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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128386
HODAKA HISTORY
For a period of time, Hodakas ruled the smalldisplacement trail bike classes. They set the
world ablaze with ready-to-ride 90cc and
1000c machines that can be attributed solely to
Pabatco's ingenuity. Pabatco was Yamaguchi of
japan's distributor, but when Yamaguchi went
bankrupt in 1963 and had hundreds of 90cc
engines left lying around in the wake of its
demise, Pabatco stepped in and designed its
first trend-setting dual-purpose motorcycles,
using the reliable powerplants and a rugged,
lightweight chassis. In 1964, the first Pabatcodesigned Hodaka rolled off the assembly line. It
was dubbed the Ace 90.
"We sold the hell out of 'em," Foster,
Pabatco's marketing and advertising manager,
said. "We knew we had a pretty good thing
going. We were outselling all of the other manufacturers in the small trail bike classes."
The last Hodakas appeared in 1979, the
same year that sales heavily declined, thus ending a 16-year run.
BIKE SHOW
The bike show in Athena's city park featured
hundreds of the chrome- and orange-tanked
machines, many of show quality while some
were obviously ridden daily. There were also
many exotic motocross machines, such as Lee
Fabry's "Prestone Special," so named for its fluorescent green color.
Fabry, who made the trip from Monrovia,
Califomia, has been to nearly all of the Hodaka
Days events since the first one held in Athena in
2000. He figures he has "well over 100 hours"
into the restoration and customization in just
one of the two competition motorcycles he had
lined up with the hordes of other machines that
graced the show area.
That same machine served a dual purpose
to Fabry. On Saturday, it won Best of Show,
while in Sunday's Vintage motocross, Fabry
won the 1000c Non-Reed class, muddy conditions and all.
"My first motorcycle was an Ace 90, a
1964," Fabry said, "a motorcycle which to this
day I still own. I've gone to other brands in the
years since then, but now I've come back full
circle."
Danny Messmore of North Dakota lives and
breathes Hodakas. He had a large stable of the
chrome-tanked beauties on hand, including
what tumed out to be the Adass winning show
bike - a 1970 Ace 100- and his Wombat-based
trials machine, which won him his second of
two first-place awards on the day.
"I come out here [to Oregon] every year
just to meet the people and hang out with the
guys responsible for building them [Hodakas],"
Messmore said.
Doug Wilford, one of the top American
ISDT riders in the 1970., carne out from Ohio.
Wilford raced Pentons for many years, although
in 1976 he competed and won the Bad Rock
Qualifier in nearby Weston, Oregon, on a
2SOcc Hodaka Thunderdog.
A fully restored Hodaka Dirt Squirt was raffled off by Strictly Hodaka to raise funds for the
Make-A-Wish Foundation. Earl Burrows of San
Diego, Califomia, was the lucky winner.
"I came up here to enjoy the event and to
sell two of my Hodakas and, wouldn't you
know it, went home with three instead!"
Burrows said.
OBSERVED TRIALS
After the swap meet, seminars and the fun and
games during the field meet on Saturday, the
observed trials was held. For the second year in a
row, Lael was the top performer and won the
Expert class, with only four points. just about
every competitor agreed that section fIVe was the
toughest.
"You had to tum it all the way to the [steering]
lock to [try to] make the tum, then shoot up a
rocky uphill wall," said jubaJ Brown, who made
the trek from Bellevue, Idaho, and won the
Intermediate class with a fIVe-point scorecard.
Messmore won the Novice class and had the
lowest score of the day (three dabs and nine
cleans) on the easiest of the three lines. Messmore
dropped three points in section fIVe on the first
loop, although he had a near-perfect ride on the
second loop to win the day's largest class.
VINTAGE MOTOCROSS
The motocross event on Sunday featured sever.aJ
of the country's top Expert-class Vintage riders,
which included Lael, Stannard, Fabry, former AMA
12Scc and Western Four-Stroke National rider
Kenny Olsen, and Washington's Bill Grubin.
Among them, Grubin was the most successful.
Grubin's highly modified 12Scc Hodaka Super
Combat outpowered the competition in the
Open and Grand Champion's races. Grubin's
toughest test was in the GCR, which lined up all of
the day's class winners. Grubin made up for his
misfortune in the 12Scc Reed-Valve class (where
he placed second to Nick Chapman after leading
much of the race) by beating Stannard's "Killer
Combat" and Lael's stock-appearing Combat
Wombat.
Another rider, 13-year-old David Perrett of
Pennysylvania, won the hearts of nearly all of the
heat-stricken spectators. Perrett put pressure on
Fabry for most of the 1000c Non-Reed final but
fell late in the race and finished second on his modified Super Rat, drawing the plaudits from the huneN
dreds of race fans.
HooAKA DAYS
ATHENA,
REsuLTS:
OREGoN
24-26, 2005
JUNE
Saturday
Bike Show
BEST OF SHOW. I. Lee F>b'Y
ClASS A (Ace 9O/Ace 100), I. Danny M""mo