Crossed Up

CROSSED UP

FERNANDO BELAIR

Finishing up on last month’s Motocross Merry-go-round, Jim Weinert has indeed been signed by Yamaha. Along with Weinert, the yellow-and-black racing team will support ex-Honda rider Bruce McDougal, and they have renewed Tim Hart’s contract.

The official Honda motocross team will consist of Pierre Karsmakers, Rich Eierstedt, Marty Smith and Tommy Croft. Croft is another fast-rising hotshoe from Southern California. . .San Diego, to be more specific. He has had several years of racing experience, mostly in the 125 class. He raced for the Hodaka distributor and helped develop what is now the Hodaka 125 MX. Most recently, Croft, who is 18, helped a private frame builder/engine tuner develop a super-handling, very fast 125 Elsinore that was the absolute scourge of local CMC races. Tommy is scheduled to contest the 125 National series, along with Smith, and will also ride the 250 Support class in this year’s Trans-AMA series.

At its first really important event, the Honda trials team walked away with top honors. Marland Whaley and Mark Eggar, both former Montesa team riders, tied for first overall. This event, entitled the British Cup and held in the San Francisco area, saw Mike Griffits guide his Montesa into 3rd, followed closely by Washington State Champion, Joe Guglielmelli, on another Honda.

The Honda riders competed on nearly stock TL250s. It is apparent that these top riders had little trouble with either the Honda’s weight or the unfamiliar power characteristics of the fourstroke engines. Imagine how well they’ll do when they get their lightweight works bikes from Japan!

Husqvarna, which this month introduced the 360 Heikki Mikkola Replica, of which you’ll find the exclusive test starting on page 48, has yet to introduce its new 125. The story is that after winning the 125 World Cup event in St. Louis in 1973, then suffering through the onslaught of the Elsinore last year, the factory decided that it wouldn’t release a new 125 until it was not just better than the Elsinore, but, as they put it, in a class by itself.

The new bike will sport the lay-down gas/oil Girling shocks, just like its big brother, the 360. It will have a reedvalve, and it may have an all-magnesium engine, since the castings for it and the larger machines are virtually identical. Of course, a six-speed transmission goes without saying. Sounds great, but we wonder what it might cost.

Yamaha’s six-speed 125 monoshocker was debuted at the Anaheim Trade Show. It looks super and the reports are that it goes better than it looks. In the meantime, Honda sits comfortably astride the laurels of its 125, waiting until next year to bring out a forward-mounted shock version. Perhaps at the same time they’ll introduce production versions of their Case-Reed Induction engine (we hope, we hope), which powered the Honda team to a 1-2-3-4 sweep of its class in the Nationals.

Can-Am is going to drop a couple of rockets onto the market, beginning with a 125 they claim produces 25 horsepower. The important thing to remember is that Can-Am has several Schenck dynamometers, very smilar to Webco’s, in their R&D department. If they say that they get 25 horses, you can pretty well bet that they do. Even the strongest of the Japanese 125s tested by CYCLE WORLD (Kawasaki’s KX125) produced only 16.58 hp on the Webco pump. Of course, the new Can-Am will have an ultra-light flywheel and will probably be quite pipey. Forwardmounted shocks are also planned for this new model, as are extensive weight reducing modifications, which are certainly needed.

A 175cc version of the MX2, as it is labeled, pulled just over 30 horses, and the 250 model exactly 35. There will be a special 250cc MX2 GP that should produce 37 horsepower, but it will be in extremely limited production. It will be expensive.

C.H. Wheat, Maico’s very own press secretary and highly knowledgeable preparer of Poppy-bodied Konis, informs us that the new Maico 125s are just about ready for production. The bikes will come with forward-mounted Konis, alloy tanks and rims. The engine is still a rotary-valve Single, although there have been extensive porting modifications and a new exhaust pipe. The six-speed transmission has been retained, although the shift mechanism, which originally came from Maico’s successful 125 road racer, has been thoroughly beefed up to withstand the rigors of MX. You know it’s gonna handle, but will it have enough garbanzos? Sure hope so.

Speaking of ol’ C.H., he just finished his latest project. Having access to factory GP Maico frames and other such trivia, he managed to scrounge up a Honda XL350 engine and install it in a Maico frame. Of course, with the extra weight of the Honda engine, the Maico’s suspension is less taut than it might be for MX, yielding a much softer ride. The bike is just a general goof-around play bike, which, thanks to the addition of a large-capacity tank, can tackle the wilds of Baja California. Of course, the Honda engine is pretty stingy with gas and not at all reluctant to consume some of the low-octane Mexican gas that is sometimes the only thing available.

Montesa promises to have its new 125 Cappra out by June. The machine is based on the successful GP racer that took an overall 3rd in the 125 World Championship in 1973. Sharing basic case castings with the 123 and 174 trialers, the 125 will carry six ratios in its trans and power will come from inside a Bing-fed wrinkle-fin cylinder. Much like the 250VR in that respect. Of course, the gas/oil Betors from the 250 will find themselves aboard the 125, as will other lightweight components.

(Continued on page 84)

Continued from page 82

And let’s not forget Ossa, which is reintroducing its 125 Phantom now that there’s a good exhaust pipe for it. I don’t know yet how fast the thing is, but if their 250 is an indication, look out!

Billy Grossi, who was leading the 250 National Championship on a Honda last year, until a broken leg at the Superbowl of Motocross put him out of action for six months, is now back together and will be riding for U.S. Suzuki this coming year. His teammate will be Pennsylvanian Tony DiStefano, who had the lead in the 500 National series on his CZ until a freak accident during a night motocross in Southern California left him with a broken thumb and severely sprained wrist. No doubt Suzuki hopes that these two riders will be able to repeat their racing promise of the past year, and that, barring injury, Suzuki will have two National Champions this year.

The move was part of a general “refurbishing” program that saw longtime Suzuki pilots Rich Thorwaldson and Mike Runyard lose their rides and several racing mechanics their jobs. It appears that the decision was made at the highest levels in the Suzuki organization, i.e. at the factory.

Thorwaldson says he’ll be racing this season even if he has to buy a bike and finance the entire season himself. Being as fast and consistent as he is, someone will grab Rich up and sponsor him for sure. Mike Runyard, who was recently married, is also looking for a ride. No doubt he’ll find one, too. In fact, don’t be surprised if one or both of them wind up on Husqvarnas. With only Billy Clements riding for them in the Open class this year, Husky might add another rider or two for security in case the DNF bug takes an occasional bite at the factory bikes this year.

Although as yet unreleased, the Honda 250 Elsinore will, in all probability, be an up-pipe, forward-mounted shock model. Like the 125’s, its color scheme will be red and silver. The only thing that is delaying the release of the bikes is the final touches on reportedly fade-free shock absorbers.