Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Th is year they are commilled to a full-on European assu lt , contesting all th e GPs a nd 19 international dat es. " We ca me back after ra cing in Europe in 1980," say s Palfreyman, "and th e competition wasn ' t too good. We ca n ' t ge t an y beuer unless we 're racing agai ns t th e fastest teams, a nd the fastest tea m s a re over there." Ask ed if th eir chances of doing well had impro ved o ver 1980, Palfreym an rep lied , " Last time we had mostly mechanical problems. Our riding a bi li ty wa s th er e, but we still need to ride more. T his yea r we've got a new bike, a more powerful motor a n d n ew sponsors. I think we ca n do pretty well this year." Palfreym an a nd Lund have a Wasp factory ride lined up through the U.S Wasp importer , Trevor Harris. The powerplant will be a Norton twin enlarged to between 930 and 95Occ, while most of the European competition employs Yamaha vertical twins bored an stroked to 99&c. With weights in the 430-450-pound range without the pi loting team , added to the power involved, rear knobbies do not last long. Palfreyman and Lund, who started their career together as both so lo and sidecar BMX racers, will base their effort in England and Amsterdam sim u lta neous ly. They have purchased a M erced es tran sport for their machinery an d Lund will sta y in Holland with th e transporter betw een ra ces wh ile Palfreyman sta ys in Engla n d . T he y w i ll d o th eir ow n m echan ica l wo rk. Wasp will assist in th ei r effo rts, a n d th ey've lined up h elp from En gl ishman Terry Good. on e of th e top sidecar drivers in th e wor ld championships. In fac t before th e America n duo was to leave for Eu ro pe. Good was busy arra n gi ng a n d co n firmi ng their sta rts w ith Eu ropean promoters . One th ing th at European sideca r MX features, accord i ng to th e pair, is a wide gr oup of top co nt enders. " T h ere are 10 tea m s th at can eas ily win th e world cham p io n sh ip:' says Palfreyman. " Tom Van Heugten, Robert Grogg, Terry Good, Bollhalder Brockhusen...There's a big field out there. It's a lot more open than the 500s, where it's going to be Lackey, Malherbe or Noyce. .. C'l 00 0') o ~ .. John Palfreyman, Jr.lThom Lund Off to Europe on a _ Wasp By Da le Brown Sidecar motocross is a spectacular show. Just about everyone who h as seen it would agree with that statement. Big ' 750-1OOOcc motors power the hefty rigs around the . 52 course while driver and passenger perform a hammering ballet to keep the machine both on the ground and pointed in the right direction . Still , the sport h a s n ever reall y caught on in Ameri ca . T here are a relative h andful o f sidecar devotees an d co m pe ti tors i n th e co u ntry, but seei n g more than two doz en hacks at one event would be a rare occurence. In 1974 the top European sidehack tea ms wer e brought over for a series of races -which th ey totally dominat ed - but the events did not prove to be a popular spectator draw, and no such series of ra ces has ever again been attempted. Conversel y, sideca r motocross is a booming sport in Europe. A 10-race World Championship begins Apr. 4 i n Italy, and th ere are enough FIMsa nc tio n ed inter na tio na l events in between world rounds so that a team ca n race every weekend through into the fall . And, th ey ca n earn a living doing it. T hat's wh ere John Palfreyman, Jr. a nd Thom Lund enter the story. Currently th e top-rated A'merican driver/passenger co m bi na tio n, Palfreyman a nd Lund went to Europe in 1980 whe re the y raced several international events and three GPs. Their highest interna tio na l pl acing wa s a sixth , a nd they wound up l l th in one of the GPs. " It 's more critica l also because you have another person on the bike. You have a passenger who is just as much a driver. You ca n be th e fastest driver, but if yo ur pa ssenger is hurt, yo u can 't be th e fastest on th e circ ui t. It all depends on wh at happens between both the people." The pair lea ves for Europe at th e en d o f February, and th eir first race will be Mar. 28. Besides Wasp, their ba ckers include O 'Neal, Cycle-Am, Bell Helmets, Oakley, Hi-Point, HP International , Kiel's Cycle Parts and Tsubaki Chain . As a final question, we asked Palfreyman where the sport was headed. "It's been going up the last yea r and a half. With all the new bikes that are coming in, we are hoping that within two to three years we'll have a World Championship Sidecar event here in the U .S. , because we're the only country that doesn't have a round. We have a round for the 500s and one for the 250s, and in two or three years with the help of the English and European drivers th at are going to come over in two yea rs, we'll have a world round here somewhere in California. "The sp o rt has to go up. Before everyone kn ew the sideca rs as a joyride type of activity. Now the bikes cost anywh ere from $5000 to $10,000. The machinery is a lot better now and it produces better racing. Who is the fastest rider, instead of who is . going to break first." •

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