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We'll have to settle for an account of
how the machine you ride evolved
during the 1973 Grand Prix season for
the 250cc Motocross World
Championship from the various bikes
that Jim Pomeroy rode in competition
to the bike you purc hase stock from a
Bultaco dealer in the U.S. Personal
observation is always subject to both
perceptual and conceptual error, but
this is the way I saw it or had it told to
me by lithe factory," by the mechanics,
and by Jim Pomeroy. All of them
contributed to making the 250 Pursang
(and to a lesser extent, the other
dis p lacement mod els) the machine the
motorcycle-racing pub lic is buying
today.
First off, the Mk VII Pursang is no t a
." J i m' P om e r o y Replica ." Jim
spe ci fieally reques te d the Bultaco
facto ry no t name a bike after h im
u nt i l h e ha d won the World
Championship, or at least placed in th e
top five (Ile was seventh last year) . The
factory never cal led it a "JPR." With
good reason : it isn't. The Bultaco you
can buy, or al ready bo ught this year is
not a replica of the Grand Prix-winning
Pursan g of ' 73. In most ways, it's
better but, fo r openers, Jim 's hikes
always sported red fiberglass tank and
side panels with w hite nylon fenders.
Your-I 974Y:z Mk VII doesn 't.
The engine that was in Jim's 250
when the evolution of the Mk VII began
was assembled from the bins of the
factory competition section, then
bolted into an American-built .
chrome-moly frame that proved too
brittle. The frame was soon replaced
with a Spanish-built soft model that
didn't crack and that worked out. But it
seemed no matter what the factory did
with th at engine, something went
wrong. Most of t he G P engines tur ned
out to be stock and standard m otors
with normal cran ks and the expected
seven ports.
What made the Bultaco GP engines
special, a t times the fastest in Europe,
were the hours spent during the lo ng,
gray, wet afternoons in Marcel Wiertz's
shop near Verviers, Belgium where first,
Rubio , and at the end of the year,
Arnie, carefully inspected, mated, and
asse mbled the motors. T here were no
The Spanish retain the ability to construct beautiful, fl uid racing machines. The
Bu ltaco ret ains the right s id e sh ift, the last motocrosser , t o our knowledge, to do so.
Rear wheel travel is 5~ -5 * inch es w ith stock rear suspension set-up.
