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/140933
-Wilson Nearly Hogs ACA S o hw :Y-i '.> ~ "'; ' ":~:''''':.n.!.:. :- ..1:' ~fr.,,;nI ') . . By Rich Hoffman IRVINE, CAL., J an. 23,1972 - It was a cold and foggy this m orning at the ACA Motocross here at Saddleback but it's a sure thing the riders were warmed up aft er riding three 20-minute motos, which equals a b o u t 30 laps o f hard riding on th e near-perfect motocross co urs e . Many of the top riders in th e Southern California vied for top honors in the 250 a nd 500 Senior divisions. It was Jim Wilson all the way in th e 250 Senior class as he t ook three motos on his Valerians-sponsored CZ. Greg Robertson was second o verall w ith new Distric t 3 7 motocross champion Tony. Rogers t aking third. It lo oked like Wilson also had the 500 Senior class in th e bag as h e took the first moto a fte r a ra ce long battle with Gary J ones. Wilson took a great lead in the sec ond moto only to end up pushing across th e finish line with a b ad c oil. Bruce Baron held a strong lead after Wilson dropped out an d was abo ut to declare the first win fo r h is prototype Kawasaki w hen Jones zapped him bya wheel at the line. Bruce explained he had gotten the "big lead" signal from some sp ectators and didn't know Jones was righ t behind him. Some joke. Wilson suffered a slow start in the final moto and worked his wa y up t o second but Jones had worked his wa y up to first for the overall win. Gene Cannady stayed in the background all day with three strong finish es to take second overall. (Results on page 28) ~. _._. '. _.' I •• _ • • • _ . ~ '_I:'~' 11 . . . ..... M " '" " "- N .... C> • .: .ci " u. lJ) ;;: w Z W ...J U >- U Desert star Rich Thorwaldson finished sixth. 100 Junior Bryan My erscough destroyed his foes. In a hot chase for the lead, 250 Exp ert Dave Rodgers tr ied to avoid a fallen rid er , cra shed, and lost second place. KaW"asaki Call1paigns Sparkling NeW" Prototype Kawasaki has now thrown their helmet into the motocross ring with the deb ut of their prototype full-blown racer at the ACA Motocross last Sunday at Saddleback Park. Bruce Baron raced the ex p erimen tal machine in the 500 Senior class with impressive success, considerin g the fact th at it wa s the first ra ce for the bike. Looney Bruce st ayed near the front a ll day ex cep t when his COl ignition failed in the fir st mo to on th e last lap. In fact , he would h ave wo n th e sec o nd m oto if he h ad notic ed th at Gary J o nes , n ow a factory rival , had crep t up within striking distance on th e last lap . Baron led th e last moto for a few laps but fe ll. T he b ike was ori ginally designed b y transplanted Kawasa ki engineer Hank H oso i. Further research is being carried ou t by En glishm an Da ve Ma cey a nd two Yanks, Bryon Farnsworth and Jerry Marcell. As ca n be expected, Marcell a nd his crew were qu ite secretive about th e ma chi n e. When as k ed what the displacement on this p articula r m a ch ine was, Jerry balked, explaining th at they a re trying m any d iffe re n t siz e m a chin es out. He then ad d ed , "Just about everything we reall y ca n t ell you abou t it righ t now is wh at yo u can see for yoursel f." So h er e 's what w e saw : In a three-m inu te Test Sit, which included putting b oth h an d s on th e grips a n d hoth feet on the pegs, we no ticed that the bike was extremel y ligh t and .had a lo w cen te r of gravity, exaggerating the lightness further. Marcell guessed that it m ight weigh 205 p ound s but w e would n 't b e surprised if it weighed at least 10 p ounds less th an th at. The frame b ears a cl ose resemblance to the Suzuki 400 frame at first gla nc e b u t it is quite different. T he rake on this particular frame was radical. Baron explained th at the ,st eerin g geome try worked very well. As a m atter of fac t, Bruce was stoked on th e o verall handling of the thing. " I t t ra cks like a Maico and Roes over th e b u mps like a Husk y " he said . . Th e engi ne is all alu mi n um alloy. Wh ile we co uldn 't ge t any into as to the ac t ual d isp laceme n t (we tri ed to tric k it o u t of Baron bu t wh en y o u ask h im a question th at he 's n ot sure sh ould b e answered, he'll cleverly ask th e same question t o Marcell.) It app ears to have a wide power band that is only rivaled b y the 5 0 1 Maico. A guess o f a t least 450cc is in order . It utilizes the good old piston-port arrangement instead of th e rotary valves that have been used in the c u rren t production Kawasakis. Marce ll said the Mikuni carb was a 35mm, and we didn 't know wh ether to believe him or not. If n o t, it wa s a 34 or a 36. Virtually all the parts - sh ocks, rim s , hubs, b rakes, etc. ar e in th e experimental stage so n othing is d efinit e. Now the bike will be ta ke n back to Kawasaki 's new research and developmen t center t o be st r ipped and examin ed . Marcell sa id he will h ave several bikes comp lete d in A ugust when O lle Petter sso n, Ka wasaki's new employe e, arrives at the Santa Ana facility fo r final preps. We go t our eyes o n it so keep y our eyes on Cycle News. B~ce Baron... ...and Jerry Marce ll. .. Kawasaki's new threat : T wo of th ese engines are in the States and four mor e are on th eir way .