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/126633
Fo ur -ti me G rand N ational Cha mpion Ca rro ll Reswe be r . Jay' S~ringsteen's Day.tona SoTT winner Harley-Davidson's 'Lucifer's Hammer' By Gary Van Voorh is Jay Springsteen 's win in the GP cl ass o f the Daytona Battle of the T win s road race was · . ' t h e f HSt H I ' d son wIn a t Daytona ar ey-Davi . . . I nternauona 1Spee d way In 14 years. I t was a Jay Sp ringsteen gets pushed off for a pract ice session. popular win for Springsteen, in his first road race ride in five . df H I H d'd years, an. or ar ey. ow 1 the project stan and what brought a factory effort by HarleyDavidson back into road raci ng-at leas t in the Battle of the Twins Championship -are good questions. We spoke to Dick O ' Brien, who heads up the raci n g department, just before the March 20 race at Talladega, to find out. "We started getting serious about the project after coming back from the October Daytona Pro-Am where we had raced a prototype of the XR I000 in the Stock class in the Battle of the Twins," said O' Brien. "We saw potential. Work on the engine started as soon as we got back to Milwaukee to find out if we could get the horsepower and reliability to make it a winner. Don Habermehl, who has been with th e engine deve lopment program since its inception, came up with some very good horsepower figures in the 105·106 range and _th~t _ l!1_adt: _tl)~ .de~isioI) _~o~ go from the dea ler organization and at the plant since 1968 when Ca l Ray' born won the Davtona 200and became th e first rider 10 average over 100 miles per hourat the Speedway. The win. coming at Daytona in o ur first effort. was very good for HarleyDavidson all the way around. "We've been out of racing for quite awhile and I know people were wondering if we could come back and do any good against people who have been doing it and doing well for years. Ren o Leoni's Ducati, which Jimmy Adamo rides , has been very, very strong fo r a long time. I think we showed we haven't forgotten anything. " I have to give credit for naming the bike " L ucifer 's Hammer" to my wife. The name comes from a book of Iris h legends. One story is about a village which is invaded by foreigners who are so bad they make the Devi l jealous and he sends a black comet. named "Lucifer's Hammer," to destroy the village. I think the name turned out to be quite appropriate. "Will the program continue throughout the season? The on ly .open date, which doesn 't con flic t with a dirt track National is Loudon and I know Jay wants to ride there. As for the rest of th e events, I think we' ll have to wait and see. I know there will be a meeting about the program once I ge t back to the factory," said ahead wi th the project an easy one. "Carroll Res,",:eber went to work on a frame which came from the XR 750 road racer Mark Brelsfo rd rode in th e 1973 Daytona 200 when he had his accident and the bike burned up. Carro ll beefed it up and built a new swingarm. In all. a lot of people worked on the project with Don and Carroll. "I think some people forgot Jay can road race or do j ust about anything he sets out to do. He was like a different person a t Day tona . He was high ly enthused about ri ding, but relaxed and at ease all week . He was having fun. Jay worked closely with Don and Carroll giving them feedback o n the bike. He did one hell of a jobintherace.lwasreallyhappyfor Don and Carroll because they put in a lo t of work and deserve recognition for their time and efforts. Everybody wanted to win and did whatever it took to get the job done. " T here isn't any question my enthusiasm has been really up since we started working on the program. I • haven'.! se~n this t e o.f_e_x_c~t_e~~.~f:. .. .,..,."9~B/jt;.I].'""" .~ _" ,_,_,_,_,, ~ Co : ! : ,, ~ • _ . 25