A Little Motocross History

[jk750]

I love motorcycle history. Here's a couple things right off the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum site.
http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/

Last of the Factory Works MX bikes - Jeff Ward's 1985 KX250 MX Racer

In the early 1980s, exotic, one-off factory bikes ruled the motocross world. And few of them were more successful than Jeff Ward’s 1985 KX250 machines.


In fact, in one frenzied eight-day period, Jeff Ward rode works KX250s to clinch not one, but two national championships. And to do that, he had to beat some of the best in the business—of any era.

Ward’s hot streak started one Saturday in August, when he rode his KX250 to victory in the final round of the AMA Supercross Championship in Pasadena to take the title over five-time motocross Champ Broc Glover by 2 points. He also left in his dust riders like Rick Johnson and David Bailey, who would end their careers with a combined 11 motocross and Supercross titles.

Then, the following Sunday, he was back on a green machine at the Washougal, Washington, round of the AMA 250 Motocross Championship. There, he took second place to clinch the title over two-time MX and SX Champ Johnny O’Mara.

Less than a month later, Ward took one of his KX250s to the world stage, joining Ron Lechien and David Bailey on the U.S. Motocross des Nations team. Ward swept the 250 class to help the Americans win the prestigious international event.

But the era of works motocross bikes was coming to a close at the end of that watershed ’85 season. Production-based machines were the way of the future, and by ’86, modifications were strictly controlled—under rules that continue to this day.

That makes this bike, owned by Kawasaki Motors Corporation and on loan to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters, a rarity. It’s one of four Kawasakis ridden by Ward that year—and one of the last works factory machines.

For that era, Ward’s bikes certainly were trick. Each had a hand-made frame with tighter tolerances, works suspension, magnesium hubs, an aluminum tank, a rear disc brake and a sand-cast cylinder head.

Some works innovations did trickle down, of course. You didn’t get ultra-light magnesium hubs on a showroom 1985 KX250, for example, but you did get the Kawasaki Integrated Power-Valve System, the Fresh Air Intake System and a four-way adjustable shock—real-world examples of how racing improves the breed.

[jk750]

Check out those upside down forks! The first modern inverted forks, made by Simmons.

Talk about a warhorse. That’s what this Suzuki motocrosser was for the legendary “Bad” Brad Lackey back in 1982, when he used it to survive the rabid, pro-European fans and claim the first, and only, 500cc World Motocross Championship won by an American racer.


Lackey’s connection with Suzuki began when he signed a two-year deal to race the world championships in 1981. The next year proved to be his season.

Riding a factory Suzuki RN500 throughout the year, Lackey worked his way into a 4-point lead over his teammate, Andre Vromans, with one round remaining. That showdown took place in Luxembourg, next door to Vromans’ native Belgium.

At that final race, Lackey knew Vromans would be tough. But he also knew that the European fans, who wanted to see their man take the title, could be tougher.

“There were 60,000 or 70,000 fans rooting for him, and few for me,” Lackey remembers. “The fans were right next to the track, and they’d throw sand in your eyes, or worse, to mess with you.”

So, in the first moto, the American let Vromans build a big lead to avoid any trouble with the fans—a wise decision. Graham Noyce of Great Britain got the holeshot, but on the second lap a spectator swung a pole at him, breaking his hand. Lackey shrewdly let Vromans, running second behind Sweden’s Hakan Carlqvist, build a 25-second lead with five laps to go before reeling him in.

Dodging objects thrown by fans, Lackey caught and passed Vromans with half-a-lap left to take over second place and gain another 2 points on his rival. In the second moto, Vromans finished sixth, while Lackey took third to earn the world title.

The bike that carried Lackey to victory was about as trick as they came back then. The 50mm Simons upside-down forks are prototypes, and the rear shock is a factory Ohlins. The magnesium hubs feature large strengthening gussets, and bolted-in steel brake liners. The one-off swingarm is made of stamped aluminum pieces welded together.

A few years ago, Lackey was able to track the bike down through Suzuki racing contacts in Holland, so he bought it. This historic machine is now part of the new “Motocross America” exhibit in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio.

[jk750]

Ever hear of this bike? Know why it's important? Read on...



Back in the day, when off-road motorcycles were big, heavy and not all that different from streetbikes, nobody ever dreamed of a machine like this.

Except maybe John Penton.

In the post-World War II era, Penton raced enduros on Harley-Davidsons, BSAs, BMWs and NSUs, always choosing the route of smaller and lighter rather than heavier and more powerful.

Still, Penton wasn’t satisfied. When a Triumph representative urged him to sell Triumphs at his BSA dealership, Penton exasperated the fellow by listing everything wrong with his motorcycles. The rep finally retorted that if Penton knew so much about motorcycles, maybe he should build his own.

So he did.

After years of racing enduros in the United States, and watching other riders zip past him on smaller machines in the International Six Days Trial in Europe, Penton knew what worked and what didn’t, which parts were reliable and which ones broke.

Penton picked the best components, including a Sachs engine, and had KTM build the motorcycles for him in Austria. The first of these unique machines bearing the Penton name went on sale in 1968.

The 1969 Penton 125 shown here is owned by Kip Kern of Van Buren, Indiana, who’s had a passion for Pentons ever since he was 11, when he and his brother tore through the woods and trails on one. He remembers writing a letter to John Penton in pencil and being shocked and awed to get a response.

Kern collects and rebuilds Pentons for himself and for others. He purchased this 1969 125cc model at the swap meet at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days a few years ago, but wasn’t content just to restore the 125 to its original state.

Back when the bike was new, many racers opted for a 152cc kit to bump up the power, so that’s what Kern did.

Today, instead of sending Penton scribbled letters, Kern shows him his latest restorations.

“I did the 152cc kit just to surprise John,” Kern said. “I just love to see the look on his face.”

That’s part of the allure of Pentons, for fans such as Kern and other members of the active Penton Owners Group (www.pentonusa.org). Not only did the bikes advance the evolution of competition dirtbikes, but the visionary who invented them is still around, accessible and enthusiastic about motorcycling.

[chugger95]

That is awesome. Back when I was a young kid I used to be the biggest Jeremy McGrath fan. I had a 76 RM125 and I'll tell you what these bikes have come a long way since then.

[Krazy Hawaiian]

Pentons. One of the best bikes you could get way back when. I had a 175 Jackpiner Enduro.

My favorite old bike though was my 1972 WR400 Husky. That bike was so dam beautiful and wickedly effective at throwing the biggest dam rocks and old appliances! One of my friends got nailed by a softball sized rock coming from the Huskys rear tire hit him square in the middle of the chest knocked him off his bike and broke 3 ribs

My second fav bike was my 1976 YZ 400F the very first monoshocker and I had one of the first to come to the states because my sponser at the time was a Yamaha dealer that ordered all his stock straight from Japan. When the 400 came in I was on it like white on rice! Dam that bike was a HUGE improvement over anything I had ever ridden.... bar none the monoshock was one of the best improvements ever to happen to a motorcycle.

My 76 had the Yamaha "dual chamber" air forks with the nig gold canisters on the tops and a pair of shrader valves to adjust the air pressure. For its day that bike was like it was from a different planet.... then the "Wop" Domenico Grupido the guy that owned the dealer I rode for had me bring it in so he could "tinker" with it a bit..... You see Domenic is a legendary Yamaha HP man if there ever was one! He can find Horsepower like no one else. Geeezus the 400 was a rocket to begin with. When Dominic gave it back to me the SOB must have had 60HP easy! Didnt lose much down low but the MOFO had a high end hit that honestly tried to rip your arms out of there sockets!
Just what you want in a Open Classer..... right. It was so dam fast it was unbelieveble. An absolute MISSLE! It didnt really hurt the bike since it had so much power at lower revs you could just stay away from the manic blast at high revs and go like a SOB! Where the bike just fukin RULED was in Flattrack and TT of which I raced every friday night... We have a 1/4 mile oval for the stock cars and sprinters that the bikes used on fridays.

The TT was my fav. It used half the oval and the infield with a huge jump. So you had a long straight 2 long sweepers with a U turn at the end into the infield then over the giant jump into a U turn out onto the sweeper down the straight. Great Fun.

Every other friday was TT night the other was Flattrack. A guy named John Bratten was the Honda fast guy. He and I had some EPIC battles on the TT track! Man what Fun! When I went out with the modded 400 it was in a class all it's own.... if the suspension wasnt a big enough advantage the top fueler power was just the ticket for that sort of racing. Dam Wop. He really knew what he was doin.... he told me its too gawdam fast if you rev it out on a motocross track. But you'll see what I built it for.... it was UNBEATABLE on that fast kind of track.

We had a couple Cheny Framed Triumph Flattrackers with hopped up 750's in them that ran in the open class. The stock 400 was about evenly matched with the big bikes.

The modded 400 was like cheating. It would flat out leave the big bikes flat. I'd pull almost half the straight on them every run down it. The hardest part was stopping the thing to make the corners! That was a blast.

I wish I still had the Husky just for a living room piece, it would look great sitting along side the RD 400 Daytona Special....

[DCMETRO1]

looks like the kx250 had a disk in the rear, also non-stock until 87 for kx's...