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VOL. 51 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 14, 2014 Yamaha offered to pay all his expenses, plus an extra $500 (not bad money in the mid-1960s) to race its 250 in AMA Lightweight races. AMA Lightweight road racing was brought about largely because of the burgeoning popularity of GP type racing on the club level in America in the early 1960s. But dig a little deeper and you'll discover an even more interesting aspect to the birth of the racing class. Ironically, Harley-Davidson was the primary mover behind launching the class. In an effort to compete with the burgeoning Japanese makers they had acquired a share of Italian maker Aermacchi and Harley suddenly had a 250cc racer that could compete against the other Lightweight machines. Those early years of Lightweight racing were golden, with multiple brands being competitive. "Those early Yamahas were fast as all get out, but unreliable and not all that great handling," said legendary racer Dick Mann, who won the Lightweight race at Laconia in 1963 aboard a Bultaco, but later raced and won on the Yamahas. Dick Hammer won the very first AMA Lightweight race held at Daytona in 1963 on a Harley-Davidson Sprint over Jess Thomas on a Honda 250 and Jim Hayes, Jr. on a Ducati Diana. There was a variety of motorcycles in the class those early years – in addition to Yamaha, Honda, Harley and Ducati, you might find a Parilla, Bultaco, BSA, Triumph, Matchless and even an odd Maico or two. By the mid1960s Suzuki and Kawasaki joined the fray. By the early 1970s Yamaha came to dominate the class, so much so that in some races it was a field of nothing but Yamaha TZ250s. In a stretch from May of 1970 to June of 1974 Yamaha won every race. In 1974 the AMA tried to encourage other makers to get into the class by lowering the production requirements from 200 to 25 units. At Loudon in 1974 Yamaha's stranglehold was broken when flat tracker Gary Scott rode a new two-stoke Aermacchi –built Harley-Davidson RR-250 to a surprise victory. If you look at the stats it's clear though that this was Yamaha's class. From 1963 to 1976 Yamaha P87 won 58 of the 67 races held. The class also attracted international racers, who were already racing 250GP bikes in the world championships or their domestic series. World-class competitors like Mike Duff, Greg Hansford, Phil Read, Paul Smart, Rod Gould, Mick Grant, Takazumi Katayama, Ginger Molloy and Walter Villa came over to race the AMA Lightweight class. None was more prominent in the series than 1969 250cc World Champion Kel Carruthers. Hot off winning his world title, Carruthers came to America in 1970 and won the Daytona Lightweight class, bringing newfound importance to the class. In fact it can be argued that when Carruthers became a regular in the class in the early 1970s it helped spur the AMA on to eventually recognize the 250s as a National Championship. Unfortunately for Carruthers, the winningest rider in the series during the early '70s, he'd retired from racing to direct Kenny Roberts' efforts before the AMA began recognizing 250cc road racing champs. Here are some of the stats from the Lightweight class era from 1963 to 1976. From 1977 (when David Emde won the class) forward it appears the AMA began to classify the series as a National Championship series. CN ALL-TIME WINNERS (A TOTAL OF 67 RACES HELD) 1. Kenny Roberts........................... 13 wins 2. Kel Carruthers..................................... 12 3. (tie) Yvon DuHamel.............................. 5 3. (tie) Gary Nixon..................................... 5 5. Dick Mann.............................................. 4 ALL-TIME PODIUM (TOP 3) FINISHES 1. Kenny Roberts.................................... 23 2. Yvon DuHamel.................................... 18 3. Kel Carruthers..................................... 16 4. (tie) Gary Nixon................................... 11 4. (tie) Cal Rayborn................................. 11 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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