When: August 18-19, 2001
Where: NHIS, Loudon NH

Friday August 17th
This round I brought all my racing gear to work.. so I wouldn't have to go home and pack.   I stopped off at the store for ice and cooler stuff, and was on my way.   Traffic was kind of a mess, but I managed to arrive in time to get my transponder, pre-reg stuff, etc done.  After getting everything unpacked, I started working on the bike..  it was having problems starting/running so I played with jetting for a while.   I was unsuccessful.

Saturday August 18th
Got up in time for first practice.  I got the bike started, but it didn't want to run correctly, so I ended up missing practice.  I spent most of the morning pulling the carb off, making an adjustment, and putting it back on.  I'd get the bike started, it would run like crap, then I'd do it all over again.  With tons of help from Rick and Steve, we found that the choke lever wasn't sealing the gas feed nozzle properly, so the engine was running way too rich.  I modified the choke lever so it sat lower in the carb body, and taped over the lever itself to minimize any air leakage.   I took the bike out for second practice to find it still wasn't running well.   I bought a stick of gas tank repair putty, and sealed off the gas feed nozzle.   The bike ran a little better, but still rough. 

GP Singles

I ended up borrowing Larry's carb for the GP Singles race.  The bike was nice and smooth, but I didn't quite have my confidence back, esp since I only had one quick practice on a bike that wasn't running correctly.  I got an ok start.. about middle of the pack.  Turn 1 was successful and I had pretty clear racetrack for most of the race.  There were a few crashes, but nothing too close to me.  I ended up picking up 4th place, which was worth 9 points.  

After the race, I went back to working on the carb (hey.. something new.. NOT <G>).  After much inspection and research, I found that the choke circuit had no other responsibilities to the carb, so I completely sealed it off on the cylinder side of the carb body.  Since it takes a while for the putty to dry, I couldn't test it.   All I could do was hope.  I also put everything to factory settings.

Sunday August 19th
Got up in time for first practice, put the carb back on the bike and it started right up and ran well.  Took it out for practice, and it felt really smooth.  Like a whole new bike, actually.  All the work on Saturday had paid off... with a sealed choke circuit, the bike ran correctly.  Came back in, did a little jetting work, and went back out for second practice.  Second practice went well.. though my times were still slower than I like to see. 

GTL

With my new body positioning, the GTL went really well.. I got tired, but not nearly as exhausted as I usually get.  My start wasn't too great, but I managed to work my way up and hold onto 9th place for 4 more points.  More importantly, I accomplished my goal of getting back to my previous faster times.  My fastest lap was in this race, 1 second off my previous fastest lap.  I felt confident, and had a bike that worked correctly. 

LWGP

...was a different story, however..  I got a horrendous start and went into T1 pretty much dead last.  Someone crashed in T1 and there were a lot of flags through the race.  I got held up in a lot of traffic, and I was pretty tired to boot.   I finished 17th out of 22.  oi!  Better luck next time, I guess.

Special thanks to Steve Scott and Rick Moreau for spending gobs of time with me to help get my carburetor working properly.  Thanks also to Larry Hussey for lending me the carb of his 125 so I could have a reliable bike for GP Singles.