Sideburn represented at Pomona 2

A few notes:
From Krumpledick...

Gene [Romero, organiser of the West Coast Flat Track series, that co-promoted Pomona] had a helluva few weeks leading up to that event. The Love Ride cancellation created a huge shitstorm. And as always, he prevails and pulls it off. The event ran nearly flawless, remarkable considering the unusual co-promotion with DMG.

The track was menacing. It tore up easily and although the equipment and prep crew was top notch, they only could manage a barely-raceable surface. But that slowed nobody down. Unlike the first two years, the stands were nearly at capacity - most remarkable considering the last minute Love Ride cancellation and all of the negativity that swirled around.

The sequence is from second practice at Pomona, Jimmy Sanchez, sponsored by Bud Riddle. Jimmy Sanchez's practice crash was grandiose. Fortunately, his stay in the hospital was quite short.
Bud wasn't very happy as Jimmy flew and Wayne Karcich brought along some tainted fuel and left it for Bud to deal with. Was a fantastic night. The highlight of the evening was Sammy Halbert. Sammy wasn't very fast in open practice, nor the heats. But once it came down to business, he found the setup... and just in time. Sidelined GP250 racer Stevie Bonsey went down, taking Halbert with him in turn 4. Bonsey retired, but Slamsonite remounted and started from the back row. At the drop of the flag he started what seemed to be the insurmountable peak. On lap 23 he battled up to third place. Given a couple of extra laps, my money was on him winning. Five laps, he likely would have won from last place.
And he did it all with a seriously mashed-up left leg. Heart, Big Heart.

Sammy's ride in the main was nothing short of remarkable. Bonsey took him out on lap two and on the re-start he just mowed through the pack, a solid third at the checkers. Five more laps and he could have won the thing.

The world's worst track food can be found at Pomona. $7.50 for a chili dog that was so gross, I still get a weak stomach as I think of it. All of the food was unfettered garbage.
The girls were better than average and that's saying something
Mikey Martin was the first WCFTS rider in history to win two championships. (Open class and TopGun 450 class).
John Kocinski had the trickest dirt track pits ever seen and he rode quite well on a pristine Rotax.

'Hey, you're on my shirt' Wayne K (whose Yamaha TT500 framer is in Sideburn 4) and Gene Romero).

Wayne K. An athlete. Look at the sweat rings on that Sideburn shirt. That's what you get racing at the front in Californian flat track races. Hey, it's pay day. Get your own Sideburn Gene shirt.

'Funny pic from an old track that doesn't exist anymore'

From Wayne K

'Kurt Chandler (Doug's brother) stuffing PJ Sanchez with Chris Carr watching in the 80cc expert class at Fremont Raceway.'

Thought you had a busy weekend?

In an email entitled 'Unfuckingbelievable' friend of Sideburn Wayne Karcich (that's him with KR) sent this to us (last week, but we've been busy).

'You aint gonna believe this. At 47 I had a heart attack on Monday. I raced at Lodi Saturday night and felt fine. Hit the floor at work and had to have an ambulance take me to the E.R. All my friends who are this age keep asking me what it feels like. I tell them don't worry you will know when you feel it. Here's a picture from Saturday on the beast. Also, one of the master engine builder who owns it.'

I told Wayne to get well soon. He said he was already back at work. Some people don't know when to slow down.
WK and KR Photo: Randy Krumpledick

Ant at Pomona

Another beauty from Wayne. This is his brother Ant. Tres, tres jolie! Thanks Wayne. What's the engine and chassis? There seems to be a lot of spring compression on the back (my season's coming up and I'm in the dark on all that stuff), why? G

'This is at Pomona. My brother Anthony on one of Bud Riddle's bike. Ant is actually the fast rider in the family if the truth be told. The photo is by the Japanese photographer Shogo who is a kick in the ass to hang out with.'

Jethro's got his lean on

Indoor racing throws up some incredible images. Like this one, taken by Checkered Flag, that was sent in by Wayne K. He says

'Rod Lake's indoor reunion/race is coming up in a couple of weeks. I thought you might like this shot of Jethro on the concrete. He said he was going to go out and drag his handlebars on the ground. I don't think he ever did but he got it damn close. BTW he never crashed.
'Jethro Halbert national Number 69. He rides for David Zanotti. David's dad was Mario Zanotti the team owner of Steve Eklund's program when he was racing. Here's some interesting reading about them. Krumpledick is in the process of building these
sites.'

We're not sure who Krumpledick is.
Also, can someone explain why he's using what seem to be quite narrow bars? Is it because the indoor oval was tiny or just a personal preference?

Sunshine Superman

Regular SB blog geezer Wayne Karcich was looking through old posts when he found this one about a Yamaha TR1 race bike. And he wrote to ask:

'Dude! Where was this pic from? I rode this bike at Pomona last year. It's a 100 hp Yamaha, about 900cc. I'm hoping to beg a ride on it for the Stockton Ca mile race this year. It belongs to a guy named Bud Riddle.
Here's a pic of me riding the animal at Lodi and Pomona.'

Well, we don't know where it came from. Sorry, Wayne. Lovely shots of you riding though.

New third picture added, thanks to Poppa Wheelie. Shot in the paddock at Pomona.