John Love has the inside line on John Waite in a WERA Clubman class battle at Grattan Raceway in June of 1986. Love finished third that day, Waite fifth. Both riders were on Yamaha’s SR500, a very popular Clubman racing bike of the era.
John Love (No. 150) has the inside line on John Waite (No. 136) in a WERA Clubman class battle at Grattan Raceway in June of 1986. (Larry Lawrence photo)
Rider Files 
John was one of the nicest, most generous people I ever met at the track. He gave me TWO Yamaha 500’s to race, one an XT, and the other I think was SR based. Not sure which one this is, but based on the front wheel, I’d say it’s the SR. He put TZ wheels on it, an ’83 GPz750 tank, and a TZ tail section. It looked pretty trick, but I never got used to the handling on that thing. Oddly enough, the XT based 500 worked much better on the track, despite having minimal modifications. As Lance David could tell you, these things were awesome on a tight track, and could shame much bigger bikes in the right conditions.
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Actually, I should point out that I meant John Waite. I didn’t really know John Love.
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Agreed, Kevin. I rode endurance races with Lance on his 500 single – we were “Team Thump.” That bike was soooo much fun, especially at Grattan. Rolling on the throttle in the left-right turns before the left hand bowl on the backside of the track, it felt like it just leaped from one turn to the other.
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His bike in the photo is his SR. We were Team Hanlon in the day. Anyone have contact info on John Waite?
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