Czar of Del Mar
Czar of Del Mar
All hail the Ring-Ding King
IT WAS A ROADRACE UNLIKE ANY I’D EVER RUN. THE KING of Del Mar Shootout was a winner-take-all 10-lap sprint, in which tail-enders were flagged off following each lap until only the top two riders remained on track for a final-lap dash for cash. Scoring a top-three finish in any of the day’s previous classes earned a crack at the Del Mar crown.
With an eye on the grand finale, I entered a trio of bikes in four classes. My little armada was composed of a muchmodified Buell SI Lightning, CWs Project Honda CR500 and a 1954 AJS. A diverse threesome to be sure, but not an entirely odd mix at what may well become an annual gathering of modem and classic racebikes.
My first look around the 1.3-mile, 21-turn road course laid out on the paved expanse of the Del Mar County Fairgrounds came aboard the CR500. Inspired by the European supermotard scene, the CR is a combination dirttrack/roadrace project CW has been developing with the aid of White Bros. Its wide bars and motocross seating made unraveling the track’s fast line, woven between buildings, fountains
and statues, as fun-filled as a Sunday-morning trail ride. Although the track surface was bumpy in areas and remained quite slick throughout the early practice sessions, I soon captured its rhythm and had the CR sliding and wheelying its way to victory in the Sound of Singles class.
Racing is no ride in the park, though, the Buell repeatedly reminded me as it tried to headshake its stubby clip-ons free of my grasp over bumps. Far from a standard Lightning, the SI had been race-prepped by Graves Motorsports and Motorcycle Online, a leading electronic magazine on the
World Wide Web. Fitting a steering damper and performing a bit of suspension tuning calmed the SI a great deal, allowing me to snatch a pair of wins in the SuperTwins and BEARS classes.
Racing current bikes may be where the money is made, but riding a classic works racer like the AJS 7R 3A is where the memories live. Thanks to Team Obsolete boss Rob Iannucci-pulling double duty as the event’s promoter-I was treated to a ride aboard the very bike that Rod Coleman rode to victory in the 1954 Isle of Man Junior TT. Unfortunately, I missed the start of the 350 GP race as it immediately followed the SuperTwins class. By the time I had the AJS running and up to operating temperature, the leaders were completing their second lap. But, hey, the old gal was raring to go, so we joined the fray.
Built for the fast open-road circuits of yesteryear, the 7R proved very stable at speed, reaching 80-90 mph on Del Mar’s short straights, yet it was light and agile through the track’s three chicanes. It took a handful of laps to retrain my left foot to effectively apply the rear brake, a necessity with the AJS, as the front drum alone just doesn’t get the job done. I also found it necessary to keep the 350cc Single spinning between 5000 and 7800 rpm, my right foot shifting through only the bottom three cogs of its fourspeed box as the overall gearing was too tall for the tight course.
As the sun drew low, casting long shadows across the fairgrounds, I rolled the CR500 onto the grid for the start of the Shootout. My foremost competition would be Ben Bostrom, a rising young star of the AMA national roadrace series aboard a Bartels’ Harley-Davidson 883. I chose to pit the ring-ding Single against Bostrom’s thundering four-stroke Twin, as it seemed more sporting than wielding a 1200cc Buell against a lesser V-Twin.
Bostrom and I led from the start, running nose-to-tail throughout the race. His 883 showed strength on the straights while my CR excelled at squirting between tight corners. It was a hard-fought battle, which I was lucky to win by a wheel-length at the stripe.
Although only $130 filled the winner’s purse, you might say there was a kingdom on the line. -Don Canet
