
Gregg Wills races what I believe is a BSA Gold Star in a WERA Vintage race during the mid-1980s. Wills was one of the leading WERA Vintage racers of that era and he also won the AHRMA 500 Sportsman National Championship in 1988. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Probably a B44 based racer, the 441 Victor unit construction single.
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Could that be turn 1 at Grattan?
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Thanks Ed, I think you’re right. And Kevin, yes that could be turn one based on the embankment on the other side of the track.
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I had a close encounter with tht bank. It was during an early season open practice ~1992. The ground was still really wet and there was a little water coming up through a crack right on the line A wanted to use just before max lean. Well towords he end of the day I was tired of modifying my line for a small puddle. Bad plan! When I hit the water both ends started to drift heavily. discovering that I was no longer turning I looked up to see this wall of dirt approaching rather quickly. some how I kept my wits about me enough to remeber my MX skills, and I just piched it over and did a better feet up bermshot than I ever did on my RM 125. Of couse I then found myself headed out into the field and proceded to sink into a mud hole, but I didn’t crash!. When I returned to the pits with a mud splattered but not crashed bike the common question was; Where did you go?
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Wow, great story Ed. I think the track owner (was it EJ) came up with the first soft barriers I ever saw and they were used in turn one. They were these massive industrial-sized rolls of something that would be similar to a packing material. I saw riders hit them a few times and they worked well.
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Yep, EJ Fassen was the owner. He would always tell us how much he loved when the bikes came there, which may be why he thought to do that. Of course, his professed love might have been fueled by the constant flow of beer, and he may have put the bags there after a number of riders had gone straight over the berm and onto the road behind, and it seemed like the best way to keep the bikes on the property.
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