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RC-450-79
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Impressions of a
World Cha.pion
By Jim Gianatsis
Photos by Chuck Tannlund and Gianatsis
18
I pointed the monster toward an open area of track the size of a
football field without anything solid fo run into. Two hefty kicks
brought z"t shaking to life as the overszze piston displacing 450cc tried to
wrench itself offthe end ofa connecting rod resembling a bridge girder
locked between two steamrolling flywheels. Dumping the clutch on
second gear with a prayer, I waited for that handjormed aluminum
tank to come rolling back over on me, expecting the entirl! bike to
flatten its idiot rider like afly swatter.
But the machine just sat there and screamed, revs climbing higher as
the rear wheel skyrocketed dirt and clouds of dust. Finally it began
churning forward, slowly gaining momentum as it trenched off the
line. But it was hardly moving faster than an anemic one-twojive as
the powerband peaked out.
Backing off the throttle for an instant, I clicked up third gear then
topped out the carb slide once more. This time the highly-abused rear
Dunlop 5.00 hooked up to mother earth, and I was launched down
track like an ignited Saturn Five booster in time-warp continuum. I
.panicked immediately, locking both brakes as hard as I could while the
bike bounced and slewed off the end of the track and into the weeds. I
had never accelerated so fast before and never would sanely do so again.
