Anyone keep up with the GNCC motorcycle racing?

I was driving by one of the car washes near our house last night and noticed a trailer and several Mean Green Kawasaki racing bikes being washed. Since I at one time raced for the factory team I was absolutely compelled to stop and see who it was. It was part of the Kawasaki GNCC factory team. The mechanic walked over and I introduced myself and asked where they were headed. They are on there way back to Arizona but will be back out here to Texas in three weeks. The rider came over and introduced himself and we talked for quite some time. He is Steve Hatch and is currently carrying the #7 plate. He rode for factory Suzuki last year and finished 4th in the points and secured the #4 plate.

They were a couple of really nice guys who love motorcycles and motorcycle racing. It was really fun seeing these two guys do exactly the same things that my mechanic and I did as we traveled. Just thought I would pass it along.

 

Beast,

Somehow I knew that you would pick up on this one.

I looked very closely at the race bikes Steve Hatch rides and tried to remember what my old bikes were like. Man, the differences are absolutely phenomenal. I had 4 inches of rear wheel travel and his bike has 16. They had them pretty well stripped off for cleaning so I got to really examine them under the covers. At first they were not going to let me get really up close to the bikes but when I explained that I had at one time ridden for the same factory he rides for now he really lightened up and we had a good talk.

I told him that I used to be the entertainment at the events. The old Kawasaki ad theme of "Let the good times roll" really hit me square. I would hit the ground and roll and hit the ground and roll and hit the ground and roll...................

 

Would that be "the Hurricane"? Bob Hannah??????

Where was it taken.

Love Lake Whitney. Coming up out of the ravine with the quick 90 degree right hander into the retaining fence. I watched from behind as Pierre Karsmakers used Jimmy Weinert for a berm coming up out of there at the 1973 Lake Whitney 250 National..................... And I kept rollin, rollin, rollin..............................

 

Ah man, why are you being so tough on me??? Just a wild guess....Steve Wise??? I really don't know, but that looks like Steves style

 

I took one of Gary Baileys schools back around 1970. I should have guessed David.......Bring more pictures and I will see if I can find some of mine buried away somewhere.

 

I quit racing in 1974 after having a pretty bad off in '73 and missing about half a year. I got out of it totally for about 10 years between '75 and about '85. Missed a lot of good stuff during that period.

The typical starting line when I was racing was like: Gary Jones, Brad Lackey, Rex Staten, Wymon Priddy, Steve Stackable, Kent Howerton, Rich Thorwaldson, Jim Weinert, Tony Distefano, Marty Tripes, Danny Weir, Jody Foust and a whole bunch more that I am failing to recall at this time. Guys like Ricky Black, Richard Poor, Mark Blackwell, Bill Clements and occasionally guys like Jim Pomeroy, Torsten Hallman, Bengt Abert if they were in the country at the time. LA Coliseum, Astrodome, Lake Whitney, Carlsbad Ca, Superdome in New Orleans, Texas Stadium, Lockhart. I guess I have fallen at all those places....:>)

I was actually on the track once with Roger Decoster when he was running in the 500cc World Championships. I did not stay on with him long. He dusted me so bad I thought I was a day one junior class rider. I have never seen anyone go so fast so smoothly. He did not get much air on a jump. His belief is that all the time he was in the air, he was failing to get traction. I don't know how he could come up on a jump faster than the competition and still get back on the ground before them. Still a mystery today. I wonder how his riding style would work today with the high flyers we have now.......

 

Hodaka or Penton........Just kidding on the Hodaka

Tough question.
250 Elsinore would be a good choice because it is the bike that changed the face of MX in the US. A nice Maico or Bul also. I hated riding the big CZ but it was tough as a bullet. Might be a good keeper.

A first year 250 YZ because it pioneered the monoshock suspension.

 

Let's see:

He is a Suzuki rider, from my era. On an 80"s bike..........
He is not paunchy enough to be Joel Robert or Marty Tripes. From my era, he could not be Marty Smith. Kent Howerton was several years behind me. And all these guys rode 250's and the bike in the picture is a big one so I would guess Decoster. Am I even close????

As for collectable bikes.

Consider one of the old cantilever front suspension DKW bikes of the 60's.
A 1973 CZ 250. Had new suspension for the time.

 

I don't believe it was Rich Thorwaldson either. Has to be Decoster.

Some more bikes to think about.

The original TM400 Suzuki. John Desoto rode one of these like a pogo stick. Hit the whoops and hold on. You never knew where the rear end was going but it had enough torque to turn the Earth.

1974 Montessa 250 or a 1974-74 Bultaco 250.


Okay Beast, one for you. Who was the first rider to win a world championship 250 MX event on a Spanish bike. What kind of bike and what race?

Who rode 500cc support for Kawasaki in the early 70's?

 

Dale,

After some more thought, I think you might also consider one of the 125cc Pentons from the very early 70's. Their frames were bulletproof and the bikes had some of the most forgiving suspension of the day. The Sachs engine was a little pipey but was very strong for one of the early bikes. It probably showed the way for some of the later Japanese bikes. I rode one for one season and loved it. Funny how you forget things with age.

 

Dale,
Yes, the Penton was originally considered an enduro bike. However, they were very good early motocrossers because of the stability of the frame, good forgiving suspension and a good engine. In the early days before the development of the Japanese machines they did quite well in the 125cc class. John Penton had a good idea but just ran out of money and found he could not compete monetarily with the megabuck programs of Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and such.

I know one of the TM400 Suzukis would be hard to find, especially the orange tank but if you could I believe it will be one to keep. It was the first to use the idea of a super powerful engine in a dirt bike chasis and adapt it to racing. However, the suspension technology at the time was primitive and riding one of these beasts was like bull riding. First it would go one direction and then the other and the whole time bouncing like a pogo stick trying to buck you off. But it ran like crazy in a straight line. Kind of like taking a top fuel car to Lemans. Powerful but not very practical............

 

Never saw it. Curious as to how it worked out.

I had a friend who put the engine from a Triumph into a Yamaha dirt bike frame. Called it the "Tramaha". I rode it once and once only. The name was very appropriate................................