Hey Audiguy!!

I used to teach block passing in our MX schools. I did not see the incident as it happened but would like to. Was it an honest block pass where he shut the door by cutting across the corner into the opposing berm or did he have the other rider by a bike length and cut him off???? Two totally ways of looking at it. If he took the inside from the outside and used the berm to propel himself back while the other rider was keeping the outside line the whole way through, I see no wrong. Hmmm, I need to see a replay of that.........

 

Beast,
Now you wouldn't intentionally help someone over the top of a berm, would you??????

 

Sounds like bull to me. A block pass should be allowed as part of MX racing. If Kevin stopped in the corner in order to block it is wrong. A block pass is used to shorten the corner and use to berm to propel you back on line. The way I used to do it was:

If while following another rider around the track for a lap or two to watch his lines (if he was holding me up), I would wait for a fast 180 corner. Usually it is quickest to set up and ride the outside berm around applying judicious throttle. But, in attempting a pass here, you pull alongside the rider you are following and angle the bike directly at the center of the berm halfway thru the corner. While he stays outside and rides the berm I dive inside still on the throttle. Just an instant before launching myself over the berm, I grab the brakes hard, throw the bike sideways into the berm while shifting down two gears ,clutch and bring the rpms way up. When I make contact with the berm, I am almost laying flat. I release the clutch with the engine screaming and it immediately launches me back in the opposite direction and back onto the inside line coming out of the corner. I have only been on the berm for a fraction of a second but placed myself in front of the rider who was in front of me at the start of the corner. He must slow to avoid hitting me but since I now have the corner, I own it and he must avoid me. Never, ever attempt to do this to physically hit the other rider and cause him to lose it over the berm. Only attempt it if after following him and learning his line you judge that it is possible. You should contact the berm a bike length or two in front of him but he is riding the berm in a U shape and you have now made the corner a V.

It works in most cases but not all and I have gone over the top of the berm on several occasions by mistiming when I would throw the bike sideways. It is always fun to feel the top of the berm give way while still moving sideways at high speed. Talk about extreme riding. That will do it. For some reason it seems to really hurt when that rides ends quickly.

I do not agree with the call unless intentional contact was made and then I would agree. I watched Pierre Karsmakers use Jimmy Weinert for a berm coming out of the ravine at Lake Whitney,Texas during the 1973 250 National event there. It was right in front of me and Jimmy had just come up out of the ravine and was making a 90 right hander against the berm when Pierre came flying out of the ravine, threw his bike sideways in the air and catapaulted off of Jimmys front and rear tire, passing Jimmy for the lead at the time. Jimmy did not go down but he did slow down. Pierre received no penalties at all and Jimmy went to him later saying what a ballsy move it was to make and would remember to use moves like that himself.

 

I read Whitlocks response when questioned about this pass. He maintains that Kevin made a revenge hit and charged him for it. To me it sounds like a legitimate block pass in the classic form. MX racing was never meant to be a demostruction derby but it was never intended to be an easy on the rider, don't touch me sport. It is meant as a ride your line, give up nothing and hang on to it race.

I have been knocked down, knocked out, run over many times during various races. I wonder what Whitlock would have said about the time I was running second and attempted to pass the lead rider and hit the inside of two berms at a 90 degree left hander that gave way and caused me to fly sideways into the outside berm while going down. It put me right in the thick of the pack that was taking the outside line as a majority. I was hit and immediately knocked unconscious by the first bike and hit another 9 times. The race was stopped while they cleared up the mess, I am told, I do not remember. Would Whitlock have charged me with a penalty for impeding traffic???? It was a racing incident that was not done on purpose. I believe that is what Kevin did also. A planned strategic move that was made to get past a rider that was slowing him down.

BTW, I was in the hospital for two weeks on that one and in rehab for the next six months. I raced one more time after that, a year later. In that race I finished 7th in the first heat and 2nd in the second one. When I rode back to the pits and stopped, the guys had to hold the bike up for me and help me off it as I was so sore I could not hold the bike up. Gave up racing at that time ,1975. Sometimes my brain says that I could still get out there and do it, but my body reminds my brain that it has aged a few years since that time. It reminds me of the old saying,
"The older we get, the better we were".

 

Man, my body aches to think about it.

I watched Damon a number of years ago at Yamaha Goldcup race in Odessa, Texas. He was really fast until he fell and he fell a lot. This was, I believe, one of Jeremy McGraths first pro races. He won the 2nd heat in 250 and everyone was amazed that "this young kid" could ride like he did. Little did they realize they were watching a legend be born.

I took my wife, who incidentally did not know I had raced professionally, and my 2 year old, at that time, son. We sat about 5 rows up to be able to see the track better and sat next to a triple jump. The bikes completed the triple and immediately hit a 90 degree left hander built on the back wall of the coliseum. As the guys would come past us at the peak of their triple jumps they were about level with our seats. Mike Kidd had called and invited me to come see the race since he was the promoter. I told her who he was and told her that I, at one time in the past, had done this. She looked at me and said "You used to do this"? I said "Sure, it was a lot of fun". She then replied, "You really are crazy, aren't you"? I think she has me pegged...........

 

Sounds like you got a good one. My wife wanted to restrict me from taking our son to any more events after that one. She did not want him to get hooked. Well, guess who has not been back to see one of the events live but now wants to "ride like Ricky Carmichael"?

You know I also used to drag race pretty heavily in a 23 Ford bodied altered roadster. Ran 8's at 165-168 mph. I have always loved it also. Well, my wife and son were driving around one day and she noticed this "little girl" standing beside this "long, thin, funny looking car. They stopped and talked to her and her dad. They had pulled her junior dragster out of the garage and he was working with the engine. The girl told them all about how she got involved with her mom and dad in doing it and how much fun she was having. My wife came home and announced that she had found something that "you and J.J. can do together". Enter a smile here. I said "really, I'll have to check it out". I have not done it yet but it sounds like I have a kitchen pass here.

 

Beast,

You got to drive a Top Alcohol car without a competition license? Where did that happen? A Top Alcohol car has a greater possibility of blowing up a supercharger than even a Top Fuel car. If you begin to lose traction and the tires start to go up in smoke you cannot just easily backpedal, regain traction and get back into it. In an alky car that will blow the top off the supercharger.

Wow, drove a top alky car!!! Cool...... People just do not realize what real power is until they do something like that. Did you get to make a 1/4, 1/2 or a full pass. I assume that he just let you take it off the line and then back out of it and coast through. Am I correct?????

 

The first time I launched my altered roadster hard, I almost had a heart attack. The front end jumped up, bounced me off the wheelie bars and slammed the front wheels back down on the strip only to wheelie again and ride the rollers on the wheelie bars about 1/4 way down the strip. I, like you, back off and coasted thru for a 12 second run. I learned quickly that I needed to slightly haze the tires off the line or I would point that car straight up. And with only a 96 inch wheelbase, the handling was certainly not there to help adjust for any miscues.

I did finally hit an 8.96 one time and had a trap speed of 168 mph after staying in it all the way thru the speed lights. Now this car ran in the A/Econo altered class meaning that it could only be carbureted. It dynoed slightly over 650 hp at the rear axle and weighed about 1,200 lbs. I normally ran low 9's in the upper 150's, lower 160's.

Man was that a fun time. I am really fortunate that I have been able to do professional, factory MX, real drag racing, some track driving and be around some outstanding Ferrari and Maserati race teams. I even had the opportunity to sit in and steer the Audi R8 that ran at Lemans. I will try to find and post some pictures of some of these things. Unfortunately, when I was racing MX digital cameras were not around and when drag racing, very few pictures were given to me of the car. I will see what I can find.