In a nutshell: Lots of 250's! The second annual Roadracingworld.com 250/50 brought out a full grid of 48
bikes and what a time it was!!
This weekend was one that won't be forgotten anytime soon. If for no other reason than that there were so many
two-strokes - and not just two-strokes but 250 GP bikes - that it was just amazing. The Möbius racing team was proud
to be in attendance for this weekends big meet, especially considering the damage incurred the previous month out in Vegas.
Big thanks go out to Mike Lytle at NSP Paint Concepts for all his help in getting the Möbius Racing TZ250 back up to lookin
good. The bike first got stripped down and triaged. The frame and wheels were taken over to Dr. John's for the
doctors famous straightening services. A new upper, screen, front fender and tail were ordered up from our good buddy
Rick Merhar at Accu-Products along with a number of other odds and ends. The new jet-black bodywork was done up by Mike
and the team arrived at the track on time and with a bike that worked and looked halfway decent (only halfway as we continued
to use the previous scheme's lower which, arguably, clashes with the black.
The team got right to work getting Vince up to speed on the bike. Friday was spent cruising around and getting
the bike to work properly. Being able to circulate with such guys as Bruce Lind and John Ulrich is good for getting
anybody up on the pace. Of course, the man himself - Rich Oliver - was also in attendance and he was out setting
the pace from the get-go.
Saturday morning practice went quite well, and we gridded up for the mornings 250/50 qualifying race #1, to which we
were assigned. Oliver was on the front row and we were on row 2. Needless to say the last time we saw him
was when the green flag dropped and that guy was just gone. We had a good battle with Joji Tokumoto that ended in Vince
nipping Joji at the line for an 8th place finish. Not too shabby considering the depth of talent in the field.
With the Toyota 200 being run Sunday after the 250/50, the 250GP club race was run on Saturday afternoon. The race
consisted of a deep field of talented riders, all lookin for the same on-track time as the Möbius effort. With a mild
issue of a fading clutch, Vince battled from the second row to hold off the wealth of faster riders behind him. In the
end, 6th place is what we could muster and it was a decent ride.
Sunday. Race day. THE race day. 48 250GP bikes took to the grid. The sound at the start of the
race was just amazing, absolutely to die for. Angry isnt strong enough to convey the sensation of the sound. Unfortunately,
since Saturday, the wind had picked up significantly. In fact, the day dawned raining, but everything had since dryed
out. From 16th on the grid Vince was off with the pack. The first lap was a bit hectic from the shear number of
people vying for the same small section of asphalt. Furthermore, we're not quite sure how prepared Vince was for Willow's
infamous wind. The wind makes things really sketchy at Willow, pushing bikes all around in turn 8-9, and adding a bit
of 'turbo boost' to the entrance of turn 3. It took Vince about 12-13 laps before realizing that the headwinds through
8 were causing the bike to actually slow down when he would click up into 6th gear because the bike couldnt pull
6th into the wind! On the upside, Oliver, Montoya and Watts - the leading threesome - were the only to lap the #224
Yamaha and at that only once a piece. Not too bad.
The race really was great with huge smiles on the riders as they exited the track. The smiling was short-lived
however when it became known that Willow had a huge snafu of a mess on their hands with the scoring of the event. From
about 5th place on back, the scoring was really sketchy. It was revised once at the track and never really became
'official'. With just about everyone, including sponsor John Ulrich, pretty bent about the mess, it was decided that
next years race will be 'transponders or bust'. Not a bad decision.
Overall an absolutely GREAT weekend that was muddied by some silly scoring issues. All in all a good deal though...
