Posts
5493
Joined
6/28/2014
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
7/19/2026 4:09am
As it says, Gally Is an OZ Legend.
I first met him when I worked at Competition Development in the late 70s / early 80s.
He helped me out with a few sets CTIs over the years, which enabled me to continue with MCs, and, get back into MTB / DH and BMX, as well as other activities. Raced against him quite a bit, when he did a bit of DH.
An absolute Gentleman, who's put a Lot back into Motocross.
I've got his book coming.
His comment about Hunta not really knowing who he was at the 2017 MXDN is a bit of a crack up - Youngsters often seem to Not know much of their sports History 😁
PS : I remember getting up close to that OW51, an exotic thing indeed!
I toured a riding school around aus for decades. I went to one in Alice Springs in the late nineties. I was probably 11 on a twin shock 1983 xr80. I had bent my handlebars the week before and the only bars we had to replace them was a set of full sized bars.
I specifically remember him giving me a double thumbs up after I did a corner well, and then at the end I won a set of renthal junior bars.
Was a very cool experience
He’s a legend alright, and so is that bike; the only OW51 left in existence I believe?
I've no idea on that point.
I think the Kawi SR (s) that Trevor Williams and / or Grunt rode, is still in OZ.
I hope that OW is still here, somewhere.
And, I can't remember which bike we put on a set of Fox 44s for him - I don't think it was the OW - to only have Yamaha tell him to take them off!
It was 'reported' that he said they were "Too Stiff" ......... PR speak for "it's not our product , get them the ***" off of the bike! "
Waiting with much anticipation for The Book to get to me!
I asked him it at the Day in the Dirt event at QMP about it, and he said when he moved to Queensland, it was in pieces and he sold it. It was still in OZ.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
That OW was owned by a friend in Cairns. He later moved to Brisbane. That photo is actually in his back yard. He also owned Kent Howertons SR500 and Brad Lackeys RC500 plus lots more. All of his bikes are in various issues of VMX magazine.
I’m 3/4s through his new book. Really interesting.
In it, he has a pic of him in the 1981 Supercross at Sydney Showground - he won the 250 class.
I was racing a 125 that night. Not winning.
Sounds like it may have been the OW51 you fitted the fox shocks to Bear- old article from ADB https://adbmag.com.au/editorial/yamaha-yz465/
“The OW51 that Yamaha supplied to Stephen Gall in 1981 differed from the production model in many ways, but the most obvious visual clue was the colour scheme and the location of the remote reservoir.
The sand-cast magnesium engine had a larger capacity than the production motor. The OW made do with a four-speed gearbox and a new idea from Yamaha’s road racers was included, a boost bottle that had debuted on its 125 GP bikes. Yamaha called it YEIS, which stood for Yamaha Energy Induction System.
Although a megabuck machine, the OW51 was rumoured to be heavier than the 104.78kg YZ465 and it didn’t handle as well, particularly in the back. The fork was better and it turned easily but Gall went to a Fox shock in an attempt to improve things. His mechanic at the time, Steve Ashkenazi, recalls using White Power and Ohlins shocks on the production bikes. The OW51 was air cooled but had an optional liquid-cooled barrel.
During the 1981 season, Gall swapped between the OW51 and his modified YZ465 and even used the OW51 motor in the YZ-H frame. The different geometry of the production frame combined with the greater power of the OW engine was the best choice on some tracks.
Gall’s main competition was Anthony Gunter on the Suzuki RM400X with its Full Floater rear end and Trevor Williams on a works Kawasaki 440. The YZ465 and OW51 were still good enough for Gall to take the 1980 and 1981 Mr Motocross trophies as well as the 1980-81 Pro Open Title and the 1981 Australian 500 Dirt Track Championship.”
Have a squizz at both that YouTube header pic, and the pics from the ADB article.
They are completely different bikes.
You can see the Power Valved Cylinder in that Video header pic, the Totally different Swingarm - Yamaha during it's development of the Cantilever system, had finally worked out to fully use Scalene Triangle Geometry, and Not have the rear end go into falling rate.
And well, Every Other Thing on the Video header pic, is wildly different to the ADB bike.
Now, perhaps the Video pic is a 'composite', or, ADB got the pics in their article wrong.
It would be great to have Stephen comment on it all - he's retained all his 'marbles', while I, have lost (quite) a few...............
Quite Likely, they were 2 years of different OWs. Both Gally and Graham / Graeme Smythe ( WA rider) got to race OWs. Smythey, also got to race Kawasaki SRs - the Twin Shock ones with the White Tubular Plastic Upper Fork Leg Guards, that so many people mistake as USDs. I think he was the Australian rider, that got to ride more Works Bikes, domestically, than any other OZ rider.
Grunt, besides the SR500, got to ride / race (at least) one RN500 - not sure if he got to race RH250s?
And, Mark Pace had a variety of Mugens - Full bikes, and Engine Kits, if I recall correctly
I'll have to listen to this. He was great on Pulp awhile ago. I'm not super familiar with him apart from reading some mag articles growing up.
His stories about his Stunt Work etc for (later) Mad Max Movie(s?) are pretty bloody 'interesting', too!
The ADB bike is the production YZ 465, he rode that and the works OW51 in 1981.
I think maybe 1982 or 1983 they had the works bikes war. Probably never seen since. Form mems Honda Yamah Suzuki and kawi sent works bikes to Oz for the Mr. Motocross title which was going down to the wire.
Theres a good YouTube video on the series somewhere.
I saw Gally on the weekend and his knee looks rooted. Still rides every Thursday on his 450
For all you that have not met Gally, if you met him outside of mx you would think of him as a professor, very well educated and very articulate. However he is just a really genuine friendly person.
He and Anthony Gunter put mx on Australias map.
I remember watching StephenGall for the first time as a kid at the Tivoli raceway round of Mr Motocross, that got me and my brother into MX, it took over our childhood and teenage years.
Post a reply to: .Stephen Gall - An Australian Legend - interview from MotoPG Podcast