Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) American Dave Sadowski (M) look!! for a way around top finisher Alan Batson (7). Sadowski gave the U.S. contingent Its bes t finis h with his leg-three victory. (Below) Paul Brown was the top scorer for the British team with two firsts and a s econd. Donington Park Donlngton Park, England May 26-27, 1996 LEG 1, I. Paul Brown (GB); 2. Scott Za mpach (USA); 3. Da vid Heal (GB); 4. Ma tt Llew ellvn (GB); 5. Ma rk Phill ips (GB); 6. David McGr ath (USA); 7. Dave Sado ws ki (USAt 8. Tripp No b les (USA); 9. Ad am Lewis (GB); 10. Mick Co r rig an (GB); 11. Ray Stri nger (GB); 12. Dave Martin (GB); 13. Michael Rutt er (GB); 14.Chuck Graves (USA ); 15. Danny Jmberg (GB); 16. Mark Ditchfield (GB); 17. Sh awn Conr ad (USA); 18. Jaso n Emmett (GB); 19. Rick Kirk (USA); 20. William White (USA); 21. David Alda na (USA); 22. Alan Cathcart (GB); 23. Ia mes Hanrahan (USA); 24. Kent Kuni tsugu (USA); 25. Ben Welch (USA); 26. Mi ke Fitzpatrick (USA). . LEG ;I, I. Paul Brown (GB); 2. Mark Ph illips (GB); 3.. Alan Batson (GB); 4. Sco tt Zam pac h (USA ); 5. Matt llew ellyn (GB); 6. Ray Stri nger (GB); 7. Tripp Nob les (USA); 8. Michael Rutter (GB); 9. Adam Lewis (GB); 10. Dav e Martin (G B); 11. Ja son Emmett (G B); 12. Chuck Graves (U SA) : 13. David Sa dow s ki (U SA) ; 14. F. Williamson (GB); 15. Mike Fitzp atrick (USA ); 16. Wim am white (USA); -17. Rick Kirk (US A); 18. Da n ny lrnberg (CB); 19. James Hanrahan (USA); 20. Alan Cathcart (GO); 21. David Aldana (USA); 22. Kent Kuni tsugu (USA ); 23. Bee We lch (USA). LEG 3, 1. Dave Sadowski (USA ); 2. Paul Brown (GB); 3. Matt Llewellyn (GB); 4. Alan Batson (GB); 5. Mark Phillips (GB); 6. Scott Zampach (USA); 7. Michael Rutt er (GB); 8. Tri p p No b les (USA) ; 9. Adam Lewis (GB); 10. Rick Kir k (USA ); 11. Da ve Martin (GB); 12. Chuck Gra ves (USA); 13. Mi ke Fitzpatrick (USA); 14. Ray Stringer (GB); 15. M ark Di tehfield (G B); 16. F. Will iamson (GB); 17. Dann y Im be rg (GB) ; 18 . Shawn Conra d (US A ); 19 . WiUia m White (USA ); 20. Jam es Hanrah an (USA); 21. David Ald ana (USA ); 22. Kent Kuni tsu gu (USA) 23. Ben Welch (USA) . " FrOID the hot seat By Ala n Ca thcart xactly 25 years ago in April 1971, th e fir st USA vs . U .K . TransAtlantic Trophy Match Races pitted teams of five Yanks against five Brits, all moun ted on three-cylinder Trium ph F-750 race bikes or their near-id enti cal BSA equivalents, for a six-race series run on Bri tish race tracks . The Brits predictably won, not just because o f the home-track ad vantage, but also because back the n road racing was still ju st a small part of the Am erican motorcycle racer's scale of priorities, way down on the list compared to doing it in the dirt. But in the next qu arter centu ry, all this would change, as the Trans-Atlantic Trophy kickstarted America's ascendancy to world dominance at the Grand Prix level. Future ·W or ld Champio ns Ke nny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Fred M erke l, Kev in Schwantz and Wayne Rain ey all made their marks for the first time at an international level in th e U.S . /U .K. Mat ch Races, which became a proving ground for the ne xt gener ation of American stars as well as a superb racing specta cle. Thousands of spectators from all over Europe flocked to watch Old World race New each year, cu lm in a tin g in th e 85,000 fan s wh o packed ' into Donin gton Park in 1984 to watch a GP-Ievel confrontation, reprised six times over. That Do nington spec tacu lar was the peak o f.it all, th ou gh, for after Freddie Spencer was hurt when he crashe d his new NSRSOO Honda during it and side- E lined.himself from the Spanish GP soon a fte r, th e Japanese fa ctories stop ped allowing their top riders - most of them by then Yanks - to take part in the Match Races. That inevitably downgraded the spectacle, and 1991 was the last year the series was held . Until now . For what goes around comes around, and exactly a qu arter-century after the first-ever Tr ans-Atlantic rev-up, it all ha ppened again this year on the h o li d a y weekend o f Ma y 26-27, th anks to the combined efforts of the born-again Triumph Motorcycles company, who put it all toge ther (and provided th e b ikes for th e U.S. team); sponsors General Guarantee Insu rance, who paid the bills; an d Donington Park, who supplied the ven ue . With two 12-rider teams (each with an extra point-scor ing journalist), everyone mounted on untuned, race-prepared Triumph Speed Triple roadste rs, and all the British team and most of the Yank s are participants in their country's own onemake Tri umph series and thus famili ar with the bikes, the ingredients were there for so me great racing. Especiall y with riders of the caliber of Daytona 200 win ner Dave Sadowski, World Superbike riders Tripp N obles, Ray Strin ger and David Jefferies, World Endurance ace Alan Batson, British Superbike stars Mick Rutter, Matt Llewellyn and Paul Brown; former British F-1 cham pion and reigning Speed Triple King of Britain Mark Phill ip s, and U.S. sp ec-clas s ace Sco tt Zam pach. An d thou gh Triumph h ad k in d ly aske d me to be the official guest journalist for the British team, there were in fact tw o professional scribblers vying for the title o f top Triumph typist in th e U.S. ranks: Motorcyclist magazin e's road test editor Ken t Kunitsugu, and none other than former race star Dave Aldana in the Cycle World colors. To com plete the circle, Aldana was a me m be r of that first Triumph / BSA-m ounted Ame rica n squad back in 1971, as well as captain of the wi nning Ll.S. team in 1975, the first time that New World beat Old. Let the pros geton wi th it. We had our own bat- tie for scribb ler supremacy in prospect. I didn't need much per suading - well, only a bit. "It'll be a great chance to see the Trans-Atlantic fro m th e hotseat, " cajoled Triumph 's dynamic Sales Director Bruno Tag liaferri, the man beh ind the Match Race revival. "Plus we'll supply you with a bike exactly the same as the ones th e Am e ri cans are getting, and y ou' ll b e part of th e British tea m , so you' ll be putting that flag on the side of yo u r helm et to good u se . It'll be fun wait and see." For someone who had hung over the fen ces at Mallo ry Park exactly a quartercentury ago an d watched m y hero Paul Smart an d 0 1' Moon-eyes, John Cooper, duke it ou t with the n- unkno w n- to- u s Americans li ke Dick M ann a n d Dave Ald ana in the inaugural Trans-Atl antic Trop hy, it was too good a chance to tum down. Especia lly after wa tching su cceeding Match Races from closer up, by riding in the suppo rting prog ram and sharing the track with Godrone gonads . When Kenny Roberts outbraked me into Druids hairpin at Brands Ha tch back in 1979 (n ever mind that this was the op en practice session that opened th e day' s activities and I was on a hot lap whi le KR was probably jus t warming up the tires) there I wa s sharing the same piece of track as the world 's grea test road race r. Wow. Imagine how great it mus t be to be o n the British team and r ace against those sort of SuperYanks ... Well, here I was only a couple of decades later being invited to ma ke the dr eams of yesterye ar become the reality of today, even if the cast had changed, as well as th e motorcycles. Okay, Bruno, let's go for it. Where do I sign ? Tr iumph had fanned out the job of race-preparing the Ll.S. team bikes to one of their deal ers, from wh om I picked up "my" bike four days before the start of pract ice. But th is rea lly only enta iled str ip p ing off all the street equipment, grin di ng off stuff lik e th e centerstand lugs that might grou nd easily, and fitting the basic race hardware permitted under the British Mobil 1 Triumph Speed Trip le Cha llenge ru les. '• So the fact we got rained out of Mallory Park practice the following d ay, when I had hop ed to set the bik e up and get used to it, didn't really matter that much. There was still lots left for my mechanic Alistair Wager to do in finishin g off the job properly before the bike was raceab le. And the U.S. team had tw o fewer da ys to do the same. Th is was maybe one key ar ea that hadn't been thought th rou gh properly. The Brits (excep t me, of course) would be racing their own bik es which they had spent lots of time refining an d maxing out in terms of performance. The U.S. team 's machines were still wearing license plates a w eek before the race, in the process of having the bare minimum of 300 street miles pu t under their wh eels to run them in from new. Okay, so you can't tune the bikes, but that makes it all the more critical to have the eng ine and transmission nicely loosened up to give optim um performance, as well as to perform all the countless little tricks of setu p that give a crucial edge in one -make racin g . Triumph fact ory sta ff went out of th eir way to help the Americans ge t the ir bikes on pace, and you had only to ask for 'the part for it to be sourced . But maybe a fairer way that cou ld be consi dered in the future is to h a ve 24 identic a l race-k itte d Sp eed Tripl es stan ding there with their keys 'all in a basket. Both tea ms pick their bikes by lottery, with each rider then given 24 hours to set it up to his tastes, including fittin g bodywork and wheels from his own Triumph racer if he has one, to give sponsors due recognition and personalize the look. Just a thought... Pe rmitted m od ifications for Speed Triple racing are pretty minimal, in the interests of keeping costs down and perform a n ce even. A Proflex steer ing damper is a m ust-fit component, an d you can cha nge the rear shock, but only for a Pro flex unit with 25-way ad justme nt for both rebound and compression, and the chance to raise the ride height by 20mm with a threaded mount. This makes sitting on an alrea dy tall motorcycle a tip toe job even for a sixfooter like myself, but it does thr ow more weight on the front wheel for extra grip, as well as sharpen u p th e steering by reducing effective head angle and trail. So me people go further an d drop th e forks 20mm in the triple clamps for the same reason . There's a Proflex fork kit for the front end, too, but originall y this wasn't ava ilable for the Ll.S, team until we found our bike di dn' t have it an d Triumph rectified the omission. You rea lly need the for k kit, because the stock fron t en d is mu ch too soft for race-track cornering speeds, and gives a good imitation of a p ogo stick under sustained heavy br eak ing. It needs to be m u ch stiffer, with less sag and more spring preload to increase stability. The Pro flex kit was developed by ex-GP rider Ron Haslam, and has heavier sp r in gs- as well as spacers to remove excess sag. Co mbined wi th he avier 20weig ht fork oil an d the 150mm air -ga p measu rem ent Proflex recommends, the kit makes a major improvement to th e Tri u mph' s handlin g that serious street squ irrels could well benefi t from, too . . Choice of tires is free, excep t that they must be genuine DOT-approved ru bber, which means no fancy Supersport racing compound s o r trick wets (pity, as it turned out ), and in m y ca se a first acquaintance with Bridgesto ne' s latest BT56 Battl ax tires, which give an unbelievable am ount of grip. The Austrian-made Sebring 3-in to-1 exh aus t, which is th e only mech anical improvem en t permitt ed apart fro m the n ecessary oil coole r m oun te d down behind the front wheel, tucks awa m uch

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