Awesome racing weekend !

It was a very short notice but we were able to race with 3 mopeds thanks to the Latebirds guys. There was me with my peugeot 103 rcx, Carson with his Tomos A55 and Brian with his peugeot 103.

Also thanks to the spectators from Apple Valley Ryan and Curtis, Colby from Orange county and a group of Latebirds members, Jamisin representing the Daggrs who video taped the first race ( we’re still working on it ).

The good thing about joining a racing club is that they already rent the track, organize the race, have insurance, officials, medical assistance…. I’m realizing that it’d be hard to start our own moped league by ourselves and make it a successful event.

The results:

First race:   1st Christophe – 2nd Brian – 3rd Carson

Second race:  1st Brian – 2nd Christophe – 3rd Carson

We spoke with Josiah the owner of  SCminigp race club about starting a moped class next season 2011. They host 9 races a year every month and have room for 2 or 3 moped classes. He wants to meet with the moped community at Choke next month to work on the schedule ( # of races ), the fees ( between $ 40 and $ 60 race day ), classes and rules, etc…

If the race becomes a success in Southern California he would create a moped race in Northern California and have us meet twice a year half way at the Buttonwillow track.

After talking with our group this weekend it sounds like people want 2 separate classes.

People like the idea of having a non variated cheap class so that anybody could race their stock Tomos or puch with stock 50cc  cylinder (the cheapest) or maybe a 50cc kit, with a 15 carb max, and a pipe ( choose your gearing, suspensions, breaks…). That way, new Tomos owner wouldn’t feel left out,  they could still have fun on the track competing with each others and afford to race.

The second class would be for the variated bikes but it’s a little complicated.

I personally want to keep it “cheap” and fair with the french bikes Group 1 class but I also realize that not everybody has a moby of peugeot frame to build a 50cc bike from scratch and would rather show up with their 70cc street bike already built. I also don’t want  the monster derbis and honda hobbit left out of the competition either. We also have Jeff’s derbi from Choke ready to race in LA. And if the race starts in February would we have enough people able to build a 50cc Group 1 bike in 3 months ?  The bottom line is that we need bikes on the track to make it a race.

So it seems like people want to keep it open like at the Polini cup with 70cc max and have 2 races within the race. In other words, let the big guys battle up front with their monster mopeds and big budget, and the other ones with their cheaper 50cc french bikes Gr1. I was able to keep up with Brian’s 103 70cc this weekend, so unless Tony shows up with his 2 monster Derbis from Northern California, the race should be “fair” and exciting.

I also talked to Keith from Polini spi-parts.com and they would love to carry more of the Doppler moped parts for us if we decided to build mbk and peugeot Gr1 bikes. They love the brand.

Also:

I’m planning on going back to Grange’  track next weekend…. so come and race me !

There’s an other GP series owned by Young Lee who wanted to host a moped class a while ago. I want to go check it out and see what he would have to offer us. I’ve heard there are more adults and less kids. But I need to call him first today. I’ll keep you posted on the blog or moped army if it happens or not so that you can get your bikes ready.

PHOTO GALLERY

Pics of race track, riders meeting, pocket bikes, 50cc – 65c – 100cc  2 stroke – 150cc 4 stroke GP bikes, our mopeds, and some great pics showing an example of the wire and catch bowl safety rules thanks to Rod’ and his Aprilia RS 50cc.

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