Amateurs Succeed At Bonneville

AMATEURS SUCCEED AT BONNEVILLE

The amateur, unsponsored enthusiasts who make up the bulk of Bonneville competitors had a great time at Speed Week 1979.

Take Rick Coatman, who set two records with a Honda CBX. Last year, Coatman and bike owners John Dalton and George Forsythe (all from Greeley, Colorado) were promised help for their CBX effort by the head of Honda R&D in America. Confident that special camshafts and other parts were forthcoming from Honda. they waited without doing anything on their own. Nothing ever came, and they went to Bonneville anyway. going 146.81 mph with the mostly-stock bike, not fast enough for a record.

This year, the group fitted Megacycle camshafts, installed the largest oversize standard Honda pistons for a displacement of 1079cc, fitted a magneto ignition, gutted the mufflers, welded up short handlebars, and set two records. In the Production class, Coatman set a new 1300cc division record average of 152.630 mph. up from the old record of 150.345. Then, running the same bike in the Modified Production 1300cc class, Coatman made a two-way average of 153.417 mph for another record (the old record was 150.984.) Coatman’s records headed off at the pass a Kawasaki factory-backed effort with a KZ1300, which never went faster than 152 mph one way, and which slowed down with each succeeding run.

Then there was Mike LaFollette, of Detroit, who with his father, Glen, had been trying to set a record with various bikes for five years. On his 24th birthday. Mike succeeded by riding his dohc Honda CB750F to records in both 750 Production and 750 Modified Production. With Ontario Moto Tech camshafts and gutted mufflers, the bike ran 142.613 mph average for a new Production record (the old record was 138.223.) Adding CR Keihin carbs and

an Ontario 4-into-l exhaust system, the bike turned 146.199 for the Modified Production record, (old record 141.284).

There were other notables: Gerald Wysong, a custom gas-tank painter from Miami, who showed up with a 1957 Harley-Davidson Sportster bored to 1200cc and running nitro. Wysong had last been to Bonneville six years ago and had never run nitro before, but he set a new7 record at an average of 172.303 in his class, M-AF-1300 (the old record was 166.708 mph.) Wysong’s bike’s gas tank was finished in primer coat . . .

Dave Mattson first brought his 1955, 1735cc Vincent Black Shadow' to Bonneville in 1959, then next returned in 1976, 1977, 1978 and now 1979. The bike has a new' monoshock swing arm which is stronger than the original, and set a record of 164.947 mph on. gasoline, besting the old record for its class (M-AG-2000) of 163.562.

Steve Alexander from Costa Mesa, California, rode a turbocharged Honda CB500 Four with full fairing to a new record of 175.813, up from the old APSAB-500 record of 154.301.

Charles Toy of Oklahoma City, brought his turbocharged Zl-R Kawasaki and went 189.869, improving the old A-AB-1000 record of 184.507.

Tom Elrod of Austin, Texas took his home-built, double-engine Kawasaki to 200.022 mph on gasoline without turbocharging, besting the old A-AG-3000 record of 188.692 mph. Then he rode his turbocharged single-engine Kawasaki to a new' record in the A-AB-1300 class of 184.706 mph. up from 178.630.

And Jim Ahrens of Los Angeles brought his tiny Kriedler road racer to Bonneville and set five records in various classes, the fastest being 81.34 mph.

Both Don Vesco (2030cc twin-engine turbocharged Kawasaki) and Dave Campos (2940cc twin-engine turbocharged Harley-Davidson) brought their streamliners to Bonneville, and both were beset by mechanical problems which held Vesco’s best speed to 260 mph and Campos’ best speed to 230 mph. >