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‘It was probably a harbinger of things to come’ I silently thought as I was patted down by the U.S. Air Marshall. Despite all my best intentions and planning, I had missed my flight from Phoenix to Charlotte, and was looking very likely like I would miss practice at Kershaw, South Carolina, Home of Round 1 of the AHRMA/Battle of the Twins National series the very next day. I cringed slightly at the sound of latex gloves being snapped on and reminded myself this was vacation and I was supposed to be having fun. I bit my lip and watched the clock tick down past my departure time as security swabbed every piece of electrical calibration equipment in my laptop bag. After being deemed a minimal threat to national security, I was allowed to try and sprint to my (closed) gate conveniently located at the furthest remote point of the America West Phoenix airport hub. After sweet talking my way onto the already closed airplane, I finally relaxed a little, and smiled at the thought of the incredible weekend in store….

Being the lucky person I am (?), I had reserved a flight with America West, which it turns out merged with U.S. Air the same week I was scheduled to fly direct from Phoenix to Charlotte. I was scheduled to arrive at 9pm, in plenty of time to meet Leah driving down in the van with the Buell's for the short drive to Kershaw. I arrived at the airport with an hour and half to spare. After being guided by a sweet retired grandpa type through the wrong line for 40 minutes, the blue haired octogenarian bastard (who I’m sure I was stuck behind going 32mph in a 50mph zone earlier in the week) then misguided me again to another wrong line…it turns out America West and U..S. air had a very smooth merge, except for 3 flights that were still under contract to U.S. air for the remainder of the week (lucky me being recipient of a ticket of one of those flights….). Despite the America West wording on my Ticket and confirmation letter, I was actually supposed to go to a U.S. Air terminal. After finally getting to the right line, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had missed my original flight, and now had to take a connection through Atlanta arriving in Charlotte at midnight. OK, not the greatest deal but still workable. Oh by the way, you have 13 minutes to make it through security and through the gate! After standing in security line for 15 of those 13 minutes and badmouthing the airline very publicly in an exceptionally loud cell phone call, I was mysteriously picked for ‘additional security screening’. See above for that ordeal.

After a fairly smooth flight to Atlanta, my midnight arrival in Charlotte suddenly turned to 2:30 am as my Charlotte connecting flight promptly broke down on the ramp. GRRRRRRRR. Despite the early morning arrival, it never felt as good as to get out of an airlines grasp and into our race bike hauler Leah had driven down from Milwaukee that same day. We arrived wired on caffeine at our hotel in Kershaw at 3:30am local time, surprised to see Dale, owner of the 450 Honda I ride, awake and upright sitting in his truck. Apparently he was ready to go on a search and rescue mission for us. We crashed hard at the hotel for a couple of hours sleep before practice started at 7am the next morning.

For the first time in years, the weather in Kershaw was great, with highs expected to be in the mid 70’s. I was extremely excited and was scheduled to Ride Bob Foist’s awesome Honda 350 race bike, as well as Dales CR450 and my own Buell. Bob, Jeffro, and Dale had driven down from Iowa/Indiana the days prior, and are about the best vintage race team anyone could ask for. I am honored to be able to ride their beautifully prepared Honda twins. I had also packed my BOT Formula 3 XB9 fire bolt for Leah to ride (we didn’t get her SL175 Honda done in time….), as well as my old faithful twin carb Buell tube framer for my Battle of the Twins race. I had struggled quite a bit last year during back to back races going between the ultra-modern handling XB Firebolt I campaigned and the vintage Honda’s. I decided to minimize the adjustment necessary and revert back to my battered and war weary old tube frame Buell, which felt like slipping on an old pair of weathered blue jeans. With three back to back races on three different bikes scheduled for Friday’s national, it turned out to be a good plan.

Friday’s practice went well, if not a bit busy running 3 out of 4 classes every session. It turns out practice was very useful, as we discovered ignition and jetting problems on Bob’s 350, and a shifting problem on Dales chrome molly frame primary ‘A’ CR450. The Buell was running great (as long as I kept fuel in it…no comment), and felt perfect around the stop and go Kershaw circuit. By the end of the day, all three bikes were running great and ready to race, despite us having to revert to our ‘B’ CR450 with smaller engine and stock frame. Leah was quickly adapting to the XB9 and looked great riding it. An early night was in order after the lack of sleep and long practice day…

Orloff (#74) politely signals
for left hand turn at start of 350 race

Friday dawned to beautiful sunshine, if not slightly cooler weather. We managed to get through practice in one piece and prepared for 3 back to back races. The 350 race was up first with a loaded field, including local southern fast guy Eric Cook. I had a crappy grid position on the last row, but Bob’s meticulously prepared CB350 housed in a trick Benelli frame made up for that, and we had had the lead by the end of lap 1. I put my head down and rode as hard as possible, expecting Eric to come through any moment. After 4 laps, I looked back and saw we were running by ourselves, so I backed off slightly to save it for Daytona and was able to take a great win! Eric had dropped out before half way through the race with a blown oil seal, so although we did well here, I was a little cautious with my optimism for Daytona, where horsepower is king.

I immediately hopped on the CR450 for the next race, which we were starting from pole. Again, we had a strong field with Peter Politek (aka ‘Dutch boy’) on a trick Seely G50 from Europe and Bruce Yoxismer on his Matchless, tough customers both. The first two laps were a big dice, with all three of us taking the lead at one time or another. ‘Dutch boy’ took a slight lead by lap three, leaving Bruce and I to have a fun dice until he ran off the track, effectively handing me 2nd place. We didn’t have anything for Politek, so cruised home for our second podium of the day. I was happy. Dale was happy I didn’t crash his baby.

My final back to back race was on the Buell, again starting from the last row. I got a great start on the beast and entered turn 1 in 3rd place. I tip toed around the first couple of corners as the bike slid around on cold tires (I haven’t invested in tire warmers….yet). Once the tires heated I put the hammer down and got the lead before the end of the first lap. If ever there was a track for Buell’s, this was it. The tracks stop and go nature playing perfectly to the Buell’s corner exit strengths. I stretched my lead to a full straight away and was just enjoying the ride, when the rear end suddenly kicked out on a left hander. Hhhmmmmm…I had just gone through some oil sumping issues with the bike with a failed oil pump the year before, and the thought of oil on my tire crossed my mind…but damn it! I’m in the lead! The next 3 right hand corners felt fine, and as I blasted up the straight for the next left hander, I had convinced myself I didn’t have a problem. I tipped the bike in to the left, and as quick as that, I found myself sliding along the ground and the Buell tumbling along side, throwing off carburetors and other assorted expensive components. My chances of a double win quickly evaporated as we came to a harmless stop. Later inspection revealed the starter had backed out, oiling down the rear tire with 50 weight primary oil. I hate oil.

Italian throttle to a Japanese carb
on an American bike in a boatyard…piece of cake.
Jeffro and Leah at work after Orloff Buell customization

The next few days were spent traveling to Daytona and collecting Buell parts on the way. A big thanks to Fellow competitor Stan Friduss and crew of Stan’s Moto-Guzzi of Gainesville for the rare twin pull deTomassi throttle and cables (does this mean my bike is now a Buzzi?) , Glen Veatch for the parts to put a carburetor back together, Jeffro, Leah, Dale and Bob for the 2 day long Buell rebuild in a boatyard, and Mike Chapman for the use of his boatyard Ormond Boat works. The Buell ended up functionally better than new, if not a little uglier (if that’s believable).

Saturday was a bit of a surprise as we won the Bob Hansen award for outstanding performance on a GP Honda in 2005. I have had the opportunity to get to know Bob Hansen and to get this award in his name is an incredible honor. Much if not all the credit goes to Dale and Bob for preparing such great race bikes. Thanks to the Naughtin’s and Team Hansen for the award as well….

Team Ohio State at Tech

Sunday’s Daytona tech went well with all the bikes passing easily. We were able to hook up with a bunch of friends and generally had a great time. I was super excited to get to Daytona and see what we could do.

The AHRMA Daytona national runs a twin sprint two day format, but no practice days. Practice was limited to two 15 minute sessions prior to racing. Day 1 started off horribly, when I suffered major brain fade and took out fellow competitor Mike Mathews in 350 practice. I felt like a jackass, but luckily Mike is a great guy and accepted my apology. Damage to me was nil, and just light damage to the bike, the worst part being missing the opportunity to practice and get gearing right. The short time I was out there I knew we were in trouble, as we didn’t have anything for Eric, Buff, or Steve Brown on the long Daytona straights, and I wasn’t sure I could make it up on the infield against such great riders. 450 practice went pretty well, although again I saw we were down on horsepower to the trick Manx’s and G50’s running at Daytona. A little gear juggling and we were set on the CR. Then there was the Buell….

This ex-factory race bike had never been lacking for power and I was excited to see what it would do around Daytona. It was a little intimidating to say the least, to go out for practice on cold tires, on a bike that just pitched you down the road, at the fastest motorcycle racing track in the world. I took the route of discretion being the better part of valor, but the Buell had different ideas. I went out for my first tentative lap and everything felt great, so I nailed it coming out of the chicane on the banking for the first time. Compared to the vintage bike, everything suddenly went into fast forward as the bike rocketed forward to 150mph. the slightly annoying bumps on the banking on the Honda were huge G-outs on the Buell, slamming my tucked in helmet into the tank at every pavement seam. My neck was sore trying to keep my helmet up from the G force generated on the banking. My suspension bottomed on every bump, sending the rear wheel into the air…and I was having the time of my life! I approached the tri-oval wide open throttle tapped in 5th gear when the bike suddenly dropped a cylinder. It would be more accurate to say it dropped a carburetor, as the combination of 140+mph breeze and heavy G-force ripped the right side carburetor from the intake. My precious first practice session was limited to 1 lap, and I hadn’t even scrubbed the tires in yet. I heard the moto-guzzi guys laughing as I passed their pit in shame running on one cylinder, one carburetor dangling from their borrowed throttle cable…

Mistake #2 occurred as the bike stalled as I got to my pits, and with the engine already off, I failed to turn the ignition switch off. We Safety wired the carbs onto the bike to prevent them from going anywhere, and thought we were home free, looking to make some good laps next session. Unbeknownst to me, the total loss ignition battery was happily draining away the whole time. Practice #2 obviously went pretty poorly, as the bike did manage to run, but just barely, and we only made 1 lap at about ¼ power on the nearly dead battery. Not a great way to prepare for a race. Hopefully it would charge in time.

First race up was on Dales CR450, which we had a front row start with next to ace rider Pat Mooney and his incredible Norton Manx. I wish we could say we had something for him, but he rode very well (as always), and he and Dutch boy left us once they hit the banking for the first time. Although the race was fairly uneventful, we had a pretty good run and beat the rest of the field to take 3rd spot on the podium. Anytime you can get on the box at Daytona is a good day, and I give all the credit to Dale and his bike! It did nothing wrong, was super reliable and easy/fun to ride. 3rd place was the best finish for a Honda for a number of years, so we were ecstatic with that. I gave the trophy to Dale as he really deserved all the credit on that one.

Dale ‘Moonpie’ Coffman sleeping with the enemy

Next up was the 350 race, I was a little concerned about our competition, as some of the fastest riders and bikes in the country were assembled. My suspicion of our perceived lack of power based on running with these guys in practice turned out to be true, as the leading three 350’s crept away as we hit the banking, despite putting Bob’s beautifully developed chassis and brake to the test through the infield. We managed to beat some of the faster bikes and came home in a respectable 4th place, so we were pretty happy with that! We learned a lot about gearing and engine set up this year, so next year promises to be a different story…

The last race was the on Buell, with another wonderful last row starting spot. With a grand total of 2 whole laps around Daytona on this thing, I had resigned myself to just going out there and having fun. I got a decent start and made it up to 6th place exiting the infield, being cautious on cold tires. I totally blew the chicane entrance however, as it was the first time I had seen it at race pace, and had to weave through the hay bales, re-entering in 11th place. The Buell was running awesome however, and I picked off three bikes in the draft. As the tires warmed, things just kept working better and better, and the bike was running flawlessly. I moved up through the field, making a last pass on the white flag lap. I took the checkers and pulled off the track, really enjoying the ride. I noticed a lot of the pro-Harley crowd were waving and giving me the thumbs up. I found out later that I had made it all the way to second place, and Harley-Davidson finished 1-2 with the Daytona Weapon from Sundance in Japan taking the win! Definitely check out Sundance’s web site…really cool guys who build some incredible stuff: http://sundance.co.jp/

The Tuesday sprint races went equally well, with similar results to Monday. I parked the Buell and didn’t race it as it was sumping a lot of oil in practice (I hate oil….) and I suspect I scuffed a cylinder on a cold start up, so that was a little disappointing. We repeated our 3rd place finish on the 450 and 4th on the 350, as well as a 4th place in the sportsman 500 race on the 350. Although that elusive Daytona first win escaped us again this year, it was an incredible two days of racing and about as much fun as you could have with leathers on.

I’d like to thank the following for all the support:

Bob Foist – Builder of the worlds best 350 Honda

Dale Coffman – CR450 builder extraordinaire

R/J Performance – Great sponsors of our CR450 effort

Jeffro – The best mechanic ever to put on a pair of flip flops

Leah – Possibly the coolest chick this side of Danica Patrick (maybe better since she’s into bikes)

Mike Chapman/Ormond Beach Boat Works

Glenn Veatch – Buell Tuner to the stars…..and me.

Buell Racing – Henry and Jamie for putting up with my endless tube framer parts request!

Ed/Alice Milich/Guzzitech.com – Fellow Ohio State Buckeye, for all your Guzzi needs

Stan’s Moto Guzzi crew – super nice people and unknowing supplier of Buell throttles

Wiseco Piston – A….probably need a Buell piston after this!

Cometic Gasket – See above

Advance sleeve - See above

Spider Grips – Awesome grips, awesome motorcycle people

Vanson Leathers – visited the ground twice in one weekend and still look great (leathers, not me….)!

Torco Racing oil – I hate oil….except Torco.

Fuel Café – Racer Scott Johnson’s place

Café Lulu – Center of all moto-counterculture in Milwaukee