{"id":2050,"date":"2009-11-06T14:43:16","date_gmt":"2009-11-06T22:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joewelder.com\/?p=2050"},"modified":"2013-08-15T10:18:40","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T17:18:40","slug":"jim-watson-aka-joe-welder-at-the-ama-pro-flat-track-motorcycle-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.arc-zone.com\/joewelder\/2009\/11\/06\/jim-watson-aka-joe-welder-at-the-ama-pro-flat-track-motorcycle-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, at the AMA Pro Flat Track Motorcycle Races"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 24th was the perfect SoCal Fall night at the Pomona Fairplex for the 2009 finale of the AMA Pro and Gen Romero\u2019s West Coast Flat Track Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG00004-20091024-1809\"I was excited to be back at the races again watching the bikes line up on the front straight-away for the rider introductions in front of an overflow crowd.<\/p>\n

The pits were jammed with bikes in a variety of classes from the AMA Grand National Pro, including 2009 Champion Jared Mees on the #21 XR 750 Harley-Davidson, \u00a0West Coast Experts, Amateurs, and Vintage.<\/p>\n

\"IMG00010-20091024-1851\"<\/p>\n

I walked the pits and visited with some old friends and met some new ones too.<\/p>\n

I love flat track racing because the bikes are custom built for one thing — speed, whereas in motocross racing, you buy a factory-built bike and \u00a0slightly modify the engine and suspension before you are ready to ride.<\/p>\n

Flat track bikes are purpose-built from the ground up with hand-made TIG welded chromoly frames, custom-built exhaust pipes, CNC machined wheels, and hand-laid fiberglass tanks and rear fenders.<\/p>\n

\"IMG00013-20091024-2042\"<\/p>\n

Each bike is made with the rider\u2019s personal wants and needs in mind, \u00a0from the handle bars down to the tires. \u00a0A perfect example is Jimmy Wood\u2019s #37 BMW powered machine.<\/p>\n

This is a beautiful motorcycle and it looks even better in person! \u00a0Made me think about breaking out my old skid shoe!<\/p>\n

One of the coolest bikes I saw there was a Grand National Replica street bike<\/a>. \u00a0I had a similar flat track styled bike that I put together — it was based on a Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster, but I ended up selling it to one of our reps\u2026<\/p>\n

Take a look and let me know what you think!<\/p>\n

— Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder —<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 24th was the perfect SoCal Fall night at the Pomona Fairplex for the 2009 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,10,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-joe-welder","category-motorsports","category-socal-life","entry","fw-tab-6 fw-tabr-4"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t