Norcal club events and racing?

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TracyRatRod

New Member
Nov 11, 2012
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Tracy CA
I've been looking for this kind of event for a while now!
Just joined the forum and deffinately looking forward to meeting and racing some MB.
Just give me a time and place and ill bring out some of the guys here in Tracy
 

16v4nrbrgr

Active Member
Mar 17, 2012
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North Bay
Great! Thank you for letting me know there are riders up here, keep it coming with suggestions and stuff. If we have another Indian summer where it gets really hot for a couple weeks that would be an awesome time to have a GTG this winter. It has been pretty bitter at night here, getting close to freezing, so I haven't ridden after work in days. Gonna need to pick up some winter gear, I'm not used to the windchill factor!
 

JackShaft

New Member
Oct 10, 2010
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Auburn, Ca
Here is my idea. Check out Pleasant Grove, CA 95668 on Google maps. This area is like it was 50 years ago. Very low if any traffic. The is a small restaurant in Pleasant Grove.
Pleasant Grove Rd starts at Baseline RD west of Roseville goes to Wheatland.
Some of you may want to ride along the Garden Highway from where I-5 crosses the Sacramento River to Nicolaus and from there to the Pleasant grove area. There is a large private camp ground right on the Sacramento River. If you don't want to get run over by traffic the Pleasant grove area may be the place to go.
 

JackShaft

New Member
Oct 10, 2010
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Auburn, Ca
Hi Aleman

I live North of Auburn.
Are you talking about Pleasant Grove Road (Pleasant Grove) or Pleasant Grove Blvd (Roseville) being dangerous?
I did not mention "Pleasant Grove Blvd" (Roseville) and would never drive a motor bike in that area.
 
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JackShaft

New Member
Oct 10, 2010
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Auburn, Ca
Hi Aleman

My back road path to the Sacto airport from Auburn is: Joeger Rd to Mount Vernon to Wise Rd to HWY 65 to 9th (Nicolaus Rd) in Lincoln to Nicolaus then take Garden HWY to the airport. If you are in an car in the summer there is a Fruit-Vegatable stand about 2 miles north of Nicolaus on HWY 99. The prices are great.

One of these days I want to trailer my bike out to the Pleasant Grove area during the week and drive it. The are too many hills, curvy roads with no shoulder in Auburn. HWY 49 in my area has a bike lane though.

Have you ever explored Forty Mile Road in the Wheatland to Olivehurst Area?
 

16v4nrbrgr

Active Member
Mar 17, 2012
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North Bay
So you guys wanna try doing a GTG next month sometime? I think Berryessa would split the distance between the North, South and East Bay, and it should be a leisurely pace along the water.

I haven't had a chance to pursue the racing thing, but there is open track time available on days the kart track is down at Sonoma. I guess they're doing mini GP bikes like YSR/NSR, Aprilia, Derbi, and mini motards pretty often. Unfortunately we'd get mowed over by these guys who are skilled and have mega HP, so we need our own sessions or trackdays separately. Without a club of some sort and preregistration to make it a sure thing it can't happen.

Perhaps the first thing would be to start the club, spread posters, have a site, then try to get the racing going once people actually want it. If anybody in SF would like to help please let me know, the moped scene there could really fill in the ranks to give the racing a jumpstart. Pocket bike GP has fizzled out, so maybe trying to couple with their events would be good for us all.
 

JackShaft

New Member
Oct 10, 2010
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Auburn, Ca
Hi Aleman

I have a 4 stroke with a sic bikes jackshaft + 7 speed bike. It is still slow up hill. I have never driven it on a flat road. In Auburn it's slow uphill then coast downhill while worrying about some idiot running over me from behind.
One of these days I will go to your area and drive it. I had a shoulder operation last month so it will be awhile. Maybe I'll have a car follow me and block traffic from behind.

I'll have lights soon. I have a moped tail-stop light and a glass lens moped headlight. Both use an 1157 type bulb. I have 1157 LED bulbs on order.
I am installing a 12 volt 7 amp hour sealed lead battery from Amazon.com which came with a charger for around $24.00. I will make a battery box out of 1/4" plywood and on install it on the back rack. I already have a stop light switch installed.
 

16v4nrbrgr

Active Member
Mar 17, 2012
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North Bay
I dunno, where would be a nice central place to ride? I was thinking Berryessa because its flat and nice and central but I'm open to suggestions.

I need to find out if I'm working a auto racing weekend in Norcal the same weekend as the next races. If not, then I can go.

I'd like to have racing up here, but I need some serious interest and people willing to take on some of the tasks like at an SCCA autocross where it's a volunteer driver run activity and therefore entry fees are kept dirt cheap.
 

16v4nrbrgr

Active Member
Mar 17, 2012
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North Bay
I have a running gas bike now, anybody down for a GTG? I wish I could go to the next socal race but I have to work at a race weekend up here in Sonoma.
 

16v4nrbrgr

Active Member
Mar 17, 2012
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North Bay
Okay, since I know of an impromtu venue for us to use the kart track, but the biggest thing lacking is involvement right now, I'll just post the opportunity:

Sonoma Raceway Karting Center, karting/(super)moto open track days:
http://www.jimrussellusa.com/programs/karting/calendar

Fees and rates, expect $40 for a half day.
http://www.jimrussellusa.com/programs/karting/motorcross

The biggest thing of importance here is that your bike must have excellent acceleration in order to not be in the way of 125cc centrifugal clutch karts and 125cc four stroke supermotards which I expect to be the majority of the traffic on open track days since they are the most popular machinery.

If you're dangerously slow they will kick you out, if you do not yield to faster traffic (blue flag with yellow diagonal stripe) you will be black flagged and if you continue to block it will result in getting kicked out, since the karters are usually out practicing for the championship on test days.

Some test days there aren't anybody else out there, so it could easily turn into a full on motorbicycle race! If we got enough serious regulars it would be quite easily to rent the track out exclusively for the whole day. The Russell Racing School is hurting for money these days, and so is Sonoma Raceway after that Infineon sponsorship lapse, so I'm sure if we approached them about next year's calendar with about $1000+ of prepaid open track day for a group of riders, we could carve out a day in the schedule.

Of course there are other karting tracks around the area for recreation and racing, and if we had enough people already signed up, we could prolly race on Scandia's kart track at their amusement park in Rohnert Park.

Another idea, which involves no money or approval really, would be to have a open road rally, since our bikes top out below the speed limit most places we could compete on the road as long as we observe the laws of the road, which are set above the limits of a motorized bicycle in many places, like say the West Marin coastline, which would make a beautiful setting for a road rally. All we'd need is a couple pickups and a toolbox and some extra gas to follow up and make sure nobody gets abandoned.

I would like to start NorCal motor bicycle racing in this informal manner, as more of a get-together with track access.

Instead of trying to build a huge event out of nothing, how about we build up a group of new friends who are serious enough to continue to put in effort and practice and become involved and make a racing association. I would like to use a volunteer system similar to NASA or SCCA where everyone has the opportunity to become involved in the administrative process of the organization and the financial data is fully disclosed to all members of the organization.

At this point I'm not concerned about winning or losing or the racing competition, more so in just getting the few motorized bicycle riders and moped enthusiasts out of the woodwork to collaborate and see if anybody else would like to join efforts and make a democratic racing association much like the club auto racing associations I currently race with in NASA and SCCA, which both have good and bad points, the good points of which we can model after.

In order to make all discussion from all members relevant I propose that all group discussion be done at rider's meetings and in open threads here on this forum. I think that if every bit of club organization is done in a public and transparent manner, versus a network of phone calls between unnamed individuals, all members will have their voices be heard and there will be a public record which can be accessed for later discussion at any time.

Transparency in their administration and rule enforcement is one reason why NASA has become the emerging leader in club auto racing, all racers are deemed important and their concerns are addressed in a public forum manner. I enjoy running my formula car and saloon customers in NASA, and would like to use their organization as a model for Motor Bicycle racing becaue it has been so successful. All the people tired of the overly officious, contradictory,whistle blowingly totalitarian rule of SCCA go to NASA, where they are valued as a consortium of racers who collaborate to improve the experience to further the advancement and enjoyment of the sport.

Get involved!
 
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