Racing The Gods: A Ducati Racer's Autobiography by Ritter Paul

Author:Ritter, Paul [Ritter, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Octane Press
Published: 2015-04-12T21:00:00+00:00

Erik Buell on his way to seventh place in the 1977 AMA National at Pocono, Pennsylvania. Erik Buell

If Erik were a youth today, he would likely be diagnosed as having a hyperactivity disorder. He appeared to me to be a bundle of energy, dashing about and having a great time. I bet he is one of those people who would go nuts if he were forced to sit still and be quiet.

No Autumn Loudon for Us

We didn’t go to the September AMA National at Loudon. It was a tough decision, because I had scored a fourth place there in the spring race. But there were some compelling reasons to skip the event. The AMA had scheduled the fall Loudon race on September 3, and then set the Champion 200 at Laguna Seca for the very next weekend, September 10. Madness. We would have had to drive 3000 miles, race in New England on Sunday, drive 3,000 miles back, and then get the bikes ready for Laguna Seca on Friday. That’s four days! Dale needed time to fix the 905, and I had used up all my vacation time traveling to faraway races.

The DNF at Pocono had changed things. With two DNFs in four races, we figured we were out of the championship race for the year. The decision was made to skip Loudon and prepare for Laguna.

At the autumn Loudon race, Harry Klinzmann and his BMW got the win he had nearly taken in the spring. Dave Emde put the Yoshimura Suzuki into second, but after that it was controversial. John Long finished third on the second BMW, but was docked one lap for an infraction and ended up credited with 11th place. According to John, they had some trouble getting his bike started before the final, and when it finally fired, he moved through the other bikes to the grid position he earned in the heat race. The AMA said John was moving on the grid after the one-minute sign was displayed, which was a serious safety violation. John and tuner Udo Geitl appealed the ruling but were turned down. Instead of heading for Laguna with 13 more points in his kit, John was only able to collect four, and the racers who finished in 4th to 11th were moved up to positions 3rd–10th.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones not attending the September Loudon. The AMA lists only 15 finishers for this race compared with 20 finishers in June.

Superbike Pioneers – Harry Klinzmann and Dave Emde

I’m putting Harry and Dave together in a single vignette because in my mind they are a matched set. I met them racing in AFM club races. Both of them were young, tall for road racers, and lanky–long arms and legs and trim, fit bodies. They were both wickedly fast on Yamaha TZ250s. They teamed up at the Ontario six-hour endurance races, which makes it even harder to think about them separately. The pair won the Ontario six-hour in 1977, defeating a very strong Yoshimura team.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.