Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125702
co r- eo & If 0 .... '" "' ~ TALE OF A WHITE WAlLER, I u " Cl wo'rld doesn't do you a bit of good if you can only make it to the yello-flap lap." this was the prevailing philosphy. _ The most radical change consisted of dropping the Amal concentric in favor of a 34mm Mikuni tagged on with a manifold from A&A manufacturing. After proper jetting, White, in a somewhat less articulate moment, describes the result as "Perfeck! I mean, it's PERFECKI" Later, he says "It'll never load up. I could bog it down for half an hour and then open it up... " He makes a gesture of a plane taking off. The new carb was topped off with an A&A air cleaner with a Filtron element. "The rule of thumb is to allow for four times as much air for a -two-stroke as you would a four-stroke," according to the alore experienced Farnsworth. The cleaner is huge and weighs about as much as a layer of dust. . The rest of the time was spent spiffing up the top end, mostly taking off the rough edges and generally eliminating anything that detracted from peak perfo-rmance ani! reliability. No super.porting tricks. After Tom raced - and consequently unloaded - a couple of times, more work was obviously in order, to no one's surprise. The rear wheel was found to be improperly laced. And the front one kept on hopping all over the place. The crown assembly was replaced an A&A assembly that bolted on to the stock Betor forks. The rim locks were removed because of the dead, unsprung ~ w Z w ..J U >- U weight. The final product is a competitIve machine that wins not because it outruns its opponents but because it always allows Tom White to outrun his opponents. Off the track he seems unlikely to be a motorcycle racer; slender, calm, friendly, loves to chat. The 2-l.-year-old says, "Yau're ~ different person when you're - on the track. The nerves, the butterflies - it all goes away as soon as the flag drops." At that point Tom White becomes and his machine become a single entity, blending into a ballet of speed and agility. He moves through the pack of riders at an unhurried pace; he actually is barely aware of their existence. The race is between Tom and the track, and Tom wins only if he feels that he put out 100%. A first-place trophy is incidental. . The future? Tom is going to spend a lot of time at Ascot in 1971. He said he would like to buy a 40-incher soon. He's also looking forward to competing with his brother Dan when he finishes a stint in the Army in January. Dan White will bring home a box of trophies he has been winning while away in Texas. And his employer, a racer-oriented cycle dealer (everyone who works there races), may sponsor him on a half·miler. No matter, Tom remains the utmost individual in this racing, always in complete control of his machine on the track and off. Anything less than that, to Tom White, is a deficiency. Tom White shows form. By David Swift I first met Tom White after I had wri"tten an erroneous statement which, according to a Cycle News correspondent, made him look "conceited as hell". After discovering the error, I looked him up at Huntington Beach Cycle Park on': Sunday to apologize. He looked a bit sinister peering at me through his Bell Star. As I began my prepared speech, Tom stopped me with a chuckle, "Yeah, I sure felt funny about that." One soon fmds out that he is, indeed, "modest of his racing abilities and one heck of a nice guy." Naturally, it takes,more than being a unice guy" to win as often as Tom White does, so what lies beyond his aura of innocence, his All-American·Boy midwestern charm? It was Dan White, Tom's twin brother, who first began racing. This was back in 1967 and Tom, was an itinerant surfer. Despite the esthetic similarities betwen the two sports, he decided right then and there he would never get on one of those filthy, noisy things..:Soon enough he had his own 100cc Yamaha and was making regular appearances at Elsinore and Huntington. Later, he was able to dump his job as a grocery clerk and put his hands to work at Orange County Cycle West. In the me-antime the Huntington Beach youtJ. saved his coins for that Dream Bike - a 250 Bultaco. Says Tom, matter.of.factIy, "Bultaco is the only way to go if you want to win." Tom started 1970 as number 28 in the Huntington Racing Assn. His AMA plate is 34x. This year he made most of his appearances at HBCP in a successful attempt to capture the number one plate. He broke the track record twice in the process, knocking a full four seconds off the original one to where it now stands: 40.80 seconds. While he was making all this noise at Huntington, Bryon Farnsworth, West Coast editor of Cycle and himself an accomplished racer (remember "Clutch Cargo" at Elsinore a couple of years ago?), began making regular showings. This was last August and by September Bultaco American' of Santa Clara got wind of a hotshoe down south. They responded with a new stock PurSang at special cost. Tom was still an independent racer and a quasi-partnership was formed with Farnsworth. "Over 25 man·hours went into that machine before it was even kicked over," says Farnsworth..Modifications were made to improve reliability and tractability. "All the horse-power in the Wh ite up against K&N racer Steve Nichols in a recent race. Huntington Racing Assn. Westminster, Calif. Tom White Robby Burg Robert Butt Dennis Briggs John Rice Jerry Greer Carrol Heighland Tom Shumard John Sperry Robert Crecelius GregWickam DougWestly Fred Timberlake 1335 1200 IH5 990 895 890 890 845 825 760' 745 735 730 1970 T.T. POINT STANDINGS Rick Isbell Dave Fletcher Richard Marriott Doug Perrault Mike Murphy Dennis Hanson Dan Muirhead Richard Ray Ron Powell Doug Sherman Tim McCool K,eith Crecelius Chet Burt Steve Herrera Bob sanders 670 655 650 585 575 570 570 535 535 530 525 520 520 495 485 Vince Zine Byron Farnsworth Bob Lucke Arvil Sparks Mike Chamberlain Mike Thomas , Gary Johnson Tom Franscisco . Larry Stapleton Doug Mcintyre Tony Dell Don Emmons 'Steve Stanfield Charles Gann Ike Mizen 475 475 465 465 450 450 440 435 430 420 415 415' 410' 390 390 Jack Freeman Tony Herrera Chris Morland James Russell David Tudor Tom Gillespie J on Talarico Steve Thomas Brian McMillan Dan Bousman Lanny North Gary Kauffeld Jim Shipman 390 385 385 375 360 355 350 350 330 320 320 320 310 (Please turn to pg. 25)