AHRMA 2020 LAGUNA SECA

davidd

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This past weekend Scott Dell and David Tompkins raced at Laguna Seca. There were quite a few mechanical surprises. Because the "off season" was so short Scott did not get a chance to finish his engine rebuild. He used David's first engine which had become a spare engine when. David fitted an engine I built for him last year. Unfortunately all those small fitting details caused issues. Despite the issues Scott came in 3rd place on Saturday. On Sunday he suffered a DNF when the exhaust nut popped out. I suspect this happened because Scott's exhaust nut was a bit small and the threads on David's heads were a bit large. This is not an unusual occurrence. It is best to use an oversize nut, but when your exhaust system is already built you would not be able to test the fit easily.
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David had a problem with his aluminum tank leaking. It has had about a half dozen breaks over the years. Aluminum tanks require some special construction on a racer. Fortunately, he got som Seal-All, which is excellent stuff. David wiped some on the leaking crack directly and it held for the entire weekend. David had two 2nd place finishes. David had the new taper roller steering head he built in place. I had urged him to go to a coil over on the front and it was good to hear that he felt it was a definite improvement.
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A long way to go for a race weekend, but it is a great track with a lot of history!

David
 

medat727

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David, thanks for the shout out, it was a bit of a chore to get the bikes 3000 miles across the country but well worth the effort. The entire track is an entertaining and challenging roller coaster ride with almost a 200’ elevation change from top to bottom. The included photo is shot halfway through the iconic Corkscrew, get it right and it is a shear delight, a belly cooler as you crest the hill and unload, flick right and you can wack it on as the bike loads up in the righthand section, make a mess of it and your heart is in your throat. I followed the national champion, Alex McClean, into this turn during race one, he is riding a pre-war Norton Manx and due to back markers got the turn horribly wrong riding right over the drainage grate pictured to my right, the hard tail Manx looked like a bucking bronco with a burr under her saddle, still don’t know how he managed to stay on. I too collected that grate a number of times during the weekend but due to David persuading me to run a coil over suspension front and rear my Vincent was able to keep me out of harms way, smoothing out my bad lines and getting me home in one piece.
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Robert Watson

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I watched Marquez Pass Rossi on the outside of that grate, a couple of years after Rossi had done the same to someone else!
 

Somer

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A few years ago I took a GS through there with my wife on the back. Once through the corkscrew and she said "No more Laguna laps" for her.
 
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