Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The crew of the streamliner Tenacious surveys the damage incurred in a 260 mph crash on the Bonneville Salt Flats. a t Vesco's deal ership in Brigham City. As a non-current sal e, the bike was ba rel y broken in an d just had its first servi ce. Dover's a vera ge time on the two 130 Club runs was 132.943. Paul H odgkin ran an '82 JOOOcc Katana a n d was timed at ' 134.133 in th e quart er on hi s first run. But h e was left on th e li ne on his 130 Club try Sunda y due to a ca r acci de nt o n th e co u rse whi ch sho rte ned th e da y. Bob Thompson , a fte r tunin g, got his Luftrneisrer-turboed BMW RIOO to go 131.00 4 but th en blew th e engine. Califo rn ian Mark Dees, a m em ber of the So uthern California Tim ing Associat ion 's prest ig ious Bonneville 200 MPH Cl u b (o f th e automotive cont ingent ) rod e a Yamaha RZ350N up to Utah , th e '85 mode l wi th cata- . lyt ic co nverte rs which is now lega l in California. H e arrived o n th e course early Sunday morning, a n d well before noon had a US FR A P rod uction 350 class record of 113.499. Also, his to p speed of 114.358 was co m fo rt a bly faster than th e Bonneville National P350 record of 110.997. P lus the fact that th is was o n ly a baseline. Do n Vesco wi ll pe rfo rm a few old-racer tricks o n th e bike before Speed Week. Dees collected anoth er o rt o f tro p hy o n th e wa y up, a speeding ticket. Kenn y L yon bro ug h t hi s unique" ma ssive, four-cy li nd er H a rley, and had a uni qu ely bad tr ip. T he bike has go ne fast. T his time he chased a n . electr ica l p roblem a lmost endlessly, th en had a n alco ho l fire wh en a head gas ket blew o n a ru n . . M iss i n g was a no ther co lo rf u l Harl ey-en gin ed en tra n t a t US FR A meets, th e J amm er ' li ner ri dden by Dave Campos. After che cki ng it o u t a t a modera te speed last fa ll , Campos was in str uct ed to pu t th e pedal down. T he resulting damage was lat er fo und to be extensive destr uction to th e cl u tch, gears, cha in, etc.- O wner Mil Bla ir wants to ,r e-en g in eer before returning to th e salt. " I wanted m ore hor sepower, and I go t i t," said Bla ir. " Bu t nothin g else wo uld tak e it." Old drag racer Ca mpos reported that before th e damage the bik e was accel era ting fas ter th an any th ing he had ever ridden , incl udi ng th e doubl eengi ned Harley w h ich he ro de to 231.597 in ' 74, to th is day th e fast est non-streaml in er Bonneviile bik e ever . The J ammer 's fastest time was 294 mph in 1977 , o n fu el with S&S ca rbureti on. Now it h as fu el in jection, and a lso nitrous, whi ch th ey didn 't even get near la st yea r. R u n n in g with a turbo, as they did for a whil e, will be postponed until a manifo ld which works beuer is devised . Nex t yea r Blair also intends to run one o f th e ' line r's en g ines in a regular, faired motorcycle, with a goal o f 220 mph against Warner R iley's 1972 record, on fuel, of 206 mph . So far as is known , the heavy, doubleengined J ammer is the least sens it ive to crosswinds of the motor cycle stream- lin ers to run a t Bonneville in recent years. It s three sp ills were for other reas ons a n d at lower spee ds: a berm left by preparing th e co urse, a poth ol e while under tow, and a skid fai ling to co m e down ' a fte r a run. The curr ent holder o f th e motorcycl e land speed record of 3 18 mph, Do n Vesco , preferred no t to run in crosswin ds of o ver five to eig h t mph , but he sometim es did. His fall attributed to crosswinds du r in g a CBS Sports Spectacular filmin g in 1975 was la ter fo u n d to be fro m a bent chassis fro m previo us fa lls . ho wever. Vesco went dow n ma ybe eigh t ti m es in a ll wit h h is ' li ner, for various rea sons sometimes difficult to a na lyze. T he shape, su spension, a nd weight a nd its di stributio n o l a 'Iiner a re a ll importa nt. Different mo torcycle strea m line rs may be more or less sta b le a t d ifferent speeds . Their handling a nd aerod ynami cs a re still no t we ll understood. The motorcycl e strea m line r safety record is ver y good. In add i tion to Kin sey. Don Vesco, Boris Murray a nd J o n McKib ben have a ll gone do wn at speed s of 260 to 28_0 mph and not been hurt . (In fact . Vesco fell over a t least o nce goi ng more than 300, wi th a flat tire. ) T he ' line r didn' t catch fir e. a nd while it did leave th e ground part of th e time, it didn 't fly far. A car notab le to mo to rcycl ists wa s at th e meet a nd went its f;istes t ever . th e stream li ner o f AI Teague. HarleyDav idso n pa id for wi nd tun nel tests fo r Mannin g 's ' li ner a fter Ra yborn 's record. Th en w hen th e H o nda H a wk destroyed itself in '72, H-D lost interes t. Ma n n ing , no stranger to problem s a t the salt, th en ran th e ' line r wit h Triumph a nd aft er that Norto n engi ne s, suffering everyth ing from bro ken gear box es to th ree weeks o f rai n to ad verse p o li tics (in England, regard ing Norton ). The bike was finall y so ld to H en k Vin k in H oll an d . Teague found th e body mo ld an d use d it for hi s ca r, saving himself much wind tun nel co st. T h is wa s th e firs t time Teague's-and Man n in g's rela ted ' liners had bee n in th e same meet. Teague ra n h is ca r to 346 m p h att he meet, its fastest as a ' lin er, having moved the fro nt wh eels withi n th e bod y j u st be fore a ra iny spe ll at th e sa lt . Formerly he ran as a Lakes ter wi th a ll for wheels open . . As well as bei ng events in their o wn right , US F RA two- and three-da y meet s serv e as tr ai n in g tim e for Bonn evill e Spe ed Week, sta rt ing Aug ust 18 th is yea r. As is ge ne ra lly true o f sa nc t io ned m oto rcycl in g eve n ts, US F R A entry fees are no lon ger as chea p as th ey o nce were. Bu t in number of runs pos sib le, co m pared to crowded Sp eed Week , th ey're a barga in . If it doesn' t rain too much from th e thunderstorm s frequent in Utah at th is time o f year, th e ' flat , th ick , smooth sa lt la id do wn during th e two wet years will p rovide a n exc i ting Speed Week . • . Eric Hallgath pilots his Husky to a win in Red Mountain. California. ' Four Aces/Jackrabbits European Scrambles Ashcraft, Hallgath, Paiement-win By Larry Langley R ED MOUNTA IN, CA , J ULY 27-28 Two days of racing with four courses each day allowed AMj\ D-37 desert racers the opportunity to race four times for points over the co~rse of the long, hot weekend. With incomplete resul ts, th e big winn ers wer e Dan Ash cra ft (H us) a nd newl y-SOOcc-mounted Derri ck Pai ement (H o n) a n d 250cc class terr or, Eric H allgath o n hi s Malco lm Smi th Motorcycl es-spon sored Husk y. Satu rday 's " C" co urse at 10:30 a .m. ran o n ly two laps, wh ich so me crews ti m ed a t 35 m inutes, upsetting so me riders w ho were chargi ng a nd ho ped to challenge for th e lead o n th e la st la p wh ich never h appened . Chris Cra n da ll (ATK) was o ne o f th ose riders . " 1 had a lousy sta rt but was reall y maki ng u p tim e," said Crandall lat er. " 1 cou ld n' t bel ieve th ey o n ly let it go two laps!" Team Husky's Dan Ash cra ft who was back from co m pe ting in a Baj a 1000 type race in Spain agreed, " It wa s a good tight co urse, but i t wa s rid iculo us to onl y let it go tw o laps," sa id Ashcraft. " It made it a n ea sy win for th e early leaders. " Derrick Paiement won th e ra ce a fte r receiving a n ew CR500 Honda to ra ce instead o f his u su a l 250. T eammat e Randy Morales fini shed seco n d followed by Ashcraft a n d Cranda ll. Open Ama teurs also raced wi th th e Experts and Jeff Bouchillam (Hon) took the win. Worth mentioning in the Senior Novice/Beginner race at 8:00 a .rn . was th e win by Art Jensen (Suz) of JART Chart fame. Jensen's wife, when told of his o vera ll victory replied; " Yea h, right, hon , but who reall y won?" No respect. Not es o n va rious ra ces: Dan Ashcra ft's dad Bob won th e Sunda y Sen io r race o vera ll eve n th ou g h he is rank ed a n Am at eur (b u t not for lo ng ). Ashcra ft wo n in sp i te of losing hi s rear brake, Son Dan ca me back in th e aft ernoon Expert/ Am at eu r bash to take a win , beating o u t the thum per of Cran dall . " O n th e fir st co u rse Sa tu rday co nta ine d techn ical (real tight ) terra in " sa id Ash crf r, " T he other th ree co urses were wide open. I don ' t kn o w why th e cl u bs a re doing th at . It mak es th em dangerous. More a lle nlion need s to be made to ma ke th e racing sa fer and tight te rrai n will ac co m p lis h i t." T eam Yamaha 's Ted Hunnicutt blew a sh ock in eac h Sa turday ra ce · an d decided to sit o u t th e Su n day races. . In Sunday's fir st Open Expert/ Am at eur race, Derri ck Pai em ent aga in looked like a sure winner but ran out o f gas in sig h t o f th e fini sh line! H e wa s still running th e stock tank an d th e fu el ca paci ty just wa sn' t qu ite enough I Da n Smith took ad van tage of Paiem ent 's mi sfortun e and grabbed the win o n hi s factory Husky. Sm ith 's win made up for his bad luck in the second race when he was leadin g an d the big 500 Husky kept dying, eventu all y ca using a DN F. It wa s la ter traced to a fau lty p lug cap. Saturday's 8:00 a. m . J75cc Expert/ Ama teur ra ce was marred by a protest that will have to be decided a t the C ompetition Committee. Duane (Con tin ued 10 pag» 33 ) 13

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