Kamo Race Report
I signed a contract to race for Zip Ty Husky on Wednesday and rode my 449TC practice bike for the first time. Nick Burson and I planned to team up for the Best In The Desert (BITD) race in Parker, AZ. We had probably spent about 20 minutes on our 511 race bike on Thursday. We left for the Parker 250 Friday morning with only 2 days of riding on the new bikes we were planning on racing.
We got signed up, but Ty, and Patrick were still working on the race bike that morning, and were going to bring the bike later that night. We still had to tech the bike later that night before the race. Nick, who is the rider of record, decided that I should start the race cause I had more experience with this race than he did. The bike had to go 3 times around, and switching riders at the midway pit. I was at the start with Patrick (the mechanic), and Nick's Dad (David). Ty, Steve, and Nick went out to the midway pit.
BITD started one rider per minute. I started 6th back, and stalled the bike right off the start. Patrick ran over and told me to pull out the choke. I got the 511 started, and took off like a bat outta hell. The first section was only about 25 miles, but it was right into the rising sun at 7:30am.
I came into the midway pit to switch with Nick. Ty and Steve filled the bike with gas using the "old school milk jug method" by using a milk jug and pushing it into the fuel tank. The one problem was that we had two tanks - The first one had to wait for the 2nd tank to fill up, and not having a quick fill, forced us to use the milk jug method. The 2nd problem was that our tanks on the bike only held a combined 2.7 gals. Which, ultimately, only allowed Nick to make it 300 yards from the next pit. Nick got up to 2nd place on the 1st loop, but we ended up running outta fuel 3 times. 2 of the times were before the main pit. The last time was about 2 miles from the finish. Nick had to push a mile, and in order for us to get finisher points he had to get towed in by another racer or a race offical. He got towed in by a race offical, but had to push about a 1/2 a mile to the finish.
We ended up getting finisher points, and are planning on finishing the BITD series this year. This race was our first test on the bike, and hopefully we get everything sorted out before the first Hare and Hound national in a couple of weeks!
-David Kamo
Zip Ty Racing