Got the race bike reassembled with a used 2:1 exhaust that was
donated by Brian Smith of Malvern Pa. I also needed a clutch and I got
a lightened steel flywheel from Blaine Paulus.  I was just taking
possession of these the weekend of the Loudon National and thus was
unable to make the Pro Twins race there. Manfred at RACECO must have
had a great weekend at the national as his rider Ron McGill won the Pro
Twins event on Manfreds 1162cc custom framed Guzzi (good thing
Manfred's 1212cc motor went terminal the previous weekend). The rules
were set up to exclude the Superbike 888 Ducatis and thus Ron had to
outrun the Supersport Spec (FI chips and a exhaust only allowed motor
mods) 888's of Jerry Wood. Jerry teaches racing school at Loudon, and
is no slouch at his home track.
    Having missed my chance to run at the Loudon National this year, I
decided to go up there for the Vintage only weekend over the July 4th
weekend. I had a good time taking 6th in the rain in one race, 7th in
my next in the dry, after having been gridded in the second wave (about
a 30 second handicap) and being scored with the first wave. On the next
day, I decided if I was to run with the leaders, I needed to leave with
the front pack and so I decided to grid in an empty position in the
first wave. The scorers spotted it and I was docked a lap, but not
before I was able to take 2nd on the track. I got a good hole shot and
was in third by turn one and took 2 laps to get into 2nd place.  By
then the leader was gone (he was going 3 seconds a lap faster than I
was, but no better than my best times there last year). Since I was not
in any points chase, I didn't mind being docked a lap, as I was able to
run up front during the race where I felt I belonged.
    The bike needs routine maintenance before the next AMA/CCS race at
Summit Point. Since I was running against unknown bikes this past
weekend, I have no idea how much of a performance penalty I'm paying by
switching from the $1050 Transkontinental Flywheel/Clutch assembly to
the $250 lightened stock unit now in the bike. When I meet up with guys
I usually run with, I'll have a better idea. I know my bank account is
performing better with the extra $800. This is not to say that the
Transkontinental assembly isn't worth it if performance is desired at
any price, I just have other priorities in my life right now.