Minimoto slide control!

[13]

Tried out some minimotard racing tonight @ sugar hill speedway. I had no idea how serious some of those guys are! $5000 minimotards? WTF, are you crazy!? My REAL racebike was less than half that!!! Oh well, after seeing the competition I didn't expect to be very competitive.

Went out for practice and realized a race front and a street rear tire is a great way to learn to slide on pavement! I had hobbs(pasta rocket) on my tail the whole time, so I was kinda pushing it. Came in and saw the rear tire was quite low(20 psi) so I increased it to about 30.

Went out for heat #1 (qualifying)and it was wicked loose all over the place, worse than practice! Coming out onto the straight I was getting it COMPLETELY sideways. I was the only one doing this, so I figured something was wrong. But it was so fun! So I dealt with it. I qualified 2nd to last, right ahead of my buddy Hobbs.

The race went like this every lap: get wasted on the straight by everybody but Hobbs, pull into the infield portion and make up some ground, slide back out onto the straight and repeat. Though the slides were getting exponentially worse (but more fun!) with every turn.

Finished 3rd to last, right ahead of hobbs. Pulled into the pit and eyed the rear tire, apparently some damn engine gasket decided to fail and piss oil all over my rear tire! OOPS! A bit dangerous, now that I think about it. But there were some dirttrack worthy slides out there tonight!

I almost want to race a motard now!!! What fun!!

[a13x]

Yea Minimotard racing is stupid fun. I did quite a bit of it over the last 1.5 years. We had a Tuesday night league at Foxboro Indoor last summer that was extremely competitive (hence why I traded Doc Ascot/88CRF). Normally it was myself and two other guys dicing HARD in the 10" class (they had 110's with 10" wheels worth $$$$) and Joe Kessler and some crazy mofo's on 12" bikes backing it in like bananas.

I like racing my CRF50 with a 88 kit in it in the 10" class. Could use a manual clutch on it.. but overall it's quick. I'd normally race it against 8-10k 50's. Some of the KLX110's in the 12" class were pushing 13k for the top bikes.

I never made it up to Sugar Hill, but always wanted too.

You should see Jeff Wood race his CRF50 with a 100 motor in it. hahah. Or Jay Ablaza on his KLX110 punched out to 165cc putting out SERIOUS motor.

[13]

If hobbs and I had some motor in our bikes, we would have kicked some ass. Of course he was on the XR50 so he was parked on the straights. We had planned to do well, until we saw that people actually consider our pit bikes race worthy! AND THEY ARE!!! I'm going to post up when the next event is so we can get a bigger group out there(there were 7 of us yesterday).

[pasta-rocket]

The rules....(there were no rules) Run what you brung!! stupidhawk riding a sikk mx 107, me on a bone stock 50, the rest of the fied on 140 cc-- 14 inch tire phyco bikes. I pulled a 6th in the feature while watching chris flat tracking his bike in every corner. I was the only guy to pull a 12 oclock wheelie on the victory lap. Fun as hell, i can't wait to go back on a cr 85 w/street tires!

[13]

Yeah, one guy had an NSR disguised as a motard! $$$

[Evil_Weasel]

Yeah, one guy had an NSR disguised as a motard! $$$

that doesn't sound safe!! hey, i bet with alittle inginuity we could get my NSR motor in a 110 frame? did someone say 65 HP pit bike???

[13]

Dude, these things motored away on the straight like you read about. The nsr bike just had a shitload of nsr parts, minus the engine. That'd be sweet though!

[Doc]

I WANT TO PLAY!!!!!

Can I use the 100?

[pasta-rocket]

I WANT TO PLAY!!!!!

Can I use the 100?

Doc, i think you could enter a ktm 560 in this race, no one there cared ! I know i am going back with something a little more powerful

[GMAN226]

The rules....(there were no rules) Run what you brung!! stupidhawk riding a sikk mx 107, me on a bone stock 50, the rest of the fied on 140 cc-- 14 inch tire phyco bikes. I pulled a 6th in the feature while watching chris flat tracking his bike in every corner. I was the only guy to pull a 12 oclock wheelie on the victory lap. Fun as hell, i can't wait to go back on a cr 85 w/street tires!

Hobbs.. You gotta find me some street tires for my xr70 or find me a cheap 50 and I will come race.

G-man

[13]

Street tires for these things are suprisingly not that hard to find, usually. Do you have 10's, 12's, 14's or 20's?

[SVRACER01]

chris, you gotta let me know when the next race is and ill come up and play. how much to run?

[13]

A bit more than I expected, 17 to get in, 32 to race. No tech, just wear your gear and you're racing!

[rebelpacket]

ESMRA and OVRP both run mini-moto series. Both 80-150cc bikes, etc. Its pretty popular. Sounds like fun! Unfortunately us tall blokes have a hard time on those little things.

[tonyd]

I ran pocketbikes at Sugarhill last year, great group of guys.

I think the "rules" for mini motard are up to 145cc 4stoke, 85cc 2 stroke, max 12" rear, 14" front, KLX110 size frame max, for now and they'll split it into actual classes as the numbers improve.

[derrickhackman]

are there any tracks located in the Western Mass area?? Albany/Troy NY?? What would be a good base bike to build on, something like a ttr110 or a smaller bike like a 50? Perhaps an KX80 or something like that??

[ku996r]

where is sugarhill? love to come check it out.

[13]

Sugar hill is in Weare, NH. In the middle of nowhere......

[ku996r]

sweet, thats like 2 hours from me. thanks! any places in central / western mass.

saw a pit bike racing vid on youtube, looks too much fun.

[Fast_Eddie]

There are also races at RTE.106 raceway in Pembroke NH. It's a little less money ($30 total) to race and at least double the track time. There is a wed. night practice on the 20th and races on Sun. the 24th. There is also another Sugarhill on Sat the 23rd, but I'll be going to RTE. 106 since it's the same weekend.

The schedule and track link is here Evil Empire Racing

You two guys were looking pretty good out there............. all those times I went by.

The bikes weren't that expensive in the mini-motard class. The bike I was riding (black Pitster X4) was bone stock with the original GPX125 engine and under 2 G's including race tires, just as you saw it. I spent $225 and almost doubled my HP last week. Josh's bike isn't really an NSR. It's a CRF70 with NSR 50 forks, wheels and an extended swingarm.
There were a few $3000 pocketbikes there though.

Doc, you might be able to get the XR100 into Sugarhill. I can't be sure though. Rte 106 actaully tech. the bikes and they race bikes so they know the difference. The written rules are for 12" rear wheels at both places.

[ku996r]

have to check then out.

how is SSR? I saw one on ebay for like $600. I don't care about competing, just want to run around the track. seems to be quick fix as cheap thrill

[derrickhackman]

What about these things ... ??

eBay Motors: Other Makes (item 330135101175 end time Jun-22-07 09:41:48 PDT)

[ku996r]

I guess they are very similar, its this one are they any good?

[derrickhackman]

that would be perfect ... i would like to know about the quality if anyone has any input it would be appreciated.

[Fast_Eddie]

The SSR bikes are considered mid level bikes and some people like them. The Zongshen motors don't really have any aftermarket support though. The new standard for motors would be a GPX/Jailing or Lifan 120 or 125. There are also 2 sizes of chassis out there. Most are based on XR 50 measurements and the 110 based chassis which are about 2 inches longer and 2 inches taller from seat to footpegs.the 110 size is somewhat rare. the KLX110, KX65 and Pitster X4 are the only ones I know of. My Pitster X4 is the larger size and has the best forks for a heavy rider and with a $60 rear spring it dials right in. I know a better deal than the ones posted if someones seriously looking. The Thumpstar 120 (GPX/omicron engine) that took second place at the last Sugarhill is for sale by a friend of mine for $750 including recent TT91 race rubber. This is a low milage bike with no issues.
PM me if you want the contact info.

I would buy from a reputable vendor like Outlaw powersports, SGR or G2 powersports for a new bike.