88th Annual Barbara Fritchie Classic

AMA National Hot Shoe Series
Frederick County Fairgrounds, Frederick, MD
Sunday, 4 July 2010

Be there.  2009 Grand National Twins Champion Jared Mees will be.

Alfa Century Concorso

Yesterday the Capitol Chapter of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club hosted a "Concorso" at Stone Manor Country Club in Middletown, MD.  The show was part of the group's week-long celebration of Alfa Romeo's 100-year anniversary.  I went figuring there would be plenty of neat Alfas to see but unsure how many of Alfa's peerless pre- and early post-war cars would be present.  Only one, it turns out, but what an example!

Gordon Barrett of Indianapolis, IN, brought his 1932 8C 2300 Touring Spyder.  "Touring" in this case stands for Carrozzeria Touring of Milan, the coachbuilder responsible for covering the 8C 2300 running bits with all that gorgeous superleggera -- super light-weight -- aluminum bodywork.  Only a few were made at the time and suffice it to say cars aren't made like this anymore.  Every single part and detail testifies to the designer and builder's passion.  Equally impressive is the quality of the restoration, which was good enough to earn a perfect score and class win at Pebble Beach in 2005.  The car is stunning.

 

Springfield: The Mile

Practice was just underway and already Joe Kopp and Sammy Halbert were resuming their Arizona Mile tussle

Kopp's wasn't the only Lloyd Bros. Ducati in action.  Larry Pegram on the #99

Last Chance Qualifier, GNC Twins

The Pro Singles main event was fairly competitive . . .

. . . as were portions of the Twins main event (A.J. Eslick leads his group)

But Jake Johnson was in a race of his own at the front, and took his second Springfield Mile win

Springfield: The TT

Friday morning prior to Memorial Day saw Dad and I rolling toward Springfield, IL, a trip of nearly 800 miles.  The carrot was two days of AMA Pro Flat Track racing at the Illinois State Fairgrounds--Saturday on the TT course and Sunday on the legendary Mile oval.

TT festivities kicked off around 3pm and continued well into the evening.

 

Chris Carr engages in a flattracker jedi mind meld with a young 'tracker (note Tim White Original Photo on the cover of the current Sideburn issue under Master Carr)

Fresh off a win at Sears Point on his Suzuki roadracer, Danny Eslick was a last-minute entrant at the TT

Even with strong support, his evening didn't go so well.  He seemed to be having a fine time anyway.

These boots are made for racing

Red Bull MotoGP Rookie champ J.D. Beach took the Pro Singles class win

And Henry Wiles took the GNC Singles main event from Jared Mees