Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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period two -strok es in ac tion at Monti· hery , I had a great dust-up wi t h the O ffen stadt Kaw asak i 750 of the sam e era, wi th the 500 Suzuk i almost iden tica l on to p speed , better on acceleration, but not nearly so good on the bra k es as the m ono co que machine. However. by the last ti m e we took to the t rack on Sunday afte rnoon. I thought I had riding the XR figu red out - so when I passed JFB on the . KR750 to t ak e th e " l e a d " in the "race ," i t seemed t o be all coming toget her. Though he could easil y have repassed me on the faste r. later bike, B al d e obl igi ng ly t u c k e d i n behi nd so we coul d sta g e a pr et en d b attl e fo r th e b en ef it of t h e l arge crowd . Only - the next ti me arou nd . run nin g down to the first turn fla t out in top gea r - I felt the rear end st art to slide around ben eath me in a straigh t lin e. so b ac k ed o f f t he g as just as JF B sh o t pas t m e . g es ticu la t i n g madly to slow do wn . I tiptoed roun d the ti ght fi rst turn, and as I did so got a big slide from the re ar . No, no t a flat tire - but oil all over it. Back at the pits. Nigel co nfir med th at a sleeve gear had broken a dog and spat it out the back of th e gear box casing, together with the oil. Play for that day was over - but a couple of months later I was sum moned to Mallory Park to run the bik e in again for C h r i s , after an engine re build which included replacing the gears in question, and wel ding up the casing. After the wide open sp a c es of Mo ntl hery , riding the Suzuki on a tigh t Bri tish short circ uit was a real eye· ope ne r: how Ba rry Sheene could have co m peted with it successfully eno ug h t o fini sh sec on d in th e 19 7 5 B rit ish Cham pionsh ip speak s vo lum es fo r hi s . skil l and br avery . Th e la ck of brak es is the most wor ry ing fac tor, especi ally somewhere like Mallory wi th a ha rd st op at th e ha irpin eac h lap, but the relativ ely narrow po werband and wid e gaps between the bottom three gea rs al so ma ke riding the Suzuki even j ust a fraction as fast as I did in France, a real t est of sk ill whi ch I' d need a lot m ore pra ct ic e to master. T ho u gh relat i v el y t all , t he XR 14 steers quite well - it' s onl y the flimsiness of the fram e that lets the bike down, as again yo u feel it flexing runn ing over the bumps at Devils Elbow on the power. Still a great -sound ing bike, though - and what good power up high. Chr is W i l son ' s ded ic at io n a nd Nigel Eve rett's expertise have helped preserv e a un iqu e pi ece of road rac ing h i st o ry in co m p letely auth ent ic gui se, Judging by h is p erformances at Goodwood in splashin g to two wins on a bo rr o wed Manx Norton , Barr y Shee ne 's in fin e fettle, too . But he's alr e a dy had a couple of pers on al rebuilds, so it isn't quite as original as the XR14 Suzu ki that took hi m to hi s debut 500cc GP vi cto ry . eN or can7IQ.7SI.7Q]] (9am-Spm PST) MI. arrls 1111 Rills VIRTUAL GRANDSTAND INTERNET COVERAGE """""". eve LEN E""S. eo M SUNDA ¥; May 28TH - STARTING 1 PM (PST) LOOK FOR VIRTUAL GRANDSTAND COVERAGE ALL SEASON FROM AMA CHEVY TRUCKS MX SERIES EVENTS . Then ... Get the full story the following Week in l!ilJ.W Ill;} fj ry Issue #22 - On Sale May 31 st. B ring a radio to the Then go to motoradio .co m 2000 AMA Chevy Truck s during th e w eek and hear M otoc ross Serie s event int ervi ews, new s and features at Mt. Morris and hear all the on your compu ter. G ive us y our action on MotoRadio 88 .1 FM . ear and w e 'll give yo u th e spo rt . • • •• • eye I c .. e \IV S • MAY 31 ,2000 35