Cones anyone?

[lemieuxmc@yahoo.com 0]

I am planning on dropping by the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Fri morning to check out the Police Motor competition. Admission is free and it looks like a good way to pick up tight maneuvering skills (or possibly mistakes to avoid!). They have different groups for Harley, BMW, Honda but I don't think they have a category for plated dirt bikes or super moto.

I'll be riding my Guzzi, there might be some retired bikes there to check out.

[dirt dame 559]

I'd settle for an ice cream cone.

[Strega 0]

When is this happening??

[Gbus Crisis 0]

I think these are the details:

http://www.sdcmoa.com/motorcycle_competition.html

Basically practice on Friday. Competition on Saturday.

This kind of riding has always fascinated me. I'll prolly go check it out for a few hours on Saturday.

Thanks for the heads up, Lem.

[lemieuxmc@yahoo.com 0]

I rode down on the Guzzi and hung out for a while watching practice.

Competition is on Saturday with single, double, 4 bike and "tandem" which is 2 side by side with a paper ribbon between them (break it and you are out). At 1600 today they will have the "Chiefs Challenge" which is 2 man follow the leader, no set pattern, the lead guy weaves through the cones and the follower can't miss any turns, hit any cones, dab or collide with the leader. Everyone takes a turn as leader and follower, if you goof up you are out, last man rolling wins.

I saw about 8 drops in practice and the guys I talked to said it's not unusual to see more as the competition heats up. Mostly just dragging the low bits and low speed spin outs. The "No Mocking rule" is in effect as all of the participants are packing heat, the rule is that you ride just like on duty (gun belt, ticket book, etc) so there aren't any ringers on stripped down bikes. Mostly BMW's with about a dozen Hondas, 2 Harleys and one officer from Nogales with a 2004 KZ1000 (I thought they quit making them in 02!).

I'm going to suggest that the SDAMC take a ride down there after breakfast tomorrow at The Waterfront. Overall it was pretty cool to watch for a while and I'm sure the competition final rounds will be pretty exciting, some of these guys take this REAL seriously.