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/125835
. II III • I II III t The best riders America has to offer. Battling it out with Europe's finest. National and world champions. Factory racing bikes. You'll see them on their snarling, leaping crotch-rockets at Saddleback Park on Sunday, December"second. Gary Wilson and the boys from Big 0 sat a batch of records with their 1000cc Triumph triples. Bonneville Report Pick your hillside spot. California's Saddleback Park offers great vantage points to see many jumps and turns, not just a few. Lots of parking, too. Get to the Newport Freeway in Orange County, take the Chapman Avenue turn-off East to Santiago Canyon Road. The excitement starts officially at noon tinder the flags of many countries. But ge~ there early. Practice starts at nine in the morning. Or sneak up the back way on EI Toro Road off the San Diego Freeway. .-.-- By Paul Flanders In order to update you, our last news items about the land speed record attempts at the Bonneville Salt Flats had Bill Wirges setting a gasoline class record at 241 MPH in the S-AG-2000 class with two Kawasaki 750 engines, Dennis Manning and Borris Murray losing transmissions in their double Triumph liner at 210 MPH, and Don Vesco getting 222 MPH out of a pair of tired 350 Yamahas. Wirges stuck around a couple more weeks. He had fuel starvation and/or ignition problems which ended up costing him eight engines with piston problems! He decided to hang it up for about three weeks, go home, regroup, and return with more machinery. In the meantime Manning and Murray, after putting in a different transmission, contacted Jack Wilson of Big D Motors in Dallas to see if he wanted to split the bill and use the salt for another week. Jack jumped at the chance due to the problems he had encountered during Speedweek (August 19-25). Upon arriving at the salt it was determined that it was too wet at the five mile mark to run the. streamIiners for at least a week. But there was enough dry salt to run the open bikes of the Big D boys. Gary Wilson set new records of 164.928 in MPS-AG-1000, 165.842 in MPS-AF-IOOO, and 152.854 in M-AG-I000. David Cantwell set records of 161.012 in APS-AG-IOOO and 145.358 in A-AG-IOOO. John Minonno set records of 161.465 in APS-AS-IOOO, 161.804 in A-AB-750, and 162.635 in APS-A8-750. All records were set on Triumph triples. The 1000cc engines are built by boring and stroking 750 triples to 650cc twin cylinder specs. Those competing in the AB engine class had turbochargers. Since Triumph pays a contingency of S1000 for any open bike class record over 160 MPH the boys from Big "D" more than covered their expenses for the week. These new records might be super tough to beat during Speedweek next year because of the lower temperatures and denser air in late October (all the above records were set between October 24 and 27)_ In the meantime the puddle of water at the 5 mile mark had dried out. The timing equipment was reset-up and on October 30 both Manning & Murray's and Bill Wirges' steamJiners were ready lo run. Bill ran first and destroyed another motor at 160 MPH. This time the middle cylinder on the rear engine wenL Each time it was a different cylinder. Bill was so disgusted he decided to pack it away for the rest of the year. Borris ran about fifteen minutes later. A front wheel bearing retainer gave out causing him to go into a wobble. He cleared the lights at 255 MPH and fell on his side. Both parachutes automatically deployed and yanked loose their mounts. After skidding half a mile to a halt, Borris was unh urt and the 'liner was in fair conelition. After spending two days repairing it they were ready to run again. Earl Flanders, AMA referee for Bonneville, was also ready to run again after two weeks in the hospital due to a ruptured aPenclix. His son (me) had been his replacement during that time. During the next run Borris blew two engines with a top speed of 218 MPH and had no handling problems. By the nex t day they had differen t engines installed. After a warm up it was eliscovered that the front engine had no oil pressure. So they decided to disconnect the chain and run for a single engine record. This time a rear wheel bearing wen t bad causing him to fall again. The decision was made to go home and rebuild the engine. So currently the Harley-Davidson record of 265 ~IPH still stands and has very lit tie chance of being broken thl! year. One additional note to Bonneville veterans, the new Stateline Hotel & Casino opened. It is really super, you can hardly believe it's in Wendover. It even has flush toilets and inside plumbing! • ..... Cl) .0 E Cl) :> o Z For six bucks (three bucks for kids 6 to 12, and free for kids under 6), it's a great day in the sun. For more information call Saddleback Park (714) 639-5832 Sanetioned by tM ~ Motorcyc.llt ~ and tIM Eeditrlltion 'rltetMlklNl Motorc:)'diIe ... 80· FASTEST ACTION THROTTLE HANDLE from Texas can be right proud of Big D. ROKON RT 340 ENDUROS IN STOCK NOW Carnes Cyc:Je Shop 8459 - Foothill - P.O. Box 608 Sunland, CA 91040 213-352-1458 INTERNATIONAL CAFE RACERS ASSOCIATION Join now the world wide organization for cafe racing enthusiasts. Receive PI", 1 yea r newspaper, subscriotion accessory "The catalog, Ton' tech sheets, & all tl'le latest info. send $5.00 to: .I.C.R.A., 80x 73, HOUlton. Texas 77002 11