Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 41 OCTOBER 14, 2014 P103 By the time McGovern earned his first victory at the Jack Pine in 1950, the dawn of the era of lighter weight British-made had already started. Claude Goulding (of the Goulding Sidecar family and brother of the first lady of racing Dot Robin- son) became the first rider to win the Jack Pine on a foreign-made motorcycle, when he took victory on a 350cc BSA B31 single in the 1946 event - the first race after World War II after a three-year hiatus of the race. While the British single-cylinder ma- chines gave up a lot in terms of displacement and power to the Harley Sportsters, they were much lighter, more maneuverable and easier to ride for hours in the woods than the big Harleys. So while McGovern's 1950 win was indeed im- pressive, especially considering the Sportster he rode that year had a rigid frame, his victory seven years later in the '57 edition of the race was even more remarkable because it marked the end of an era. The 1957 edition of the Jack Pine ran on a 525 mile course over two days of the Labor Day week- end. It was an especially grueling run that year, which saw only 160 riders of the 414 starters fin- ish the race. The race Sunday morning was in a heavy fog, it cleared midday and then ended under a thunderstorm that evening. Frank Piasecki led the way after the first day, losing only 14 points. But the morning of day two Piasecki (on an Indian no less) fell and injured his ankle and had to retire. La- bor Day morning and the final day of the race saw the riders challenged by mud from overnight rains. Less than half of the original starters lined up to start day two. It looked like Don Pink might take the win, but then in a bizarre accident, he fell over right on top of a nest of yellow jackets. He was stung dozens of times and coated his face and neck in mud to help relieve the pain and dropped from the leaderboard. On Monday night members of the Lansing Mo- torcycle Club began going over the timing sheets turned in to determine the finishing result. Most riders stayed Monday night to attend the awards ceremony, but McGovern lived close enough that he drove back home to Grand Rapids. He had no idea where he'd finished and hadn't even planned on attending the awards giving. Early the next morning he got a pleasant sur- prise. A call came in from the Lansing Motorcycle Club – could Gerry come back to Lansing to pick up his trophy and get photos taken by local news- papermen – he'd won the Jack Pine for a second time! McGovern drove back, with his still mud- splattered Sportster on the trailer, and he and the bike posed for photos in time to make the after- noon editions of the papers. An American-made motorcycle would never win Jack Pine again. After McGovern's victory in '57, John Penton famously won on an NSU the next year and the lightweight craze for off-roading was in full swing. By the early 1960s Harley en- tries in the Jack Pine had become nothing more than novelties and perhaps a deferential nod to an earlier age. McGovern left the family dealership in the mid- 1960s to take a job with Kawasaki. During that time he was a PR agent for the company and helped get a lot of articles placed in Midwest- ern newspapers about the burgeoning pastime of motorcycling, and more often than not Gerald was the one being interviewed by the reporters for the stories. He eventually worked his way up to regional VP for Kawasaki before retiring and becoming a real estate developer. He and Mari- lyn kept busy with five kids. McGovern passed away in 2002 at the age of 73. His victory at the Jack Pine in 1957 etched his name into the history books of racing accom- plishments for Harley-Davidson and will always be remembered for a time when Sportsters ruled the woods. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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