Mikkola's Leg; Yamaha's Mexicali; Suzuki's 16
Mikkola's leg; Yamaha's Mexicali; Suzuki's 16
RACE WATCH
YAMAHA UPSETS HUSKY IN BAJA
Husqvarna's continuing and longstanding domination of the Open class in off-road Baja events has been upset. Bruce Ogilvie and Chuck Miller rode a modified IT400 Yamaha to victory in the Mexicali 250, the first SCORE Baja race of the season. Ogilvie and Miller not only won their class by a margin of five minutes over the Husqvarna of Scot Harden and Brent Wallingsford, but won the race overall as well, beating the first car by over 20 minutes.
The winning Yamaha IT had been fitted with a YZ400 top end (with slightly lowered compression) and exhaust system. YZ forks and an AÍ Baker monoshock.
Third in the Open class were Chip Howell and Randy Hollenbeck on Husqvarna.
Yamaha swept the first three positions in the 250cc class. Brian Wright and Brad Henson won on an IT250. followed by Scott Duncan and Richard Zajie on a YZ250 and Morgan Malocco and Kent Pfeiffer on another IT250.
Tom Kelly rode his YZ125 solo to wii the 125cc class, beating the Suzuki mounted teams of Randy Coulter/Bol Maxwell and Mary Chapman/Paul Emer son.
Husqvarna's only victories came in the Over 30 and Over 38 classes, won by th~ teams of George Erl/Ramon Lowe and Cecil Hollenbeck/John Kaplan, respec tively.
EASY MAINTENANCE 16-VALVE SUZUKI 1100 FOUR
Suzuki has a 16-valve. DOHC 1 lOOcc Four with a new twist. The bike, which will be introduced in this country later in the year, does not use the DOHC valve adjustment system of replaceable shims and valve buckets. Instead, each camshaft has only four lobes—forked rocker-arms/cam-followers and conventional adjustable tappets operate the valves. Although such a system is not as efficient as the shim/bucket system, it does make adjusting the valves much easier—no shim kits or special tools are required.
But the fact that easy maintenance has been considered doesn't mean that the bike w'on’t make power—sources in Japan indicate that the 1 lOOcc machine has a new7 and innovative combustion chamber shape. The
same source says that the bike will make more horsepower and be faster and quicker than any motorcycle currently available. To do that the new Suzuki would have to be capable of very low 11-second, or perhaps even high 10-second. E.T. quarter miles.
Knowing Suzuki’s heavy involvement in both drag racing and road racing (with R.C. Engineering and Yoshimura R&D of America), count on the new7 bikes showing up at the racetracks, possibly before the end of 1979.
Pops Yoshimura's 8-valve Suzukis smoked the field at the Daytona Superbike Production race. The question is. what will he be able to do with 16-valve heads and more pow7er?
MIKKOLA BREAKS LEG
Reigning 500cc Motocross World Champion Heikki Mikkola will miss^ at least the first two Grands Prix of the 1979 season after breaking his leg at international race in Belgium. Surgery was required to set the break and to repair tonr knee muscles. It is expected that Mikkola w ill be out of action for at least five weekst While unfortunate for. Mikkola and Ya-^ maha. the pre-season crash raised hopes the Brad Lackey/Kawasaki camp. Wi(|t Mikkola out. Lackey’s chances for America’s first 500cc Motocross World Championship seem better than ever.
MAICO CONTINGENCIES
Maico will offer contingency support for privateers at all AMA 125qc.. 250cc and Open Nationals and the 250cc and Open Trans-AMA classes. The first six Maico riders to finish in the top 20 will receive $50 worth of Maico spare parts.
