Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

40mm Mi kun is , Cosworth p istons, Megacycle cams, and head by R EC (R aci n g Engin e C ompo nents in T ex a s. T he bike was fish ta il i n g Sunday an d still slipp ing Monda y but faster. . T he salt's fastest non-streamliner rider o f recent yea rs is Dave Matson whose fuel -bu rning, modified Vi ncent is spectacula r. Matson re bu ilds and improves the bi ke every year. T hi s year h e on ly improved th e stream li ni ng and had the fuel pump re bui lt . Since h e was running in A class instead of M he co uld mo ve th e foo tpegs back an d tu ck i n be tter. H is first two runs, Sunday and M onda y, were h el d to the 180s because the fuel pump ra n m uch rich er tha n th e rebuilder anticipa ted, while ordinarily Matson kno ws just ho w to jet for a ll co nd it ions o n th e sa lt. On h is th ir d run , th e seco n d o n Monda y, eve ry thi ng was righ t o n th e bike. " I felt like I was shot o ut o f a ca n non. The bike wa s much m ore power fu l th an last year." Taching 230 mph an d a p p roach ing th e o ne m ile marker, Ma tson abru p tly h it so mething, p robabl y a b ig ho le o n the course or possibly a part off a car. H e tried to stay w ith th e bike in case o f trouble b u t this tim e its gyratio ns became more a nd more violent. So he push ed it away from h im sideways. T he bi ke righ ted itse lf and co nti nued o n another mi le down the track. Ma tso n bounced hard several times , rip p in g o ne knee of h is lea th er sui t and h is gloves flyin g off. Someo ne was not keeping a proper looko ut; he heard a car streamli ner sta rt u p while he was lying there, so he forced hi m see lf to get up and wa lk off th e co urse.. The ' li ner a lmost hit th e a m bu la nce crossing th e co u rse. Mat son, n ow reco vering we ll from sa lt bums and a badly broken wrist bu t to be o ff work fo r two m o nths, is under standably d iscoura ged about Speed Week raci ng for fast bikes. Ca r strea m line rs with th eir n arrow ti res rut th e co urse, a nd sp in-outs damage it badly. His bike lost o n ly two small pieces, but a fter th ey were found, co u rse worker s p ic ked up a whole ca rd board box of car parts. . A h u ndred Vincent o wners ca me from all o ver th e world this year to see Matson run , includi ng th e president of the club from England, a n d a ba n q u et was p lan n ed. Matson mi ssed it a ll. Larry Coleman agreed with Matson th at th e co u rse ge ts very rough. Go in g only 140 o r so last yea r he hit a ch uc k hole and fo u nd o u t later that th e frame wa s cracked . An other very fa st ri d er, L es Ranger, did n ot have an o u tsta n d ingly good week ei ther, th ough part o f hi s goal af ter last year's m eet was ac h ieved, to m ake th e b ike mo re stable. T he fix co nsisted of a new fairing bu ilt low 10 th e grou nd a nd a new Bonneville car ti re o n th e rear. Last year th ey ruined fo ur ti res o n th e turbo charged H o nda -p owered purpose-built Bonneville bike which runs in the 1000 a nd 1300 classes. Ranger qua lif ied Monda y at 202.594 agains t Matt Ca pri 's 197.993 of last year in th e AP S-AB-IOOO class but hurt th e engi ne , a nd th e res t of th e (Above) Scott Guthrie turned a top speed of 194.912 mph to set an APS-AF-750 class record on his Yamaha TZ700 . (Below) The BeckerLyon BMW streamliner made two preliminary runs. and one 183 mph run w ithout its skin in a side w ind before the meet was cancelled . day was spent in a reb ui ld in ho pes it wo ul d stay together for T u esday's record ru n s. The last qual ifi er o f th e day was Belen Wagner in her th ird yea r o f riding tiddlers a t Bonneville, which . is best do ne with a small, light rider. Sh e went 93.3 17 in th e A-AF -100 class o n her killed 99cc 1987 KX80 , agains t a 1973 Suz u ki record of 91.666, th e sa me class in which Kawasaki Superbikes was str u ggling wi th th eir 1989 KX80, a ls o kitted, o n ly tu rn ing 88.0 19 on Monday. First d awn T uesday m orn in g found a large turnout of 30-so me ca rs a nd b ikes for record runs, wa it ing to gas up with th is yea r's officia l gas from ERC Racin g. Guthrie "showed hi s full gallop" thi s m orning which is somethi ng he o n ly does every couple of yea rs, usua ll y being more interested i n engine longevit y. H e set a record o f 194.9 12 which incl uded a downrun of 197.845. These speeds are u niquely fast for a motorcycle on gasoline, no rm all y as p irated, and m ass produced, without a lay-down Bonneville lo ng-wheelbase fram e. Gut hrie h a s crept u p the sca le through the years, speedwis e, st ud ying a nd refi ning the T Z engines, working o n the bikes th ro ug ho u t th e year. . Guthrie then set a record of 195.858 in th e TZ-powered Burkdoll streamli ner , again a n a lmost unheard-of pe rformance of reco rd s with both ca r and bike o n the sa me day. Though th e 350cc class TZ was q ual ified , h e decided not 10 run it because wi th so many d rivers a nd rid ers th e record ru ns were taking m uc h time from th e raci ng da y. Capri, fu el pum p p robl em behind ' him , d id n't have 100 much trouble turning a 198. 167 a verage for h is record des p ite th e bike's so mew hat to uc hy handling a t very hi gh speeds. T he Kal-G ard /Barnett sidecar averaged 146.552, do wn from the qualifyi ng run but su fficie nt for th e reco rd . Larry Forstall averaged better th an hi s qualifying run , 179.719, sa fely topping th e old m ark. Ran ger a nd Bickfo rd 's repair gave wa y and th e engi ne broke before the timed mile. Belen Wag n er's father Wiltz rode the bike through slo p p y wet sa lt to th e start of re turn run s. Wh en Belen tried to shift from third to fourth o n th e run th e shift was bl ock ed b y sa lt a n d wou ld n ot operate, thus she onl y turned 78 on a 9 1 mph reco rd after a good down run o ver 95, quite a disappoi ntment bu t o ne of those stra n ge qu irks o f running o n th e sal t. O n Tuesda y after record runs SCTA o fficia ls co n ti n ue d to start six o r eig h t cars to ea ch b ike, a nd also didn't a llo w motorcycles in th e L ong Course lane (exce pt th e Becker/Lyon BMW s trea m li ne r). R iders who got in line a t8 a. rn. had n o t yet run when th e co urse wa s shu t down in th e m iddle o f th e afternoon fo r w ind. All th e vehicl es th en in lin e q ueu ed up in the sa m e order in fro nt o f the co u rse en trance for morni ng. O f the 100 or so motorcycl es signed up this yea r, 13 we n t off the starting lin e in Tuesd a y's qualifying runs . T wo q uali fied : Carl Dreyer's Cagiva ran 93.867 in th e P- 125 class against Belen Wag n er's 1987 record of 90.522 on a Fa ruic . a n d Big D Cycl e's Tri ump h Bon n ev ill e in o n e o f rela tive ly new Vintage classes, going 122.482 o n a 1987 BSA reco rd of 121.257 in the most active Vintage class. M -V G -650. In rece n t years a rneer in g of m otorcycle competitors is held o n T ues day n ight of Speed Week. A sma ller . proportion of motorcyclists th an car d riv ers is fro m so u the rn Ca li fo rn ia, so for most o f th e bikers Speed Week is the o n ly tim e th ey get toget her. T he ch ief top ic of d iscussion th is yea r was the li nes. A message went to the SCTA, a nd o n Wednesday starters were again only ta ken once from each o f th e three car li nes 10 o ne fro m th e bike lin e. R iders with L ong Course stickers were agai n a llowed in the Lo ng Course line, a lt ho ug h most o f th e riders w ith fast bi kes d idn 't know this and lined up in th e m otorcycl e lin e agai n . Because o f th e sho rt da y o f running on Tuesda y there were far fewer ca rs a t reco rd runs Wednesday, as well as bi kes, an d the day started earlier for qua lifying runs. Dreyer made his record but Vin ce Chas e o n th e Big D Triumph did not. After they q u a lified o n Tuesday J a ck Wilson changed th e carbs, then they did n't get 10 run on th ese. T he T ri um p h Bo nnevill e i tse lf is named for w he n Wil son ra n h is mo torcycle LSR strea m line r a t th e sa lt flats in th e '50s. Wilson has been o n sic k leav e fro m Big D since March an d ca n' t work very m uc h. H e wasn ' t the re to cha nge the ca rbs back in th e even ing, o r in the m orning before record runs, a nd nobody dared mess with th e master 's work. T hey turned o u t to be jetted 100 fa t. Big D's d yno broke months ago 'a n d th ey st ill didn' t h ave a ll the p art s before Speed Week to repa ir it , th erefore th e sa lt h ad 10 serve as d yn o , a n d th ere weren 't enough ' r u ns . None ofthe Big D sta ble set a record this yea r, incl ud in g th e tu rb ocharged 200 mph Trident. Wilson h as never been to Bonnevi ll e before a nd not set a record. H e was n ot a hap py man . -F i ve b i kes qu a li fi ed on Wed nesd ay. T he Ka wa sa ki Super bi ke crew fina lly succeeded wi th th ei r KX80, qua l ify i ng it a t 92 .560. Bel en could n 't get hers to go fas t enough against the headwind to qualifying agai n, was abou t h al f a m ile a n h our off. They di d n' t have ti me to run the N inja m uch, wh ich wa s i ntri n sicall y 100 slo w co m pa red to th e KR I, a nyway. (Con ti nued to page 27) Bonneville Speed Week Motorcycle Records 1989 (Unofficial) DATE 8/21 8/22 8/22 8/22 8/22 9/22 8/23 CLASS P-250 M -AG-250 APS-AF-750 APS-ABF-1000 SC-AG-1300 MPS-AG -1300 P-125 NUMBER B390 B389 B1111 B106 B194 B173 B58 NAME OF ENTRY Kawasaki Superbikes. Inc. Kawasaki Superbikes. Inc. Scott Guthrie Luftmeister BMW Kal -Gard /Barnett Special The Long Fuse Carl Dreher MAKE Kaw Kaw Yam BMW Su z Yam Cag NEW RECORD 129.874 128.532 194.912 198.167 146.552 179.719 93 .867 OLD RECORD 122.570 125.727 169.331 194.618 143.381 176.6 15 90.522 HELD BY F. Stark C . Graybill J . Gough J . Wilson L. Co leman V . Breese B. Wagner YEAR 1988 1980 1969 1988 19 8 8 1980 1987 MAKE Suz Yam Tri Tri Suz H-D Fan 19

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