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/127151
and many entrants found this year's gas , California Gold, to be unpredictable. Guthrie used the single for a sacrificial lamb, ran it not-too-fat on Sunday, and blew the crankcase in half. The smaller displacements are also handy for using the less strong parts that pass magnaflux but are not tops, are flawed or used but have had much loving care lavished on th em. Guthrie' s Bonneville operation, too , is year-lo ng, wi th mechanic J on Nal on working 15 to 20 hours a week o n th e bik es th e other 51 weeks of th e year. Much effort goes into determinin g wh at par ts will work togeth er, into building up the different sizes, drawing o n Guthrie's collec tion of T Zs and parts; he has most of the T Z750 market in th e Southeast cornered. Cal Swanson of P rinceton, Ill inois, h ad th e th ird fas test bike, record-wise. Inspired to run at Bonnevill e by a fell ow Ill in oi san, Kawasak i ex pert Bill -Wirges, Swan son ra n in th e P-1300 classs in '86 with th e stro ng '85 Suzuki 1150, reworked it for '87, redid it over last winter, a n d wen t 195 and so me change this year in th e APS-AB-2000 class. The bik e, now 1325cc, features MTC pistons, Fali con welded crank, J esse. Gatlin headwork, 5&5 carb, Bill Hahn mag, H olley fuel pump, and Mr. Turbo kit. Douglas McEng of Sterling, Illinoi s, tu ned and built th e motor. Swanson is interes ted in running Wirges' stream liner, perhaps; th e exciting, showy 'li ners are always welcome at th e sal t, With just a tad slo wer record of 194.618, th e Big D crew of Dall as were al so crowdi ng the 200 mark. Rider J on Minnono had th e Triumph T riden t to over 202 on a coup le of runs but was not able to back it up. The ma in wea k point was turbos, which were old ones from their store of par ts. Minnono says th ey will have new turbos next year, especially as th e old ones were all used up th is week. T he 1972 860cc Trident motor was bu ilt by Big D and has Triumph heads, Aries pi sto n s, Triumph ro ds an d cran k, Megacycle ca m, H ilborn pump, and Darcy igni tion. Ed Mab ry, a very experienced drag racer and builder of race car chassis, built th e frame and external engine parts such as the injectors and the turbo mount. They were pleased that they su ccessfully made over 20 runs on th e engine, this year and in '86, and because it's uncommon to run so fast with th at few cubes (Bickford and Ranger's 900cc Honda is the on ly other bike that comes to mind). After getting production records in their respective classes, Gerry White.house of Tri-State Express ran hi s new Suzuki ll86cc Katana against Doug Meyer of Dublin Kawasak i's 997cc ZX-IO Ninja o n Friday to ge t long-course stickers (o ver 175 mph) and see which bik e was fastest. Both ch anged to 38mm Mikuni carbs. Whitehouse went to Vance & H in es pipes, Meyer to Rob Muzzy pipes. Meyer took th e Mikunis off, however, deciding the power delivery was too abrup t. With these changes th e ZX-IO ran 175:819 and the Katana 176.366. , Internal engi ne work is permitted in the Production class, though th e rules ar e very serious about the bike looking stock. The Suzuki has heads by Fly ing Horses Racing, HMP pistons, Vance & Hines cams, and is sponsored by H arry 's Machine Parts of Framingham, Massac husetts. The Kawasaki has heads, rods , and pistons modified by Meyer" Megacycle cams, Andrews coils, a Falicon crank, and is sponsored by Dublin Kawasaki of Dublin, California/Shoei/ Andrews/Megacycle and Metzeler. Three bikes featu red L u ftmeister turbo kits, the Becker-L yon- BMW streamliner, L uftmeister P resident Matt Capri's own street bi ke, and Skip and Pam Baker's sidecar ou tfit. Mik e Becker of Colo rado started the 'liner, with chassis by a Pike's Peak Hillclimb builder: The body is from . molds owned by. Bob George, who used to go very fast at Bonneville with Harleys, and fit th e chassis reasonably well , with some shi m ming. The engines are fro m a threeyear project of Cap ri's, researched up to now at th e El Mirage Dry Lakes' meets in so ut hern California , at an undisclosed la ke-bed location in Nevada, and on th e dyno. T he goal w a s to produ ce very fast four cylinder K-engined BMWs usin g catalog parts. T he bikes used eigh t .to 12 pounds of boost at Bon neville, the street range for the KIOO, though 12 is said to be a n " O h God" level. T he th ree-cylinder K75 engine in th e 'l in er wi th its KIOO p isto ns and compress ion rat io of o nly nin e-anda-half to one co uld use 16 to 18 . pounds. Driver and mechanic Ken Lyon, Wi ltl Wagner pushed his Kawasaki toa record in the M -AG-100 class with several years of pr evious Bonwitti '8 9 5 .7 0 6 mph run. beating t he old mark by just over two mph . nevill e exper ien ce bu t non e i n streamliners, did not fall do wn, as so many do to start, and by Wednesda y had a record in th e S-AB-750 class of 182.732, overriding a 1977 speed of 163.122 by Jon Minnon o. H e credited th e previous development of th e engine, its careful break - . in, its preparation by Luftmeister Tech a nd R&D Manager Mar k Volkornen er, and sta bi lity of th e bike, which uses cen ter-hub steeri ng. Most of the body was still in th e shop, as cons truction is ahead of SChedule; only the front was 'used. Dou btl ess this vehicle has much more pot en tial , with fu ll strea m lining, more boost, a nd als o with th e alternate KIOO engi ne. Ca pri 's bike, though it went close to 200 mph, had two problem s. T hrough an oversight th e fairing was designed with too long a nose, preceding the front axle. This is go ing to be a much di scussed point at Bonnevill e from now on , becau se many contemporary bikes 'ar e being ma de with such fairings. They are all ow ed to run in Production classes when th ey com e with the bike, but Ed Mabry rode the Big 0 Cycle Triumph down the Salt Flats to a new wh en that motorcycle moves into a APS -AB -1000 class record. beating the old mark by only .10 7 mph . Modified class it is disallowed. Originally this rule was for safety re as o ns. But technol o g y h a s underway for a legal fai ring for nex t attemp t was on a Fantic street bik e year; Capri wo uld really like a record cha nged, a nd riders of th ese contembr ought into th e U.S., th ough not over 200 mph fOT the bik e he rides porary bik es say the y experie nce no usually imported, because Wagn er . to wo rk every day a nd catalog parts. instability. In Capri 's case, he tried Sr. knew of Fantics th rough trial s cu tting off the nose to mak e the O f th e smaller m o torcycl es, a riding. fair in g legal, but with th e flat fro n t At the end of the meet Frances notabl e one was th e tasty Can-Am Sta rk had raised the record a lmost I75cc two-strok e of Californians J im he th en found th e bike too unstable to make the time com fort ably. Raymo nd and Ron McCabe. They I I mph in th e P-250 class wi th an Accordi ng to Volkomen er, Capri's chose it as an affordable project, im po rted tw o -stro ke tw in , th e bike a nd the sidecar got shot do wn doi ng all their own engi ne and Suzuki RG250G , uppin g it severa l transmi ssio n work and buildin g th e times during th e week. SCTA Proby th e California Gold gasol ine, fender a nd pipe. Both have been which clogged th e inj ectors, changduction class ru les do not require - involved with motorcycling since in g the sp ray pattern and burning bikes or parts to be legal for U.S. they were kid s; Ra ymond used to ride a hole in the piston. Other competstreet u se. H er father DeW a yn e itors had trouble with injectors or enduros and McCabe still rides tria ls. q ual ified a t 170.414 o n a 168.874 filt ers, reading th e p lugs, o r having reco rd but snapped a rod o n the Runnin g in the gas and fuel classes, to use strange jetting. Volkom en er M-AG-175 a nd M, AF-175, Ra ymond ยท down record run Friday with his '82 and McCabe rai sed th e 1977 records rebu ilt en gi nes three times a n d Kawasaki KZllOO now 126& c. finall y ran out of parts. Capri 's by seven and nine mph respectively, Sidecar activity was the great est ever. The second stree t sideca r was a respectabl e gain at speeds just over fastest run with hi s street bik e, a firsta Kawasaki with a Wat sonian chair year 1985 KIOO was 198.974, but o n 100. th e crucial return record ru n the This year's Speed Week was notwhich got both SCTA a nd FIM a ble fo r th e number o f wom en injector problem su r faced. Time records. The SCTA record of 117 was miles are different for SCTA and over a minimum of 115; minimums participa ting. In th e years of motorFIM ; th e tim e for SCTA was suffi are set for new clas ses opened. T he .cycle in volvement in the meet, only FIM time differed on ly in frac tions a .handful of women have ridden. cient, but therecord was disall ow ed because of th e fairing. The return and was open. FIM sidecar rules were Pam Baker, Maria Briggs, and T eresa Kincaid, age 72, drove or passengered FIM time was too low because by m ore rea listic a few years ago a nd in sideca rs. .' th en th e bike had broken. The Bak er all the old records retired. Bob Bakker and La rry Coleman, Also, two daughters of particisidecar al so failed in record runs because of the injector problem. wi th passengers Warren Ryan and pants, . Belen Wagner and Frances Stark, got records. Belen's fath er Mike Taylor, set records in bl own T h e co m p a n y whi ch formerly Wiltz is a tri als and ice racing rider provided the SCTA racing gasoline, and norm all y as p ira te d cl a sses , respectivel y, on beautiful racing SoCal, is now out of business; it is and prepares th eir bikes. This year' s highly unlikely California Gold will was a year-old Kawasaki KX80 in a (Con tin ued to page 21) be used again. Pl ans are already 100cc class. Last year 's successful ~ .. ~ .. ~ 13