I had my very first official road race weekend with AHRMA this past weekend at Road America. The little stock Pantah 500 proved to be one hell of a machine. It was the model of reliability, and there were only two things I had to do to it besides gas and checking tire pressures. I had to change rear sprockets, RA is a LOOOOOOOONG track, and I had to move an exhaust clamp that was scraping. Other than those things it performed flawlessly.

Friday was a practice day in which I was getting a feel for the track. Saturday was my first race in Vintage Superbike Middleweight. This class consists of bikes 1982 and older, OHC twins to 790cc's, pushrod twins to 890cc's, and 4's to 685cc's. Most of the bikes I was going up against were kawi gpz 550's and kz 650's, a beemer r75 or r80, and a Yamaha Seca. So as you can tell I was definitely down on horsepower compared to my competition. In the Saturday race I finished 6 out of 7 bikes and was turning 3:25 lap times. Not great, but I was just happy to be out there.

On Sunday however, things really clicked in the morning practice sessions. I dropped 10 seconds a lap and started turning 3:15's. The Sunday afternoon race was quite exciting. I took 4th out of 8 bikes and beat two very seasoned racers on a kz650 and a gpz550. I was quite proud of the Pantah. As you can imagine I had to ride my butt off because the kawi's had me on the straights but the Pantah was better in the turns.

This coming weekend is Grattan and I can't wait.

Dave

Congrats on a great weekend!
Gratten is an amazing place to run a pantah!!
Good luck!

That's awesome, good for you! Have a great time at Grattan.
Bill

Thanks. I have been watching videos of ARHMA races at Grattan and I must say that I agree with Huit. I think the Pantah will be right at home there. I will let you guys know how I do.

Dave

Hey, Dave - congrats on the first outing! Huit's right; Grattan's a blast and favors nimble bikes. Bring a selection of gearing though - the front straight is surprisingly long. Vid of my old F1 (853) back on '05 or so.. http://youtu.be/_H8u8MkN3oE

Grattan is crazy! Up, down, off-camber, the hump, and the bowl...that was like nothing I have ridden before. It was definitely well suited to the Pantah. I could use another day on the track to really get a good feel for it.

Friday was a practice/track day. If was chilly, windy, and overcast. Mid to low 60's F, so the track never really heated up but still had good grip.

Saturday was race day with totally different weather. Bright sunny day in the mid 70's F. Perfect! Things were really working well in the first practice session, I was doing 1:44's and 1:45's pretty consistently. Which for a stock 500 was right on par with other bikes of similar weight and power. In the very next session after me, a Harley sportster proceeded to dump oil through every corner of the track, and of course it was right on the race line. Clean up took 2 to 3 hours. Practiced resumed for the remaining 3 groups after me, but instead of our normal 2 sessions before racing everyone got one. Not good....tire pressures were way different than the day before and I did not have the second session to see the results of my changes. Plus the track was extremely slippery after the oil. I had the last race of the day, so I had practice at 9am and then I raced at 5pm. My rythym was all off. I managed another 4th, but I was very dissapointed in my performance....I just did not feel comfortable, the front end was pushing and sliding in a couple of corners.

I did not race on sunday, I went home saturday night so I could spend Fathers day with my family. So while I still need more time on track, I can understand why so many people call this their favorite track. It is definitely growing on me.

For Fathers day, my wife reserved a campsite down in Alabama so I can race at the Barber Vintage Festival. Lots of details to work out, but going to the 2012 Barber event is what planted the vintage racing seed. Ever since I have wanted to go back and race there.

Dave

Dave, there are a group of us going to gratten on the 30 and 31 of July for 2 days, lots of track time if you are interetsted shot me an email.
Glad you liked the track!
Congrats on your 4th
Paul

Paul,

Pm sent.

Dave