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LAST PAGE MOMBA MEMORIES, PART DEUX

Last October I wrote about my outrageous MOMBA (Mid-Ohio Motorcycle Build Attempt) experience at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days in 2006. But like any really epic story — and MOMBA was very definitely that — it keeps resurfacing, just as it did while we assembled this very VMD-flavored edition of the magazine.

So rather than ignore the itch I scratched it…and boy does it bring back the smiles. Not that sourcing, buying, modifying and prepping a Middleweight Superbike-spec racer (one that had to pass AHRMA tech) exclusively from the VMD swap meet was easy or all smiles for the gang of crazies — led by Wisconsin racer (and H-D engineer) Wes Orloff — that put the whole thing together. Just the opposite, in fact.

I mean, the seemingly 24/7 thrash to turn a Kawasaki KZ550 LTD Custom into a viable (and safe!) roadracer took the better part of three days. And while we came away from the weekend (after finishing 8th out of 12 entries) with great photos and memories, few do a better job of describing the insanity of MOMBA than this main image.

You’ve got consternation and hesitancy on the faces of crewmembers Andy Mauk and Rick Goldberg; you’ve got bloodshot-eyed action in the wee hours; you’ve got a motorcycle that simply should not be in a race paddock; and you’ve got all the grinding, welding and fabrication that took place that weekend on full display in the sparkthrowing spectacle being orchestrated by Mr. Orloff. Were you wearing eye protection, Wes?

Challenging as it was (for the crew, that is), we’d do it again in an instant. And that is one of the many allures of AMA VMD. —Mitch Boehm

Left: Orloff and now-wife Leah buttoning up the LTD motor at midnight. The LTD racer got through tech and made the race, and while it wobbled and smoked, it finished. Somehow.