Like everyone said, it was a rod, here are a few pictures of the lower part of the rod and the block that I picked up off the street.
The replacement motor that will be going in will be the same as before, basically a 1993-1999 Honda CBR 900RR motor. Someday I would like to put a bigger CC, fuel injected motor in, but for now I just need to get it running for next summer.
In the UK there is a race class, class C in the 750 Motor Club in RGB (Road Going Bike-engined) that the spec is for carb'ed Fireblade motors.