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· D TTRACKTECH . J&M Ra~ing Products/KTM Factory 600 Dirt Tracker IR forks reworked, an d we might try them again. We know they are not inferior." Owen and Hack er h a d t he Ce r iani / Wor ks combina tion on the machine at the 1995 Co nverse, Indian a, 600cc N atio nal , and once again Hacker and th e KTM looke d im p ressive. H acker spent his pra ctice and heat race adap ting more to the cushioned racing surface tha n to th e motorcycle and missed the direct transfer into the main event. But he was back at it again in his semi, and o n a ra ce tr ack where n obod y had sho w n mu ch dominance , Hacker ble w aw ay his compe tition, scoring the win by almost a st raightaway. Racin g lu ck showed th e tea m it s u gl y side in the m ain event once again, however. Hacker was running in sixth during the ea rly laps before cras hing into the hay bales while chan cing an ou tside pass on fifthplaced Joe Kopp. The crash marked the (Left) The team's best results have come on ovals. At the Converse, Indiana, 600cc Nati onal, Hacker slid the machine to a convincing win during t he semis. (Below - right to left) Hacker, Owen and team assistant Steve Thai-larson will represent Team KTM's dirt track effort for the 1996 season. o and Owen entered a local short track. Hacker struggle d in practice, praising the m ot or im p r ovem en ts but feeling more than a bit unsettled with th e settings on the bike's White Power sus pension . Hacker looked as though he had to muscl e the bike just to finish fourth and mak e his wa y into the main event. Back in the pits, the team got bu sy twi sting on the adjusters to find the setu p. They got awfully close. H acker got off to a poor sta rt in the main event, running approximately 10th as fe llow nationa l numbe r s La r ry Pegram, Davey Camlin an d Will Davis blasted into the top th ree spots . But Hac ker wa s ap paren tly as comfo rtable wi th th e bi ke as he'd ever been. Th e young Virginia n cut throu gh traffic like a wedge and blasted by Davis for third w ithin five laps. A few laps later, he was on Ca mlin' s tail and appea re d se t to m a ke h is m ove to second when the checkered flag was th rown even before the wh ite flag. The race was inexplicably over jus t eight lap s into the race. Hacker and th e KTM we re third, ye t despit e m issi ng out on w ha t m ay well ha ve been the bike's first win du e to intervention by the race officia ls, the team was ecstatic. It wou ldn't last, however, as the sus pe nsion woes continued the next da y at the TT. Hacker crashed the bike several times and missed the main event. "As far off as we were in the sus pension and as close as we could get him he dialed at the short track, he was flying, " Owen says. "At that point I was really pumped up for Peoria. But after Peori a, I had picked him up off the grou nd so man y times that I knew we had to make a sus pension change." Owe n w ent back to KTM a n d announced that he intende d to switch to more conventional 38mm Ceriani forks and Works Pe r fo r m a n ce d irt track shocks. At that point, Rosso and the factory could just as well have discon tinued their su p port, as KTM's in vol vem ent had s tea d ily incr eas ed a n d a d ecisi on to us e so me thi ng other th an WP sus pens ion - something th at KTM used exclusive ly on all of its motorcycles - might ha ve been construed as a slap in the face. But to its eternal credit, the factory once ag ain proved that it was interested in seeing the motorcycle reach its potential, and KTM gave Owen its blessing. And he is all set to build them, provided th at KTM can sup ply the engines. "I feel that we've hit upon the combina tion now," Owen says. "I th ink that the engine is more than capable of winnin g and that th e chassis is ready. The bike is full y competitive. The problem tha t we're ha vin g right now is w it h (engine) supply. We' ve had quite a bit of demand for the bike. It's just a matter of getting the engines in the warehouse and putting the bikes together . We' ve got orders for three engines rig ht now. The next hurdle is making sure that we can get them . I think we should be a lot fu rthe r along than we are right now, becau se I believe in this motorcycle. I'm afra id with th e Husaberg (KTM now ow ns Husab erg) situat ion, that it may get worse. But I believe that anyone who gets one will have a motorcycle that can win a National. It's a competitive alternative to 'w hat Ron Wood sell s, and I think that Ron Wood is one of the best things that ever happened to dirt track in th at he sells a product, and you can bu y any part for that product. Hopefully KTM will step it up like that :' While the 600cc class has seen somewhat of a resurgence thanks to the addition of a 600cc Na tional short track at Peoria, Illinoi s, on the night before the Grand National TT and 600cc Exp ert su pport-class races at four more events on the AMA Grand National schedule, the real kicker with the KTM 600cc factory dirt track project is tha t if it continues to progress, the Austrian factory may consider stepping up and going for the br ass ring. Rumors persist that the factory might consider d ownsizing its liquid-cooled, 1000cc V-twin road racing engine and send ing it to th e states for tes tin g. Is it conceivable th en , that an Au strian-power ed 750 could sho w its fac e on the mil es and h alf m iles of America in the fu ture? Th at' s ano ther project. For right now, Ow en and Hacker are readying themselves for the 1996 AMA 600cc N at ional Cham pionshi p Series. Astr id e th e fac tory KTM 600, they plan on do ing some screami ng. The secret is ou t. l~ J&M Racing ProduetsIKTM Factory 600 Specillcstion5 Rid. r Mike Hacker Mik eOwen $10,000 Tuner Approximate value 582cc·/609cc/612cc Di.p1acement Engine type Bore x otrok Comp ion ratio Horoepower Camo 1t Carburetion "We wer e stu ck between a rock and a hard spot, and we were both pulling ou r hair ou t," Owen said. "Everywhere we went, I could never rea lly di al him in, and we got to the point to where we felt like we were bea tin g a d ead horse," Owen sai d . "It got to be aggravating becau se I knew that it was really both ering Mike. He was at the sho rt end of his rop e. So I finally told KTM th at unless we could get the stu ff figured ou t, I was going to go bac k to th e Cerianis and Works Performance sh ocks. A t that point, the y backed off and sai d, 'We' ll let you do what you thin k is best: They w ere reall y there to r ace th e KTM motor, and if the WP stuff worked , then fine. If not , then so be it. They under sta n d motoc ro ss, th ey u nderst and enduro, and the y understand sus pension, but they didn't under stand d irt track yet. It's all part of th e learning curve which I was try ing to convey to th em. Sin ce then w e' ve h ad the' WP end of the 1995 testing program as conflicting dates prevented H ac ker and Owen from runn in g the fin al 600cc National at Castle Rock, Washington. With all that had been accompli shed, the p roject wou ld not fall back in to limbo. KTM was apparently very satisfied with th e progress th at Owen and H ack er h ad m ade, a nd in a su rprise m ove th e com p any ann ounced at its dealers meetin g in Reno, Nevada, that it was officially going to go dirt tra ck racing for the 1996 and '97 seaso ns. Hacker was signed on as a salaried factory rider whil e Ow en was officially set up as the Team Mana ger. The team made its official debu t at Daytona '96 where Hack er just missed both main even ts at the lotter ies that are the 600cc National and Daytona Short Track. In the meantime, Owen has reported that he is beginning to get a lot of ph one calls by pot ential cu stomers int erest ed in makin g a switch to th e m achin es. ---- Ignition Tran.mi.lion Starting Liquld·cooled. four-velve. overhead-cam. four-stroke 95x82mm' / l01x 76mm/l00 x 78mm 10 .5:1 70hp Meg acycle/KTM factory 44mmMikuni E lectronic .peed. .,Item . Ii. .. 5 Bum p e J&M Racing Pr oducts Fuel cspeclty Approx. t gal. W lba.. . , , 53.5-55.5in. 25.5"/3.5 In. Raka /lra il Seat height ' 31.5 in . Front tire , Goodyear27 x 7 x 19·inch CD5 Rea r tire Goodyear27.5 x 7.5x 19·1 COB nch Front fork .. , White Power R a D om TI Cerianl 38mm Rear .hock ,(2)White Power adjustable DT Wo Perfonmance 1(2) rks Front w l lrav.. . .5.5 in. lra.... . 5.5 in. Rear w an Rear brak • . . . . . . .. . . . . .6 In. Kosm disc with Grimecacaliper Final drive 52 chain 0 Claimed dry weight , 226Ibs. • Not yethom ologatedfor Gr Na al use and tion J&M Racing I'roducto 19617Gatt51. Poolesville, MD20837 1908Broadway Lo rain, OH 44052 301/349-2259 "- 21 61246-830t KTM~rcyclo

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