80's WA racer on board. old school.

[erikweste]

Hey all, I ran across this site while browsing for photos of a specific ATC70. I noticed that there is indeed life on this board and after running across a thread with Mickey Dunlap posting, I thought man this might be fun to relive the old days a bit.

My name is Erik Westergaard, I raced 3 wheelers in WA state from 1984 - 1987. The sanctioning body was Coyote Racing and it was the best 3 years of my life... though it felt like so much longer than that. I mention Mickey Dunlap above as he may or may not remember me... but I watched and learned from him every chance I could. I can even say I beat him in a race on my 125, though it was just holding him off successfully for the last few laps...

I was a kid, and one thing I could do really well was ride a 3 wheeler. I won a lot of races, and even did fairly well at Nationals... but a couple hiccups and being a kid that didn't know how to handle that stuff may have limited where I went with it.

Anyways, I look forward to browsing around. I may not check in to the site a lot, but if I did race with anyone on the site, or if anyone even has any questions about back in the day I would be happy to hear from you.

Thanks
~Erik

circa 1986, Rainier, WA - 1983 CR250R 3-wheel conversion

[phantombiker]

cool to meet you, man. what was it that kept you from making it a career, if you dont mind me asking ?

[Side Wayz]

Nice for you to drop in, and Gratz.

[erikweste]

1987 was the year they got banned... so going after team Honda was a little tough after that if you weren't on a quad. Of course there was outlaw racing and I did a bunch of that... but wasn't the same. We didn't have much $$... even our quad was a 250R 3Wheeler with a quad conversion kit and that was no comparison other than short track stuff. I do wish I could have made a go of it on some levels... but then again I wouldn't be where I am now and I am content with it. Still plugged into the industry a bit, so its all good.

[Side Wayz]

what where some trikes that you had and did you flat track and mx?

[MonroeMike]

Welcome to the forum Erik.

[oldskool83]

Welcome? what bike is the pic you posted? looks like a 250r but the forks are smaller and disk on the right side like a 200x front end?

[erikweste]

Welcome? what bike is the pic you posted? looks like a 250r but the forks are smaller and disk on the right side like a 200x front end?

It is a 1983 CR250R (dirt bike) that we converted to a 3 wheeler. We used the stock CR frame, and my Dad modified it to have similar geometry to an 85 ATC 250R. If I remember correctly that the front end actually WAS off a 200X. I think the rear swingarm was ATC250R with frame modified to fit.

It had a left-side rearward kick starter, and NO counter balancer so it vibrated like crazy at idle. But that bike was so rediculously quick! The gearing put first gear somewhere between 1st and 2nd on a typical ATC250R (closer to 2nd), so starts were rediculous. We couldn't get the rear suspension linkage to work properly so it became strictly flat track and TT bike with a straight shock to the rear swinger... I just ran my Dads stock 85 ATC250R for MX events.

Someone in WA still owns the bike, not sure who though.

Thanks, I look forward to checking out the site.
~Erik

[Bryan Raffa]

to the site!!! hope you enjoy your stay.. try the search button there's been a bunch of bike conversions over the years.. thanks for posting Please post up more!

[tulsamike3434]

Welcome! Do you have many of your race pictures, ribbons or trophy?

[erikweste]

Welcome! Do you have many of your race pictures, ribbons or trophy?

Here are some photos I took while flipping through an old album a while back. There is one with my 125 and some trophies... that was the first year.

I will check with my sister if she has any pics with more detail of the bikes.

http://picasaweb.google.com/erikwest...eat=directlink

[Side Wayz]

Cool pics nice ride thx.

[leviblue]

OH VERY COOL...love the 125 and the news artical......Gotta say nics legs guys

[KASEY]

man i know Doug richards!! i have many many miles of racing on the rainer flat track.. your just a year to late to have raced with me.. i lived in olympia raced at thurston county orv park,, i ran the #1 plate in 81 and 82 in the 200cc class... so you started when i was having kids and winding down,,,, EVER SEE ONE OF THESE?????

[shortline10]

Nice to see another old racer come out of the bushes .