Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/133062
CN III ARCHIVES P128 BY LARRY LAWRENCE THE LURE OF THE BERKSHIRES lat track racing left Ron LaMastus beaten, battered and broke. He was taking time off from the sport and considering his options - which more and more looked like retirement from racing. Then he saw an article in Cycle News about the International Six Days Trials coming to Massachusetts. Images of ISDTs were deeply embedded in LaMastus' memory banks by way of monthly Jawa newsletters that landed at his dad's motorcycle dealership. And now the oldest motorcycle competition in the world was coming to the U.S. and it was being held in the lush and scenic Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts. "Man I sure would like to do that," Ron told his wife, Cheryl. The lure of the Berkshires was too great. In spite of being low on funds, having blown more money on flat track racing than he cared to remember, LaMastus decided he was going to make every effort to get on the U.S. squad for that year's ISDT team. He went out and bought what he could afford, which was a Suzuki TS185, not really even an off-road bike, but more or less a dual-sport (before the phrase was coined) playbike. LaMastus had a little off-road racing experience, but nothing that would realistically give him hope of making the team for an international competition. But his mind was set and practice on the little TS commenced. Ron had a goal to reach. LaMastus mounted a bigger tank on the Suzuki and set off for the ISDT qualifiers. Besides being handicapped by a low-powered, overweight ma- PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY LAWRENCE F (Above) Headlight dangling, goggles muddied and jacket unzipped, Ron LaMastus is still hard on the gas en route to winning a race in a 1974 edition of Cycle News. (Left) Ron LaMastus today wearing some of the medals he won during his off-road racing career, which included six ISDTs. chine in the TS, the other thing LaMastus hadn't really thought out was the class he'd be racing. The 185 was just over the displacement limit for the 175 class, so he'd have to race his heavy and slow Suzuki in the 250cc class. A telephone lineman's salary didn't get you too far in terms of racing budget. "I'd scrimp and save for a new chain and sprocket," LaMastus said. New tires were out of the question, but the ever-resourceful LaMastus figured out a way to keep an edge on his knobbies. "I'd cut my old ones before every race." What LaMastus lacked in equipment, he made up for in sheer determination. He also had a secret weapon. Growing up in a family of motorcy-