What did Dela-ware Boys? What did Dela-ware?        Well, Blue Diamonds of Course!

Blue Diamond Sports Complex, New Castle Delaware, May 20-21, 2006

A View From Between the Handlebars, By Bob Canfield

 This amazing facility was the host for the Northeast AHRMA National MX and cross-country races last month.  The Blue Diamond had it all: Skate Board Bowl, Bicycle Race Course, Four Wheeler Course, Mini-Golf Course, a permanent amusement park and more. What I noticed right away was that every thing was laid out with spectators in mind. You could see just about the whole motocross race course and most of the five mile cross-country course from one spot.

The course was well prepared and watered, so dust was kept to a minimum. Every thing went off like clock work (on time).  The AHRMA people were there doing their usual good job.  Patti Root kept sign-up moving along, and Corky Root oversaw tech inspection to make sure we all played by the rules.  Teddy Landers and his crew do an unbelievable job keeping track of all the times and posting them on the AHRMA web site.   All in all it was a really, really good shew.

For my part, I received the bonehead award for traveling farther than anyone else to get to the race.  I might also add that the promoters were very generous with the awards.  I think that just about anyone who wanted an award got one of

some kind.  In fact I got two of them before the race ever started!  Besides the bonehead award I also received the Cool Bike award for having the coolest bike there.  Cool meaning it was a really neat restored Combat Wombat that had been breathed on by the famous tuner and builder Harry Taylor of Athena, Oregon. Paul Stannard of Strictly Hodaka had it in his museum in Rhode Island and graciously consented to let me ride it at this event.

I got to the race site early Friday and spent the day renewing old friendships.  I had a chance to spend some time with Jim Pomeroy, whom I have known since he was a child.  One of the jokes I like to tell is that I am one of the few people around who can say that I used to beat Jim Pomeroy all the time racing motorcycles.  Yes that is a true statement...! You see Jim was about ten years old and I was about twenty five or thirty...

Saturday morning my sponsor Paul Stannard and I were at the race complex early; I was anxious to see what he had brought for me to ride.  I had never seen this particular motorcycle before and really did not know what to expect.  It was a real beauty and I was more than just a little bit intimidated by it.  I sat on it and it did not feel anything like my old Bad Rock Hodaka.  It felt, well, low and lean.

The first time I got to ride it was the sighting or safety lap around the course before the start of the cross-country race.  I did a slow lap and just looked the course over for danger spots.  This was a totally prepared course and was going to be very fast.  It would be a stretch to call it a cross-country.  They had used just about all the complex to get the five miles distance that was advertised.  I think you could call this race a five-mile motocross or just a hare scrambles. It really didn't matter what you called it.  This was going to be fast and fun...!

We lined up for the start.  It was a Flagman’s Start, and I studied him.  I noticed that he dropped his shoulder each time just before he dropped the flag.  The classes were started one minute apart with the fastest classes first.  I was lined up in the last row with the +60.  They didn’t have a +70 class so I had to race against the kids in the +60 class.  Story of my life (shades of Jimmy Pomeroy;) anyway they were starting the +50 and +60 classes at the same time.  For the first time in a very long time I had butterflies before the start of the race.  Here I was on a motorcycle I had never ridden before and it had just received the Cool Bike award.  I looked around at my competitors and all I could see was big motorcycles: 250's and larger displacement motorcycles.  AHRMA rules are that if you ride an age bracket like +50 or +60 you can ride any size motorcycle you want, and here I was on a little ol’ 125 Hodaka.  Oh, “woe is me.”

 Wait!  Wait a minute!  What is happening to me?  The butterflies are creating a metamorphosis.  I am turning into the Incredible Hulk.  No, no, not the Incredible Hulk; he doesn’t know how to ride a motorcycle.  I’ve got it now.  I’m turning into my friend and legendary hero, three-time winner of the Baja 1000, Malcom Smith.  That’s who I am; I’m Malcom...he-he-he...and I’m riding the Cool Bike!  I’ll show these whipper-snappers a thing or two.  First I’ll dazzle the competition by showing them my trick start.

 I had started the Hodaka a couple of times and noticed that it would start every time on about a half a kick.  All cross-country races are dead engine starts and I love dead engine starts!  I pulled one of my old tricks out of my racing hat and put the bike in first gear with the clutch out and when the flagman just twitched a shoulder as he dropped the flag I kicked the Hodaka and it started and I was almost into the row of bikes in front of me before anyone had moved.  I caught second gear and just about ground looped it!  By the time I got the front wheel back on the ground and quit putting on a wheel-walking show a guy from the +50 class riding a 250 Huskey was in front of me and going into the first corner.

 I was all over the race course trying to figure out how to ride this little bomb.  Everything about it seemed strange and I don't imagine I was a pretty sight to watch trying to ride it for the first couple of laps.  I was keeping the rider on the Huskey in sight and going to school on him.  The Huskey rider was very smooth; I started trying to take his line and things began to get better for me.

The first lap was a real trying experience for me and I don't know how I managed to keep up with the Huskey rider and not crash and burn.  After looking at our lap times I could see that he might have been having some difficulty figuring out the course on the first two or three laps.

Now the fun began...!

On the second lap I had moved up on the Huskey rider and started crowding him a little.  He picked up the pace and we did a couple of laps a little faster.  By now I had sorta figured out how to make this little 125 Hodaka really fly.  I also figured out that the rider in front of me did not make any mistakes and it seemed like he was just a little bit faster than I was.  I also knew that I can follow a rider that is faster then I am and keep up with him, but if I pass him I will more than likely be riding over my head.  I was having fun now and was riding pretty easy. We were starting to lap slower riders and I was watching my chance to get by the Huskey rider if he got trapped by a slower rider.  He didn't make any mistakes; he just passed the slower riders where he caught them.  Corners, straight-aways, jumps or sand washes.  He just never backed off.  I had been bugging him in the corners and letting him know I was right there on his tail.  We got the white flag that signaled one more lap to go.  I had been thinking that if I could get by this guy at the mud hole I might beat him to the finish.  That is exactly what I did.  The Huskey rider had been slowing down a little more each lap at the mud hole, as it was getting deeper and deeper with each lap.  I had been looking at how I might jump the mud hole and pass this guy when the time was right.  The time was right now and when we came to the mud hole the Huskey rider had slowed and was riding into the ditch that was the mud hole.  I moved over to the left side where I had noticed the bank was a little higher and never even slowed down; I passed Mr. Huskey Rider while he was in the ditch.  We had a long straight ahead of us and I really turned it on.  I crossed the finish ahead of the Huskey rider.  I could not believe my eyes; I got another white flag!  I still had another lap to go and the Huskey rider was not to be denied.  He got by me at the next loose corner and he did not make the same mistake at the mud hole again.  We both sailed over the mud hole ditch like it wasn’t there.  I tried him one more time at the last corner before the finish.  I knew from past experience that it is almost human nature to slow down when we see the checkered flag at the finish line.  I thought the Husky rider might just back off a little after the last corner before the finish and I might slip by him.  I almost got him at the finish but he beat me by 1/2 a bike length.

After the race I went over and congratulated the Huskey rider.  He turned out to be Henri Beni from Missouri.  He was riding the 50 and over class and needless to say he won his class and I won my class (60 and over.)  Now that was a fun race...!  We had raced eight laps over a five mile course; Henri's time was 56:42 and my time was 56:44.  I think it was closer than that; our lap times were never more then a couple seconds apart.  I will have to admit that I have never been in a closer race before.

In retrospect I think I’m beginning to understand what AHRMA is all about.  For 56 minutes and 44 seconds while I was racing with Henri I was young again. AHRMA has given me the chance to relive the fun and excitement of yesteryear. For Henri and me, we were in a time capsule and it didn't matter that we were two old men riding old motorcycles.  We were racing and it was close and the competition could not have been better.  Nothing else mattered for about an hour. We were doing something that we loved, and it was good...!

Hmmm, now if I can just clone that Combat Wombat.....?