When: August 22 - 24, 2003
Where: Mosport

Thurs 8/21
I decided at the last minute to head up for the VRRA vintage celebration at Mosport.  They invited modern 125 and 250gp machines as well as modern SV650 and Thunderbikes.  Since Mosport is on the list of favorite tracks, and I usually only get 1 weekend a year on it I decided to go for it.  I left work around 1pm and was on the road.  I got the track around 9:45pm and started to set up shop.  A storm was starting to roll through and the wind and rain picked up, so instead of trying to keep the canopy tied down, I left everything unassembled.  I put the gas cans, canopy, generator and other things outside, then moved stuff around in the van to make room to sleep.  I kept the tools, spares, bike, etc in the van all night.

Friday 8/22
Got up early, and wandered around until I found Tim and Zack Courts.  They moved their van and trailer down next to me, and Pete/Denise.  It turns out that Pete and Denise had held a spot for them anyway, so I picked the right place!  I took a shower, got some breakfast in me and did the last of my prep work on the bike.  After riders meeting, we suited up for first practice.  They did 4 practice groups and ran 4 rotations during the day.  We were out there with the slower bikes, and at times it felt kind of dangerous.. the closing speeds between the modern 125s and some of the vintage bikes were downright scary.  It was hard to get a clean lap in, and I was being extra careful to give the slow bikes plenty of room when passing.. I wouldn't want to be passed that quickly!

For the afternoon, Zack and I went out for 2 session each round.. so overall I ended up getting about 6 practices in.  I wasn't quite up to speed, but I was having fun.   I kept doing plug chops and getting funky readings.. I had put my ignition back to 0 degrees, but was getting really hot readings on the plug.  I ended up doing a lot of changes to the engine to experiment, and Sandy Noce (National AMA 250 rider) was there for some practice, so I chatted with him a few times.  He let me borrow his homemade leak-down tester to make sure the engine didn't have any leaks (thanks again Sandy!).   Everything seemed OK.

Zack and I went out to dinner in Bowmanville with some of the vintage riders and had a fun evening.

Saturday 8/23
Up early again, and ready for practice.  I went out in three sessions, then it was time for lunch.  They rescheduled our heat race so that we would be running with the SVs and Thunder bikes.  That was a good move.  I got a terrible start (wasn't paying attention) but did OK.  On one lap, I was playing with my lap timer on the back straight and forgot to shift into 6th gear.  That's not a good way to get a fast lap, esp given that the straight is almost a mile long!  In any case, I qualified 6th out of 11 people, and I had a fun time.  During the day I was getting strange detonation readings, but not making a whole lot of changes

Zack and I went on a run for beer and pizza,  then came back and went to the giveaway.  We were both hoping to get picked as they had 4 cases of Castrol A747 oil up for grabs..  but neither one of us got one.  We hung out for a while and I went to bed early (around 10pm) since I had a long day ahead of me.

Sun 8/24
Got up around 7ish.  Took a shower, got breakfast, went to riders meeting and went out for practice.  They finally grouped the modern bikes in one practice which was cool.. but that also meant I could only go out once.  I went out and turned consistent 1:43 times, but wasn't really trying hard (previous best in the low 1:41s), so I was looking forward to the race!

Our race got moved up to the SV/Thunder bike race, so after some pre-lunch red flags and delays, we were up around 2pm instead of 4pm.  I got a so-so start, but worked my way up to 4th position behind Tim Courts.  I felt like I was making up some ground in the first couple laps when we got a red flag.  During the stop I checked my detonation counter to see it at 160!  It should have been around 45 - 60.   Hmm...  the bike wasn't overheating, but I took some tape off anyway to keep it cooler.  Something was definitely wrong.  After the restart we got a warmup lap and a 7 lap race.  I got another so-so start  and made a few passes to get back into 4th position behind Tim again.  After a few laps had passed, I lost touch with Tim.  I got passed for 4th and made some mistakes, so I lost touch with him too.   There were two bikes right behind me and we did some battle for 5th position.   On the last lap, I was still in 5th but got passed on the outside of T3.  I stuck with the rider into T5 and got a much better line out of Moss corner to pass back into 5th spot onto the back straight.  I went as fast as I could through T8, 9   and 10, and was hard on the gas towards the checkered flag when my engine died on me.  I pulled in the clutch and got into the bubble and managed to coast across the finish line holding 5th spot.  Pulled off the track down into T1 and then walked the bike back up before the next race.

Got the van packed, watched Tim and Zack race then left the track around 4:15 or so.   I made a few extra stops on the way home to keep awake, but managed to get home, get the van unpacked and be in bed by 2am.  Overall a fantastic weekend.. I blew my engine, but am still smiling from all the fun that was had!

Special thanks to Tim and Zack Courts for hanging out all weekend.  It was a really fun time.. !