MZ/MuZ Riders

Got roasted at Streets of Willow in October, finished a distant third in BOTT Lightweight (at Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, 660cc singles can run in Battle of the Twins Lightweight). That left me in the championship lead for the class by two points with one round to go at the big 2.5-mile track this past weekend.

Showed up yesterday and it was pouring. Waited until the afternoon, with a stiff breeze drying the track, and ran enough laps of practice to know that I needed a new front, no matter what my tire guy said. I didn't put in all this effort this season to come up short because I cheaped out on a tire. I've lost a class championship by one point before; not happening again.

Poured again overnight, so practice was a wash. First race was 660 Singles, and the bad weather forecast had left the grid very thin - just a supermotard, a 450 Supersingle and me. Usually, the Supersingle guy walks away from us, but he'd crashed yesterday and his bike was running poorly today. It was in the low 40s and windy as hell, but I stayed with him and managed to actually pass him once. He blew back by on the front straight, but I reeled him back in and as I was catching him, he lowsided right in front of me. I managed to hold off the supermotard guy for my first win on the MZ.

BOTT Light was still to run. The good news was that there was only me and the supermotard guy on the grid for our class. The bad news was that I still had to beat him to ensure the championship. The worst news was that when the made final call, the bike refused to start. In desperation, I jiggled some wires near the tach and it fired, but it would not idle. I did the warmup lap pretty much at full throttle, with the clutch pulled in when I needed to slow. And it was so windy that upshifting into fifth on the front straight just slowed the bike down.

This was gonna suck.

But I managed to get past the 'motard in Turn Two, and for some reason my friends on their SVs (650 Twins GP was gridded with us) were slow as anything. I passed two SVs on the first half of the first lap, they blew past on the back straight, then I passed three of them in the last corner. I was trying to keep hurling lapped and slower bikes back at the 'motard. He kept getting past the other riders, but he never got onto my rear wheel until the last lap. He told me later, "You kept it tight that last lap." Damned right I did - there wasn't room for a gnat between my knee and the inside of the track.

I beat him by less than 6/10ths of a second, won my second race on the MZ, and took the 2010 BOTT Light championship.

Not bad for a geezer who will be eligible for Formula 50 in 2012.

Attached are some pics of the bike. Note the mounting plate for the single 41mm Keihin FCR and the SV tail section with SV seat and baling-wire mounting hardware!

CNC plate to adapt Yamaha Rhino 2-1 intake to the MZ head. Then it was just a matter of getting the correct spigot for the FCR to mate to the Rhino intake.

Friday, October 8, 2004 7:08 PM
yup.
Used it with a TM42-2.
Having used both, I can say that the Bikeworx manifold is much better.

It is considerably longer. Of course, one can and should make that spacer/adaptor much thicker than either you or I did. I used the Bikeworx thing extensively on the road but for racing I used dual 38mm Mikunis.

here with 2" long spacer tubes between rubber joints and carbs.

This is a Slipstream head in a friend's SZR with their welded manifold and, again, dual 38mm Mikunis.


You can see that the two branches are the same size. The head was welded closed and the two ports remilled, the connection for the middle valve opened equally to both. You should note, how long that manifold is.
Over here, singles can run with the BOT (now called Sound of Thunder) as well. I did, with the two valve class , actually less than 4 valve class. Three valve Ducati heads are allowed, and so the 5 of the 3YF are "less than 6." Of course, due to the dearth of older Ducatis now, you are actually running with the 916 etc. Not against them but in the same heat. On the Lausitzring or Pannonia Iwas not last, even with them. Fun, keeping those youngsters at bay, either with the 80HP 122kg light Skorpion or the 90+HP 135kg Bimota which has been clocked at over 250kmh. Even more fun to see their faces when I take off the helmet and out comes this 60= years old white haired old geezer and he beat them with a single - or that 1986 Bimota "antique."

Bill Jurgenson wrote: Fun, keeping those youngsters at bay, either with the 80HP 122kg light Skorpion or the 90+HP 135kg Bimota which has been clocked at over 250kmh. Even more fun to see their faces when I take off the helmet and out comes this 60= years old white haired old geezer and he beat them with a single - or that 1986 Bimota "antique."

This would go very well in one of those "priceless" commercials... keep it up...
Bill R

morbidelli17 wrote:He told me later, "You kept it tight that last lap." Damned right I did - there wasn't room for a gnat between my knee and the inside of the track.
I beat him by less than 6/10ths of a second, won my second race on the MZ, and took the 2010 BOTT Light championship.
Not bad for a geezer who will be eligible for Formula 50 in 2012.
Attached are some pics of the bike. Note the mounting plate for the single 41mm Keihin FCR and the SV tail section with SV seat and baling-wire mounting hardware!

Congrats on the results. Looking forward to next year's reports.

Baling wire and "duck" tape...TLAR engineering at it's best...
Bill R
That Looks About Right

in German they say, "je oller, desto toller."
roughly: the older the crazier.
I certianly got to hear that often enuf.
Still do, tho not as often since I quit racing 'cause at 66 I cannot get an FIM license anymore.

Bill Jurgenson wrote:in German they say, "je oller, desto toller."
roughly: the older the crazier.
I certianly got to hear that often enuf.
Still do, tho not as often since I quit racing 'cause at 66 I cannot get an FIM license anymore.

Just that occasional track day in...