Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

THE EUROHACKERS ,; o Z ~ w Z W ..J U >- U Ton Von HeugUln in action on his Norton Wasp during the European GP season. by Ron Schneiders Photos by Lee Van Dam and Schneiders One of the more wonderful and mysterious processes that exists in the world is catalysis. For example, add a little bit of platinum gets the reaction going, then takes no further part in the action. I t can be recovered and used to make a ring or another reac tion or an advertising gimmick for gasoline. But the product that it brought about remains, to amaze and mock us, because no one really knows how the little speck of platinum produces such a profound change without becoming changed itself. . Catalysts are not unique to chemistry, though. Five or six years ago, loel Robert was added to the American motorcy:Jing scene. He started a reaction that is still going on and created a new American product: motocross - which remains as tribu te to his catalytic powers. Now the Europeans have tossed another potential catalyst: the .European Motocross Sidehacks into yet another inactive American scene. The new catalyst has 16 elements; 12 spectacular men and four magnificen t machines. The leader of the group is Lee Van Dam whose activity resembles a controlled nuclear reaction, lots of power beneath a quiescent sUrface. Lee manages abou t 20 professional BELL Helmets & accessories o $59.50 $49.50 Bell Star Sizes 61/2 to 71/2 Orange & White Super Magnum Sizes 61/2 to 71 /2 Silver &,Orange 3.95 DUST FREE Face Mask CARRERA 50 25. Wrap-arOUnd GOGGLE Mouth Guard $5.95 $5.95 Chicken le"het' got lotIO class (?) '- ; CLASSY COLORS: ~ RED, BLACK,BLUE~ ~'lIl"::I or TAN eTOUGH American cowhide leather eTOUGH Nylon thread eFULl NYLON Lininge9" Leg zippers eWallet pocket with Velcro fastener eFUll PADDING at hip & knees e2" wide RED,WHITE & BLUE Stripe Sizes: 28.30,32, 3-4.36,38.40 $59. 95 Open daily 9am to 9pm SUNDAYS 10 to 5 C '"l '" .J .J C U sidehack teams in Europe along with a few speedway and motocross stars. When the championship round in Europe was over this fall (It lasts about seven months.), what· could' be more natural than a trip to the States? There are dirt racing sidehacks here, but they can hardly be called motocross sidehacks. They race, in small numbers, in a variety of spots. Some show up at the TT's, some in the desert and, occasionally, fmd themselves in an enduro or club motocross. They are generally regarded as a tolerated oddity, an off-beat branch of the sport with all the social significance of Championship Flagpole-Sitting. When they're entered in a desert race, if they finish at all it's usually after the race sponsors have gone home. The club does the scoring by calling the Sidehack Association, who, in tum, call the contestants and ask how they finished. A bit of discussion usually sorts it out. In their own way, the American sidehacks are as wonderfully casual as their riders. The sidehack itself is designed with a hacKsaw and executed with a welding torch. Some of them look like they were done by the same guy who did the Watts Towers. Naturally, a sidehack must be fitted to a "proper" motorcycle, which is usually defined as any motorcycle not currently being used for anything else. The sine qua non seem. to be a Greeves of about 1964 vintage, but you can fmd anything from Harley 61 to Husky bolted into a hack. Legend has it that loel Robert once took a ride on one of the better American hacks. "It is very powerful," he is reputed to hav~ said, "but when I point it this way", (He pointed roughly northeast), "It wants to go this way!" as he pointed northwest. What American sidehac'kers lack in sophistication, though, they make up in enthusiasm. A good sidehack race resembles more than anything else a motorized roller derby, where one does not so much win as survive best. A sidehacker doem't descnbe a race in terms of people passed but in terms of people demolished. It's never done on purpose, of course. It just happens. A typical sidehack on a motocross course has about the same stability as a wheelbarrow on a stepladder_Clip a wheelan the way by and the resul t looks like an explosion in a factory. All of which would make a great show for the spectators if only there were a few more sidehacks. While merry mayhem usually results when two sidehacks actually get to dicing, there are often so few on the track that they get spread out rather quickly. For spectators, this tums out to be somewhat like sitting on Waikiki beach w ai ting for the leader of the TransPacific rowboat race. Another factor that hurts sidehack racing in this country is that the sidehackers can't race for very long at a stretch. The average age of a sidehacker is about 38 but this usually doesn't bother them because they often have the bodies of 50-year aIds. They think of conditioning as something you do to your hair and any discussion of diet is probably resolved in favor of increasing the ratio of beer to food. The primary physical attribute currently required of most American sidehackers is the ability to heal quickly. Lee Van Dam hopes to change all that. Motocross sidehacking in Europe is a big sport. In the International Championship rounds, they often have as many as 35 entries on a course a mile or so long. The action is fast, dramatic, and continuous. All of the European nations are involved and the can test for the FIM 750 Sidecar Championship is watched by Europeans as closely as the NFL race is here in the US. For the best sidehackers there is quite a bit of money. Start money goes as high as $2,000 and the winner's purse can almost double that. Several of the top sidehack teams have now signed with factories which means even more money. But motocross sidehacking in Europe is the same as motocrossing generally in Europe. Most of the activity ceases during the cold winter months. They figure it would be pretty neat to be able to come over here and race just like the solo motocrossers do now in the TransAMA. But before that is possible there has to be someone to race against. This, then, is what it's all about: show the American motocrossers what it's like,. how to do it and get them on the

• Cover