Randall Washington, aka "Randakk"
President and Chief Executive Rider
Chapel Hill, NC USA
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Dennis at Willow Springs (photo courtesy of Dan Cummins) Report by Dennis about his 2010 Race Prep (late February, 2010): As I write this there are four weeks left to go before the first race of the 2010 season out in Phoenix. My '82 silver CB-F and '74 green Kawasaki Z1 are ready to go. Only the black CB-F is on the bench, victim of rounded dogs and a worn shift fork for 5th gear. My parts store (also known as e-bay) didn't have affordable replacements "in stock" until January and now work is underway to repair the transmission and do a few small upgrades - a Dyna right side ignition where the alternator used to be. It's grafted off a Z1 and replaces the oil bath stock Honda ignition that doesn't work well in a race motor at high RPM. I'm also installing slightly larger front discs; up from ~11" to ~12". Last year went pretty well; my only complaint was that instead of winning two national titles I came in 2nd overall in both. I won both SuperVintage and Historic Vintage Heavyweight regional class championships plus a local class championship in SuperVintage and ended second in the local Historic Vintage heavyweight class where I DNF'd in two races on my Z1. I finished every race on the Hondas - a first for me! My worst finish (besides the DNFs) was a 4th at Willow Springs with every other race event was a podium - which is pretty darn good! I was pleased to be there and disappointed at the same time; if you're third you want to be second, and if you're second you want to be first, and if you're first you want to be… faster! I guess that's why some people race, eh? I competed all over the US in '09 starting in March with races in California, Alabama, Utah, Arizona, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Michigan and Utah. I drove almost 11,000 miles dragging my bikes around and was pretty wore out by the time the season ended in November with me racing in 40 sprint races over the course of multi-day and multi-class events; 6 nationals, 4 regionals and the rest local events. In 2010 it'll be almost as full a year as the previous year. I'll be doing 5 nationals, 4 regionals and compete in a total of 36 sprint races, down just 4 from last year. Because of scheduling conflicts I'll be doing one less national and one of the national events conflicts with a local event. Given the wonderful track and atmosphere of Road America it wasn't a difficult decision to decide to drive out to Wisconsin but it'll be hard if not impossible to win my local class championships missing that one local race event. For some reason, I don't think the local guys will miss me, though! I will participate in all four of the regional events so I'm hoping to do well in that series. The five national events this year will be at Portland, Oregon (my first visit to that track), Road America in Wisconsin, Miller in Salt Lake City, Barber's in Alabama, and Grattan in Michigan. That'll give me the 10 races (one on Saturday and another on Sunday) in the two classes I compete in to put me in contention for the national titles again - provided I do well! The national series only looks at your top 10 finishes and drops the rest, so if you do poorly in one race you could theoretically "replace" that race by attending another national event and doing well there. I'm looking forward again to all the help and support that Randakk will provide though his sponsorship and a place to document the trials and tribulations of racing. Last year was great - almost. I hope this year is as good, or better! Winning everything… Yeah… Cross your fingers! Mine are. Dennis
Report by Dennis about his 2009 Race Prep (late February, 2009): The beginning of race season is right around the corner, and it's time to dust off the cobwebs! I had to do a lot of prep work on my race bikes to get ready for this season. On the Honda front I'll be campaigning two Hondas. In order to differentiate them, I'll just go by the color of the bodywork. One is silver with blue stripes; the '82 scheme that everyone remembers from Freddie Spencer's exploits. The second bike is an '81 black scheme with the two orange stripes of the 750 model. I tore both Honda engines completely down and went through them to see what might need attention. I'll also be running a couple of Z1 Kawasakis. Here's some of the preparation: The silver Honda is a 985cc motor based on the long-stroke 900F engine with cams, smoothbore carbs and some reliability modifications. When I tore it down in the off season I found the transmission had a couple of gears needing replacement because the engagement dogs were worn. Those were replaced with parts from a CB1100F transmission which has undercut gears. I'd broken two cam chain tensioners early in the engine's race life, and the newer style CB1100F tensioner I put in a couple of years ago looked fine along with both cam chains. The rod bearings were bad and needed replacing. New ones were put in along with a new crank and rods. Everything else looked fine so I reassembled the engine and made sure everything was in spec. It was started up last week and sounded great. It's now loaded up in the trailer. The black Honda is also a 985cc motor very similar to the silver bike. Slightly different cams are the only difference. It was also tore completely down and gone through. The good news was everything looked excellent - except for the rod bearings. A new crank, rods and bearings were also put in this motor. I had been experimenting with a dry ignition driven off the alternator side of the motor, but the crank needs to be machined for that plus I'm getting tired of bump starting the Hondas so I reinstalled starter motors on both bikes. That required a starter clutch which wouldn't fit under the previous HRC flat ignition cover so that side was "de-engineered" back to stock. The motor is already in the frame and should be running in the next day or two before it's loaded up. My first race of the 2009 season starts in Phoenix the weekend of February 28th. Last year the season began at this same track, and I fell on my left shoulder on cold tires during my warmup lap separating my left shoulder. I finished the day with a win and a 2nd in the vintage classes and a 7th in a modern class called 'Thunderbike' on my vintage Honda but my shoulder's weakness and pain bothered me rest of the year. After physical therapy and strengthening exercises it's good to go for this year! The Phoenix track is small and tight, not a good match for a big 460 pound vintage superbike ridden by a big guy on skinny tires. However, I'm still hoping for a good finish. I'll send along my update after the event. Wish me luck!
Fierce Pair of DOHC-4 Hondas! Please read: Disclaimers For more information on the use of material from this website, click here. |
