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Post by colinjay on Jun 18, 2008 17:13:45 GMT -5
Hi Stew, I was searching thu my filing cabinet looking for so other stuff when I found a few old programs. Can you remember where and when this was? It seem that we have actually raced against each other!  CJ |
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Post by StewRoss on Jun 19, 2008 1:50:19 GMT -5
Heh, heh...hmmm...Clare? Keith? Not sure about that one...must have been a while back now... If Rick Blyth was racing I would most likely have been racing this one...  Now I look at the entry again I'll take a punt and say Clare..JJ was there as well. SR  |
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Post by colinjay on Jun 19, 2008 2:10:33 GMT -5
Yes, give the man a prize! Clare on 04 Mar 1979.
Judging by the mustache Stew, were you a fan of the Village People??
Is the bike a "D" model. I like the painted swingarm, was this an attempt to make it look like the alloy swingarm models.
CJ
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Post by StewRoss on Jun 19, 2008 2:33:28 GMT -5
Heh, heh...Village People no...I was in the Air Force and that's all you could get away with...I still have it...'cept I don't have much hair anymore...oh well... Yes a YZ250D. The swing arm was painted yellow after it threw the chain while practicing sliding at Pelican Point...it flexed the swing arm out of line with the countershaft sprocket and the chain jumped off. Damaged the cases as well. The yellow coloured polyurethane paint was to match the rubber'fork skins' on the front legs... There was actually some alloy on those swingarms...the tubular chain tensioner guard that you can see hanging below the arm... So Clare eh...that's the race I posted the pics of before here somewhere...? SR  |
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Post by marlon on Jun 19, 2008 2:57:30 GMT -5
Nice pic!
This internet gizmo's pretty amazing when you think about it! Who would have thought!?!
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Post by davedunsboro on Jun 19, 2008 7:17:34 GMT -5
Col that was a bit rich coming from you(Stew being a fan of the "Village People") when you were actually "In the navy"! Sorry couldn't resist that one hah. The era was good YZs were sick ,peed on the elsinores & the RMs were pretty good too . But those bloody huskies with the gears & brakes on the opposite sides I just couldn't ride the damm things ! We grew up in the northern suburbs of Perth & there was some fantastic spots to ride & you could nearly ride all the way from home too . Not now though there's shopping centres & housing estates in all the good spots.The music we listened to was Pink Floyd,Led Zep & the Angels ! None of that queer stuff! Cheers Dave.
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Post by colinjay on Jun 19, 2008 17:39:11 GMT -5
I didn't join the Navy until 1987, which was way past the Village People era. As for Huskys, the 390 that I raced at that meeting and is still in a box in the shed was an AMX model (automatic Motocross) and didn't have a gear lever to have to worry about. They stopped racing on the old track many years ago and the land is now a collection of small hobbie farm type blocks and I can't even pick were it was. Here is the lay out of the old Clare track.  The Clare club are now into year 4 of negotiating a renewal of our lease on the 135 acre of land we currenty (last 19 years) use on the outskirts or town and we have finally gotten to the planning stage. The strange thing is that the council is only offering a 6 year lease, and we have been riding on the land now for the past for 4 years since our last lease expired while negotiation etc take place. I have actually submitted the old track layout as a proposal for the new track, to try and get away from the hyped up supercross tracks that are all the rage nowdays. Hope fully we can make something similar too fit on our current land. CJ CJ |
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Post by StewRoss on Jun 20, 2008 1:32:01 GMT -5
Yes, I prefer natural terrain tracks as well...you can have some good jumps but I got sick of doubles and triples and stutter bumps...at Mallalla track they had a set of triples that were dangerous in the end. They kept making them higher and higher to stop people going over them in one go...but they pretty well never succeeded...even made a chicane just before them and the fast guys still got over...they did injure a lot of guys though... That track is gone now as well. In relation to the thrown chain here's a pic taken shortly before...the swing arm was still black then...if only I'd known! Those Shoei MX helmets were a bit unusual looking I feel...sold it in the end and bought a Bell Moto 3.  SR |
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Post by colinjay on Jun 20, 2008 2:13:41 GMT -5
I can't really remenber the Mallala track, I only rode there once some time in about 81 or 82.
I know it was after I fitted my SR engine into the husky frame, because everyone looked at me like I was some kind of freak when they heard a 4 stroke single running in the pits just before practice started.
I also remember the meeting because I bent the inlet valve during practice by over reving it, then got even stranger looks when I pulled the top end before the first race and fitted a new inlet valve. I was so used to bending valves if I reved it too hard that I actually carried spare valves and geaskets in my tool box!
I am trying to get the new track here at Clare to be designed too be VMX freindly. If they put in big jumps, I want there to be diversions around them. The number of track that you can safely race a VMX bike is rapidly diminishing and some one has to cater to us old guys.
CJ
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Post by StewRoss on Jun 20, 2008 2:20:33 GMT -5
Yes I agree...even though I will probably never ride MX again I sympathise with the guys who do...the older guys that is...the bikes were never meant to ride flat out over the sort of tracks they make now...less than half the travel of a modern bike and no sophistication at all... I have the RM370 here and I keep thinking about doing it up to ride instead of look at...but then I come to my senses...heh, heh... SR  |
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Post by davedunsboro on Jun 20, 2008 4:44:30 GMT -5
The husky I remember that my mate had was a 74ish 360 & after busting my ribs & doing a shoulder I just stuck to road bikes(I fell off the horse & couldn't get back on)(I hate horses too) I did dabble with a XT550 but I trashed that! Now the only type of motocrossing I do is from my chair watching Chad Reed & his mates doing the unbelievable . Broken bones at nearly 50 is no fun! I'll stick to surfing & I've only got to worry about rolling on a reef & getting eaten by a whitey? Cheers Dave.
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Post by StewRoss on Jun 20, 2008 4:52:38 GMT -5
Hmm, white pointers...I think I would prefer braving the track again...  SR |
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Post by jdbrees on Jun 20, 2008 6:33:23 GMT -5
Great post! You've certainly had a life long thing for motorcycles.
Seeing Stew on his Yamaha reminds me of the YZ490 I used to ride in the early eighties. I lived in what was then the small town of Issaquah, Washington. It was located at the foot hills of the Cascade mountains.
The riding was literally only limited by the capacity of your gas tank.
Early spring rides started at 75 degrees down low and late snow up top.
No motorized vehicles allowed there now - very stiff fines if you're caught.
Another place we used to ride in the dirt is now the Microsoft campus in Bellevue.
All of the rest are now housing developments or strip malls - sigh -.
My son recently got himself and my grandson dirt bikes - the closest place for them to ride is an hours drive.
Here's to the good old days!
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Post by StewRoss on Jun 20, 2008 7:35:49 GMT -5
Yes, it never stops...all of our YZs were white and red, the '82s and later also had red seats...yours were yellow and black as I recall. I had a 250J as I wanted the fun of the technology, water cooling, power valve etc. Sure handled better than my 465G...but I missed the power of the open classer. I went to Hawaii in '82 and saw a new 490 there in a Yam shop. Even got a pic of it here somewhere...The guy in the shop wanted me to do a plastic's swap so he had a white one...but I never got around to it. I bought my Moto 3 in Hawaii as well...plus a heap of JT gear... SR  |
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