Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

FnKIdIe Spencer works out on the wat&n:ooled Honda short"1r8Cker built by Jerry Griffith. ain'la Hauslan·... By Dal~ Brown and W. H. Spencer The new year, as any AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series racer or fan knows, does not begin when some silly ball in Times Square bottoms out. It begins in the great state of Texas.. Houston to be specific. .Under the Astro. dome roof to be site-specific. . • '. This year the new year s fest!- 8' vities will begin on Saturday night, Feb. 7, with the running of the Astrodome short track. The 'Dome Tr, the season opener in years past, moves from its Friday night slot to Sunday afternoon. Feb. S. Houston 'SI will see moreIactory involvement than ever before in recent years. Harley-Davidson. Suzuki, Honda and Kawasaki will all have official entries in at feast one of the two races with Yamaha's banner carned semi: officially by the Kenny Roberts/Mert La_ill team • '. . ~u~aTdly the tnckest lookmg machme IS the .watercooled Ho~da short tracke,'. built by Jerry ~nffit~ for Freddie Spencer. Cradled m a Griffith fr~me, the.'CR2~0 wateryumper n;tams the twt~ radIators ~ Its MX hentage, but wtthout the aIr shroud gas tank, they have ~ lowered on ~he fr~e for. bet~r aIr flow. Th,e engme ~odificatlolll mclude low dm track pIpe and a 40mm Lectron carbo Spencer will have the only Team Honda wawtooled machine. Although Honda Racing Team Manager Dennis McKay had the necessary 25 en~nes for AMA approval, the other .en~nes were slated \for motocross apphc;:atlon. So Jeff Haney, Spencer's teammate, . will ride an aircooled Honda short tracker. Both Spencer and Haney will ride Griffith·built Tr machines utilizing Honda's 'Sl XR5QO engine. This engine features a reed valve in the in· ~ke system that, accor~ing to M~K~y, wtll allow for more radical cam t1mlDg without backfire throug~ the intake. Supported by Amencan Honda, Mickey Fay will ride on Wasco-framed machinery prepared by Roger Stanley. Suzuki's entry into the Class C fray is led by tuner Sparky Edmonston and rider Ronnie Jones, winner of the 'SO .Houston ShOTt track. For the short cracker. Edmonston will use the PE250 engine because the PE's cases are three and a half pounds heavier than RM cases and thus sturdier, and there's also the provision for a flywheel rotor. A Viper frame .is utilized for the short tracker and the Tr machine; the latter being' powered by Suzuki's new DR500 four-stroke si1!gle, At Houston look for the macliines with the blue frames and yellow tanks carrying 116 plates. Team Kawasaki's .entry is a short tracker for Eddie Lawson. Built by Steve Johnson, who's heen working on the project on and off since last October, the machine carnes a blue KX250 engine' in a Shell frame origi~lIy meant for a 250 Yamaha', Johnson had to fabricate his own front motor mounts .to make the off-center exhaust port engine fit. (Johnson built much of the machine by hand, including the aluminum sideplates, which conform to the new AMA rule of the rear number plates being four inches behind the footpeg). Front suspension utilizes modified Kayaba road ...acing forks, while the rear suspension is S&W shocks aided by the ATK system that neutralizes torque forces on the swingarm. The ATK system may not, however, be on the machine in its final Houston form. Green and olue are the primary colors on the Team Green oval machine. No radical changes are forthcoming. from Harley-Davidson as (hey will go with the familiar 750 V-twins for the' Tr and their 250cc two-strokes for the short track. As to what will be done to the familiar machines, Jay Springsteen's tuner Bill Werner said, "Basi·cally the same as last year. We've tried to lighten them up some ... use an aluminum bah instead of a steel one." Minor changes in the exhaust system is . the only other thing contemplated. Randy Gass' tuner Brent Thompson will bring two machines for the number one plate J'tolder to try at Houston, bikes used last ye.ar at Houston and Santa Fe, with slightly differing frames. As far as the short trackers. "Exactly the same as last yea r," according to Werner. There was almost another factory involved in the Houston showdown. Can-Am provided tuner Ron' Wood with one of their 500cc four-stroke singles, and Wood is currently having it put into a frame, but the necessary 25 engines won't be in the country in time for AMA approval before Houston. So the bike will debut at the Apr. 4 AscotTr. For Houston, Wood and rider Ricky Graham will go with Wood's familiar 750 Norton and a Harley-Davidson short tracker. The Norton is the same one Alex Jorgensen rode to viqory in a '79 half mile National at Ascot, and Wood has modified it for Tr use by beefing up the swingarm and the {rame around the swingarm pivot. To give ~raham the proper riding stance for Tr. Wood welded a loop over the. clutch ,housing to mount a {ootpeg. Up pipes are also utilized, and the gas tank will be off an 'SI Husqvama. Rather than build a short tracker from scratch. Wood borrowed one from Harley-Davidson West. Graham - still recuperating from the ha/ld injury he suffered before Ascot last year - and Wood· will be sponsored by Alphabet Headers, Klotz. Wiseco and Shoo helmets, with additional help from Dellorto Carburetors and Ohlins shocks. Men Lawwill's development of the Yamaha Tr500 and YZ250 is another year down the road. and.changes for the Astrodome will be toward frame geometry and engine ho~. On the short tracker the changes are subtle and would only be noticeable under c1os.e inspection by prtlll. As in the case of other tunen. it is the incorporation of another year's work on the circuit. For the Tr500. a more significant change is up for grabs. The dyno tuning that is going on at C.R. Axtell's shop has produced eight more ponies on the HP chart, and that's a bunch. If the increase can be justified with the frame change for useable traction, then the other guys better watch out because both the Junior and Expert wins last year by Jim Filice and Ken Roberts were significant. Yamaha shan t.rackers have always been de riguer and with Mike Kidd and Filice at the helm. only subtle nuances are necessary for updating what already is the state of the art in short track racers. Bud AkslaDd has been assigned the chore of preparing these 250cc YZ machines an~ has put together what Jimbo had last year with what Skip Aksland, KR and Mert have been constantly developing. Frames by Terry Knight with Dick Mann as the specialist, horsepower by C.R. Axtell and Mike Libby, directed by Mert Lawwill and produced by Kenny Roberts makes the Jim Filice/ Mike Kidd team one of the most powerful to come alongin some time. _Will Roberts make another 'Dome dirt track appearance? No. "He is not going to ride Houston," said Roberts manager Gary Howard. "He will be there in more or less an advisory position to Mike aDd Jimmy." Howard insisted that money (or lack of it) was not the reason for Roberts' no-ride decision, . saying that Kenny would have had to train hard for Houston and preferred to continue "on R&R" before going back to Europe to defend his 500cc World Road Racing Championship. On another note, Howard.indicated that the Roberts/Lawwill team had picked up sponsorship from Goodyear, Champion. Wrangler Sportswear and Rocky Cycle, but there was not a main sponsor "at this time." Hank Scan, the only man besides Randy Goss to head Graham in the 'SO point standings, heads fa! Houston with a Honda XR500 powered Tr .bike and a Yamaha short tracker. The

• Cover