They Called Them Superbikes...

More great photos, love seeing the "other" bikes, the privateers. No118 is the Krauser Kawasaki MK2, I think there was a story about that bike from the next owners, its on the first page of this thread by Jinx.
Do you have a date for the last photo, and anymore of #31 Harry Klinzmann, thanks

Glad you like them. As far as dates about all i can say is that I went to bike week in my '57 GMC ex-church bus in '79, '80 , 'and '81.
We hauled 2 750 Hondas and 3 900 and 1000 Kawasakis the first year. I slept in the bus and got a track pass for the week. I took my showers at the track.
In "80 it was down to 1 750 ,1 1000 and my Ducati 860. Same deal except there were 3 sleeping in the bus.
In '81, we had 1 DOHC 750F Honda , 1 1000 and my 860. Living in the bus eating out or grilling and drinking in the bars.
I carried a 35mm SLR everywhere. But you might understand now why the dates are a blur.

ADVrider Salute!!! it's not a Superbike I know!!

Found some more!!

A classic.Maybe already shown.




And me on mine. A little slower.

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The one shot I got of Rainey's GPZ 750 before the camera went on strike.
Honda came out blazing in 1983 winning the first 6 races of the new 750 sized Suberbike championship.
Kawasaki was running their air-cooled 2 valve against the new water-cooled 4 - valve V-4 Honda. They got Rob Muzzy to up the horsepower and then Rainey won the next 6 races and took the championship.
Check out the details, not a run of the mill Kawasaki. Twin plugs,dry clutch,etc.

Yes these are really super bikes. I love bikes and huge fan of bike racing.

Bump

Still happening here. Top riders too!




























Only a few weeks away now. I'll start a new thread closer to the date. WooHoo!

http://islandclassic.com.au/latest-news

Hard to see the Englanders losing with that line up, but you just never know...

Some great hardware there. Superbike planet just posted an article about old factory racebikes and how most were destroyed. It would take a while to develop, but a classic superbike class might be a good way to get more people interested in the MotoA series.

If you want to see Classic Superbikes on the track , head to an AHRMA race , especially the final race at Barber's where everyone shows up.
They have a couple of classes that provide good racing , but , don't fit the general idea of a Superbike. There is a Lightweight and a Middleweight Superbike class for 500's and 750's all up to 1982 .
And Next Gen for bikes up to '92
And new for '18 is Next Gen 2 for Aprilia Mille , Ducati up to the 996 , Honda RC45 and RC51 , Suzuki Yamaha and Kawasaki 750cc fours.

The AHRMA stuff is pretty good but the bikes they run in Australia are a lot more sophisticated. Most of theme wouldn't be legal in AHRMA. I'm hoping Next Gen 2 brings out some interesting bikes.

Thanks for the revival of this thread!

Great job resurrecting this!

Might be worth remembering where 'Superbike' started..

http://amcn.com.au/editorial/history-makers-original-superbike-series/

Remember it.

Great read, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, I've been to a bunch of AHRMA races, helping friends in the pits, and nothing in the paddock has the level of prep of those Aussie bikes, Some very serious hardware being raced down there!

Famed tuner Mike Velasco on Freddie Spencer's Honda...



Before starting his RR tuning career beginning with Yoshimura, Mike was a mechanic at my dad's Kawasaki shops. One of the nicest guys you could ever meet...