Scott Rounds

Hey FTWCO,

Raced my friend's KTM at Dirtquake this year. It's 2WD. Fucking insane, you just twist the throttle and it goes wherever you point it. Worked really well, I ran it with the hooligans on Friday night. Got a lousy start so ended up in the B main, in which I got 3rd. Saturday I ran with the "Inappropriate Road Bike" class, and cleaned up. Gotta admit it was the wrong class for that bike, it was really competitive in hooligans and there was just nothing even close in IRB, but of course I can't complain about winning. Anyway, here's a pic, photo credit to Gregor Halenda (@gregorhalenda), the owner of the bike. Hope you're well, wish I coulda gotten my shit together for the Colorado ride... Next year!

Cheers

Scott

Scott Rounds

Nick Weimer & Scott Rounds

Scott Rounds

Hey guys,

I had a rad opportunity last weekend to ride a Montesa 250 in the vintage class at the first annual Pete Giammalvo Memorial Race in Massachusetts. Pete was a racer in the 70s until an accident put him in a wheelchair, which didn't keep him out of flattrack, he just started promoting the racing in New England. I started racing in '98 in his series, so he was always a big part of the experience for me and for a lot of other people. He passed away in 2011, so a couple guys have revived the hometown track and hopefully we'll have a full season there next summer. 

Anyway, my friend Tony ended up with Pete's old Montesa, and he went through it and got it running, and asked me if I'd ride it. Hell yes was my answer, if I remember correctly. So I got to get about 6 practice laps in on my first time on the bike. Mind you, this thing has 30 year old tires on it, I haven't raced on a two-stroke in about 8 years, and the brake is on the left. I can deal with the shifter on the right, but once my foot was down all I had for brakes was the compression release. It was fuckin' AWESOME. 

The races went well, I was plagued with lousy starts since I didn't have much seat time on the bike. After a bad start in the heat, I got up to third place. Then after a bad start in the feature, I was able to fight my way up to second. Had a great time. Also borrowed one of Tony's XR100s and raced in the mini TT. I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as some of the guys out there, so I hung back and rode the cushion, wound up somewhere mid-pack. 

As for the rest of the season, I'm sorry I haven't been keeping you up to date. I've been waiting to get photos that never ended up coming to me, so I don't have much to show. I had one feature win, which I believe coincided with our Wonderboy Nick Weimer's bike breaking down. While you guys were drinking beers and staring at choppers in Brooklyn (wish I coulda been there), we had an AMA Vintage Nationals doubleheader race at our local track. I got a 3rd and 4th on Saturday and a 3rd and 2nd on Sunday. Actually, it turns out that one of those thirds is actually a second, because Nick got disqualified for some reason. 

And that's about it. I crashed at some point in one of the last races, not bad, but my bike is gonna need some love this winter. I'll be skipping the last event of the year. I rode out to the MotoGP in Indy back in August, so there are some FTW stickers on some stuff in Indianapolis now. 

Hope you & your loved ones are well. Take it easy and keep up the good work, I'll send some more photos from the season your way if I get em.

Scott Rounds

Hey guys,

Had myself a blast at the AMA race last weekend at Square Deal Riders. The races were pretty stacked with almost 15 riders in both of the classes I entered. We were supposed to have Friday and Saturday night races, but Friday got rained out so it turned into an all-day double-header on Saturday. The rain made the track as good as it gets, and riding all day long really helped keep the flattrack muscles tuned up. 

I had some good heat races, including a hard-earned 2nd place finish. Got a 5th place in one of the 500 Masters mains. The highlight of the night for me was the Larry Weiss memorial cup race. I didn't even know I'd signed up for it, but it turned out that the Hotrod Singles class that I was running was also the cup race. They had all 14 riders walk our bikes out onto the track, helmets off, and lined us up on the front straight. We passed around a mic for rider introductions, I got to give you guys a shout out in front of a decent crowd in the stands. I started the race from the second line, but had a decent start and passed a few guys, getting up to 7th place or so. There was a crash around the 9th lap, so we had a single-file restart, someone crashed again, we restarted again, then raced the last 3 laps. On the final lap, someone got around me and I damn nearly passed him back, but I crossed the finish line about half a bike length behind him, ending up in 8th. It was the most exciting race I've had in a long time. 

Attached photos are courtesy of Aaron Wojack (aaronwojack.com). 

Scott Rounds

Photos by Joan Cuenco...Check out her stuff out here

Scott Rounds

Flat Track - New York

Check out the works of Scott Here
 

Scott Rounds at Oakland Valley

Got home last night from the last event in the AMA Vintage National
series at Oakland Valley Speedway. Had a great day, my whole family
came out and three of the four of us raced. My sister ran my old XR100
in her first race ever, and my dad (Frank Rounds #39) cleaned up with
a win in the senior 50+ and got a third in the Hot Rod Singles class.
I had intended to spend half the day racing our good friend Leon's
Project Badger (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Badger/202219923143473)
in the Ironman 750 Brakeless class, but our hopes were shattered by a
non-functioning clutch. I turned a few laps in practice before it went
south, there are photos to prove it. It's a hell of a cool bike, and
I'm already looking forward to giving it another try.
I had better luck with the Yamaha, my usual ride, in the 500 Masters
class. I had a mediocre heat race which put me on the second line for
the feature race. There were about 15 riders in the feature, including
our good friend Nick Weimer and a couple other experts on the front
line. I had a decent start, rode well enough to keep up with the front
of the race, and on the last lap the leader took out the back marker,
in turn taking himself out of the race and putting me in fourth. Nick
Boy ended up in second, which won the overall points series for him,

but I'll let him tell you all about it.

Hope you guys are having at least that much fun. Send me some stickers
if you get a minute; the dumb fucks who stole my bike back in June
took all my stickers off, like they were gonna ride it in stealth mode
or something. Take it easy.
Cheers

Scott Rounds #12

SCOTT ROUNDS TAKES THE WIN

Dudes,
Got to my second race of the season this past Sunday. First race
wasn't so great, I lowsided halfway through the feature. Nevertheless,
it felt good to be back on the track after that wreck last season.
Anyway, I managed to pull off a win in Vintage on Sunday, I'm stoked!
Here's a pic of me with the checkers.
Cheers,
Scott Rounds #12

Scott Rounds #12 and his broke-ass collar bone

 

You guys are the shit. Here's me testing the light at the studio this
morning. New favorite shirt!

SCOTT ROUNDS FTWCO #39 TAKEN OUT

Greaser Mike, aka Michael Kramer FTWCO Racer #278 sent word that Scott got taken out and flown away from the races at Oakland Valley on Oct. 10th.
Read about Scott's account here:http://greasermike.blogspot.com/2010/10/get-well-soon-scott.html
and a full account of the day from Scott's Dad here:http://sidewaysnortheast.blogspot.com/2010/10/oakland-valley-race-report.html
Get well soon Scott!

Scott Rounds

 Hey guys, Finally got myself and my newly acquired race bike to a race last weekend. Being my first time on this bike, I had some bugs to work out, but it went well for a shakedown run. I entered the vintage class and the open am.

 Both classes had a turnout of about 8 riders, which I hear is decent for this track, which was also new to me. I did fine in the Vintage heat- settled into 3rd and stayed there til the finish, which got me onto the front line for the feature. Sweet. Open class qualifier didn't go so well, the bike started breaking up after a few laps, so I pulled off before I got lapped. Turned out my condenser had fallen off the points plate. Little bit of safety wire, and I was back in bizness. Went out later for the Vintage feature race. Got an okay start, I think I was in 3rd going into turn 1. Passed into 2nd coming out of turn 4. Unfortunately, I'd been having trouble with my brake for the whole day, and that second pass had me coming into turn 1 a little hot. I came in two wide with the first place rider, I was on the inside. Couldn't quite hold on, and rather than going wide and taking someone out, I had to lay it down in turn 2. Got back up with the bike still running, but my exhaust had gotten knocked pretty good and was hanging off blowin in the wind, so I had to call it quits.

 My friend Fumi ended up winning, turned out to be a really great race.

 My open am feature race went a little better. I almost didn't start, but decided at the last minute to just run the straight pipe with no muffler, and just to take 'er easy. Started from the second line, got a pretty good start. I wound up settling into 5th, where I managed to hold off a kid on a CR250 who actually gave me a good run. He passed me at some point, but couldn't hold his line and I got him right back on the inside and kept it together to the line. So it was a fun day overall, the bike felt dialed save for the aforementioned bugs I now need to work out. I'm gonna flip my rear tire to the fresh side, bleed that damn brake, order some proper number plates and get my hands on a new exhaust and I'll be back on track for the next race. I'm almost definitely racing this Saturday the 3rd up at Jolly Roger in New Hampshire, a track I've spent a lot of time on throughout my racing life. I'll be on my dad's bike (Frank, #39), but I feel right at home on it so I think it'll go well. Sunday is (also almost definitely) a little motard with New England Mini Moto (http://www.nhf-racing.com/) in Vermont. And rest assured I'll be flying the colors all weekend. I don't have my moto gear in Brooklyn with me, so I was wearing my leathers last weekend, but I'll have the right stuff this weekend and I'll finally get to run that sweetass jersey you guys sent me (thanks!). I'll follow up with a couple race pics

Scott Rounds  scottroundsphotography.com