Homepage Photo Quiz - January 2008

[Admin]

Who is the rider in this picture?
 
What two items in this picture, although not wrong, are unusual in their use?

http://www.pentonusa.org/archive/homepage/default_012708.htm

[454MRW]

I'm guessing here, but considering the bike is set up for Motocross, the down pipe and center stand seem out of place. Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S

[3putt]

I'm guessing also.   Tom Penton, and MX set up of low pipe and non high breather air cleaner.  wnm

[firstturn]

I think you better look a little further South. And there is that neat little sticker on the aircleaner......

Ron Carbaugh

[Paul Danik]

With AHRMA creating a 100cc MX class for 2008 we felt that this photo was very appropriate at this time.

   There has been a lot of discussion about the rules for this class.  Personally, I hope that no matter what the final rules are for 2008, that lots of 100cc machines will show up on the line and support a class that has been desired by many for a long time.

    Back in the day the 100 class was a very exciting and highly contested class.  Those small bore machines always put on quite a show for the fans as they flew around the track twisting unbelievable RPMs out of those engines.  If you go to an event take along a stop watch and check the lap times of those little buzz bombs verses the big bores, you may be in for a surprise.

Back to the picture...

It didn't take long for the center stand to be noticed, it was used just to hold the bike for this photo. Good eyes Mike.

No the rider isn't Tom Penton, but just like Tom he did work for Penton and he is a POG member.

Keep guessing and enjoy the photo. Man, wouldn't it be great to see a couple of Steel Tank Berkshires mixing it up on the MX track this season, they may not win the event, but they would sure be winners in my book.

Paul

[firstturn]

How about a Randy guess...from Ohio.

Ron Carbaugh

[454MRW]

How about the fact that it still has a set of headlight ears on it, just turned inward? Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S

[Paul Danik]

Mike,
 
   That is an interesting observation.  From what has been determined all of the steel tanker forks came with the headlight ears on them. They were either used for the mounting of the headlight, or turned inward as shown in the home page photo, for mounting the front numberplate. Parts book 001 even lists the spacers that were put between the ears and the numberplate, and the early enduro kits are pictured with out ears in the catalogs, as they were apparently standard equipment on the forks till the CMF machines came about.

Paul

[454MRW]

Is the numberplate mounted higher than usual, since the ears are not being used from what I can tell? Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Pentons-1980 KTM 175-400'S

[Paul Danik]

There were a set of long hexagonal bolts made for mounting of the enduro front number plate, that is the numberplate with the bottom cut out to allow for the top of the headlight.  The standard pinch bolts would be removed from the top triple clamp and these hexagonal bolts were screwed into those holes and tightened up, the hexagon portion extended out about 2 inches and the end was drilled and tapped.  The MX plate in the picture is mounted to those extended hexagonal bolts, instead of using the ears, that is why it is higher.

After you click on the picture and it enlarges, it will enlarge a second time if you click on it again, for a better closeup view.

Paul

[slvrbrdfxr]

Is it Dane in the picture ?? Thought I remember someone talking about him riding MX on ST 100 Berkshire.
Dave McC

[Paul Danik]

Dave,

   No that's not Dane, but you are correct about Dane racing MX. I hope he chimes in if I am incorrecct, but MX was quite a passion for Dane, which would help to explain his ability to get some awesome special test scores on his 100cc Penton.

   I will always remember watching Dane and Billy leaving on their 100cc machines ahead of us big bore riders on our 125cc machiines in the qualifiers.  They had to do double duty as they broke trail AND stayed on time.  A number of times I would conclude that I was off course and just about then I would see the tire marks from Dane and Billy where they had spun around earlier having missed the same arrow, I would laugh as I spun around in their tire tracks. It was someting how you might only be minutes apart but you could ride all day and not see the other rider, except at check points.

There is still something amiss in the picture, but you would have had to possibly been around in the early days to recognize it.

Paul

[firstturn]

Is the person in the picture Randy Kirkbride?

Ron Carbaugh

[slvrbrdfxr]

Okay, here's another stab at the answers. Could it be Randy Kirkbride holding those fine trophies ?? Pretty sure he told me about racing a 100 ST Berkshire. The bike looks to have chrome steel Radelli wheels on it. It was my understanding that the 100 Berkshires came with aluminum rims instead of the chrome steel.
Dave McC

[slvrbrdfxr]

Looks like brother Ron and I had the same idea on who's in the picture. Guess that just goes to prove that he's still pretty fast on the draw.
Dave McC