Thanks for your past article, it was a big help in finding lady riders. On the Salt thing were happening very fast, with six records, we were in record impound every day. This is part of our racing story that I will post on my web site.

We worked with Three lady riders. Can you use this information to create a follow-up article on our racing and lady riders? I will need additional lady riders for the next event.

--Thanks Kenny

To bring everyone up to date, we take a quick flash back in time.

With my Triumph we challenged records held by men riding a BSA. We started racing the Vintage class with the 1949 Triumph in 2006. The BSA had already set two of the four records, so we raced after the other two and set them with two lady riders. Our Triumph records were faster than the BSA records, so we thought in 2007, we would return with the Triumph to challenge the BSA records and also race a Production Honda GoldWing equipped with a sidecar.

The GoldWing set two sidecar records. The Triumph had major trouble. We blew a piston on the final run and were 2 mph short of the record, and worst, one of our lady riders lost a record to a man on the BSA. For 2008 we came back ready. We defended our one remaining record and took the other three records away from the BSA and the men.

This year we set six records. We were so busy that we had no time to do anything, but maintain the bikes and then on the return trip home to LA, we were in an accident with a U-Haul truck pulling a car on a trailer. The U-Haul totaled our motorcycle trailer. It was very lucky that no one was injured. We arrived home a day late. Back to the racing!

The men riding just one BSA motorcycle held three of the records, which our lady riders came to challenge. We hold the fourth record in this Vintage class. Our ladies out raced the men and then pushed our own record faster. We now hold all four records in this class and set two additional records in the sidecar class.

The trip to Bonneville Salt Flats turned into a Quest! Some 750 miles from home, first stop was Honda Of Salt Lake. They have been one of our sponsors from 1994. There, we learned that the very next morning was the Ride for Kids charity event. We went to this event in Torrance, Calif. for the past 14 years. The Ride for Kids is a nationwide event, put on by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and the theme is 'Celebration of Life'.

This was the first time we attended the 'Ride' outside of California. Jerry Harvey, the Ride Manager, set up a special place where we could display our two Bonneville race bikes. Every motorcycle in attendance had to ride right past us. Talk about being seen! Everyone had thousands of questions about our bikes and Bonneville racing. American Honda Motor Company is a nationwide supporter of the Ride For Kids, and they are our biggest race sponsor. Among the many things the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation supports, one effort lead to a local Utah Doctor winning the Nobel Prize. We met many wonderful people and some may go racing with us. More to come on that later.

The first day of SpeedWeek was designated for safety inspections only. We arrived and unload the bikes and riders gear, and waited our turn for inspection. The bikes passed, but the inspectors wanted different riding boots for the vintage Triumph rider. We borrowed a pair of boots and survived the inspection. We were ready to race in the morning. We passed the day looking at all the other race vehicles, bikes, cars, trucks, plus training Staci to race.

On day two, Staci Goldsberry rode the Honda with the sidecar, and I rode the 1949 vintage Honda. I met Staci at the Salt Lake City, Ride for Kids; she expressed an interest in racing. She had never raced anywhere, never ridden a Honda GoldWing, never rode a bike equipped with a sidecar, and never experienced the Bonneville Salt Flats. So Ok, I trained rookie riders in the past, but never in just two days. Would she be able to set the record? She had very good riding skills on the street, but could she learn all the Bonneville race rules and pass the Rookie Orientation Meeting required by the event officials?

To quote the rule book, “Successful completion of the license requirements shall include, but not be limited to, starting line procedure, course navigation, and shutdown procedure as determined by the official contest board.'

Wow! This includes everything and just two days to learn it all. The official rule book is 240 pages long. What if we sent Staci out on the race track too soon? What if she is not ready to race?

GoldWing had no turbo boost during Staci's first run. The bike would not go fast. Was Staci going to have problems with the bike? I instructed her to ride the bike past the timing lights in the Flying Mile, or no record! Staci was racing in a new class that had no current record, so her slower speed counts as a qualified run for a record. We took Staci and her GoldWing to record impound, we had four hours to find the problem and fix it. The turbo failed and we had no spare. We had a choice to make, forfeit the record attempt, or accept a much slower speed for the record run in the morning. We chose to race. The bike was fast enough to place the bike in record impound. The officials certified Staci’s first record.

Nicki set her triumph record the hard way.

She set two records at SpeedWeek. Her most impressive ride for us, was on the vintage Triumph. Nicki’s first run was a very fast 21.5 mph over the current record speed, a perfect run, everything went right. Unknown to us, trouble with a capital “T” was headed our way.

The second run for the record was the next morning. Everything checked out okay. Nicki was ready and the bike was ready. The official Starter, Bill Taylor, explained course conditions to Nicki, and then flagged her off down the course. She left the starting line fine, no wheel spin, only at about 250 feet out, the engine cough and quit running.

While coasting Nicki down shifted and bump started the engine, only it was now running on one cylinder. She was about to abort her run and pull off the race course, when she remember the instructions I gave her.

“No matter what happens race the bike through the 2 mile timing light.” With 1 ½ mile left to the 2-mile light Nicki nursed the engine, running on one cylinder, as fast as it would go, way below old record speed. The record was based on the average speed of the two runs that counted for the new record. Nicki’s average speed for the record would only be 2.7 mph faster than the current record. Nicki would have to leave for home right then, no time for a second attempt. But good enough, as Nicki would leave for home with two Bonneville World Land Speed Records. We found out later that we broke an intake pushrod.

Brianne, had the best and fastest two runs with in 0.3 mph of each other. The Honda qualified a third time with Brianne Corn as rider, but we forfeited the record attempt because Brianne would have to ride two bikes the next morning. On the 18th we made the first run, and then on the 19th completed the second record run.

Bike #, ENTRY/RIDER, CLASS, OLD RECORD, NEW RECORD, BRAND M/C
609: GoldWingLyonStaci, SC-BF 2000, OPEN, 82.307 mph, Honda GoldWing
621: GoldWingI, M-VBF 500, 59.763 mph, 81.876 mph, Triumph
1609: GoldWingLyonNicki, SC-BG 2000, OPEN, 82.820 mph, Honda GoldWing
1621 GoldWingLyonNicki M-VBG 500 58.151 mph 60.909 mph Triumph
6211: GoldWingLyonCorn, MPS-VBG 500, 66.593 mph, 86.276 mph, Triumph
6217: GoldWingLyon, MPS-VBF 500, 69.427 mph, 84.039 mph, Triumph

--Kenny Lyon
(310) 637 6094
www.goldwingracingproject.info
www.projectgoldwing.org