·R A RACE · 1995 BEARS World Series
OD
By Robert Fawcett
. Photos by Kyolchl Nakamu ra
decad e after the BEARS category was first conce ived in New
Zeala nd in th e m id -' 80s, th e
thrill in g four-st ro ke racing
class finally m ad e it to t he
intern ational arena in 1995. The
result was a series of exciting
races from th e grea test va riety
of machinery to be seen in mod ern-day
road racing - a true class for the technical connoisseu r. Its excellence was even
reco gn ized b y the p r om ot or s of th e
Wor ld Su perbike Champions h ip, for
w h ich t he BEAR S Worl d Series h as
become a worthy su p port class, catering
to four-stroke motorcycles wi th a maximum of th ree cy li n ders, no
tu rb o / s u pe rcharging or four-va lve
d esm o cylinde r heads, and neith er th e
ch ass is nor engin e o f commerci all y
available [ap anese manufacture. Oth erw ise, anything else goes , resul tin g in a
(Left) Br itten-mounted Andrew Stroud (1)
Is pursued by the Harley-Dav idson
VR1000 of American Ron McGill during
the 1995 BEARS race at Day1ona.
(Below) The front row for the final race at
Assen was occupied solely by tw inpowered machines. It was an eclectic mix
nonetheless - Ducatl, Moto Guzzi, Britten
and Harley-Davidson engines were all
there.
