Baby TZ

A lot has been written about the TZ750 flat trackers, but many riders used the smaller [250 and 350] TZs. This photo was made at Del Mar in 2003.

Mick Ofield

[cover artist SB#13]

Ace Cafe Flat Track Day, 2013

Well, our luck had to run out. After two years of me thinking that it's stupid to stand in a London car park in the middle of February and, instead, being pleasantly surprised by unseasonably good weather, this year's Ace Cafe Flat Track Day was baltic.

Still, lots of brave souls turned up during the day. Fellow UK flat tracker, Paul H turned up on his lovely and just finished BSA 650.

Another racer turned up on a road bike. Guy S rode his R100 Dirt Quake 1 survivor. It was wearing a new Co-Built two-into-one pipe.

Guy's other-half Karina rode her new Suzuki Big Boy Grasstracker (yes, really), grey import. Great looking little bike. 

A few Van-Vans and this tidy FTR223 turned up.

Dael rode up on his Bonneville, The Co-Built Panther. It attracted a lot of attention.

It was a complete ArtistFest. Maxwell Paternoster arrived sporting a newly-painted ancient Bell covered with white and yellow goldleaf, innit.

Martin Squires, premier league sketcher, came and was brave enough to work out in the cold.
In the foreground, Graham brought the Z-Sled that was on the blog last week.

Nico Ornamental Conifer came along, defrosted enough to touch-up the Sideburn van's bonnet, then cleared off. David Death Spray was there, early doors too. People came and went all day, so it never looked very busy.

Phil D is so popular now he has to sign autographs when all he wants to do is go home.

This lovely pair of Champion Yams were on show. I fell in love with the two-stroke.

Plenty of more modern race bikes came and went too, like this Co-Built Rotax, that is on its second owner (after the first emigrated) and spruced for a new season.

Big thanks to everyone who came, the Ace, our fellow displayers - Co-Built, the Dirt Track Racers Association and the Redmax Speedshop. Even bigger thanks to Max, Jack and DJ Dave for getting up at the of dawn to stand around in the cold all day, playing records and selling stuff. We'll do it in summer next time... G

Champion Yamaha XS for sale

Lovely Champion XS for sale in the UK...

With much regret I must now part with the Champion so its up for grabs. Its a genuine Californian bike with pink slip and all documentation. Amazingly it had one owner from 1975 - 2006 when I acquired it from the importer. I restored it completely from crankshaft up using all new parts and many NOS bits spending £8K + hundreds of hours. It is one of only two Champion Yam 750 flat trackers in the UK. Advertised here first. Interested? call Gary T. 


Leave a comment for Gary to get in touch.

UPDATE: Craig at Corona

From Craig in California.

I found this photo a while back, it is myself & Mike Minnig at Corona on the short track. The interesting thing is you have / had a photo of Mike on your website for a long time (although I can't seem to find it now) it is the shot from behind of number 63 ( I'm pretty sure that was the number but it is the shot from behind). He is 9r in the attached photo as it was his rookie expert year, 63 was his National number.
Peace
Craig

UPDATE: More from Craig
I'm (182g)on my Yamaha 250. It was a Champion frame for a twin and the guy I bought it from put a single in. I was downright scary at Ascot, it was truly the "Huck a Buck flexi-flyer". Every time I raced at Ascot it would have several breaks in the frame and we would have to reweld it, the thing was it never broke the same place. I would get to Ascot and suddenly I couldn't ride, it did its best to destroy any confidence I had. It worked ok on cushion tracks, and I did have some success back east (when it didn't break while running in the points) but on anything tacky it was evil.
Basically it was a piece of crap, and after that I swore I would never race a used bike again. Once I started road-racing (on brand new bikes) I was back to running at the sharp end, no matter where I went.

Mike Minnig is on a Shell Thuett Yamaha 250, I was looking through an old Ascot program and I did find Mike's 2nd year pro number and it was national # 63. I knew that was him the first time I saw the photo on your website. He was always a couple of years ahead of me in the pro ranks but he race Corona quite a bit. I was always pretty good at Corona short track & TT, but the half mile was spooky at night, you went downhill into turn 3 and it was so dark, I could never see anything. During the day it was a different story, regardless I always liked Corona and I dug the idiosyncrasies of the half-mile.

Ossa

From our friends at Metro Racing. G

Champion Yamaha 750

From Gary T in England. Lovely job.

Hi Guys, 75 Champion 750 Yamaha flat tracker in Roberts tribute colours almost complete. It originally came from Hayward, California, one owner from new, I have the pink slip. All new everything from US specialist race shops. Will I be putting it on the road? - hell yes! How much has it cost? - don't ask!
Gary.

Greaser Mike's new leathers

Who could forget Greaser Mike and his beautiful Champion Triumph (though this is his Trackmaster, hey Mike, how many bikes do you have?)? Well, he's ditched his horrible MX wear for some proper cowhide. A wise move. Even the committed vegetarians at Co-Built know it makes sense to wear leather. To finish the look Mike just needs to get some boots that fit under the leathers.
Good luck at the AMA Vintage races this weekend Mike. GI
Gene photo by Dan Mahony.

Greaser Mike in Action

Remember Greaser Mike's amazing Champion Triumph? Well, he's been racing it at Oakland Valley Speedway, somewhere on the east coast-ish. Here he leads his 6th Street Special friends Hugh and Fumihisa. Looking great, but I'm not sure the modern MX gear goes with the cool old bike (and I'd never want to race short track in MX gear). I prefer Fumihisa's Heron Suzuki style suit, but whatever makes you comfortable. Keep us posted Mike. G
Photo: Becky Kosch

Greaser Mike's Champion Triumph

Mike got in touch to say 'Look at my race bike'. And wow, it's amazing. It's a Champion-framed Triumph 500, prepped by the owner and 6th Street Specials in New York and given that 1970s paint by Spritz by Fritz (who not only restores Ed Roth's creations, but also build his own homages to them - below is Fritz's Roswell Rod).
Mike has started racing in the the East Coast amateur vintage classes and we see a lot of parallels with us and our friends in the UK. Check out his Greaser Mike blog. Would-be racers should go back to the early posts for his tips on how to start racing. GI

Vegas Triumph details.

I woke up on Saturday morning, put on my phone and had a text from UK short tracker, Paul Harrison (4R) asking for specific details on the Triumph posted a day or so ago.
So here you go...
Shock length: 13.5in
Offset: number 2 insert in A&A triple clamps
Cam: a copy of a JoMo number 15
Hope that helps Paul.
GI
PS Notice that this is a different number to the previous bike I posted. And so is the one in the background. There are four of these almost identical Champion-framed Triumphs, all prepped by Kerry Puccio. They are bee-yoo-ti-ful.

This Champion TZ750 for sale on VFT

Valentino, are you watching? Get Yamaha to buy you this for Christmas. On vft.org

Replica Champion frame - Yamaha TZ750
Engine once powered Don Vesco Streamliner
Complete build by Mark Seifried - Marks Restorations - Engine fresh, very low time.
Ceriani Forks - Works Aluminum Shocks - Grimeca Brakes - PM Wheels - Yamaha Tach
$25,000
Palmdale, California - Can crate and ship
661 273-1533 9am - 6pm Tuesday to Saturday PST avkawasaki@aol.com

Thanks to Al McQ for the lead. How cool is Tom Horton? Read more about him at Poppawheelie

KX flat tracker, Location: Vancouver

I don't really know about Craigslist, what it is or how you use it, but it seems a good source of bikes. Danker of the Sang Froid Riding Club sent the link on this bike. Looks like fun.

'79 kawasaki kx 250 in a champion frame, frame is nickle plated, new fiber glass, bills pipe, quick change rear hub with sun rim, bultaco front drum with akron rim, betor front fork. good dunlop tires.
4000.00 OBO good evo bike, fresh top end with no races on it just broke in. new seals and bearings in the box for spares and top end gaskets.'
kunzeshawn@hotmail.com

Location: vancouver

Champion Yam in the UK

Wow, this is one pretty street tracker destined for UK roads. He can take the front brake lever off and race it too.

'Hi Guys,
Finally got this on two wheels. I am going to finish it in Roberts tribute paint. Should be finished next spring cash permiting. One of only two known to exist in the UK!
Photo attached..er.. I think. Let me know if you get it OK. CHEERS!'
Gary T

Cuddebackville NY

Hey, I'm back! Just parceled up a bunch of SB orders with Mrs I. Thanks for your patience. Lots of blogs backed up. This is from Mike K in NY. GI

Hey Gary,
Attached are photos of us on 4/11 at Oakland Valley Speedway in Cuddebackville, NY.
#703 is Hugh Mackie (in the red motocross pants) with his champion framed 500 tiger. Hugh owns and operates Sixth St. Specials. A classic British bike shop here in NYC.
#278 is me on my Yam SR500
The racing shots were taken by Ralph Corwin.
Cheers, Mike

Ossa

I should have been working, trying to earn money to feed and clothe my wife and kids, instead I got obsessed with Ossa motorcycles. Hugo, editor of Classic Bike, told me that the logo isn't, as I assumed, a four-leaf clover, but the part of a cinema projector the Spanish company also made. Take that to the bank. The little green and white bike has a Champion frame. Neat-o.GI

Relics: Craig at Perris

Guys,

I am attaching a couple of old photos, both are circa late 74, early 75. The btm photo is going into the hairpin at my hometown (Kingman, AZ) TT track (48, old school Honda gear). In all the old TT Photos I am on my Elsinore 125 (with Champion style tank) Disregard the top photo on the one that is from Speedworld MX in AZ as that is just attached to the scan and it is from about 2000 on my YZF400.

Couple of notes, My home track in Kingman AZ, was big and fast and freaking wonderful when it was good, you can see how smooth & wide. It could get bad at times but when it was good, man it was good. Lap times were about 1 minute 40 seconds so that gives you an idea of just how big.

Perris was also a big fast track, but it had elevation changes and smooth as silk. Note, the Perris MX track is built on the same spot, you'll see the rocks surrounding the track have painted stuff, look at modern photos of Perris and you can still see some of the old painted rocks. There are some newer ones, but quite a few date back 40-50 years!, you can still see the "OCMC" (Orange County Motorcycle Club) in modern photos from the MX track.

Outside of Kingman when it was good, Perris was my all time favorite track, I am including my entire dirt-track career, as well as my Road racing (well maybe the old Laguna, that was pretty fun as well as fast) . I am a dirt-track guy first and foremost, but TT is my alltime favorite. My ultimate track would be big, have elevation changes and be fast, fast, fast,
and have some really nice, (but safe) table tops jumps.

Later Craig

PS My dad found an old roll of film and had it developed, I lost most of my old flat-track photos for my coming up years.

Tank: Made in England

Hey Gary-
Popped over to my mate Richard Marsh over in Lonburton, Dorset to see how he's getting on with my replacement tank and seat unit for my 70's Yam 'tracker. Here's the new alloy tank along with my original Champion glass unit, the beast of a machine (an English Wheel - GI) he hand rolls the pattern thru to get the shape before he tigs it up. There's also couple of CCM tanks ready for finishing. The stuff he does is awesome, and now he has a pattern for Champion tanks, so happy to pass on any orders....
I've dropped my bike off to have the seat unit measured up, so I'll post some pics when it's done.
Keep it real, Ben Charlton

Sideburn says: We spoke to Ben about how people could get orders to Richard Marsh and it seems like you have to roll your trouser leg up and do a funny handshake to even be considered by this semi-retired artisan. Best bet is to leave a comment on this post and wait for Ben's response.