Springfield, Illinois Flat Track Racing labor day weekend (9/3-4, 2022)

[cupcake_mike]

I posted this in the facebook group too, but putting it here to in order to drum up more interest. I put it in the section because it seems like the event and rides sections don't get many eye-balls.

I just got back from a 2 day 1100 mile trip on my FTR to see a bunch of old motorcycle friends and it still blows my mind how "rare" our bikes are. As most of us can agree, it's not the norm to ever see an FTR out and about. Let's change that, at least for one weekend.

Springfield Mile flat track racing double header (Springfield, il) is labor day weekend (9/3 & 9/4). I know this isn't the best notice, but hear me out.

I'm planning on riding over (400 miles) from KC on Saturday afternoon and attending the races on Sunday, I work night shift Friday night or I'd be there for Saturday's races too.

I think it would be bitchin to have a bunch of FTRs out front of the stadium, let alone it's a great excuse for a ride. 400 miles is a doable day for anyone, so I'm calling out you folks that live within 400 miles (or farther). That radius should pretty much cover folks as far south as Tennessee, as far east as mid-ohio, north to Wisco, with me anchoring the west. This is me, OFFICIALLY CALLING YA'LL OUT! If we can get some good interest, I'll try to reach out to a couple people I know that have ties to Indian and maybe we can get a reserved spot up front or some kind of perks (it's worth a try).

I'm planning on staying at a hotel, there's still plenty of rooms available, but if camping is your thing there's lots of opportunities for that, locally.

Let's do it! First round at the bar on Sunday night is on me!

 

[Helge]

Great idea Mike and I wish that lots of FTR riders will follow you 🖖

 

[cupcake_mike]

Just remembered I never reported back on this...

Anyway, my friend Thomas and I rode over to springfield on saturday afternoon (about 400 miles), taking our time hitting the fun roads of central missouri. When we checked into the hotel (at about 8pm) we found 2 FTRs already there. A couple guys from the FB group had seen the post and came over (one from about 100 miles away and another from about twice as far). Nothing close was open so we ordered pizza and charged some beers from the front desk to the rooms and sat out front of the hotel drinking, eating and talking until about 2 am.



It rained off and on saturday night, so we woke up knowing there was a good chance there would be no race (and we were right). As we were bullshitting over breakfast we got the text from the promoter that the race had been cancelled. We decided to ride over anyway, but it was pretty deserted at the track (at least it wasn't actively raining). We were able to cross into the in-field and take a pic of the bikes in front of the trailer that podium is usually in front of. We could've probably taken a lap, but it was seriously wet and probably wouldn't have ended well.



At that point we decided to buzz around the city and see what trouble we could get into. Then we heard from another FTR owner who was local and offered to give us a tour of the dive bars. Then it started raining. That's when things got fun, we ended up hitting 4 or 5 places, each about 20 miles apart over the next 6 or 7 hours. It was a great day and except for a little bitching from one of our more "senior" members about the rain, everybody loved it. Ended up having 5 FTRs at the "meet" (Thomas, Cody, Justin, David and I).











We got back to the hotel about 8pm that night when I got a call from a friend that lives about 100 miles north of Springfield, he said another friend of ours was in town (who lives in Seattle and I never get to see). So, I headed north and was able to see some old friends until about 2am, then headed back to the hotel.

Monday morning we all slept in pretty late and then all 5 of us headed to lunch at a great little restaurant built in Quonset hut a couple miles down the road. Then Thomas and I hit the road, pretty uneventful ride back, though we found an absolute gem of a road that ended up being 30 miles of the next best thing to the roads I ride out to the east coast to enjoy every year.

All in all, it was a 1200 mile, 3 day weekend for me. Met a bunch of great guys, got to see some new places and roads and even though we didn't see a lick of racing and spent a good part of the trip wet, I bet each and every one of us would do it again.

Actually, we are talking about maybe putting something together next spring in Arkansas, more to come on that later

 

[Helge]

Good story mate 👍
As always...if you don´t start you have nothing to tell