Trying to dance with a rusty terrier

From Danker of the inspirational Sang Froid Riding Club Portland, Oregon.

Thought that you might be interested in Friday night, last. Through the Hammer&Tongs Vintage MX folks, I found out about the Salem indoor flat-track series that was going on about 45mins south down at the State Fairgrounds:

There isn't a lot of Flat Track around Portland anymore, so I thought that I'd go check it out after work. (Rumor has it that they are building a speedway facility at Portland International Raceway this winter! Haven't seen any construction yet...)

A couple days later I heard from Brett at Glass From The Past (http://caferacingparts.com/) that he and some buddies were hauling down a load of old Honda mini-bikes to race- extra bikes available. It was the Barry Sheene fantasy; fly into to town, jump on someone else's highly prepped racebike and speed off to victory and the love of beautiful women (except for the highly prepped part, the victory and the beautiful women parts)

So I ditched out of work early and drove down. It was a blast! The problem with putting a husky fellow on a tiny bike with a clutchless transmission and a rear biased seat is when the light goes green and he thwaks it into gear--the bike wants to stand-up on it's hind legs leaving said husky man squatting in the dirt looking like he's trying to dance with a very rusty terrier. Re-mount and away you go! Ten laps per heat for 2 heats and a main. There were six of us out there. Six very serious men looking very ridiculous.
There were also a pair of sweet Rotaxes ridden by a VERY fast expert, classes for vintage flat track bikes, vintage MX bikes with knobbies, modern MX bikes with and with out knobbies, kids and even a couple of quads. It's a cool series going on right under my nose that I was glad to find.
Thanks to Brett, Todd, Jeff and Daren for letting me come down and ride your slow bike (so that I could make you look good!)
Crappy cell phone pictures attached.
Cheers, Dan