Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1972 06 27

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/141037

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N '" '" '" 0- N .... · C> ..... N '" 5 ..., , t '~ lJ) ;: w Z w ...J . ~ • • I ~. > U > U 1971's Race of Champions winner Terry Dorsch •faces the problem. I of winning again. By J ohn Be thea Du st y Coppage tossed hi s h an d s up. "Go od lu ck b ack Eas t !" New n eighbor T o m R o ckwo od, squatting on th e slab con cre te driveway, ac kn owle dg ed the farew ell bu t Mel Lacher kept t o h is m an -o f-few -words im age - and sa id no thin g. Terry Dorsch e m p tie d hi s coke ca n while Du st y leaped the steps an d scurried away . A T riump h. st ripped to its gu ts o n the operating tab le in Ron Bonne r's garage, laid ex p o sed befo re an anx iou s Do rsch . Time , the u ncon tr oll able item , was m ovi n g and Terry w as w o rk in g closely to schedule. I n less th an six hours this m achine , p lu s o ne o ther still un tou ch ed sitting in a co rner , w as to be lo ad ed up an d tra n sponed o n the long h au l to Lo uisv ille and o ther jI; ationals, Time w as running thin . It was early evening: th e lip of the local hills had not yet h id d en the defused rays of the warm San Fernando Va llev sun". Time out was soon o ver and Ro ckw o o d, Lacher and a few others scu rr ied in Dusty 's p ath leaving Dorsch and mvself alone. Whil e th e former 65R busied' hi mse lf a t a few of those millions of inciden ta ls all race rs are b u rdened wi th , I glanced ove r th e garage setup . T h e center of th e arena, th e work tab le, lay near floo r-cen ter. comprising a wo od en bench u p on whic h an en tire ma chine co uld be p laced for easy stripping an d me nding. Vices, san ders, t o ol s, e tc .. were all placed wit hi n a two o r three-step radius. Efficien t, effective, bu t st ill ro om y and neat. Hi gh u p th e paneled walls were sh elve s stu ffe d wi th a m yri ad o f tires, tubes an d rim s. , A p air of red an d white leathers di spl ayin g " 2 2 " hu ng on th e wai l just above a handbag and a Be ll h elm et bag in the co mer which also ho used ano the r T riu m p h sporting Junio r p lates. Ma tt Falcon er, the o wner, has teamed up with tuner Bonner fo r aid and hi n ts whenever Ron h as time : b u t , mostly, he d oes th e work h im sel f. " T hi s is just part of the layou r,' Te rry exp lai ne d . " T his is Ro n's ga rage. Min e 's ne x t d o or. That's where I keep most o f my h ikes and things." Seeing th e hal f-dozen "backu p" machines, I soon lea rned another half-dozen or so we re also store d next door, along w ith a sporty fo ur-whee ler bei n g reworke d b y o ne of T erry ' s frie n ds. Ro n soon re turned, giving Terry a bre ak, so we retired to th e h ack y ard an d stra d d led a short brick wall to cha t. The tape recorder came o u t, but it didn' t b other him. All he said was, "N ow ? Is it on ?" "Yup,' He never ac kno wledg ed it s presen ce from th at p oi nt o n . * * * CI'I:W: Late 197 1... th at was th e tim e for T erry Dors ch. Week a fte r week , for five o r six straigh t races, yo u wo n. Asco t, Coro na, San J o se' s R ace of Ch amp io ns. Whereve r you we nt you won . There w as a reason , did you find it? T erry: Ye h, I th in k so . T he b ikes were running real good. Ron h ad the bikes tuned perfectly , and I h ad my head, shaped. I didn' t have any p ro b lems to speak of an d e very thing just clic ked . It takes a lo t of races to get in shape an d wh en you' re in sh ap e , th e bette r you feel. CI'I:W: So th en came th e season-en d Triumph cu toff..; T erry: Pu llout. They were giving me free p arts for my 25 0 a nd 750 T riumph an d th e y helped me to go to Houst on in '71. Th at was with h elp from Pe te Colman, he w as real go o d . T he n th ey go t so me new peop le . a race manager. like tha t, an d they had differen t id eas and it didn't h it off: and th ey we re ha ving fin an cial p ro b lem s, t o o , a nd th at did n't he lp . I lik e to kee p my bikes fresh a nd those p ar ts really mean a lot. I never was a salary rider: there's no t many of th em. All th ey d id was help with gas m o ney an d p ar ts. T hat's why I stuck aro u nd the West Coast a lot. eN \\': Then. along came ~ 'o rto n with l ---- "To get the Norton ready tonight would be im possib le .•.• nd it's not good for me to ride Triumph with Norton written .11 over my leathers." . somewh at the same set u p. bu t now you 've jus t recently bro ken ties with th em. Why ? Terry : It was all a verbal d eal. I said 'Sure, I would like to try it. .The Norton has promise ," - it had d one well at Ascot and a fe w o the r trac ks - 'S ure, let's get so mething to ge the r." So, we tri ed it with n o co ntracts to speak of and they wo uld , more o r less, match m y o ld se tu p with Triump h ; th a t is, expense mo ney an d p ar t s. Th ey we re really go od people , help in g o ut as best th ey co uld . But , th e whole th in g bo iled down to th e fact that the bike an d 1 didn 't get alo ng ... so me thing j u st di d n' t work righ t. It was just a lack of ti me; t ime's always a m aj or fac to r. Li ke. right now. To get th e No rton ready to n igh t would be im p ossibl e, and the No rton people a re im pa tien t an d it 's not good for m e to ride Triumph with Norton written all o ver mv leathers. So , with thei r impatience and my wanting to win - I don 't w ant to be an experiment m an all year, a lot of guys throw it away that way - and not wanting to be a guy dra wing a sala ry who ca n ' t do anything abou t it. CN W: So, you an d Norto n h ave br o ken all ties? Terry: Yes. But the rel a tion s were good . Wh en we b ro ke off th ey we re very str aighforward , n o BS , and whe n we termin ated our th ing they were very under st anding. It wasn 't one of th o se back -b iting. d irty, no-good guv things, th at kind o f crap . So now I full y in te n d on ca m paign ing m y Triumph; I trul y love m y Triumph s. I'v e ju st got to get . th em into a lill ie be t ter shape. But , now, I j u st ge t p ar ts a t a di scoun t. CNW : Why -th e allegiance to Trium p h? Terry : When I was about eight years o ld , m y ste p dad got m e on a T riu mp h Cub and from that we wen t to a 3 5 0 Triumph t o a 500 T ri u m p h to a 650 Tri u m p h .. .I was abe u t 14 th en. And th en I wen t th rough the sc ra m b les sce ne for abou t fo u r or five years . I grew wi th th e four-st ro kes . When I was a No vice (fi rst-year p ro ) , I tri ed a Bultaco an d a Yam ah a, b u t th ey we ren't quite up to my lik ing so 1 stuck with a 250 T riu m p h . T he re was d efin itel y a differe nce . 'ClI:\ \' : So , did yo u ride th e Novice ranks o n a Triu mph?

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