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/126422
; III • ~ t Race goers' guide No more radical-looking than an average SoCaI street racer, the works Kawasaki is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Team Kawasaki KZ1000 Superbike Sears Point winner preps for Laguna Seca By Charles Morey Photos by Patrick Behar and Morey Twelve seconds is a long time, Travelling at 81,25 mph, the average speed for the July 15 Sears Point Superbike Production race, 12 seconds will shoot you 1,430 feet down the asphalt. And yet, it .was at th.at race on the Sears Pomt 2.5-mlle road course, that 17-year-old Freddie Spencer - riding his fint race on the factory-backed KZl000 Kawasaki Superbike The magneto-end of the crank was cut off and the sidecover sectioned for clearance. EIectrics are tot8I-Ioss off a 3-emp battery. 18 established a 12-second lead over second placer Ron Pierce. And he did it in an event that was shortened from 16 to 10 laps. Granted. Pierce's teammate on the other Yoshimura R&D GSI000 Suzuki. Wes Cooley, Jr., had gridded on the back row. His bike had develoPed a flat tire in his qualifying heat. Wes, in all probability, would have made it an outstanding race for the win if he had started beside Spencer instead of 57 places behind. But when the racing stories, excuses and reasons all are told, it still comes Spencer's bike uses laid-down ~yaba shocks. down to the same bottom line: There's • only one winner, and he got there through a rare and beautiful combination of luck, talent and preparation. On lhal day, Freddie had it all. While the luck and the talent riding talent, at least - were the sole responsibilities of the young man from Louisiana, the preparation of Spencer's winning machine falls under the jurisdiction of Kawsalc.i's Engine Development Engineer Randy Hall, aided by Team Manager Dennis David and mechanic Donnie Dove. Hall built the bilc.e - two of them, actually for Milc.e Baldwin. Baldwin's best ride came at Loudon where he placed second behind Rich Schlachter. Then he crashed in the 750cc National, breaking the upper leg (femur) bone and putting an end l , to his racing for the '79 season. Team Kawasaki, left holding two perfectly good Superbikes and one wadded-up 750cc road racer, opted to put the Superbikes into other competent hands for the remaining races on the U.S. slate. Loudon winner Schlachter was an obvious choice, and superkid Spencer had likewise proven himself with a fourth placing at Loudon in addition to numerous other pavement victories. He confirmed their selection at Sears Point with the 12second win. Both Kawasakis were torn down completely in preparation for the August 4-5 Laguna Seca race, and while the pieces laid on Kawasaki race shop benches, we accepted the team's offer to stop by for a look. 'Ibey dido't let us see everything. The bikes use Canadian KZl000 heads with cast-but-not-drilled EPA-required lugs for emission control devices, Yoshimura Super Bonneville cams, KZ650 shims (they're lighter) and Tsubak:i cam chain, but no other information was releasd concerning the top end. Combustion chamber configuration, valve, valve springs and other induction intricacies were , classified "confidential." At present. three different heads are being tested. Other than that, the machines are interesting although fairly straightforward in their modifications. . Yoshimura parts abound. The pistons are Yoshimura two-ring slipper pistons with a compression ratio of 10.5: 1 (standard units are full-skirted, three· ring 9:1 models). The crankshaft is stock except it's cut-off at the alternator end. The alternator taper is sa,wed off, and the machines run a total-loss ingition system from a three-amp battery instead of the stock Schlachter'. bike uses standardmounted S&W S1rokenl.