Daytona Vintage race

[LynnCamp]

I was looking for Daytona news on the wire services........thought you might be interested ...

Colin Fraser
National Post, Ontario, Canada
(c) 2004 National Post . All Rights Reserved.

If you want to succeed in racing, you must have the right equipment. That means the right tires, the right riding gear and, especially, a fast motorcycle. That's a good description of my fave race bike, a Vintage Heavyweight Superbike.

A full-blown, 1979 Kawasaki KZ1000 Mk II Superbike from an era long in the history books, I literally found it in an attic.

Back in the day, I wrote about similar superbikes for Canadian motorcycle magazines but I could never afford a feature-class racer of my own. Like most club competitors, I contented myself with Yamaha RD/RZ two-strokes.

Those early superbikes were quite something. Although they were eventually replaced with lighter, more nimble supersports such as the 1985 Suzuki GSX-R750, the orginals were great, big, hairy-chested, high-handlebarred, air-cooled, 1,025-cc beasts that emphasized power over handling.

Although I ride the latest models, I longed for an early, fire-breathing, Lang Hindle-era beast. Most of all, I wanted the last of the famed "Zee One," the legendary Kawasaki KZ series -- the 1979 model in particular, as campaigned by the likes of Hindle and Canada's first Superbike champ, George Morin.

Friend and fellow ageing superbike nut, Mike Walsh, happened to have such a machine literally hanging from the rafters in his machine shop! Of mysterious California and Edmonton origins, Mike achieved much success on the big Kaw in the early 1980s. But then it blew an engine and Mike moved on to newer, and faster, equipment. Every time I visited, i would tell Mike if he ever put the Z-1 back together, someone would buy it -- for one thing, it would soon be vintage racing-eligible.

Someone did buy it -- me. Down from its lofty perch, the Z-1 was freshened up with new bits and I had a real, live dinosaur to play with. The frame was even braced and raked, like all the good superbikes of the '70s. There was even a box-section alloy swing arm, rare back then although common now.

The Kawasaki debuted in Jennings, Fla., in the opening round of the 2003 American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association National series. After the usual teething problems I came from behind to win. On to Daytona, where heavy rains made the big Kawasaki's 120 rear-wheel -- not brochure -- horsepower a handful. Can you say rear-wheel spin in the trecherous NASCAR turn two?

Big horsepower and soft race rubber don't work well in the rain. But somehow I hung on and won the coveted Daytona Vintage race. Two starts; two wins. Nostalgia doesn't get any better than this.