Feb. 1st Race

[Rick Miller]

To all competitors, THANK YOU! We had a great turnout. The goal at GCKI is to have a fair playing field for all racers. In order to achieve this goal it takes a little extra time, patience and an understanding of our rules.
Tech inspections will vary from race to race, some tech items may take a little more time and attention to detail than others. Please keep this in mind and take the time to become familiar with the rules concerning your class, dont depend completely on what your engine builder or friend has told you, check it yourself.
If you have a particular question concerning your class you can reach me via e mail, PM through this forum or by telephone. Again, thanks to all the participants who contributed to a great race day. Rick Miller

[Marcia Bartos]

And THANK YOU, Rick, for a great job in tech! It's an important part of racing and with all your "cool" gadgets, we might just call you inspector...

[Luke Hesketh]

On the note of class familiarization. I plan to be at every race running my Yamaha. I had a jackshaft on it, and there was a lot of doubt by fellow competitors that it should be allowed.

The argument is that the jack shaft, or Bully Clutch set up is not an axle clutch per the Yamaha Lite rules. It contains a clutch that could be configured to run on the pto with a 3rd bearing support. I selected it because my first clutch being a Horstman DXL, was serviceable, at best. It was never great and continually reliable. The Bully, I can set it up at home, and run it for a whole road race weekend, which consist of two 30 minute races and hours of practice on Friday. I can focus on driving. Granted I ran into trouble yesterday, but that was sprocket/chain related and not a clutch issue, haha.
So, the summed argument is, less maintenance, less clutch breakage, no fluid leak, and not on the axle. If there is doubt about it being legal, please take a step further and amend the class rules to exclude it. That would bring closure to everyone else in the class, including myself.

Don't get me wrong, I can pick up an engine clutch, and run it, and still run competitively. But I would also rather not change set ups between road and sprint races. I am willing to adjust to any possible amendments, but I will still lobby until then for it.

Luke

[Rick Miller]

Luke, thanks for the question. It does state that the rules do not allow "axle clutches". WKA does not allow bully type clutches or jackshaft configurations. It is not spelled out in the 2009 rule book but there is a bulletin addressing this issue. As an example, the Horstman HDC5B is a dual/dry disc set up that is legal for sprint racing. There are also other dry disc type setups that are in line with this rule. In order to be in compliance with the rules you will need to change the clutch to a dry disc setup or a wet clutch, although the latter does not seem to hold up as well, thats just an opinion, the final decision is yours to make. Thanks, Rick

[Brad Johnson]

Are L&T clutches still available? Back in my Yamaha days I swithed from the Horstman to L&T and was very happy afterward. Always seemed to be more reliable and consistent.

[Rick Miller]

Hey Brad, Yes, L and T are still building/selling clutches. We only ran the horstman in Junior Super Can but the LT seems like a quality clutch.

[John Bartos]

Rick - from many of us, we really appreciate your support of the club. It will be quite reassuring to know that we have a dedicated and informed tech inspecton official working the races.

[Rick Miller]

Thanks John, I will do my best to do a good job. Rick