Beach racing

[Maido]

There is alot of talk of making the Burt Monroe beach race a national title next year.
Good luck on anything but a modern(ish) motorcross bike. (i am thinking CR500)

[Crasherfromwayback]

I for one would love to see it. Post away.

Here ya go then.....Pekapeka 1989...holy shit...I was only 17 back then!
No brakes required....180kph gearing....flat out in top, then simply knock it back two gears and run wider than most people did into the soft stuff....throw it sideways speedway style to scrub off speed.....not always the fastest way round the pegs, but looked better and was way more fun than the guys that simply used to brake in a straight line all the way to the peg then tootle round it at 5kph and blast off again!

[Crasherfromwayback]

I'd second that, I'm keen for a look too. Post it, post it, post it . . .

Thanks for your interest!

[Masterchop]

Yea beach racing was very cool fun back in the mid to late eighties.

I raced a YZ250 and a KX250 geared right up and jetted up for high speeds.
I tried all sorts of things to get more top end out of it,even jammed the power valve open for a while, but made it very hard to ride.

The KX was faster than all the 1000's and 1100's cause they didnt accelerate fast enough and couldnt turn tight enough.But they did get good top speed.

We raced at Peka Peka beach north of Waikanae and up in Gisbourne at Wainui beach I think it was called.
I won the Langford Cup at Peka Peka, it was an annual 30 mile race with pit stops and all.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Did you race that CR480 at Whakatane in the late 80's,

My father used to race a GS1000 on the beach in Whakatane and Gisbourne (won a national open title in gisbourne in about 1987)
i remeber a guy hitting him really hard on a CR480 one year at ohope beach in whakatane, i think he was from wellington and i am pretty sure he broke his jaw in the crash,

that GS1000 used to put up a rooster tail like nothing else i have ever seen, i remeber the guys racing Dad where trying to dodge the roost and it was powerfull enough to break roll off film.

Nah.....I thought I had the 480 at 17, but must've been 16, as I bought a new KX500 in '89' (the one in the picture)....was so broke paying the HP on it, that I only did local meets both beach and moto-x. I reckon it would've been either Peter Krinkle or Craig Wilkie. Both rode CR500's. Wilkie was a National Speedway Champ, and Krinkle was a multi Nat Beach racing champ. They both travelled doing it. Krinkle was safe and calculated, Wilkie was a bit like myself. Loose. We had more fun than Krinkle did, he took it really seriously....we did it mainly for fun.

Wilkie and I both started road racing our 500's at the same time too...in Masterton...they had a great street meet there....I could blow by him road racing, he'd give me a lesson at the beach and at Moto-x. I did the street race they had in Auckland by the warves years ago....Gisborne....and of course Wanganui. No one was really racing big two stroke dirt bikes in F2 then, and they were actually quite competitive....not now....135 hp 600's will suck your number board off as they go by! I last road raced a KX 500 at Wanganui about 7 years ago and struggled to get into the top ten....8th and 9th I think.

Now with the motard class....everyone's doing it!

Whoo hoo! I'd love to be racing at Wanganui this year....but my ankle's simply not up to doing jumps yet! Do you use you 450 for motard?

[Masterchop]

Here ya go then.....Pekapeka 1989...holy shit...I was only 17 back then!
No brakes required....180kph gearing....flat out in top, then simply knock it back two gears and run wider than most people did into the soft stuff....throw it sideways speedway style to scrub off speed.....not always the fastest way round the pegs, but looked better and was way more fun than the guys that simply used to brake in a straight line all the way to the peg then tootle round it at 5kph and blast off again!

Well I may have raced you a couple of times,I raced Peters CR500 a few times about that era.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Yea beach racing was very cool fun back in the mid to late eighties.

I raced a YZ250 and a KX250 geared right up and jetted up for high speeds.
I tried all sorts of things to get more top end out of it,even jammed the power valve open for a while, but made it very hard to ride.

The KX was faster than all the 1000's and 1100's cause they didnt accelerate fast enough and couldnt turn tight enough.But they did get good top speed.

We raced at Peka Peka beach north of Waikanae and up in Gisbourne at Wainui beach I think it was called.
I won the Langford Cup at Peka Peka, it was an annual 30 mile race with pit stops and all.

Bet I was there with ya!

[Crasherfromwayback]

Well I may have raced you a couple of times,I raced Peters CR500 a few times about that era.

Yeah his bikes were well fast....but seeing as I used mine for moto-x as well, I couldn't afford to make them as 'peaky' as his for that much top end.

Too much in the dirt!! Wilkie simply ran two carbs....one off his speedway bike using alcohol for beach racing, and the stock one for moto-x

[calmone]

My Avatar is my father between races at a Beach meeting in the late 1930,s. I am not sure of the location but it would be probably in the Wellington Kapiti area. He is on a 34 KSS Velocette which he raced at all the meetings around Wellington and in the north at Muriwai and Waiheke.
It was I understand the most popular form of racing then although they did race on the grass as well. The Langford trophy would be named after a fellow racer of the time I think named Eccle Langford. They were nearly all road bikes during the week and race bikes in the weekends.
If we could get some meets going in the north again I would bet that they would become very popular.

[Crasherfromwayback]

My Avatar is my father between races at a Beach meeting in the late 1930,s. I am not sure of the location but it would be probably in the Wellington Kapiti area. He is on a 34 KSS Velocette which he raced at all the meetings around Wellington and in the north at Muriwai and Waiheke.
It was I understand the most popular form of racing then although they did race on the grass as well. The Langford trophy would be named after a fellow racer of the time I think named Eccle Langford. They were nearly all road bikes during the week and race bikes in the weekends.
If we could get some meets going in the north again I would bet that they would become very popular.

I wish I could get a larger version of that picture mate.....it looks fucking cool! All it takes is for a few like minded souls to organise a one off event that's run well and is centered around having fun.....it'll take off again.

I remember as a pillow rooting teenager seeing this event where the best guys from various motorcycle racing backrounds had an all in (for a pretty big purse I think) wheelie race on the sand. Normal race start, but after about 50 feet there was a painted white line and they all had to have the front wheel off the ground going over it......the course was maybe about 400m (hey, a 1/4 mile even!) long, and if the front wheel touched the ground before the finish line they were out. Things like that on the beach would be fucking cool.

You could also do speedway style ovals as 2 lap time trials, or two up sprints...you name it...just a fun day at a suitable beach!

Lets go!

[Dai]

I wish I could get a larger version of that picture mate.....it looks fucking cool!

All it takes is for a few like minded souls to organise a one off event that's run well and is centered around having fun.....it'll take off again

...... Things like that on the beach would be fucking cool.

...just a fun day at a suitable beach!

Lets go!

It would take off. You dont need much to race on the beach. When I first started it was on a stock standard RD350 with road tyres. Used to ride to the beach and race then ride home. Later on I tuned the bike up and ran knobbly tyres.

If anyone cares to try an organise an event they can count on my assistance in any way they need.

Kariotahi beach where the Papakura Club used to run their races could be a good venue.

[Expert]

I've just got back from Wanganui and was impressed at how much traction the motards were getting on that dirt section with slicks on.
What would be a suitable tyre to use on sand? Knobblies seem the obvious choise but how would race wets grip on wet sand? Really good i would have thought on something light like a dirt bike.
Those motard blokes would be good at a beach race. Could be opened up to quads and sidecars.
Perhaps a Weston-super-mare beach race like the UK has would take off over here? Very popular over there, 3000+ bikes, quads and sidecars. Le tourquet in france is a big sand meet, why doesn't NZ have one?
There are so many long beaches,dirt bikes and nutters over here it seems a shame not to have one sand/beach race a year in Auckland or the north.

[Krinks]

Petes my dad lol.

Good days beach.

[ellipsis]

...dads are good...

[budda]

There is alot of talk of making the Burt Monroe beach race a national title next year.
Good luck on anything but a modern(ish) motorcross bike. (i am thinking CR500)

usually WAS a National Title - check out KB/s Leverarch file of National Titles, some of 'em on big, fast roadbikes ....... mind you, that was in the days of half and ONE MILE straights, before the wimp factor took over. Was always an absolute hoot ......