Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE TAPES BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU s enthusiasts, I think it's fair to say that we live in a world of modified motorcycles. Very few hard-core riders ever leave their motorcycle in the ame mechanical or cosmetic condition ·that it was when it graced the showroom floor. ~ Many mods are merely personal; a nder will bolt on Brand X bars and JoBlo seat to better suit his bike to him. Many re for looks; that custom paint/trick kraphics kit, polished set of wheels and a host of chrome doo-dads are sure to :make you the hit of the local burger joint. And many more are performance-oriented and thus include the full gamut of motor and/ or suspension mods. - Imagine how that all started. Ned real~ ized that by removing the fenders and mufflers from his Indian Scout, he could blow his pal Homer, the latter aboard a Similar m,achine, into the weeds. But what Ned didn't count on was that Homer had /nilled a few thousandths off the heads of his ragin' redskill, added a racing cam and could now whip his buddy's ass in second gear... And so it went. owaday mo t mods share the same thing ill common: They are expensive. In this age of Pro Circuit works suspensions, Yoshimura slip-ons or PM billet hoops, no matter what vehicle you own, you can plan on spending the neighborhood equivalent of the purchase price of your vehicle if you want to own a really unique race/performance/custom motorcycle. And it's interesting to note the accuracy with which that theory travels between genres. I mean, a Harley-Davidson Wide Glide isn't a really trick HarleyDavidson Wide Glide until the owner has some $30,000 illvested ill it. Get it? Mods are expensive, and nobody should reasonably assume that a mere $1.50 change will guarantee superiority on the race track or anywhere else. If one guy illvests a buck-fifty on the exact same stock motorcycle as his pal, can the money illvested guarantee the outcome of a race? No? I beg to differ. Probably the cheapest and most effective hop-up that I ever saw was not performed on a $50,000 factory motocrosser, or a $100,000 AMA superbike.. No, my friends, rather it was a $900 speedway bike, and it was as legal as medical marijuana. A i 30 YEARS AGO... MARCH 9, 1967 r riumPhmounted Skip Van Leeuwen won the Ascot Grand Prix 100 Lap IT in Gardena, California, followed by Dick Hammer, Dusty Coppage and Eddie Mulder, also on Triumphs. Evel Kneivel jumped 15 cars at the event on a Triumph, setting a new jumping record...CN took a look at the enduro competition scene and how beginners could get illvolved with a few simple items: a motorcycle, an odometer and a watch...Rickman-Triumph-mounted Bud Ekins won the Open class over Jim Fishback on a Husky at the Ponderosa Bonanza Hare Scrambles ill Cali- It was ill 1989 or '90, while I was still racmg speedway ill orthern California, that I witnessed an ambitious but oftentimes brain-dead young rider by the name of Tommy Hedden, who was 16 at that time and a former Junior star in orthern California, perform °a lastminute mod which changed his perfor- of the handicap semi, and with no way to coax any mo{e horsepower from his bike (he could have tried nitro, but this would have proven to be both too expensive and too dangerous. 0 sense ill risking possible illjury due to explodillg shrapnel), Hedden had a rare stroke of genius. He reached into his milk crate Tommy Hedden and his "unmodified" Jawa speedway bike. mance level so drastically that it left both the crowd and his competition gaspillg. He had been struggling all night with the breakdown-prone machine, a clapped-out, sponsor-owned ~eslake that simply did not have the beans to keep up with the spit-and-polished motorcycles of the competition. And neither Hedden, nor his brother Bobby, were widely acclaimed by circuit peers for their mechanical and bike-preparation skills. Still, the youngster had somehow transferred from his handicap heat race into the semi, but after sizing up the competition ill that semi, Hedden must have figured that he had a snowball's chance in hell of making it into the main event against that particular field. Yet as Hedden proved, the race is not always won on the track. It can be won ill the pits. With but a minute left before the start and grabbed a quart of oil. After dumping the required amount of methanol into the Wessie's fuel tank, he unthreaded the tap on the top tube of his frame and topped off the oil supply. Without so much as a blink, the enterprising youngster then bent down and dumped just about whatever was left - I would surmise it was better than half a quart into the machme's bulbous muffler. The semi was called to the line and Hedden shoved off, secure in the knowledge that he was perched on the 20-yard line with the rest of his rivals starting behind him. When the tapes went up, the back-yardage boys blasted illto turn one, gobbling up well over half of Hedden's advantage right there. But that's as far as they got. See, once the bike had a lap on it, the muffler got warm. When the muffler got fornia. Cleve Thomas won the Trailbike class on a Honda, followed by Pete Foster and Wes Anderson Jr. on Hodakas ... Sonny Raslawski and his Harley Davidson turned ill a 9.82-second ET at 149 mph to will the Top Fuel class at the Irwilldale ~ in California. Oxley, his son Brad Oxley, announcer Larry Huffman and Al Martinez Jr. recounted their harrowillg Baja, Mexico, motorcycle trip that became a fight for their lives as they became lost without water. ..CN did a test on the Yamaha ITSOO, one of the most versatile bikes in history ...Three-time AMA Grand National Champion Bart Markel made clear that his then-recent entrees ill the Camel Pro opener at the Houston Astrodome was not the beginning of a comeback. Markel, 39 at the time, "was just out for fun." 20 YEARS AGO... MARCH 9, 1977 N's the Latest Poop announced that Yama1la would be supplying Sue Fish, the Women's Motorcycle Association National Champion, with a YZ125 and parts for the 1977 season. It was also announced that desert star Larry Roeseler would be ridillg the 19/7 speedway season with Jawa bikes supplied by Bill Ballard, gear from Malcolm Smith Racillg Products and lubricants from Penzoil...Suzuki's Danny LaPorte won the 125cc Pro class, Yamaha's Bob Hannah won the 250cc Pro class and Don Kudalski won the Open Pro class on a Penton at the fourth round of the Florida Willter AMA MX Series in Orlando, Florida.. .5peedway Racing Association President Harry O 10 YEARS AGO... MARCH 11, 1987 onda's Rick -Johnson won the 250c.c ccPro class a t the opening round of the AMA National Motocross Series at the Gatorback Cycle Park in Gaillesville, Florida. Yamaha's Keith Bowen finished second and Kawasaki's Ron Lechein got third. Suzuki's George Holland won the 125cc Pro class over privateers Larry Bro~ks and Rick Ryan, who both won a moto, on Hondas..:CN conducted an illterview H warm, the oil got hot. When the oil got hot, it started to cook... and smoke. Badly. And with the aid of the exhaust vibe provided by a 12:1-compression~ ratio four-stroke engine... We're talking industrii'l-grade mosquito repellent here. Durillg laps two, three and four all the fans could see was the youngs ter streaking alone out front toward the finish, followed by a smokescreen equivalent to the launchmg of a Saturn V rocket as it draped the remaining riders, whom the fans could only recognize by the bot" tom thirds of their wheels as they traveled through the noxious haze. It was the only modification I'd ever seen that when performed actually slowed down Ii rider's competitors rather than make him faster. The white flag came out - it was gray and oil-stained by then - followed by the checkered flag, and Tommy Hedden had earned his way both illto the main event and illto the lore that surrounds one of the greatest speedway facilities in the world, Auburn Speedway. His mod was crude (sorry about that one), but it worked. I don't remember the outcome of that particular main event, or if Hedden ever came out of the port-a-can ill the pits to compete in that race after he had been chased ill there by five other nasty, refi1lery-smellin' pissed-off speedway riders with bloodshot eyes. But I remember that summer night. It is among the many that I often think about when I'm cooped up ill the office, missillg my speedway family from the North and all the good times we had. Hedden still races ill Auburn today, and he has matured considerably sillce then. One of the first riders to compete ill the United States aboard the new-fangled laydown Jawa, Hedden is aboard some of the best speedway equipment money can buy, and if you're on an equally well-prepared machme, then his talent will more than make him a good match. But who knows? When the goillg gets tough, the tough get illventive, and if you're ever at Auburn, and you happen to glance illto the pits and spy one of the veteran riders bending down to pour oil ill his muffler, then you'd better have a gas mask. There are no such things as muffler bearings. I:N with Team Honda's Wayne Rainey, who hoped that his '87 season would turn out better than '86 did...CN also did an illterview entitled: "The return of Fast Freddie Spencer."...CN previewed the 1987 World Championship Road Race season, taking a look at the thencurrent champ, Yama1la's Eddie Lawson, Honda's Freddie Spencer, Rothman Honda's Wayne Gardner and Lucky Strike Yama1la's Randy Mamola among others. I:N ~ ~

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