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/141007
o 8- rf. Hi. I'm Wendy Briggs. This motor I'm holding is the one that G used to set the fastest lap time ever at the Houston National sho In fact; all three of these Kawasakis came close to smoking eve that weekend. Think it costs a lot of bucks to build these? Not as much as you think. Here's how we did it: N .... • en N N .ci " u.. ~ W Z W ..J U >- U Windy Briggs holds Gary Scon 's short tracker mot or . Gary set the all-tim e fast lap record at Houston w ith it. Number 64R is Scott 's dual-purpose scooter . the center machine is D ave A ldana's short tracker, and th e one on th e right is Dave's TT machine. ... even if you live n e xt door t o the .Astr-o dorne. • All that meat Windy is pointing at on the cylinder skirt inte rferes with the fuel flow . Check th e Port layout. Th is is the way a cyl inder porting job should look. This F81M cylinder is ready for business. , I t . , , .. " ~ , .. J t t.. t , t I I I • ' I' I I By Bu zz Baty When a new program of racin g involvement is contemp lated, sp ecia l ingredient s must b e ava ilab le, as we ll as a catalyst. In th e making of brea d th e ca ta lyst th at ca uses the bread to rise successfully is yeast. Th e recipe for a successful racing pro gram is mu ch th e same : mone y, h ardware , me ch an ics, rid ers, or, if yo u will, th e ingred ients, and of course th e yeast or ca ta lyst , o r in this case a n individual wh o is th e y east o r cata lyst th at will ca use the recipe to rise to victory. When Bob Hansen left Kawasaki to form T eam Hansen, it left th e p eople st ill with Kawasaki in a position o f not being involved in the sport of scooter co mp eti ti o n . To people lik e Al G oslee, Wind y Briggs, Mike Muford, this is of COUl>;e unthinkable. So Al set out to author his own recipe for victory. The rust step Goslee took was to secure the services of two of the best riders in the USA, Dave Aldana and Gary Scott. A l knows full well that without top jockeys the best equipment in the world will be for naught. Al wanted to produce a Kawasaki product image at the local level like the days of the 238 Green Streak, this time with the 250 F8lM and the 350 F9. Over at the Santa Ana house that Kawasaki built, t he ingredients and catalyst have always been there in ab undance, albeit not always used to the best advantage. Since yo u can' t tell the players without a program, a little b ackground and id en tificat io n of the folks involved might be in order. Al Goslee : Al h as b een with Kawasaki since th e great flood, and wh en all o f the wheat h as b een sep ara ted fro m the chafe, most of th ose wh o have th e facts, know th at Goslee has b een th e man (ca talyst) for almost 100% of Kawasa ki's racing efforts. With all of the re-organization, and re-re -o rgan izat io n , etc ., Al Goslee has always been in the nuts and bolts area, National Service Western Reg ion Service Manager, Manager. During the 68-69 season for sportsman, Al was the drive behind the success of the A·I 250 and A7 350 Kaw . twins. Al was trading information with Windy Briggs, who was tuning a rapid 238 Green Strea k with Jim Pet erson in the irons racked up 2 8 consec utive wi ns. A I was th e m an who was m ost responsibl e for t he AI -R 250 road racers o f late '68 and '69. it was also AI who made th e n umerous trips to Japan as ac ti ng Father during the gestatio n period of th e n ow potent H I ·R. Windy Briggs: Wind y has been t he . backr oom h on c h o for Al an d Kaw fo r so me th ree years now. Before h ook in g up w ith Kaw, Wind y and Al w er e frie nds and competitors with th eir Kawasaki iron. Windy is a great engi n e builder and th e m ech anic in this recipe. Hardware: O f co urse t he principl e hardware is Kaw asa ki, 25 0 and 350 motors , two of each. O th er hardware was selected as demanded b y th e nature o f competiti on, ce rtain frames, rims , shock, brakes, etc. Money : No w here is a part of any recipe, that to be without. nothing cooks. Money for racin g has c ome from a lot of directions at Kawasaki, corporate level, advertising, local or regional level. The man responsible for this effort is Kent Smith , Western Regio n General Manager for Kawasaki. Gos lee went to Smith with his ideas and plans, got a green ligh t , a nd the show was on the boards. Windy had been working with the 250 F81M and the 350 F9 for a c oup le of months; his son Dennis had been riding the sportsman scene with the HRA and ACA. Since Dennis had b een blowing the co mpetition in the weeds wit h the 250 and 350 Windy an d Al they had national level figu red horsepower. Dave Aldana and Gary Scott were invited to come over to th e shop, try out the 250 Dennis had been winnin g with , and say yay o r nay ; wh en the dust cleared it was yay , man yay , from both Dave and Gary. At this p oint b oth ri ders were asked what type of eq uipme n t wo uld b est su it their individual ne eds. With their choices n oted a nd agreed to, building of the machines was launch ed. The re cipe was complete; now came th e bl ending of the ingredients ... ENGINES With his knowledge gained on the units being raced b y Dennis Briggs, Windy build two more 250 's and two more 350's.