3D Racing Wins AHRMA 350 Sportsman National Championship at Barber
Everything that happens at the AHRMA Barber Motorsports Vintage Festival is spectacular. From the national caliber racing, or the incredible museum, to the time spent catching up with friends and competitors alike, to the mid-day air show performance by four WW II T6 Army Air Corps trainer planes. The AHRMA Barber Vintage Festival has become the virtual Disney World of motorcycle racing.
The final race of the 2008 AHRMA National Historic Road Racing Series took place October 18 – 21 at the 4th Annual Barber Vintage Festival, at the amazing Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham Alabama. The event has grown in racer entries and spectator attendance each year, and this year reached a new record of over 500 racer entries!
The trip to Birmingham started like all journeys, loading up the trailers and getting the assortment of spares and support equipment ready, back in Massachusetts.
ZuZu Demetrius helped her dad #186 Dickie prep his Morgan Harrison RS125 for the Barber event, changing the transmission oil, and re-gearing for the high speed, horsepower circuit.
There are a lot of reasons to attend the 4th Annual Barber Vintage Festival. In addition to two action packed days of motorcycle racing, there is a motorcycle swap meet that had over 400 vendors set up to sell you something you absolutely had to have yesterday, the impressive mid-day air show performance by the Aeroshell flying team, and of course, the Barber Motorsports Museum, arguably the most impressive collection of racing cars and motorcycles in the country, and perhaps in the solar system. The Barber Vintage Festival is simply and awesome weekend!
One of the most spectacular events at the AHRMA Barber Vintage Festival is the incredible air show, performed by the 4 plane Aeroshell team.
Delighting the crowd with everything from high speed banked fly-bys 30 feet off the deck below the Barber scoring tower...
To tight formation barrel rolls...
To dazzling 360° rolls, with the heart pounding sound of their Pratt & Whitney WASP motors roaring towards earth...
To a fitting orbital salute to old glory as she descended from the heavens, making for one thrilling, and humbling mid-day spectacular.
This year, the AHRMA 350 National Championship would be decided at Barber, between #57x Steve Brown, and #600 Rabbie Demetrius. These two competitors have battled each other all season long in head to head dog fights across the country, splitting wins between each other. The competition has been intense, and it has been rewarding, with Demetrius and Brown each making a new friend in each other from the experience. Brown needed only win one of the two races to clinch the championship, Demetrius on the other hand needed to win them both. Either way, the event promised to be a hard run, action packed duel between the two, which would not end until the final checkered flag.
Equally important, and on a more personal note, This event would see Rabbie’s big brother #186 Dickie return to the track aboard his Morgan Harrison sponsored Honda RS 125, and a fly-in guest appearance from Christina Divigard who has also been absent in 2008 as the monkey aboard the #600 Grumble Bumble Bee. Dickie had not raced at all this season, and team 3D Racing was really looking forward to his return. Christina has been in London on a multi-year work assignment, and also had not been to the race track in 08. Also absent this season, Barber saw the return of P-Diddy Chief, who had to miss the 2008 season in exchange for using his vacation time to head to the Isle of Man Manx GP, and London for three weeks attending the BSA Owners Group International Rally.
P-Diddy Chief, a.k.a. Papa Chief made his return appearance to the 3D Racing program at Barber. Papa Chief was unable to attend the races this year, except for Grattan and the July 4th USCRA event, because he had used his vacation time to attend the BSAOG International Rally at the Isle of Man.
#186 Dickie, left, enjoys the spoils of the day with fellow USCRA racer #90 Phast Phil, right, and catches up on things being Dickie’s first and only race event in 08.
Art Stapleton, team owner and head mechanic of ACS Specialties Racing was also at the Barber event, finishing out the season with Rabbie aboard the ACS Specialties big bad rompin’ stompin’ Triumph 750.
Friday’s weather for practice sessions was forecast to be a good day with the chance of an isolated afternoon thunderstorm. However, the day started with a light drizzle that would continually build to a steady rain which would last all morning long and continue into the afternoon, effectively spoiling any chances of getting a good practice session in. The weather pattern did finally break up and begin to clear out through the afternoon, and with it, more and more bikes took to the circuit through the afternoon sessions. Sidecars would be one of the first groups out on a track which was still very wet, with rain still coming down, testing track grip availability – and finding very little grip at all through the corners. #186 Dickie changed his slicks over to Rabbie’s spare rain tyres on the Morgan Harrison RS125, to try out racing in the rain. He came in from his practice session with a big smile, commenting on how incredible the grip and handling is through the wet track conditions on rain tyres. You can carve a line very nearly as aggressively with rain tyres in the rain, as you can with slicks in the dry. Its an experience that has to be felt to be appreciated. Dickie loved them, and has been converted. Watch for the #186 to be gridding up at future events in the wet!
The rain came down steady all morning long for Friday’s practice rotations, providing a good excuse to catch up on some bench racing. From left, Phast Phil, Steve “Father Nelson” D’Angelo, Craig Hirko and P-Diddy duck out of the rain under Craig’s awning waiting for better conditions.
Christina would suit up and take the Friday practice sessions aboard the Grumble Bumble Bee instead of Will Harding, who has been monkeying for Rabbie all season long, and clinched the 2008 National Championship 4 weeks earlier at Sandia. The opening laps were a little foggy for Christina, who tried to move left setting up for the Alabama Roller Coaster, instead of moving right, off the chair. Once those cobwebs were sorted out however, she was in perfect unisen with the hack, moving and positioning like she never left it. Unfortunately for Rabbie and Christina both, the Bee was still down on power, and feeling the pains, as the competitors easily powered past the Grumble Bumble on the straight away sections.
Christina flew in from London to attend the Barber event, and to enjoy Friday practice back aboard the #600 3D Racing Grumble Bumble Bee. The Rabbie/Christina duo hooked up with the #95 Campell/Campell rig for some greaet dicing and slicing. Christina has been absent this season from the monkey slot aboard the Grumble Bumble, but she has not lost a trick in working the chair.
Rabbie and Christina set the 3D Racing sidecar up for the left hand “spider turn” the way the Grumble Bumble likes it – sideways and sliding!
Cruising down the front chute, Rabbie signals to the flag station, acknowledging the checkered flag, ending the practice sessions for the day for sidecars.
Form follows function. Christina finds the lines and textures of race equipment equally as compelling art as captured through the lens of her camera.
Rabbie continues to hunt for the lost power of the BMW motor, checking the point gap, and advancing the ignition timing still further following the practice rotations Friday.
After the ignition adjustment, Rabbie fires the Grumble Bumble to life, and seeks the help of Mach1 Racing’s Pete Talabach to dial in the Delorto carbs, balancing them out. Just about the time Pete dialed in both of the carbs, and made the necessary adjustments to the throttle cables, Christina made an interesting observation asking, “how many monkeys DOES it take to adjust the carbs”...
To which Pete promptly responded, “Rabbie will you either smack her or put a bag over her head”. Just one of the many points of enjoyment that can be found at the races.
With Friday practice sessions in the books, it was time to pack up the pits, and head into town for a bite to eat. The collective posse from the north including Pete and Denise Talabach, Andrew Fairbank and Kat Collins, Craig, Linda and Amanda Hirko, Steve “Father Nelson” D’Angelo, Phast Phil Turkington, Bill Douglass, Art Stapleton, Long-Haired Dave, P-Diddy Chief, Dickie Demetrius, Christina Divigard and Rabbie made their way to their favorite Mexican restaurant, El Guadaleharo for a good meal, and a boat load of laughs. The dinner was great, and the company was superb, and the evening was capped off with a Mexican birthday sing-along for Dave’s birthday.
After a full day of trying to stay dry, and dial some wet laps in practice, the collective posse moved to their favorite Birmingham watering hole, El Guadaleharo, where the staff gave Long-Haired Dave a traditional Mexican birthday song and cake – complete with a whipped cream mustache!
Day One.
Race 1 - Sidecars
The first of 8 rigs post up to their pre-grid assignments, with Rabbie and Will settling into the B slot on row two, along side Andrew and Kat, to the right.
There was a fantastic turn out of sidecar entries for Barber, adding to the crowd interest, including the town hall debut of “Red Molly”, one absolutely gorgeous Vincent powered rig, developed, and built by Pete Talabach of Mach1 Racing. Red Molly was envisioned over 6 years ago, by Pete, and has been an ongoing labor of love building, modifying, adjusting, and finally completing the rig. Every aspect and component of the rig has been fabricated by Pete. It’s absolutely gorgeous and the spectator interest confirmed it.
Rabbie’s struggles to get some drive out of the Bumble Bee’s motor continued to plague him at Barber. He increased the jets and pushed the ignition timing more advanced, still to find the motor flat, and without power on throttle. The weekends races would be fusturating, working the corners hard, but loosing the drive on the straights under powered.
Rabbie and Will Harding slide the Grumble Bumble Bee sideways hot and heavy into the left hand spider turn 5 in the early laps of the sidecar race at Barber Motorsports, only to drop positions under power on the straight aways.
Eight rigs gridded up for the Saturday race, with the Demetrius/Harding due in the second row, B slot. When the one board flipped sideways, the air erupted with the drone of Bmer moters droning, sounding like a squadron of B17 bombers inbound. The green flag flew and the rigs launched accelerating as a collective group, heading into turn one, where real estate would get very slim, very quickly with rigs three wide. Rabbie and Will powered down the outside entering turn one hard on the gas, and cut through traffic to second place. The drive factor came into play however, powering up the hill out of turn 3, cresting across the turn 4 right hander. Heading into the spider turn, the Grumble Bumble had been pushed back to 5th place. Rabbie again hard on the gas, and floating to the outside slid the hack sideways into the left hand spider turn, repassing for third exiting the turn, and heading down the chute towards the Alabama Roller Coaster. Traffic was tight, and the conjestion kept everybody checked up, allowing Andrew and Kat to start to carve out a lead on the field, exiting the Roller Coaster right hander.
This push me pull me jockeying back and fourth would continue through the race. On lap 4, Rabbie made a great move, running down the outside of the front chute, heading towards the one board, with about 30” of track available. Rabbie never let off the throttle, heading into turn one, quickly reeling in Douglass and Campell passing both of them with the Grumble Bumble’s hack wheel in the grass, drifting heavy down into the left hand turn 1, sliding across the track to set up for 2. Will missed a hand hold however, transitioning from the rear fender to getting out off the chair, nearly falling off the rig. The result immediately brought the sidecar up, and began to roll over. Rabbie worked the steering and throttle hard to keep the rig from rolling over, as it drifted heavily heading off the track. Will finally fought off the G-Force load and got out and off the chair, which brought the rig back down allowing Rabbie to regain steering control and, re-orient the nose back on track narrowly avoiding a high speed roll over crash. The duo would put several more bids in for passes through the corners, but suffer the power disadvantage on the straights, and rolled across the finish line in 4th.
Race 2 - 350 Sportsman
Rabbie checks up his Mach1, THR, sponsored 3D Racing Honda 350 to his grid assignment for the launch of the 350 Sportsman event, and reviews his race strategy in his head, getting ready for the first of the two most important races of his 2008 season.
The Sportsman 350 race was going to be the most important race of Rabbie’s 350 AHRMA career. He had one option, beat Steve Brown, to remain in the hunt for the National Championship. Brown, on the other hand, Brown only needed to win one of the two events this weekend, and the statistics of this years match up suggested this event could be a split. Steve-O had the pole, as the new national points leader, and Rabbie was gridded along side in the B slot on the front row. The Sportsman 350 race would be launched as a second wave of a two wave event on the track, with the GP350 class and Production Lightweight class launched ahead of them in the first wave.
The big two wave field slowly gridded up following their hot lap, and Rabbie tried to keep calm, and focus on his objective: be faster, and smoother than Mr. Brown, and don’t make any mistakes. Simple. The two exchanged a well wish of good luck, and then settled into their game, and waited for launch. The one board flicked sideways and the first wave of machines throttled up in preparation to launch. The flag flew and the GP350 and Production Lightweight machines roared down the front chute, off into turn one and out of sight. The one board was back vertical, waiting to light the Sportsman 350 class off. Once the starter got the call that all bikes from wave one had cleared turn 2, the 1 board again went sideways, and 26 machines droned up to 7grand on the tach. The green flag started to move, and Rabbie opened the throttle WFO and threw the clutch out, erupting off the line with the hole shot leading Steve Brown by about a half a wheel length. The two machines accelerated down the front chute heading towards turn one, each looking to stick their front wheel into the inside corner first, to take command of the track. As the pair motored on the rest of the field, it would be the wheel of the #600 that had the line heading down into turn one, with the hard charging #57x right in Rabbie’s draft.
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. #600 Rabbie and #57x Steve Brown hurdle over the top of Barber’s turn 2, in the opening lap of the 350 Sportsman race, setting up for what promised to be a grueling dual to the checkered.
Rabbie put his head down, and looked deep into the exit of turn two, as he throttled the Mach1, THR sponsored 3D Racing Honda hard over the top of the hill of turn 2, pushing the nose over, and getting maximum drive down the hill exiting 2. Rabbie’s front tyre was chattering, and protesting as he leaned hard and heavy on it, getting maximum speed and drive to carry up the hill and across the blind apex right hand turn 4, still with the lead, but only by a few feet.
Rabbie set up on the outside heading into the spider turn, for one of his patented “very” late brake moves, chopping the throttle, and grabbing the front brake for a heavy short burst at the 1 marker board, and threw the Honda over hard left, quickly getting back on the throttle, to get the revs spinning for a good drive out of the corner. Rabbie powered the Mach1, THR Sponsored 3D Racing Honda down the chute heading towards the infamous Alabama Roller Coaster, still with the lead, and squeezing that little bit extra out of every corner. The Demetrius/Brown tandem would hit back markers exiting the Alabama Roller Coaster…on the first lap! Rabbie used this to his advantage, slicing up through a pack of 6 or 7 Production Lightweight riders who were making themselves slow and wide in the left/right chicane that exits out onto the long uphill back straight.
One minute and 58 seconds into the race, Rabbie exits the final left hand turn onto the front chute leading the race…with a staggering one and a half second gap ahead of #57x Steve Brown.
Rabbie ran his line, looking through the back markers like they were not even there. Its essential to keep maximum revs and speed through the chicane, for getting a fast drive up the long back straight. Chopping the throttle, even momentarily to avoid traffic will take as much as 10mph off your top speed up the back section. Rabbie chopped through 4 more back markers up the back straight, then two more from the outside, gunning the #600 Honda left, off the back straight through turn 12, WFO, then diving hard right and dropping a gear to power up the right hand turn 13 hill. Rabbie kept the throttle wound, and grabbed top gear again cresting the hill exiting 13, and powered hard down off the exit into the final uphill right hand turn 14 sweeper, full lean, looking deep into the tight 90° apex, gingerly settling the nose with slight front brake, bleeding off just enough speed to make it through the the 90° apex, then pulling the bike up hard and pushing it down immediately left, to set up for the 90° left hand turn the exits onto the front straight.
Rabbie motors the Mach1, THR, sponsored 3D Racing Honda 350 hard down through the right hand “Alabama Rollercoaster” turn, and continues his blistering pace, lapping through to 9th place in the 350 Sportsman field.
Rabbie pushed down the front chute for the first lap with a huge, 15 bike lead on Brown. Rabbie’s pit crew were on the pit wall, arms extended, waving them, wildly in an attempt to signal to Rabbie that he had the lead and was running away with it. Rabbie never saw the signals. He had his head down, and his focus intent on one thing, being the first bike across the finish line at the waving checkered flag.
The remaining laps, Rabbie continued to carve the fast line, and slice and dice through traffic, passing the entire Production Lightweight field, the entire GP350 field save Dave Roper, and worked his way up through the Sportsman 350 field to 9th position. On the final lap, Rabbie powered down the front chute, focused, intent and watching the flag tower for the checkered. He saw the flag marshal prepare the flag to present to him as he was hurdling toward it. Rabbie crossed the stripe, and received the checkered, an impressive 18 seconds ahead of #57x Steve Brown…who was ahead of third place by an impressive 10 seconds.
Pete Talabach, owner and mechanic of Mach1, right, and Rabbie are all smiles at the 3D Racing pits, following Rabbie’s convincing win in the 350 Sportsman race .
The smiles were quickly erased however when moments after, Rabbie noticed the entire back of the engine, and rear fender completely bathed in oil.
Rabbie removed the gas tank to discover a broken head bolt. The broken head bolt would have to be pulled from the motor, and a replacement found, or Rabbies weekend was over, and so was his chance for winning the national championship.
Following the race, Rabbie returned to a jubilant 3D Racing pits. Moments after the high-fives, and smiles however, Rabbie noticed his entire engine was bathed in oil. The smiles vanished, as Rabbie removed the gas tank to have a better look, and found one of the rear head bolts had broken. Luck was on Rabbies side. The bolt had to have broken within the last two turns of the race. Had it broken earlier, the oil would have found its way to the rear tyre, ending Rab’s race badly.
The broken head bolt added a new twist to the weekend. Rabbie would need to find a replacement bolt, or his weekend was over, and with it, the chance to win the national championship. P-Diddy Chief and Long-Haired Dave jumped in the Chief’s pickup and made their way to the swap meet in search of a junk 350 motor, to get the head bolts from.
Meanwhile, Rabbie had to prepare for his next race, the Sportsman 750 event aboard the ACS Specialties Rompin’ Stompin’ Triumph. With the first call made for the sportsman 750 race, #334 Scott Turner stopped at the 3D Racing pits, to tell Rabbie that they had miss-scored him in the 350 Sportsman race, and the official finish had him in 9th place! Rabbie quickly borrowed Scott’s scooter and shot down to tech inspection to lodge a formal protest, with literally 10 minutes to spare before time ran out.
Rabbie managed to get to tech, file the complaint about the error in the scoring of the 350 race, and, get back to his pits in time for third call for the 750 Sportsman race, thanks to Scott’s alert, and the use of his scooter. Thanks Scott!
Papa Chief and Long-Haired Dave would come back to the 3D pits after searching the entire swap meet empty handed. With no options left, Rabbie would go pit to pit asking all the 350 competitors if they had a spare head bolt. On the last row of pits, with hopes fading, Rabbie asked #59 Gary Swan, who smiled, opened up his parts container and pulled out a brand spanking new one! Gary would not take any money for it, but instead replied, “just get out there and win tomorrow”!. A true gentleman, and a true competitor! Thanks Gary, without your help, my season would have come to an end early!
Race 3 Sound of Singles Two-Stroke
#186 Dickie Demetrius cues up to his grid assignment for the start of the AHRMA Sound of Singles Two-Stroke race, aboard his Morgan Harrison sponsored, RS125 Honda.
Perhaps the story of the weekend is the amazing performance that #186 Dickie put on display. The SOS 2 Stroke field was filled with talent, from the likes of #90 Phast Phil Turkington, to many riders competing in the highly competitive USGPRU National Series. Dickie had not raced at all this year, and had only managed a few events last year. You wouldn’t know it. When the green flag flew, the drone of two-stroke GP machinery filled the air and the machines took flight.
One lap into the race, and #186 Dickie had worked his way clear through to 3rd spot, and was putting his sights on the leader. The pace was fast, dialing lap times in the low 1:50’s. Half way through the race, Dickie moved up to 2nd spot, and was dicing for the lead – ahead of Phast Phil! The final laps would see back marker traffic that would not play out to Dickies favor, getting hung up, and passed for 2nd, by #451 Andrew Anderson, and #90 Phast Phil Turkington, who would win the event. Impressive, simply does not adequately describe the ride that #186 Dickie put in. Unbelievable, starts to get close to describing it.
Congratulations Dickie! You’re ride was perhaps the most impressive of any rider for the entire Barber event!
--#600 Rabbie Demetrius, your biggest fan
Race 3 Sportsman 750
The 750 Sportsman race is another hotly contested series with a deep field of talent and machinery. National Champion, #1n Michael Dixon was looking to defend his #1 plate, along with 24 other riders, all equally focused on putting their bike on the top podium spot.
Rabbie was gridded on the back row of the field, on the 5th row, in the B grid position because he had not raced the ACS Triumph in AHRMA competition since Daytona back in March. When the green flag flew, Rabbie got one of his patented rocket ship vaults, and hurdled the Rompin’ Stompin’ Triumph down the front straight, drifting right as he passed and maneuvered through the field of riders. As the field cued up for turn one, Rabbie kept the throttle on, and put the tyres of the ACS Triumph on the far right outside edge of the track gobbling up the field, and moving to 10th position setting up perfectly on the inside for turn 2.
Rabbie hauled the big bad fire-breathing long rod hard right, keeping the throttle open and the front tyre chattered under load. Rabbie let the bike run loose and drift left exiting turn 2 heading down hill, passing two more riders, then bending hard right again, taking the middle line up and over the right hand turn 4, headed down the short chute towards the tight left handed turn 5 “spider turn”. Rabbie continued to work through traffic hard, moving forward with each turn. At the end of lap one, Rabbie had managed to slice and dice the competition to 5th place. He would continue this pace, quickly catching the lead trio of #1n Dixon, #262 Steve Pieratt and the #689 of Bill Umstead. One lap later, Rabbie put Umstead behind him and focused on Pieratt and Dixon.
The ACS Triumph makes big power, and nasty torque. The combination provides staggering grunt to accelerate out of corners. However, the team has been chasing a high-speed wobble issue that rears its uglly head under high speed acceleration on the straights. This wobble telecasts into a violent head shake, and in a few instances, some pretty intense tank slappers. This situation would occur on many of the laps of Saturday’s race, hampering Rabbie’s ability to keep in the draft of Dixon and Pieratt. Rabbie would work hard to settle the bike, and get it out of the wobble, and then back hard again on the throttle. One the white flag lap, Rabbie powered the Triumph hard down through the final two right hand corners, eating up the #262 machine, passing Pieratt on the inside. Rabbie exited the final right hand corner and flicked the Triumph hard left for the final corner, looking to make a run on Dixon. Dixon’s Yamaha had too much power, and too much of a lead however, and Rabbie would have to settle for second, crossing the finish line, and taking the checkered.
Saturday evening’s trophy presentation was capped with a band performing, BBQ dinner, and the humor of awards presenter, Craig Brekon. Rabbie would take top honors in the Sportsman 350 event, and a second in the 750 Sportsman event, and a disappointing 5th in the sidecar feature, while #186 Dickie would net third place with his unbelievable performance in the SOS 2 Stroke race.
A pack of D’s. From left, Papa Chief, #186 Dickie, #600 Rabbie and Christina, the litigious monkey from the UK enjoy a cold beverage at the Barber Vintage Festival Saturday Awards Presentation.
Rabbie gets the win and the #1 trophy for Saturday’s 350 Sportsman race, and thanks Mach1 Racing and THR, for their help, and support in making the win possible…
And then congratulates #57x Steve Brown for an impressive ride and the 2nd place trophy after Saturday’s dual. Sunday, says Steve, is another day!
Rabbie finishes the awards evening, with the 2nd place trophy for 750 Sportsman, thanking Art Stapleton of ACS Specialties Racing for the opportunity to swing a leg over one furiously fast Triumph 750. Along with the trophy, the team received $100 certificate from Frame Crafters, the series sponsor. Thanks Karsten!
Day Two
Race 1 - Sidecars
Sunday’s grid positions were the same as Saturday’s for the sidecar event. Rabbie and Will cued up to the B slot on row two for the final time of the 08 season. When the green flag flew, the track erupted and the three-wheeled chariots hustled down the front chute, 4 and 5 wide heading into the fast down hill left hand turn one. Rabbie and Will had a slow launch, and found traffic to work against them exiting turn 1. The Bumble was handi-capped on power, and started missing on throttle accelerating. The Demetrius/Harding duo would work the Grumble Bumble Bee hard through the remaining laps of the race, and cross the finish line again, in a disappointing 5th place, putting an end to a great season, and the 2008 National Championship.
Race 2 - 350 Sportsman
Rabbie checks up the Mach1, THR, sponsored 3D Racing Honda 350 for the Sunday race along side #57x Steve Brown, who gets the good luck nod from friend and 350 Sportsman racer and former national champion, Dave Janiec.
The 350 Championship would be decided here, on the final day of the AHRMA National Season, within the next 20 minutes. Whom ever came across the checkered, Brown or Demetrius, would be the crowned king. The pressure was on. The grid marshals made their final checks, and waved off the track signaling to the riders that it was time to go to work. Face shields shut, engines engaged, the 1 board posted. As the 1 board turns 90°, the field of competitors rev their engines accordingly, waiting, focused, ready to launch. The flag flies, and the air is lit with 25 engines, all screaming at the top of their power bands. Its show time.
Rabbie got the hole shot, and took the lead down the front chute ahead of Brown and #452 Stan Lipert in third. The trio immediately began to check out on the rest of the field of riders. At the end of the first lap, it would be Rabbie again exiting the left hand turn onto the front chute with the lead. A remarkable lead. Almost 4 seconds of lead.
#600 Rabbie leads #57x Steve Brown, followed in third by #452 Stan Lipert exiting the Alabama Rollercoaster hard on the gas on the first lap of the 350 Sportsman race.
On the second lap of the race, with the lead opening up significantly, a rider went down causing a red flag race stop. Rabbie was powering through the final two right hand turns when the red flags came, and checked up, and off the power, rolling off the track into the pit-in lane. All of the riders pulled in, and were given the sign to shut down their engines, and wait for the re-start.
#452 Stan Lipert pulled up alongside Rabbie in the red flag stoppage to congratulate Rabbie on the performance he was putting on this weekend, telling Rabbie that he was Stan’s new hero.
The grid officials gave the sign to fire up the bikes, and get ready to re-start. Unfortunately for Rabbie, the re-start would take the original grid positions again, killing the lead Rabbie had built up over second place, and the rest of the field. Rabbie focused on getting the hole shot, realizing that this second chance could be just the opportunity Steve-O needed to put in a lttle extra effort for the win. When the green flag waved, it was Rabbie, once again with the hole shot, and the lead down into turn 1.
The re-launch of the 350 Sportsman race tells the story, with Rabbie getting the quicker reaction time, and the hole shot, by almost a whole wheel on #57x Steve Brown.
Brown made an impressive move heding into the spider turn on the restart, trying to out-break the late-braking king…on the outside…and nearly tossed it away in the process. Exiting the spider turn, it would be all #600 however. The move from Brown, however, proved Rabbie’s suspicions. Brown was making an all out bid to win this thing. Rabbie would have to dig deep and pick up the pace. Exiting turn 15 onto the front chute, it would again be the #600 out in front, and putting distance between himself, and the #57x machine.
Rabbie dives hard right powering into the uphill, down hill double right hand turns 13 and 14, opening up another commanding lead on second place charger #57x Steve Brown.
The Mach1, THR sponsored Honda was tweaking and chopping through the corners pretty nastily, and stepped out twice pretty hard. Pete Talabach, who was standing at start finish, watching with high hopes and anticipation said it looked like Rabbie had a TZ750 against the GP350 bikes rocketing up the back straight working through the traffic.
The intensity was not just on the track. The 3D faithful from left, Will Harding, Denise Talabach, #55 Tom Fournier, #747 sidecar monkey Heather Carroll, Mach1’s Pete Talabach, #747 sidecar driver Brian Carroll, and Steve “Father Nelson” D’Angelo had gathered at start finish and were watching intently, as the laps wound down, and Rabbie continued to put distance between himself, and Brown, inching ever closer to the win.
Rabbie kept his head down, counting off the remaining laps, focused, pushing each corner until the tyres were chattering. Each lap Rabbie focused on trying to run smoother, and harder than the previous. On the final lap, Rabbie would exit turn 15 onto the front chute, in the lead, some 8 plus seconds ahead of Brown, and would receive the checkered flag, for the win, and the 2008 AHRMA National Championship!
The picture tells the story. The 3D faithful cheer in excitement as Rabbie powers the Mach1, THR sponsored 3D Racing Honda across the stripe to get the checkered flag, and the win.
An elated, and relieved Rabbie takes the cool down lap and raises his hand to the crowd, acknowledging their cheers, and the win for the championship at Barber Motorsports.
Pete Talabach is the first to congratulate Rabbie and share in the excitement as he comes off the track, from winning the 350 Sportsman race and the national championship aboard the Mach1, THR sponsored, fast Honda 350.
The dynamic duo, Pete Talabach, Mach1 Racing owner and mechanic, and Rabbie Demetrius, 3D Racing pilot of the fast-attack, Mach1, THR sponsored Honda 350, enjoy a few moments of pride and excitement in having won a very tough, very competitive, national championship.
Thanks so much Pete, for being there the entire season for me and 3D Racing. No matter what needed to be done, Mach1 came through, putting together an absolutely outstanding Honda 350. This championship would not have been possible without you!
Rabbie stopped by Steve Brown’s pits to congratulate Steve on an outstanding year of racing, and got a surprise special award from Steve-O’s daughter Hannah, who presented Rabbie with a crown. Thanks so much Hannah. Getting to meet you this year, and becoming your friend, is the best award I’ve ever gotten!
A long time in the making, the collective posse enjoys the spoils of victory and efforts of the Mach1, THR sponsored 3D Racing "Fast Attack" Honda 350 from left, Pete Talabach, Owner of Mach1, Christina Divigard (the litigious monkey), #186 Dickie Demetrius, #600 Rabbie Demetrius and Rich, "P-Diddy Papa Chief" Demetrius
“Great race, and season Bob – well done in a tight fight! See you next year!” -- Dave Janiec, AHRMA Chairman
“Congratulations Rabbie on your 08 Championships. Steve-O and you had some great battles this year, especially towards the end of the season.” -- Craig Breckon, AHRMA Eastern Regional Trustee
"Bob, Just wanted to say Congratulations on the championship!!!! I have totally enjoyed reading about your trips and races this past season. Say hello to Dad and Sandy for me and I will be looking forward to race season 2009!" -- Polly Merrill
"Bob- great job last weekend. You rode like a man posessed and the bike was flawless!" -- Buff, THR Racing, #88
"Way to go #600!" -- Kenny Cummings, #1 AHRMA BEARS 2008
"Congratulations on winning the AHRMA 350 sportsman title. You are a great competitor and a truly nice gentleman. Excellent write up on your web site – I’m amazed you can remember the race so well." -- Roger Gariepy
Following the jubilant celebrations of winning the 350 national title, everyone got busy with getting the rest of the day in the books, which included two more races by the 3D Racing brothers, with Dickie running the SOS 2Stroke event, and Rabbie in the 750 Sportsman event. Dickie had talked with Art earlier in the day about Rabbies practice sessions aboard the Triumph, and decided that taking a tooth of the rear sprocket would help Rabbie get the revs spinning up a little quicker, and get better lap times. Art changed the gearing while Rabbie was out in the 350 event, so that everything would be ready to go for race time.
“Art can I help out?” “Hey, Art, can I help?”
“Hey, can I help out here?” “Hey can I”...
“Ta-DAAAAHHHHH”
Race 3 - Sound of Singles 2-Stroke
#186 Dickie checks up to his grid assignment in the final SOS 2-Stroke race of the 2008 Season at Barber Motorsports.
The SOS 2-Stroke race proved to be as paced, and exciting as Saturday’s event. #186 Dickie had a good launch off the green flag and worked traffic superbly, jockeying through the field and settling into 2nd postion by the end of the first lap. The pace was quick, and the lead 5 125’s began to check out on the rest of the field, with Dickie still handily in second.
#186 Dickie powers his Morgan Harrison RS125 down the front chute of Barber Motorsports, in second place, with the metal sculpture spider to his left in the background.
With 5 laps to go, Dickie started to feel the effects of having not raced all year long, and began to fatigue, falling off pace slightly from the lead pack. With 4 laps to go, he had been sniped to 3rd spot, where he would finish the race. Again, hats off to #186 Dickie for putting in an outstanding, and impressive performance, netting two 3rd place finishes in a very competitive class, on a very fast track. Excellent work Dickie!
"Congrats on everything, everywehere! And, tell Dickie D, "Good ride" for me! You should blow up (enlarge I mean) that picture of you holding up the #1 sign. That shot is awesome! See ya soon." -- Dave Evens #590
Race 4-- 750 Sportsman
#600 Rabbie dives hard left exiting turn 15 onto the front chute of Barber Motorsports in hard charging 750 Sportsman competition.
The 750 Sportsman race would be the final race for Rabbie, and Art and the whole ACS Specialties/3D Racing crew. Rabbie settled the nose of the ACS Triumph in the A slot on the 5th row, again, starting the race from the back of the field. Rabbie got the hole shot, and powered the long-rod through traffic, and posted into 3rd place heading into the spider turn. Rabbie motored heavy into the uphill/downhill tight hand turns 13 and 14 passing #282 Pieratt for second, when the race was red flagged. The riders cued up in the hot-pit, engines running, getting hot, waiting for the call from race tech. Finally, the call came to shut down, and wait for the track clean-up to be completed.
When the officials called for the restart, Dickie helped push Rabbie off, to bump start the Triumph. The long rod crackled to life, and Rabbie headed back onto the track, to cue up in his grid position, along with the rest of the field. The green flag flew and Rabbie again tried to power down hard off the starting launch. Exiting the spider turn, in 4th, Rabbie throttled the Triumph only to feel the motor wind up with no drive power. The clutch had been cooked, having two launches and been sitting there, idling, getting hot. This would put a damper on any chance Rabbie would have for a strong perfoermance.
Two seconds later, there was a hard two rider crash directly in front of Rabbie and #1n Dixon heading into the Alabama Rollercoaster. He crash caused both Dixon and Rabbie to run off track into the gravel traps, but neither fell over. This second red flag pushed the race to the last race of the day. The Gods were smiling on ACS Specialties and Rabbie. Who limped the stricken Triumph back to the infield, where Art and Dave would bring it back to the pits, and begin a cluctch change, hoping to get enough time to remove the cooked cliuth and replacing with a new one.
25 Minutes later, and third call given for the race, Art and Dave were in the final steps of putting the side cover back on the bike. Rabbie was suited up and ready to fly. He swung a leg over and cruised back down onto the track the last of the bikes making it onto the circuit under the 5 minute board. The restart made this race the last race of the day. Also, because time was running out, the race was scheduled to be a two lap sprint. This would be an all out push from the very get-go. Rabbie gridded up and settled in to focusing on the hole shot, and carrying big speed.
Rabbie got a good hole shot, and within three corners, again worked his ay into the top 4. At the end of the first, and last lap, Rabbie was sitting solidly in third, behind Umstead and Dixon. Rabbie would try his patented inside line pass in 13 and 14 getting by both Dixon and Umstead. The plan worked, and Rabbie carved the inside line first by Dixon, and then by Umstead, and poured onto the front chute with the lead. Umstead managed to keep within strike distance however, and as the two barreled down the front chute, Umstead would nip Rabbie at the line, winning by 1,000th of a second. Rabbie would like to thank Art Stapleton, Jay Osborne and the entire ACS crew for putting together such a strong package for Rabbie to ride. I love the bike, and am already looking forward to big things in 09.
And so that puts the wraps on another season of motorcycle racing for Team 3D Racing. Its been one of the most exciting, and challenging seasons in Rabbie’s racing career.
Team 3D Racing wants to thank Pete Talabach, of Mach 1 Racing for making the 3D Racing Honda 350 an absolute rocket ship and making the AHRMA National Championship a possibility for Rabbie and Team 3D Racing! Mach 1 Racing – Because Real Speed and Performance Begins at Mach 1™
Team 3D Racing also thanks Buff Harsh, of THR Buff Harsh, for all your support and the go-fast Todd Henning pistons for winning Saturdays race at Barber, Thanks so much Buff! THR parts work hard to keep the 3D Racing Honda 350 going, and going, and going! THR Buff Harsh – There Is No Subsititue
Stay tuned for mid-winter updates to the 3D Racing program, and the annual AHRMA, USCRA and LRRS banquets. Until then, hang on, but hang off!
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