So my son Brandon has an '88 LT250R that he got for Christmas 3 or 4 years ago. It was a basket case and hadn't been ran in about 10 years. After rebuilding it, we've slowly added parts to it over the years to set it up as an MX bike. It's got a race width axle, Laegers +2 arms, nerf bars, and a nice Ohlins rear shock with remote rezzie. He rides a handful of times a year at some MX tracks and always seemed to ride and jump it a little crazier than I ever did when I was his age, and he out rides all his friends on ATV's. He'd do some doubles that no one else on ATV's would do, or at least very few would do at some of the local MX tracks. However, he's never officially raced it in a sanctioned event, even though he's talked about it and asked to do it in the past. While I love him carrying on the tradition of riding these old bikes, I've always been a little leery of him racing against others. As a parent, it's scary enough to see him jumping these old bikes as high as he does by himself on a track, much less with other bikes out there who may or may not know what they're doing. That all changed a few weeks ago.
He got a call from his buddy who races dirt bikes at the local fairs reminding him about the upcoming Warren county fair the night before the race. He decided he wanted to do it. But his bike was a bit rough from a large riding trip we took a month or so ago to the sand dunes out in Little Sahara, OK. He was jumping his bike out there so huge on some of the dunes, that bolts and parts were literally falling off left and right. (My son is finally starting to learn that the use of Loctite is not just a suggestion, it's a necessity - especially when you ride like he does!) So the next day prior to the race, he had the entire rear end off and swapped it with parts from one of my 250's that's in better shape than his. His swingarm and carrier, for example, don't seem to stay tight. His chain was always working its way loose no matter how hard he tightened the bolts. So after cannibalizing my bike, and me making a last minute trip to the ATV dealer for some brake pads and other parts, he got his bike put back together about 30 minutes before we had to leave for the race. He was tired before the race even started!
So we took showers and got the trailer loaded up just in time. I brought my younger sons LT80 along too in case he decided he wanted to race in the kids class. (Unfortunately, he was a little too nervous so he decided not to, even though he would have crushed the other kids after watching them.) But both bikes we brought got a ton of attention in the parking lot. Everyone stopped by to tell us they were glad to see these old bikes out here racing, but I don't think anyone really expected much from them with all the new bikes there, especially since he was new to the race scene.
Since he had never raced before, a lot of people said he should sign up in the beginner class. However, after some practice laps, he decided to move up to C class because it seemed like that might be a better fit. In his qualifying heat race which was combined with the B class, he was a little nervous so he assumed a fairly far back position off the start. But after getting in the grove and seeing that he was faster than a lot of the other riders, he started passing a few people, and was keeping up with the leaders of the race after about 3 laps or so. He was not making any headway to catch them, but he was keeping up. After 5 laps, he ended up doing really well and only lost to a couple B class riders in the qualifying heat. Everyone there was coming up to compliment him afterwards, because pretty much everyone else was on pretty high dollar 450's, and even some KTM 525's.
Then when the finals came around, he was a lot more comfortable, so he decided to give 'er hell right off the start. He ended up second out of the hole behind only one B class 450 (It was black, but I think it was a quadracer 450 that just had its fenders painted. It was a really nice bike with lots of race goodies). The cool thing was that everyone was cheering for the old 2 stroke. There was a decent distance between him and the B class rider in first place, but he was holding everyone off behind him. No one could catch him. He ended up stalling it after hitting the brakes in the air on one jump but luckily it fired back up (barely) on the roll start landing before he had to start kicking it. Some of the guys behind him caught him a little when that happened, but after it fired back up, he was gone and kept them all at bay.
He ended up getting a plaque for 1st place in C class, but he actually would have been 2nd in B class! It was way better than he had hoped for. I had told him before the race that I just wanted him to finish the race and not get hurt. I really didn't care if he got last place.
One thing to note, he did all this with 20" Holeshot tires which were way to big and meaty. He used them only because we didn't have many other options, and he though he'd need the traction. I told him he'd be better off using a set of 18's even if they were slightly worn down. He agreed afterwards, but he still did fine with these. The only part the fell off this time was the plastic cover over the radiator. His is broken a little, and his entire front plastic is barely mounted at all anyway. You could hear it rattling and see it moving all around when he'd land jumps and go through the whoops.
I'll try to post some pics over the next week or so. Also, he has a go pro of the final race I think, so I'll see if I can get that loaded too.
In the meantime, an article was written about the guy who designed the track and helped keep the motocross element of the fair alive and well. The only picture they included with that article was a picture of Brandon on his 250 landing a double during practice! I guess even the editor of that article was a fan of the old 2 stroke. Or maybe he noticed that it was the crowd favorite. Either way, pretty cool!
Here's a link to the article.
http://www.warrencountyrecord.com/sports/article_d02d7dd8-2653-11e5-b0eb-73e0345f1042.html?mode=jqmHere's the picture from the article.
