Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TURN,FOUR ',' ayDonn Maeda : ' do n' t actually rem emb er any of it, but my father tells me tha t I grew u p at the tra ck. Both of my old er brothers raced motocross and, back then, racing was a full-blown family affair. My mom used to set up a portable crib in the Saddleb ack pits, and I guess I grew u p accustomed to th e lou d exha us t not es that the Bult acos, CZ s, Maicos and even t u ally - Hondas , tha t my t wo bro the rs raced through ou t the late sixties and seven ties. One thing tha t 1do remember are the long hours that my father and brothe rs sp en t w orking o n th e ir mo torcycl es. Back th en, bikes weren't goo d eno ugh to be raced stock, and backyard"tune rs were p len tiful. If m y b ro thers could ha ve been paid a do llar for every time their bikes blew up, I honestly believe they wou ld now be millionaires. I' m now 26 yea rs old, and the firs t mo to rcycle I ev er owned was a 1987 H o n d a CR2 S0. Th ou gh m y fa ther offere d severa l tim es to ta ke to tha t CR's cylinder w ith a po rt in g too l, I decline d time and time again. "Bikes nowadays are good," 1 wou ld say. "Not like those turds Ross and Jon used to I race." Here at Cycle News, there are several vin tage motocross enthusiasts, who - by my own admission - are th e brunt of much harassment and rid icule. Week in and week out, the y race machines tha t are nearly as old, or older than myself. "Get a r eal bike," I'd sa y to them . "Th ose piles .belong in a museum, not on a track. " I just couldn't see how racin g a completely obsolete machine could be an y fun. They obv iously don't handle well the thick leather weight-lifting belt that Terry Pratt wears while h e rides is p'roof of that! And how fast could they be? Surely a 20-year-old motorcycle can't compare to the power-valvad " case-ind ucted engines of today. How fun could it be racing your bike on Sunday, and hav ing to fix the broken en gine mounts, spokes, crank cases and fenders throughout the following week? Vintage racers must bu y duct tape, safety w ire and WD-40 by the case. Oh, and le t's not forgetabout th e ex tra spark plugs. Getting one of those fossils to carburet cleanly must be an impossibility. Then it happened. 1 wa s so rt of forced int o going vintage racing. Just like that. Bob Harvell of Rainbow MX Park in Pala, California, invited n.e to enjoy an all-expense-paid afternoon of vintage racing at his racetrack. I had no excu ses: no "modem" races in which to compete, no Nationals to cover, and no lawns to mow. Besides, how could I tum him down? The Cycle News testing staff has been living at the track in recent months, and even Paul Carruthers has turned into a doublejumping fool. To turn down such an invitation would have been rude. The bike would be su p plied and delivered at the track - all I had to do was show up with my riding gear. A retro factory rider, if you would. The night before the race was different than most. No pre-race pasta carbo loading. No early bed time. No intensive goggle prep. As a matter of fact, I ate a steak for d inner, stayed out late, and didn't even wash my rid ing gear. I overslept the next morning, bu t I still made it wi th plenty of time to spa re. At the track, I must ~ a d rnit that a hint of a smile crep t ove r my face as I viewed my mou nt for the day - a 1974 Ho nda CR12S' Elsinore. "T his b ike is 20 years old," I though t. ''I'm only six years older." Th ou gh it was two d ecad es old, th e little silver bike was in admirable condition - better, in fa ct , than so me m od e rn bikes tha t you see. O wner Keith Lynas informed me that the bike was basically stock, since "heav ily m od ified s tuff usually becomes undepend able." Practice was fun , b u t mostly because I was able to chase d own and roost the Cycle News "vintage regulars" with relative ease . Passing Mr . Pra tt w as a bsol utely mandat ory - the roost thrown a t me from his Triump h Trackrnaster made me wa nt to p ull off the track and cry. Now 1 know why he has "Give it up " inscribed on that belt of his. Though I ada p ted to the sho rt travel a nd low seat he ight o f the Els in ore rather quickl y, I still wasn't su re if I was enjoyin g myself entirely. I had , however, managed to scare myself silly several times, mostl y because of the dated drum brakes . (I don't think I'll ever complain about spongy-feeling disc brakes again.) On one occasion, though, the rear brake worked a little 'too good. I cut a comer particularly tigh t and snagged the brake pedal on a rut. The bike came to a sudden halt and I was spit over the bars instantly. Gads, a crash on a vintage bike. What had I been reduced to? The power was actually pretty good, th ough I never did figure out what those funny fins on the engine cylinder were. Low end was non-existent, but once on the pipe, the motor packed a decent punch. The clutch even held up under heavy abuse. But was I ha ving a good time? I still wasn 't sure. The 12Scc Intermediate class wo ul d be run second in the eight-race program, and as 1lined up for my first moto I took a good look at my competition . Most of m y op po n ents were also Elsinore-mounted, tho ugh there was a pretty good lookin g Husqvama lined up to my left. "I wonder if these guys are fast ?" I th ou ght. "Maybe I sho uld have worn some old jeans, so th at I'd blend in if I get smoked." At the sn ap of the rub ber ba nd (that's rig ht - rubber band), my ins tincts took over and I fou nd m yself racing towards the firs t tu rn with no rival s. Had 1 jumped the gun? No, a look back assured me that the rest were follow ing - 1 was lead ing! Okay, maybe this vin tage stu ff is okay after all. Suddenly, the Elsinore felt li ke a works bike. 1 could do no wrong. 1 was transformed into that good-looking kid wit h the long hair. What was his name? Marty Sm ith ? Yeah, that's it, Mar ty Smith. When the checkered flag came out, 1 had a sizab le lead , and an even bigger smile on my fa ce. Now 1 was ha vi ng fun . In betweenmotos, I checked the bike for cracks on the fram e, broken spokes and leaky fork sea ls. None . 1had ridden the bike as ha rd as 1possibly could, and there were absolutely no signs of wear and tear. The second moto was a carbon copy of the first , and I ended the da y with a new outlook on the sport of vintage motocross. Sure, the bik es are old and slow, but you can ride them much closer to their potential th an you can a modern-day MXer. Sure, they don 't handle that well, but the tracks are usuall y a lo t smoother at vintage events. Sure, the brakes don't work. but neither do anyone else's. On the wa y home, my wife asked me an interesting question. "You say that you had a good time now," she said. "But would you still think so if you had gotten smoked?" "I think so," I replied. CN "Vintage motocross has soul." I:,LOOKING,BACK. ~~:: I 25 YEARS AGO... December 9, 1969 viewed from his hosp ital bed wh ere he tration numbers from 1969 had California leading the way with 447,600 regiswas recoverin g from a broken wrist and tered motorcycles; Ohio (132,600) and leg after crashing at the Loudon NationPennsylvania (125,720) wer e ranked secal. Baldwin announced in the intervi ew, ond a n d th ird with the Distri ct o f "I know I will race aga in. " A promise Columbia bringing up the rear w ith that he kept ... 1980 model KTM off-road 3150 motorcycl es r egistered bikes were featured , w ith the 420 MC there...Female motorcycle racer Debbie lead ing the way... Johnny O'Mara was Sanders was featured in an in terview the top rid er as Ama teu rs were given titled: Debbie Sander s - A Dainty But the opportunity to compete on the Ana~ Daring Racer... Evel Kn ievel held a heim Sup ercross track. O'Mara won the press confe rence to tell the wo rld that 125c c class, topping Mike Brown and George Hamilton w o u ld Ricky Johnson... A practice day was portray h im in the upcom- ~~f'f,:p~b:ll held for wh at would be the first-e ver Superbikers' event at Carlsbad Raceing movie of Knie vel's life titled, "Color Me Lucky." w a y. Among those who practi ced were Kent Howerton, Eddie Lawson, Mike Kidd and Larry Roeseler. ifteen-h u nd red riders took part in the 1969 running of the Barstow-to-Vegas desert race, but no one did it better than J.N. Roberts. C ' , After taking the lead IS :;' '.-" m iles from the s ta r t, r il;: Roberts went on to tally ;:- "'-----__....-11 "his second straight win in the famous hare and hound, topping Gen e Smith and Steve Kirk in the overall re sult s ... Some 20,000 s p ecta tors turned out in Westlake Village, California, to watch Arne Kring race his Hu sqvarna to victory in the Inter-Am round. 15 YEARS AGO... Kring managed to beat Ake Johnsson December 5, 1979 and Gary Bailey. The 250cc Sportsm an oa d r acer Mike class at the Inter-Am was won by David Baldwin wa s fea Ald ana over Brad Lackey ... Mark Breis- , I ford won his third straight ma in event ' tured on th e cover ."'l!Il!S!~~~~~ on the ind oor short track in San Jose , I of Issu e #47 in full fligh t on a Kawa saki. Baldwin was inte r California... Estimated motorcycle regis- F I" R 5YEARS AGO... November 29, 1989 ea m Green ' s Larry Roeseler, Danny LaPorte and Ted Hunnicutt won the Baja 1000 in La Paz. T Baja California, Mex- fHj;jrr:r-:..-. __ ico, beating the second -place team of Darryl Folks, Danny Hamel and Scott Morris by ju st six a nd a half minutes... The final round of the AMA ~I~~~~~ National Championship Hare Scrambles Seri es went to Keith Johnson, but th e champio ns h ip fell to se cond-place finisher Scott Plessinger... Texan Doug Polen became the first rider to win the AIlJapan IT F-l and F-3 Championships in the same year... Australian Rob Phillis ga ve Ka wasaki it s fi rs t w in in the World Superbike Series b y finishing second and third in the two legs of the Australian r ou n d at Oran Park near Sydney. Au ssi es Peter Goddard and Michael Dowson won th e two races, but Phill is' co nsis tency gav e him the over all win... CN r -

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