Let me Start by saying that the High Point National was the start of Motocross for me.When I was 13 My dad loaded us up in the car and drove us an hour through the hills from our home in Maryland. Through West Virginia, finally arriving in Mt. Morris PA. (Yes, you can do all that in and hour) I had never been to a Motocross Race before, and an event like this blew my young mind! I remember Camping, before it was tamed down.... And watching these guys go so fast on their screaming two strokes. . . I remember sitting on a fence post after the finish line and watching Doug Henry, Damon Bradshaw, and Mike Larocco fly by.... And local Pro Steve Crow completely Cartwheel his bike in the 2nd Turn after the start and launched his Suzuki over the Fence and into a crowd of spectators!
After the Race my Dad asked me if I would like a bike and learn how to ride.... Um? Duh! I Needless to say I was hooked and have never looked back. I thought I wanted a Kawasaki KX80, probably because it was green... And that was a favorite color of mine. But my dad knew better, and a few weeks after the National my Dad brought home a brand new Honda CR80R With the Brightest neon Red (pinkish) plastic I had ever seen! I was stoked, even though at the time I didn't know what stoked even was.
So, High Point always holds a special Place for me... and this year was another good one! My family and friends came to watch the race and held down the Brawndo / Redux Beverages Hospitality area. We had a good showing at High Point, with Ryan Clark almost grabbing the 1st Moto Holeshot! He was running 3rd during the opening laps behind Stewart and Mike Alessi. He continued to run well into the Top ten until he caught his boot in a Rut and twisted back his ankle...
On to the second Moto's! I was in the infield of the Beautiful High Point Raceway, watching our lights Rider Kiniry shred into the top ten. When Clark's wrench Radioed the call that His 450 engine had a hole in the engine cases from the 1st moto. He didn't realize that it had happened till about 20 minutes before the 2nd moto. This didn't give us enough time to swap an engine, so we tried to somehow come up with an alternative fix...
After scrambling around trying to use epoxies and other fixes, it was looking very grim for a chance to start the 2nd moto. A light bulb flickered in my head at that moment! I remembered the Whiskey tour I had attended in Kentucky the week Before, and I had purchased a bottle of 18 year old bourbon that had a cork in it! I imagined that a cork material would plug the hole in the cases or at least slow the oil leak down! I pulled the cork, drilled the cracked case out a little larger, and shaped the cork to fit the hole.... Now I had to think of how to hold the cork in place. I grabbed a small wood handled wire brush and jammed it between the engine cases and frame Rails... The handle was curved enough to hold pressure on the cork. We then filled the engine oil side up to the top and proceeded to the start line for the 2nd Moto..
We all crossed our fingers as Clark took off the line... I spotted in a corner where I could see that the cork and brush handle were still in place lap after lap. 35 minutes later, the trusty #39 rolled across the finish! We had made an entire national Moto with a cracked engine case!
Held together by a Cork... Appalachian Engineering at its finest.
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