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/634995
ROAD RACE 2016 ISLAND CLASSIC JANUARY 23-24, 2016 PHILLIP ISLAND GP CIRCUIT/ PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA P70 four-valve heads on a Vincent outfit. Tighe developed similar heads for Jawa singles around this time. So the Irving-Vincent team fitted four-valve heads to one of their existing machines. This already had an MA logbook and the team says it has got the documentation updated. Was it worth all the effort? When the eight-valve blew up in Race Three, Irving-Vincent rider Beau Beaton had previously recorded a higher top speed on the standard-valve version. He very nearly derailed Jeremy Mc- Williams' bid to be top individual point scorer (in the end, he tied with Jed Metcher). How good is Beaton and the big Vinnie? He recently won the Australian National Pro-Twins title on a 1600cc, eight-valve version, beating Ducati Panigale 1199s, no less. springboard for future ex- peditions Down Under. Crussell also thanked the Phillip Island organiz- ers and many un-named helpers who assisted in getting the team's bikes from as far away as New Jersey, Colorado and Ore- gon over to San Francisco and then on a boat to Australia to be delivered to the track. PIGS CAN FLY After enduring some "jive talkin" by New Zealand team captain Graeme Crosby, beating the Kiwis again was sweet success for Team USA. "We brought home the bacon," said Team USA captain Dave Crussell, who on race eve told the Kiwis that if they wanted to take the bacon home he'd already bought a pound of it at the local supermarket. He also revealed the effort Team USA put into their third Island campaign. "Five bikes were built just for this meeting," he said. "About half our riders have been here before. Some of them were on smaller bikes and stepped up to the big league this year and half the guys were new to the team." There was a mix of machinery but the most significant was the appearance of American-made versions of the legendary Suzuki XR69. With frames built by CMR Racing Products of Canada and fitted with bored-out FJ Yamaha engines, the team has a great VINCENT CONTROVERSY There is always a bit of pit-lane controversy. This year the big- gest barney was over the eligibil- ity of the Irving-Vincent. This has raged for a few years now and resulted in the team not running in 2015. Appearing with an eight- valve version this year caused the British to go ape. But, like all controver- sies, there are two sides to the story. The Australian logbook eligibility system allows little- known period technology into a class if the original example is documented. A 1976 Revs magazine (now defunct Aus- sie publication) issue features speedway tuner Ivan Tighe's PIT MAGNET Otto Muller's 1950s 250cc Adler quickly became a pit mag- net, including for special guests Jeremy Burgess and Steve and Lester Harris, the famous UK frame-building brothers. The