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I bought this bike brand new. Shortly before this bike was purchased,
I made the fateful decision to join the navy. I signed the first set
of papers and stuff in February, but wasn’t going in until August 1st.
I graduated early and so had time to work more hours and save up to get
a new bike (once the previous one was sacrificed.) I was one of the few
people that were riding green that year. This was more of a yellow year.
I rode it a lot in the spring, mostly in the sand down by 1 &44 in Shakopee.
I then started racing more often. I did a bit better than the year before,
but was still a ways away from trophying. I really liked the bike except
for it’s Achilles Heel, which was that it came with a 428 chain. To make
matters worse, Kawy didn’t make enough rear sprockets that year. I had
problems with the chain. When the stock sprocket got too worn to hold the
chain, it threw the chain so hard that it broke (of course this was a 428).
Timing being my strong point that year, the chain broke towards the end of
the Millville sand wash. I called all around to try to find a sprocket.
After a fairly long delay, I ended up getting a sprocket custom machined
which was about three times as much as a sprocket would usually cost.
After getting done with boot camp and A school, I went back home. It was
early November and unseasonably warm. I went riding at a little track that
used to be by the VA hospital. As fate would have it, I dislocated my thumb
and ended up getting seen in the hospital. I would have been turned away a
few months earlier.
I always thought when you dislocated something, you just popped it back in
and went about your business. I guess I knew a lot of people who would have
some joint that would come out all the time. I ended up staying overnight
at the hospital. Some people think they closed the track because of my
injury. I kind of doubt it, but I apologize if that’s true. If one is
needed, my excuse for not changing out of my gear or going to some other
hospital will be that I also hit my head pretty hard when I crashed.
I don’t recall anything about selling the bike (must have still been
feeling the effects of hitting my head, either that or it was due to the
other memory decreasing activities that I was into at that time), but I
knew I wanted to go back to a Yamaha.
This obvioulsy staged photo surfaced 30 years later.
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