Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

;: BY DENNIS NOYES HOWL ~l!1ii """- '. ' "'., . " ~t."" , ,,·,,, ,,·· on Franci sco X. Bulto Marques, the founder o f the Bultaco fa cto ry, d ied in early August at 86, just a week after receiving the news that his gran ds on, w orks Repsol Honda rider Sete Cibernau. had fin ished seco n d, along with Alex Barros, in the SuzukaS Hours end urance race . The resul ts, faxed and e-ma iled to the w orld, listed Sete with h is complete name (his father's surnam e followed by mother' s surn ame), Sete Gibernau Bulto, When Sete go t back from Japan, famil y members thanked him for using his full name becau se it gave hi s gra nd fa ther, known aff ectionately in Spain as Don Paco, great p leasure to see it. "But I didn' t use both naines on m y entry," said Sete. And th en th ey a ll r ealiz ed th at H ond a, o rga nize r s of th e Su zuka mar athon, had don e this ou t of respect to the ailing industrialist. The late Sochiro Hond a knew Don Paco . Both men had built their factories up from pos twar rubbl e and, alt hough Honda is tod ay th e world's largest manufacturer and Bultaco is ju st a m em or y (a lt h o ugh s om e Derbi m achine s 'ca r ry th e Bulta co thumbs-u p logo), th e veteran brass a t Ho nd a remember when th e fie ry-red , pist on-ported Spa nish singles were competitive a t the 125 and 250cc Grand Prix level - and whe n Bultaco worked out of th e sp raw ling, smo ky lit tle fac to ry at San t Adrian de Bes6s. It was there that they ran the trials bikes hard over the ties on the mainline railroad tracks to test the sus pension, and where they would take the road racers ou t into the country to do plug chops on the backro ad s. Th ere is no co u n try in th e w orld w here motorcycling is so much a part of everyd ay life, and whe re there is su ch smiling toleran ce for the spee d and roar of fast bikes. In Spain, Gra nd Pr ix ro ad racin g is hu ge and is an integral part of Spanish life, like soccer and bullfighting. I have lived in Spain for abou t 30 years, my entire adult life, and for you to understand why bike racing is so revered in Spain, you will need to know just a little more abou t Don Paco and the legend of Ramon Torras, and a lot ' more about Spain. Last month, the Boleiin Oficial del Estado of Spain, an official publication which co m m u nicates ma jor govern me nt ru lings to the na tion, an no u nced th a t Gra nd Prix motor cycle racing had been classi fie d as "of n a tion a l in te res t" meaning that it is.the right, the sovereign righ t, of every Span ish citizen to have as dire ct a n access to news a bo u t th e Gran ds Prix as is possible. Thi s means, am ong other things, that TV rights can- D not be sold to a cod ifiedchannel, but must be "directly available by. terrestrial TV to all Sp a n iard s wi shi ng to vi ew from the Iber ian Pen insula, the Canary Islands or the North African provinces." When som eth ing is clas si fied "of national interes t," it means that no one can legally be deprived of expo sure. So yo u can imagine how well-known and how revered the top Spanish road racers are in this country of 44 million persons. If Spain had a Wheaties box, Alex Criville wou ld be on it. If the re were justi ce, and if the true mea sure of an athlete's worth were recog nized rega rdless of th e co m mercia l va lu e of his sport in the USA, Kenny Ro ber t s w ou ld ha ve b een o n the Wheati es bo x by the beginning of 1979. Fre d die Sp en cer would have been on the box in 1985, Eddie Lawson wou ld have been o n th e b o x by 1989, an d Wayn e Rainey would have been on the Wheati es box of 1991... etc. Bu t, as far as I kn ow , none of America's 500cc World Cha m pions has ever eve n had his p icture on a box of brake pads. All of these great Am erican racers are more know n and more revered in Spain th an in th e United Sta tes . Sp a in is a co u n try of legen d s, a nd a ll th e trul y importan t activities of Spanish life - art, lit erat u re, so ccer, ten n is, bullfightin g and Grand Prix motorcycle racing - have their grea t legends. Don Paco Bulto, a lege nd himself, the man who was the co-crea tor, alo ng w ith Ped ro Perm an yer, of Mon tesa fame, had su ch a passion for all forms of mot orcy cle s po r t (he was a ro a d r a cer, end ur ance racer, motocrosser, trials rider . and end uro rider) that when his partner Perrna nyer insisted on closing down the com petition dep artment at Montesa during a Sp anish fina ncial cris is in 1958, Bulto rebelled . For Don Paco the mot orcycle wa s reall y a ra cin g machine that could be civilized for the road, and he believed that th e ra ce d ep artment wa s the heart of Montesa , and that w itho u t racing and racing development , Montesa wo uld lose its soul. When Bulto left Montesa he was follow ed by the bes t engineers, me chanics and by the abandon ed factory racers. It wasn't his original id ea to start a riva l factory, but, urged on by the staff of the d oomed Montesa co m petition d epartment, he did . • Bu lta co, a comb inatio n of "Bu lto" and "Paco," was the cable add ress of a sma ll family business that Don Paco ra n. It becam e the name of racing in Spain. In his last interview, Don Paco talked one last time to the pr ess abo u t Ram on Torras. . Wh en I first came to Spain in 1967, the name of Ram on Torras was in the air in racing circles and beyond racin g circles. This you ng man, who never won a Grand Prix, was conside red the greatest of all road racers - the one, at least, who would have been the greatest if he had not been killed when he cras hed his Bultaco and hit an unprote cted tree at the side of the street circu it of Comarruga, Taragona in 1965, I never saw Torras rid e, bu t I did s'~ ~ Spa in's other grea t legend, the furi ou s and d aring Santia go Herrero, the man on the sing le-cylinder Ossa, who lost the 250cc World title on the last day of the seaso n to Aus tralian Kel Carruthers on th e Benelli four-cy lind er four- stroke. And I rod e up to the Isle of Man on my BSA Th underbolt in 1970 to see Herrero rid e. Tha t was his last race . When he died against the bar e guar drail, he wa s a lready rid in g with a b rok en sc reen after a first-la p crash and had jus t taken second place back fro m Rod ney Gou ld (on a Yama ha) on correcte d tim e, and had h is head do wn, chas ing af ter Carruthers (on a Yama ha) . "San ti" was on the little Ossa, tha t beau tiful aluminum mono co que s in gle w it h th e in teg r a l steering da mpener and the cobby w eld s. Herr ero almost won the 250cc title in 1969, and he wa s recogni zed wo rldwide as one of the greatest, bu t the real dark leg en d of Sp a ni sh racing is Bultaco' s Ram6n To rra s. He was the rider Don Paco Bul to chose to lead Bultaco into the Grand Prix arena in 1965. In 1964, Torras, on the Bultaco TSS 125, had finished third, on the same podium with Yamah a ' s Ph il Read a nd Mike Duff a t th e West German GP at Nurburgrin g. Then at the beginning of the 1965 season, Torras, on th e TSS 250 Bul taco, re pea ted that resul t a t the same track and beh ind the sa me tw o rid er s - but this time in 250cc. And two weeks later at the Spanish Grand Pri x round, on the beautifu l (and let hal) old Montjuich circuit, Torras managed to sp lit the factory Yamaha s, fi nis hing secon d be h ind Read but in fron t of Duff. Torras and Bultaco split the wo rks Yamahas! Sho r t ly af te r th a t, h e di ed a t a Na tional agains t the tree of Coma rruga, a tree w hich s till s tands a nd w hich is occasio nally visited by motorcyclists, Jaime Algu ersau ri, the poe t-owner of Solo Malo, wro te, "A ll that cam e a fte r Bu ltaco, the wonderfu l, shining toy tha t gave d imension to his dreams, we ow e to Don Paco. Every thing tha t came afterwa rd , Ange l Nieto, Ricar do Torrno, Tar res (Bu ltaco's seven- tim e World Trials Cha m pio n), "As par" (Jor ge Martinez), Sito Po ns, a ll o f th ese a nd those who will corne are the conse que nce of his tal ent, his ge nius and his vision." In his last intervi ew Don Paco sp ok of Alex Criv ille, and he' said some thin extraord inary, so me thing heart felt, anc a t a time w hen Alex was under grea p ressure fro m Mick Dooh an and frorr the Spanish press. Don Paco said of Alex "He is the successor to Ram on Torras." A n d a s soo n a s w e read t h at, w knew it was true. Criville will be 500c World Cham pion. He's 28 (Doohan wor his firs t title at 29) and alread y has sever yea rs' experience and eigh t wins . "Es e sucesor de Ramon Torras" - a p rop hesy. Wh en Don Franci sco X. Bult6 Mar qu es, di ed , his d ea th was treat ed w itt the solemnity of the passing of a na tion al figu re and , with his passing, all of u old eno ugh to rem ember the glory day of Bultaco realized that withou t Bulta co w it ho u t Don Paco, th ere w ou ld ne ve h a ve be e n th e lo ve a n d p a ss ion fo m o to r cycl i n g that th rive s to d a y ir Spain, w here the governme nt has seer fit to decree that Grand Prix road racing is "o f nati on al interest" There isn't time and there isn' t spac' enough to really tell you what Don Pace and Bultaco mean to Spain , but I can tel yo u this: The BuM family is a wond erful fami Iy, and the stories they tell are wo nderfu as well. O ne close mem ber of the clar told me how Don Paco di ed . "His hear had seized a couple of times, and it wac beating lik e a TSS cy linder, no isy, the rings b ro ken, running way too lean. H, had med ica tion , bu t he re fused stron~ d rugs. He said that wou ld be for the end We ll, w e knew it w as time. He was ir pai n. We told him, 'Papd, we're going te have the doctor corne and give you something to let you breath e easily so you car get some sleep.' Years ago we had a fami Iy doc tor named Dr. Mata (Dr. Kill), and th e na m e ha d sc a re d th e litt le ones Wh enever any of the little ones played sick to slay home from schoo l, Don Pace woul d say, 'I' m going to call Dr. Mata, and they'd be ou t of bed in a flash and d ow n th e s tairs, ru nnin g to school. Se whe n we told him that , he smiled an d said, 'So, it' s finally time for Dr. Mala, is it? Well , bring me m y moustache wa x and my best Bultaco shirt. For a trip like this, you wa nt to be at your best.": Tha t's how he passed awa y, his mous tache wax ed, wea ring the shirt wit h the Bultaco thumbs-up logo, su rro unded by his 10 children and his many grand chil dren, among them the two young stars: Mik y A rpa , Spanis h Na tiona l End ure Cha mpion, and Sete, who rid es a works Grand Prix Honda because ther e are ru works Bultacos anymore. I. LOOKING BACK... 30 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 31 ,19 68 20 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 18,1978. 10 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 12, 1988 T og e r De Cos ter (Suz) pro ved th at h e s t ill h a d w hat it took when he won th e third ro u nd of the Tra ns-AMA Series at the Unad illa Valley Sports Ce nter. DeCoste r wen t 2-1 for the overa ll, while Bob Hann ah (Yam) wen t 1-2 for second overa ll.. . Th e duo of Scot Harde n a nd Br en t Wall in gs ford (H us) ke p t thei r wi n streak alive a t the SCO RE Parker 400, as they took th ei r fourth overall wi n in a row... Hon d a was the king of speed w it h its CBX, which wo n the Uta h Salt Flat s Ra cing Associa tio n su per b ike tes t a t th e Bon' neville salt fla ts with an o fficia l top speed of 135 .17 mph ... We featu red Brian Cha pman's Vinc ent Comet drag bike ... Reno, Nevada's "Rollin :" Rich MacMurra y (Jaw) slid to v ic to ry a t t h e A u b u rn Spee d way A MA / FIM q uali fie r in Nor thern Ca li fo rn ia ... T h e go ing rate for a Mikuni M agnum carbureto r kit to hop u p a Maico motocro ss bike was $69.95, th rough Krause Racin g. R oug Polen (Suz) won the Superbike class at the Sean Po int ro und of th e AMA Ca me l Pro zSuperbik c Ser ies, bu t Bu bb a Shob ert (Ho n) finish ed second and that was enoug h to w ra p u p th e Ca me l Pro Series champ ionship. John Kocinsk i (Yam) wo n the 250cc Gf race, and Polen clinched the 600cc and 750cc Superspo r titles at Sears... Kevin .Ben net t (Yam) took the overall wir at the Little Rhod y National Enduro in Nooseneck Hi ll Rhod e Island ... Larry Roeseler (Kaw) scored the overal victory at the Pepperrnill /Mesquite GP in Nevada ... We ran an in terview of California speedway racer "Danger ous" Dubb Ferr ell , who was announcing his reti remen after the running of the Ll.S. Na tiona l Championships a Costa Mesa Speedway . Ferrell started racing speedway in 1970... Our coverage from the Cologne Moto rcycle Show gave a glimpse of several in teresting mod els bound for the United States, inclu ding the radical BMW Kl spo rtbike, Kawasaki's ZX7R, and a revamped Suzuki GSXRI100. Pi he sidehack team of Marvin LeB lanc a nd Fred Soter os leaped onto our cover, as they nearly wen t into orb it over a Mam moth, Californ ia, jump during the High Sier ra MC motocross. The complete story and photos from the race we re to come in next week's edition (I)... A uniq ue , 2-inch new-pro du ct b lu rb for Cosmo Ring goggles ran in on page 3. Though the goggles d id not take off in the '60s, they bear an uncanny resem blan ce to th e Oakley's M-Fram e su ng lasses that storme d the mar ket some 20 yea rs later ... The team of Ro n Pierce and Ron Grant (Suz) won the 500cc class at the ACA Willow Springs 12-hour Gra nd Prix road race, whil e th e team of Steve McLaughlin and Don Emde (Suz) wo n the 350cc class... Tri u mph appea red to be the , marque of choice a t th e week's Asco t Half Mil e fla t track races, as Gene Romero (Tri) wo n the Expert class fo r the second s tra ig h t .w eek, an d M a r k Bre ls fo rd smo ked the Ama teurs. . 00 0\ 0\ ,..... ~' ,..... ... a; .c o ..... u o 108 D

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