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/126286
continued to be th e only com pe tito r wit h' the right a nswers for supercharging. H e was th e only person to set a record using a b lower that was appreciably faster than normall y aspirated gas -powe red bikes. Don Vesco was th e fast machine of the meet at 231.95 mph in his 1500 cc (twin Yamaha TZ -750 ) stre a m line r. considerably slower th an his record of 303 .812 mph in th e same machine . As usual , t he 1300 cc class was the most popular, wirh 24 of the 91 entries having d isp lacements from 1001 to 1300cc . Sunday Sunny skies and no wind greated the racers on the firs t m orning of th e week , a....d irect cont ra st to last yea r's rain on opening ' day. Good organization on the part of th e SCTA got running started early . A slow d rive down th e course by all ra cers in cars a nd vans reveal ed tha tthe cou rse was very short only five miles lon g. Streamliners need at least seven miles and are a lot happier with eleven miles for easiest stopping. T he track proved to bumpy up to th e one mil e m ark and soft from the re on , due largely to excessive rains in August . Bikes goi ng over 150 com plai ned of wandering a ro und th e co u rse because of poo r tract ion. M onday Ra cers awoke at 6:30 a. rn. and were at the track, in co ld lea thers ready to qu a lify for record runs a t 8 a .m . Roger Swim ha d his 1200cc Spo rtste r cloc ked a t 188 mph for the fast est sing le mot or b ike , en route to a record of182.40 0. Qualifi cat ion ru ns began soon afte r record runs ended , a nd cont in ued u n til 7: 15 p .m. , with ma ny of the same riders still at th e bars afte r 12 hou rs a t th e tra ck. Tuesday W eather co ntinued fa ir and su nny with a light breeze d rying ou t the salt. Record runs concl uded with Harry Fair, Lakewood , Cal ifornia ha ving the fastest rec ord of th e day ab oa rd his 1015cc, turboch arged Kaw asak i at 165 .193 . Again qualifyin g runs wer e uninterupted. Wednesday Jack Wilson was fa stest in morning records , aboa rd h is unfaired , turT riumph triple , bo charged at 175 .406 mph sha tt ering Fair's record of th e m orning before , In th e a fte rn oo n, th e weather started to deteriorate , with ra in fall ing in th e late a fternoon. Th ursday By Scott Guthrie BONNEVILLE, UT. , OCT. 2-8 Bonneville Speed Week produced 38 new records despite . the loss of almost -two days to rain, high wind and water on the track. The famous Bonneville salt flats "black line" was reduced to only five miles in length where, in times past , the track had been up to fourteen 8 miles long. Peter Grufstedt of North Stonington, Connecticut established five new land speed records in the 125cc class aboard his Morbidelli production racer. The first cyclist in Bonneville speed week history to set five marks in a week with a single mot or cycle , Grufstedt ca m e off the tra iler wit h the situation in hand and kepi the h ammer down all week . Selecting carefu l class changes an d m aintaining speeds a round 127 mph wit h a fairi ng , Grufstedt aimed for five records and never faltered . The rul es allow a rider to run for only a single record each day on any machine making Grufstedt's feat is all th e more remarkable when the wea the r con ditions are considered. Brian Eriksen of West Milford , New Jersey set the pits buzzing with horsepower rumors when he qualified against a 350cc Don Vesco mark of 150 mph with a time fully 10 mph faster at 160 . Eriksen's modified Yamaha RD 350 street bike , running a road racing fa iring, esta blished two records and was thought to have as much or more horsepower than many of the professionally prepared 750cc two -strokes on h and . Shari Vickery of De nver, Colorado aboard a TZ·250 Yamaha blasted the old MPS -AG -250 record by almost 30 mph to esta b lish a new reco rd a t over 140 m ph . The old record was form erly held by Sh ari's husband Bill , wh o presently holds th e MP S·A G-750 reco rd at 191. 203 on his TZ-700 . Rumor has it that Shari will be riding the T Z· 700 at next yea r's Speed Week. Phoenix , Ari zona's Roger Swim blasted the fastest mil e for normally aspirated conventional motorcycles at 188 mph aboard h is 1960 HarleyDa vidson Sportster with nitro assist . Jack Wilson, from Big D Triumph of Dallas, Texas, set the fa stest record of the week for supercharged bik es ' with a 183 .957 mph on his APS -AB · 1300} u rboc ha rged Triumph triple. Long time competitor Tom Elrod , now of Austin Texas, set the high record of the week at 188 .006 mph with his 2400cc Kawasaki double. A relaxed, laid back feeling was the keynote of the week . Traditionally run in late August , Bonneville had been subject to terri b le heat and short tern pers compounded by freakish weather conditions. The October date prom pt ed cooler tempers and temperature readings with a ge ne rally rela xed feeling th rou ghout th e week . Su perchargers mad e a full attack on the salt th is yea r with twenty or more entries utilizi ng some method of ap· p lying positive pressure to th e int ake tract. J ack W ilson , of Big D T riu m ph, . Tom Elrod, of Au st in , Texas scre amed t he eig ht Kaw asaki cylinders of his d ouble to a 188.06 mph record in his seemingly unending quest for entry to the presti gious 20 0 mph club. In th e afternoon , the beginning of th e end came wit h the downpour of almost an inch of rain onto the already wet sa lt . Friday Clear skies and wind held the promise of a d ry track,. but it was not to be . Around noon the wind sto p ped and the sun drew. mo isture to the surface of the salt where it remained unevaporated . Around 2:00 p.m. , AMA referee Paul Flanders declared that . the track was unsafe because of poor conditions and that there would be no record runs or qualifying that day . Saturday In ghostly desolation , five fa ithful riders ' out of twelve qualifiers appeared to run for records. All wer e successfu l. At a trac k virt ua lly deserted of pa rt icipants an d spectators, Doug Meyer, rid ing the Illinois Ka wasak i, was fas test a t 165.1 17 mph . Peter G rufs tedt became the firs t rider to set 5 in dividu al reco rds in a week on a single b ike a nd Bria n