots of competition, the popular V1, hot rodded cb350 class is also on grid and the attrition rate is high, by the second lap someone has over cooked the uphill turn 7 and is climbing up out of the dust, a RD400 has clutch problems and waits out the race in the 4-6 combination. But the three of us still muddle through the course. I'm feeling much more comfortable with the bike, she is as broken in as much as possible, (it's 75 miles at near full tilt right?) and I take the Duc again on the back straight . Next lap (?) he passes me in 3 so hard he begins a rear wheel slide, catches, and it seems like the highside is at hand. Fortunately all is well, except for my wife who has witnessed the near incident . I repass the Duc and put several seconds between us. Now I'm close on John's rear wheel on the last lap keeping up much better with the more powerful bike and he overcooks turn 3 and runs wide, I take the opportunity and comfortably putt by on the inside, push it for the rest of the race and keep my position. I'm ecstatic at all the fun. It doesn't get any better than pushing yourself and competing on these old bikes.
Now's here's a special treat I learned after the race. Chris Marshall somehow discovered a Honda 350/4 that was raced by a DuPont and put up in 1980. It still has antique "Meet me at the Point" (Summit Point) stickers. All they did was change oil and rubber and ran it. A very cool machine! Italian bike fans...big Benelli's on the East coast soon! Next race April 17th at Summit Point, WVA Steven Barber SOHC4 , WERA # 106 350GP '70 CB 350 race bike- '75 CB750F - '81 CB650 - '82 CBX - "Avoid trifling conversations" - Benjamin Franklin
