Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1975 07 29

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/126000

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ace Circus to Dick O'B rien and Gary Scott will con test the National with a new water cooled 500cc twin . The new bike boasts fou r carbs and a rear Seca disc brake working on the countershaft sProcket. While 20 horsepower down on its 750cc rivals, the Harley is also 100 pounds lighter, which gives it an equal or better horsepower to we ight ratio . race in 1972 saw h im crash at high speed on the opening lap whil e th e following year saw him lead almost the entire race before turning on the power of his Kawasaki too soon in one of Laguna's tigh t co m ers and crashing heavily on ce again. Last year th e indestructible Canuck crashe d in practi ce. lie badly injured his right (thro ttle) hand, but h ad it pumped ful! o f n o vocain e an d fin ishe d a gritty second to Ro bert s. No wo nde r Du Hamel is a great favori te with Laguna Seca fan s - and n o wo nde r he 's mo re th an read y fo r a Lagu na Seca Vic tory! Also ready fo r a Lagu na Seca victory is A merica's o wn Harley-Davidso n wh ich hasn 't won a major U.S. ro ad race since the late Cal Rayborn (tra gically killed two seasons ago in New Zealand) did th e job for th em in th e very first M o n te r e y Sup erbike Internat ional motorcycle race at Lagu na Seca in 19 72. The Har ley-Davidson te am will be back at Mon terey 's tortuo us Lagu na Seca Raceway pu mped fo r vic tory with a brand new, techn ically in novative machine fo r team leader and cu rrent hig h-point man in American National Championship standin gs, Gary Scott . They 'll be aiming for victory with a new bike th at is o n ly tw o-thirds the size o f it 's rivals but te am chie f, Dick O'Brien, doesn't see th is as much o f a disadvantage. "Lagun a Seca is the type of twisting, un d ula ting tra c k where p ower to wei ght Steve Mclaughlin and Y von Du Hamel will p it their Kawasaki Z -Is against David Aldana on a water cooled Su z u ki 750 GT in the Heavyweight Production race. Z '" o s :; ratio is equally as im portant as all-o u t horsep ower " say s O 'B rien , Although t he new Harley o nly p umps out som e 80bhp from its 50 0cc (co mpa re d to the 100-plus horsepowe r of it s 750 cc co mpe tito rs) it is over 100 Ib s. lighter than the opposit ion. The new bike is a water-cooled 500cc twin that has been devel oped a t Har ley Davidson 's European fact o ry in Vare se, Italy , with t he competitio n hea t of the Gran d Prix circus in m ind. It featu res so me radical departu res f ro m n orm a l t e c hn i cal practice incl u ding four ca rb ure tors to feed it s two cy linde rs and a rear d isc brake t ha t operates on the transmi ssio n (via the gearbox cha in sprocket) rather th an th e rear wh eel as is usua lly th e case. The idea is to re d uce th e unsprung weight at th e rear an d to elimina te th e rear wheel hop under heavy braking th at co me s as a co m bina tio n of power ful brakes and li gh t ove ra l l w e i gh l. The new transmission brake means a much mo re co n trollabl e en trance in to co m ers for rid er, Gary Sco tt , wh o proved his ro ad racin g m e ttl e last year by being the o nly rid er to be at Natio n al Champion, Kenny Roberts, in a Cham pio nship lightwei ght class even t (at Loudon, New Hampshire ) over the who le season. • LIJ :r '" :> s A ustralians Warren Willing and Greg Hansford w ill be joined by New Zealand 750 champ ion John Boote in anot her try at wi nning the Lagunaprize. Boote was runn ing fourt h last yea r unt il a f lat tire ended his ride. Willing, Australian 250 and 350 National Champ ion for the last two years, finished fifth at Dayton a this year and will, along w ith John Boote. be ,- aboa rd Levi sponsored Yam ah es. Greg Hans fo rd comes to lagu na Seea riding a five race w inning streak on his factory Kawasaki. Th e Australian Open class champion finished 6th at Laguna Seca last year . The down under cont ingent may not be dandi es of the cont inen tal circus, but they are sure to provide some stiff oppo sit ion for American pros. Steve Baker w ill be competi ng on his Y amaha of Canada TZ -750 . Baker recently wo n th ree classes at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport. 27

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