Lima Half-Mile

Get over to Fanschoice.tv to watch one of the most exciting races on the AMA Pro calendar. This year the Lima Half-Mile is being promoted by Jared and Nichole Mees, that means they've put up the money to make this race happen. And, I think, it's a sell-out.
Mees is in blistering form, he'll take some beating. If Brad Baker's factory Harley can actually finish a race, he's a good bet too. G

Ohio

Gregory from Ohio got in touch a few months ago saying, and I'm paraphrasing, 'I've raced motocross, I've starting reading Sideburn and this dirt tracking looks fun, but when I've tried to speak to some dirt track race people in my area they've been very dismissive and I don't know where to start. Help.'

I remembered that regular blog contributor and sometime Sideburn magazine contributor, Roger F (whose great shots from Ohio races in the 1970s are in Sideburn 7) lives in Ohio. I introduced Greg and Roger via email, and...

Thanks again for putting me in touch with Roger, Looks like I'll be racing this weekend. Really appreciate your kindness. Looking forward to many more issues with my new subscription. I included a photo of my first flat track build (Yamaha 360).

The race is at Western Reserve in Salem, Ohio. Roger said he would also be there. Looking forward to the fun. Have a good race this weekend, let me know how you do! Will you be in the states for Dirt Quake USA? 
Greg 

Sideburn - converting the world to flat track, one rider at a time. And yes, we'll be in Castle Rock for Dirt Quake USA. G

Shayna by Yve

Shayna Texter on the Castrol Latus Triumph at Lima by Yve Assad.

See a portfolio of Yve's flat track work in Sideburn 17.
We featured Shayna back in issue 5, but that's sold out. G

Wauseon Swap Meet and Half-Mile

Our friend Roger F in Ohio sent these photos through. Roger and his partner, Patty, took photos and Roger raced.

 The Antique Motorcycle Club of America has a national meet every summer in Wauseon, Ohio at the Fulton County Fairgrounds. The meet's centerpiece is the swap meet and classic bike exhibitions, which go on all weekend, with emphasis on American machinery, culminating with a judged bike show on Sunday morning. To enter, the bike has to run too. 

There are several acres of classic bikes and parts on display and for sale, with flat tankers from the teens to more modern early-'60s bikes, but the emphasis is on American street bikes from the first half of the 1900s. They have chapters outside of the USA too. 

Of course every Midwest fairgrounds has a grandstand and horse track, and they run a vintage half-mile flat track on Friday each year. Where else could you see a full hand-shift class run, or a dozen board trackers circling the track, forming up for a flying start? Very cool! And they also have some celebrity racers run a match race too. This year, Jay Springsteen was lured out of retirement and raced against Geo Roeder on a Norton. 

If you are an enthusiast of such things, check the meet out at http://wauseonnationalmeet.org/ . Gary, trim it how you see fit or summarize it yourself. 

 It was a great day, and my first half mile on my XR500. Very fun on a beautifully prepared crushed limestone cushion with big wide corners and short straights....thanks for sharing the pics....R

A couple of nice KRs...

Late-1920s Cleveland Four

Mid-'20s Excelsior Super X board track racer (replica?).

Indian Four - which was actually an Ace, until the Springfield company bought the rights.

Roger says, 'I asked the vendor about the Excelsior. It's a 1925 machine cut down for his kids in 1936, original since then, handed down in the same family. Totally cool...'

Gives you an idea how the grandstand fills up Friday evening as people get off work and make their way to the fairgrounds.

This is our friend Al Lonneville (#9) on the rigid Triumph battling a KR in the brakeless class. Patty took all of these.

I'm #40 on the pole in my heat. It didn't help. This was taken by our Motorhead friend Tom Beasley.

Mees wins Lima

2012 champion Jared Mees was there when it mattered to win the Lima Half-Mile on a very rough and tough looking cushion track. Sammy Halbert, #7, had won the Dash for Cash (for fastest qualifiers) and had ridden away from the field in the main, when his engine let go... It looked like Bryan Smith would be the first non-XR750 to win a Pro half-mile Main since prehistoric times, but Mees hunted him down, passed him and cleared off.

Dash for Cash - Halbert, Baker, Bonsey, Smith, Mees, Bauman.
It finished Halbert, Baker, Mees.

Smith led a few laps of the main when Halbert pulled off, but couldn't hold off Mees. He faded towards the end and was passed by another Kawasaki, with Brandon Robinson (#44, below).

Jake Johnson seemed to really struggle and had to use a once-per-season get out of jail pass to make the main, when he didn't get out of his semi. It was a good gamble as he eventually came 5th in the main.

The standings are now 1. Coolbeth (who came a solid 4th at Lima) 2. Johnson. 3. Mees. 

Defending Champion, Brad Baker is in 10th in the championship after a DNF when his factory XR750 broke.

The next race is tomorrow, 5 July, Hagerstown Half-Mile. 

All photos courtesy of AMA Pro Racing.

Joe from Ohio

Whenever we get an order from an address we don't have on record, we send out an email asking where the buyer found out about Sideburn (market researtch!). We get a variety of different responses. This is a recent interesting one.

I heard of you guys from the flat track websites. I have issues 1-6, thought I should start catching up when money allows. I'm a flat tracker from ohio, land of the pea gravel half miles. Here's a pic of me from a couple years ago on my beloved TT 500. 
Joe Baker, Ohio