For all you old Motocross fans

eemsreno

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Our daughter is 28 years old now.
So this was taken at Millville, Minnesota in about 1989.
Do you know the winner in the 500cc class?


This was Millville again, But a manager at this time. Edit: I made that sound like it is the same guy as above- NOT.
 

snakebitten

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I was working at a Suzuki dealer as a make ready punk kid back when Roger was reining on a TM400.

That bike was crazy. (and so were you. lol )I remember reading somewhere a quote that if God meant for man to ride a TM400, He would have given us an elastic backbone.
Roger was a stud!

Great Pics Steve
 

eemsreno

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At that Trans Am Roger swopped moto wins with Bob Hannah but Roger won the over all.
I spent some time riding a TM 400 that was in ment shape, It was being passed around the area for $400. I should have jumped on it. I'd rather ride bikes than look at them, and store them.
 

~TABASCO~

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Is that Ricky on the top picture & Roger on bottom picture ?
 

eemsreno

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Yes Jackson
Some place around here I should have a picture of Jeff Matiasevich and Mike Larocco holding Emily also.

If I remember right that 1977 bike of Rogers would have been a "RN 500"
Here is a much better picture of it from Wikipedia.
 

snakebitten

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Drum brakes. Dual shocks. And he is a HUGE dude on that big bike.

My brother's favorite was Jim Pomeroy. Probably because my brother raced a Persang 360 too.
Those were great times for me and my brother. Hanging out and racing at Rio Bravo every weekend.
He was fast. And a mean cranky guy on the track. Like to fight too. (I'm the lover of the 2, no doubt)
I was REAL fast for a lap or two. LOL
I think it was because he was good at getting my bike all hopped up for me. (with his wrenching connections) But eventually, winning the drag race (hole shot) wasn't enough.

Still, very fond memories. These pics stir it all back up.
 

yz454

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It,s great to know theirs old moto heads on here . Mine is west coast ,running around with and riding, racing with Chuck Sun and he,s brothers , Rick Burgett and lot of fast guys from the west coast .
 

fredz43

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snakebitten said:
My brother's favorite was Jim Pomeroy. Probably because my brother raced a Persang 360 too.
Ok, now you got my attention, Snake. Jim Pomeroy was my hero since way back in the early 70's. I rode Buls back then and still do. Here is a pic I took of Jim in 1974 at Daytona.


Another of Jim in the pits relaxing between races.


I gave him copies of those pics in 2002 when he was giving out awards for the 2001 AHRMA national series. He was amazed and showed them to his wife, saying "Look, I was in shape then and had hair!". I finished 2nd in the 500 class for the 2001 season and was thrilled when he gave me my award.


He was really a nice guy and I looked forward to seeing him at the award banquet each year and at the vintage races. Here he is in 2006 with my first place awards for the 2005 season in AHRMA cross country. Notice that we both have the same shirts on as in 2002.


It was a shame that he lost his life so early. I talked to him at Mid Ohio just a week before his accident.

Here is my Pursang 360 that I race in AHRMA MX.
 

SilverBullet

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Re: For all you old Motocross fans

snakebitten said:
I was working at a Suzuki dealer as a make ready punk kid back when Roger was reining on a TM400.

That bike was crazy. (and so were you. lol )I remember reading somewhere a quote that if God meant for man to ride a TM400, He would have given us an elastic backbone.
Roger was a stud!

Great Pics Steve
Well Roger didn't ride the TM400 that us mortals could purchase though. History has a way of embelishing itself. That TM400 is tame by today's open class bike standards. I know as I own two of them. It scared the begivers out of this 135 lb. 14 yr old when I rode my buddy's bike back in 1974 but today..meh. Here's me racing it last year and at Rio Bravo BTW snake. I would race more but I'm too cheap. $50-60 for a few laps of practice and two motos doesn't give me a good day of riding. More waiting and watching than anything else.




And speaking of "The Man" here he is sitting on my pristine bike. 100% original and stock except for the rear sprocket. When I bought it still had factory tires on it. I put fresh rubber but kept the originals.




Of course I installed and had him sign a replica plate. I kept the original virgin.




I have the original MSO for the bike.



_
 

snakebitten

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Outstanding stuff FredZ! Just fantastic.

Jim had that James Dean thing going on when he was younger. lol

Your 360 is gorgeous too. Never could get the hang of switch-shifting like that though. You obviously have no problem.
I remember my big brother jumping the rubber band twice, so they made him start pointing backwards.
It got him so PI$$ed!
He was obviously dead last at the start. Way behind.
Fastest heat I ever saw him on a motorcycle. Even his pit enemies were amazed. He won.
He put his Pursang in the living room that night, against his wife's objections, of course. Just stared at it from his chair.
 

snakebitten

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SilverBullet,

I shouldn't be surprised. But I wish you didn't make me come down to earth like that. :)
So the TM400 wasn't the beast I remember and the legends that it created?

Yea, I suspect my 81 GS1000E wouldn't be near the adrenalin rush today either.
But I'm not rewriting history now. Too Late. I love them memories.
 

SilverBullet

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snakebitten said:
SilverBullet,

I shouldn't be surprised. But I wish you didn't make me come down to earth like that. :)
So the TM400 wasn't the beast I remember and the legends that it created?

Yea, I suspect my 81 GS1000E wouldn't be near the adrenalin rush today either.
But I'm not rewriting history now. Too Late. I love them memories.
It probably was the beast you remember and a beast in the day but not a beast today. The early ones '71, '72 & '73 were rougher also, mine are both '74's. Probably 25% less hp than my KTM 300.

_
 

eemsreno

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Great pictures guys. Please post up more.
Snake I have started pointing the wrong way a few times.
I also started digging around here and found some more good pictures.
First I need to point out that the picture of Rick holding Emily would be from 1988 not 1989 because Eric wasn't born yet.
Emily pointing at Ron Lechien.


I scanned this one backwards.
 

eemsreno

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Here are some more from that 1977 Trans Am.
These were taken at the hotel Tech Inspection.






The start of the race.
 

eemsreno

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In 1987 I rode my dad behind me on the Venture over to the Motocross Des Nation in NY.

Larry Myers and Rick Johnson


The Race was very muddy but RJ was smoking fast.

And here is one of Jeff Stanton at Red Bud.
 

wfopete

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::026:: Not so much vintage MX but I've been playing the AHRMA Cross Country game since 1992 where I beat on my '74 YZ250 for years before buying a Penton Jackpiner. I try to attend multiple event races like Diamond Don's in Jefferson, TX so I get both MX and Cross Country riding in. Although my modern bike is a KTM300 my current favorite Post Vintage steed is my 1980 Yamaha YZ465 ::26:: but I have a stable barn full of others like 175 Jackpiner Pentons, 1974 Suzuki TM400, 1974 Yamaha YZ250, 1973 Honda CR250, CZ, Husky and even a Hodaka 100 somewhere in there...and no, none of these are commuter bikes.

As far as national pro races; being a Michigan boy, most of the ones I attended were at Red Bud for outdoor MX and the now defunked Pontiac Silverdome for Supercross. Although at both Red Bud and Pontiac I was able to race during intermission during the national events on the pro tracks at on my '74 Yamaha YZ250. Someone had the bright idea of letting a bunch of non pro riders loose on a freshly prepped national pro track. I guess the Keystone Cops were booked for that weekend so the promoters figure we would fill the void. ::025::
 

eemsreno

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This was one of my all time great race bikes.
Before ever starting it I pulled the cylinder and sent it off to Calf. and had it all ported out.
Just blazing fast for its day.
1978 RM125




 

fredz43

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snakebitten said:
Outstanding stuff FredZ! Just fantastic.

Jim had that James Dean thing going on when he was younger. lol

Your 360 is gorgeous too. Never could get the hang of switch-shifting like that though. You obviously have no problem.
I remember my big brother jumping the rubber band twice, so they made him start pointing backwards.
It takes me a few laps in practice to get used to the right side shift, then I am ok. My 370 Frontera is a 1978, so it shifts on the left. I started riding Buls about 1968 and so was used to the right side shift. When I get on the Pursang and ride a few laps, it all comes back and feels natural.

I never had to start backwards, but about 5 years ago my friend Chuck Mayfield (the guy who has my 2012 S10) and I were racing our Pursangs at a northern IL vintage event. Chuck's bike quit on him and in the process of trouble shooting, I got his timing off. He was really surprised when it started, he got on and let the clutch out and the bike ran backwards! I had heard that you could get a 2 stroke to do that, but never did see one until that day.

Ok, 3 more pics. First is my 1978 Frontera 370 that I ride in cross country. I do get to do some MX on it when we ride the ISDT format vintage events, such as in the second pic. The last pic is of a famous MX rider from back in the day. Met him a couple years ago at the Diamond Don's national vintage races in TX. Can you guess who he is?





 
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