Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

i Cross country with CaptainAmerica ~ t ...... ...... s-. Il) .0 8 Il) ;> o Z '. By Dale Brown He is, by his own joking definitio n , "tall and roguishl y handsome. " Tucked neatly away in his " Captain Ame rica" leather s are business cards ann ouncing that he is B. J. Breece, Transc ontinen tal Endurance Champion. B. J. dropped by the luxurious C. N. offices a few days af ter he had ridden from Portland, Main e to Los An geles, California in 69 hours an d 4 5 minutes. Riding a Yamaha RD·1 25, he broke Don Woods' old record of 89 hours. In addi tio n to being an endurance rider, Breece is also a Captain in the Marine Corps. Currently station ed at Quantico, Virginia, he is the Acad em ics Officer in the Mari n es' Offi cer Train ing School. There he has achieved fame for showing up to instruct class in Captain America garb. Breece holds other records, including travelling cross country last year on a 100cc Yamaha twin in 103 hours. Using his leaves from the Marines, Breece has trained for the rigors of nearly non-stop riding. He pr efers machines under l 25cc and has in fact, set some r ecords on a tiny RD-60 . For this particular tr ip , j ust completed, the RD-125 was turned into a beautiful mini-cafe racer. While th e en gine was left completely stock, Loren Jury and Terry Lear went to work to help the little Yammie get where Breece wanted it to go . The countersh aft sprocket was replaced with one a tooth larger and a special shift linkage was installed so Breece could shift with his feet on the rear passenger pegs as he crouched behind the fairing. Since Breece had broken off those pegs before, auxiliary z ~ o a: '" 1IJ .J c{ a pegs were bolted on just in case. A larger rear tire , a 3 .50 X 18 Yokohama rain tread, was fitted. In order to minimize p it stops, a five and one-half gallon Reed-Titan gas tank was fitted, along with a two and NOVEMBER 7-9 NOVEMBER 1-2 Championship Motorcycle Drag Races FREMONT RACEWAY FREMONT, CAUFORNIA \IRWINDAlE RACEWAY IRWINDALE, CAUFORNIA c:or-:rto~.,a JIlIftIUi&"-, 1"""' 17) ~1uPoIOflI_ ..... ~ 30 "_ _ 1 ...... 1... 01' _ _ _ l-.......w .... _ _l .''-'' .......... one-half gallon J acwal seat tank, giving a total gas capacity of eight gallons. A Don Vesco fairing was installed. All this in red, white and blue. The bike was named the "Paul Revere Special." Probably the greatest self-promoter sinc e Evel Knievel, Breece managed to lin e up 29 differen t sponsors. For the attemp t, Loren Jury and Bruce Nield followed Breece on the jo urn ey in a car . A Beltek Enduro 5 CB radio was strapped onto the Yam ah a 's gas tank and an earphone and mike were fi tted to B. J.'s helmet, allowing th em two-way communication. Th ey monitored the trucker's channels for road informat ion. As th e journey got underway, they would usu ally go ab ou t 200 miles before stopping for a bri ef rest and to refuel th e car . B. J . wen t from Maine to Tucumcari, New Mexico, before sleeping, and th en it was only abou t an h our's nap . On Interstate 10, heading into Indio , the y stopped for another hour or so of sleep. This after B. J. started seeing " tall trees, sheep crossing th e ro ad. . . .. In the 69 hour run, Breece slept a total of two hours and 25 minutes. However, when he rached L.A., he slept 18 hours straight. Every time Breece stopped for gas or rest, he had somebody fill in the date and time in his log book for verification. The only problems on the run occu rr ed when the trio got too excited and failed to fill the oil tank. Since Breece had been running the little Yammie wid e open since th e beginning, it naturally seized. Within a half-hour, though, Jury had gotten it fixed and reset the oil injection for maximum output. No problems after that. B. J . acknowledges with a grin that he can easily break his new record, but he won't try until somone else breaks it . The day after he stopped by, Breece and company took off to try to set a new record on a dash from L.A . to Washington, D.C. In the future, the trio would like to take an RD·60 round the country. Why does this man do these things? "Because it's hard to do." •

• Cover