Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1973 08 21

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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co N 1 ! N « ~ z W ..J o >(J Nixon wins Laguna Seca for ''How~ it feel to ride a wi.lII1.r1" "Great!" say.s Gary Nixon as he climbs off his bike, the winner of the Kawasaki Superbike International at Laguna Seca. Nixon and Cliff Carr, riding Kawasaki 750 H-2Rs, took 1-2 money from a field of the fastest, toughest, most competitive bikes and riders in the world - on a challenging road circuit. Kawasaki racers dominated the event from end tei end. Gary Nixon is very happy, because the Kawasaki 750 has changed his luck for the better. The Kawasaki Superbike International was Nixon's second AMA national win in a row (remember he won Loudon), and he's now third in points for the '73 title. Cliff Carr in second place is happy out of his mind. He goes "Wheeeeee!" and sprays champagne all over everybody. Bless his heart. Is Kawasaki happy? Sure. But Team Kawasaki was not there just for the ego boost. They went to laguna Seca (and Loudon, and anywhere else there's competition) to find out what a bike is really made of. See how it feels totake a hardened race bike around the incredibly demanding Laguna Seca road course. This is a real road, now: bumpy, curving, twisting, with very real hazards like the road you ride on. But here the speeds are higher: 40 or 50 is your minimum here, top 140 on the straightaway, and the pounding is awful. It's rocket propulsion and white-knuckle braking. Miss a downshift and you're in the weeds like a bullet. Twist it too tight and the guts of your motor will come out the back of the bike. Be rough with it and the gearbox won't live, or the chain will go through the cases. Not every bike can take that pounding. At Laguna Seca, not every bike did. But Kawasaki knows for sure what works. Every Kawasaki is a race-tested combination of good ideas. Strong frames and forks. Engines with durability for sure. Brakes that last. So, Kawasaki rider, you won at Laguna Seca, and "at Loudon, and wherever you ride. • You come out aheadona Kawasaki.

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