Cheating in MX back in the days

Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher 12/10/2018 5:36pm
12/10/2018 5:36pm
A few years ago my son qualified to race Mammoth and I decided to send his RM85 motor to Eric Gorr for the full treatment. He asked me several times what displacement I wanted. I told him it was for the 85 class, so a stock piston would be what it needed to be plated to. He said he builds lots of motors for Mammoth and lots of them are larger than legal. I declined but made sure to not tell my son lest he get psyched out over which kid might be cheating.
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JB 19
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JB 19 12/10/2018 6:17pm
12/10/2018 6:17pm
Sir Roostsalot wrote:
Back in yhe '80's Kawasaki made a 100 kit for the KX80. It was intended to be used for the 105 open class. I always wondered...
Back in yhe '80's Kawasaki made a 100 kit for the KX80. It was intended to be used for the 105 open class. I always wondered if any of the other kids ran one on their 80 class bikes.
There were a lot of them around. A trained ear could tell the difference. An oem 105 cylinder said 99cc on it. Of course you never saw any of those on the starting gate. Lol
rollin64caddy 12/10/2018 6:39pm
12/10/2018 6:39pm
I raced a 30+ class 2 months before my 30th bday. And got a trophy. I'm 35 now and feel kinda bad about it. I'm the worst.
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Harv379
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Harv379 12/10/2018 7:16pm
12/10/2018 7:16pm Edited Date/Time 12/10/2018 8:59pm
When 4 strokes entered the 125/250 class and it changed racing/dirt bikes forever. Oh wait... Cheating. Hmm nope got nothin.

The Shop

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GeorgiePorgie 12/10/2018 7:39pm
12/10/2018 7:39pm
rollin64caddy wrote:
I raced a 30+ class 2 months before my 30th bday. And got a trophy. I'm 35 now and feel kinda bad about it. I'm the...
I raced a 30+ class 2 months before my 30th bday. And got a trophy. I'm 35 now and feel kinda bad about it. I'm the worst.
Ha. Buddy of mine tried that at redbud. They busted him. Was hilarious.


“Hey you didn’t call my number to the gate”

Yea cuz you ain’t 30! Heeey OOOOOHHHHH


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deanwhite51
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deanwhite51 12/10/2018 7:53pm
12/10/2018 7:53pm
dadofagun wrote:
My fav is “Lorettas legal” PW 50 engine kits.....
Some clever work there.
Please explain this one!
dadofagun
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dadofagun 12/10/2018 10:16pm
12/10/2018 10:16pm
dadofagun wrote:
My fav is “Lorettas legal” PW 50 engine kits.....
Some clever work there.
deanwhite51 wrote:
Please explain this one!
There has never been a class in amateur MX with more cheating, than the PeeWees. Going all the way back to the days of Italjets, when the “PW”, aka YZinger, showed up, mini Dads started tinkering. Aside from plastic, the little bike hasn’t changed.
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Cortami79
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Cortami79 12/11/2018 1:13am
12/11/2018 1:13am
I'm Dutch, but most of the times I ride in Belgium. In the 250 class, 9/10 guys that aint ride on a KTM/Husky ride with a big bore kit Laughing When I switched from Suzuki to KTM (I loved the Suzuki but had a huge disadvantage due to the lack of power) , the first thing my dealer asked was why I didn't have a big bore kit on it lol
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GeorgiePorgie 12/11/2018 3:34am
12/11/2018 3:34am Edited Date/Time 12/11/2018 3:35am
Fun fact. Bud mamone son used to break italijets like twigs every moto. And it gave bud the idea to come up with his own bike that was more reliable and competitive. And cobra was born in a small garage in Middletown, Ohio. Rest is history.

Just a Tinkering dad....
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Steve125
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Steve125 12/11/2018 4:42am
12/11/2018 4:42am
I rode an RM250 in a big bore class Supercross event. Didn't know it was illegal but when people began to question it on the line I told them it was a 360 kitted RM. I got caught when they saw me come off the track in a 250 event right after the "Open class" Main on the same bike.
I'll never forget being brought into the Promoter's office and a 400lb guy smoking a stogie with piles of cash around him (and the whole room actually), told me to gtfo when I told him they let me sign up knowing it was a 250..and I wanted my money back.
keinz
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keinz 12/11/2018 5:07am
12/11/2018 5:07am
Here somewere is a dok about Soviet time MX Heroes. I talked to the son of the heroers, who is one of the freaky fast dudes and GP winner Gert Krestinov in UK. Right after the english subtiteles added, I will post it. It's incredibile story about times when we occupied by Russians and the desire to MX was one thing what keeped those dudes aliveWe had a European top riders without any support or something
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ga_pike
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ga_pike 12/11/2018 3:11pm
12/11/2018 3:11pm
I know several guys I raced against on 80's back in 89-92 that ran cheater bikes. I think they would bore out the cylinders and run cut down 125 pistons... or something like that. When one moved to 125s, his dad tried to sell us his bike. That told us all we needed to know at the time.

barnett468
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barnett468 12/11/2018 4:12pm
12/11/2018 4:12pm
Sir Roostsalot wrote:
Back in yhe '80's Kawasaki made a 100 kit for the KX80. It was intended to be used for the 105 open class. I always wondered...
Back in yhe '80's Kawasaki made a 100 kit for the KX80. It was intended to be used for the 105 open class. I always wondered if any of the other kids ran one on their 80 class bikes.
I doubt anyone ran them in the mini amateur nationals and none of the factory kawi guys did, but it probably happened somewhere.

JB 19
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JB 19 12/11/2018 6:32pm
12/11/2018 6:32pm
GeorgiePorgie wrote:
Fun fact. Bud mamone son used to break italijets like twigs every moto. And it gave bud the idea to come up with his own bike...
Fun fact. Bud mamone son used to break italijets like twigs every moto. And it gave bud the idea to come up with his own bike that was more reliable and competitive. And cobra was born in a small garage in Middletown, Ohio. Rest is history.

Just a Tinkering dad....
Talked to him at Amherst in 94' and he was telling us about it. The guy sounded crazy. Got to Loretta's and got to see the shit storm in person when they unloaded those things.
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cowasocki205 12/11/2018 8:41pm
12/11/2018 8:41pm Edited Date/Time 12/11/2018 8:45pm
Does anyone remember cylinder works running an ad in dirtrider magazine for their big bore kits which had a pic of the kit saying whatever size over bore it was (270 290 480...one of them) then farther down it said something along the lines of "noody's going to find out" or "life's to short...cheat". They were basically selling big bore kits that resembled oem cylinders and even had the stock cc stamped on the side. My memory is fuzzy on it but I could have sworn I remember seeing that and laughing my ass off and showing people, may have been cycle news too.
GeorgiePorgie 12/11/2018 8:53pm
12/11/2018 8:53pm
Wasn’t everyone cheating in supermini ? I mean the rule got changed from 105 to 112. Everyone ran 112s
UpTiTe
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UpTiTe 12/12/2018 7:25am
12/12/2018 7:25am
UpTiTe wrote:
In the early 90s a guy raced a 165 in the 125 west coast series for a season. He went from struggling to make mains to...
In the early 90s a guy raced a 165 in the 125 west coast series for a season. He went from struggling to make mains to a 13-15 place guy. At one race a hand full of guys were doing this tricky triple, he was one of them. After practice a big wig came wheeling up in his chair and looked at us with a smirk and asked, what size is that thing? His mechanic looked at him with a dumb look and said, 125. The guy in the chair said, be honest with me and I wont say anything, the mechanic looked at him and said, 165. The guy in the chair laughed and wheeled off.

I still have that motor in my shop somewhere.
mattyhamz2 wrote:
Haha. That's funny! Do you have your own shop? Or did you just mean your garage?
I call it my shop, but its a Warehouse on my business property where all the shenanigans go down.
riv187
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riv187 12/12/2018 8:36am
12/12/2018 8:36am
Last year we had a vintage 80cc race for fun. I had a screamer 78 FMF rm80, and lent a couple other 80s- 79 RM80,86 cr80 to friends as well. One of the competitiors built a KX80 for the event. He got whole engine from a renowned Kawasaki builder/factory mechanic. His engine cost more than all my 3 minis put together!!..Wouldn't you know it was a 100 kit. Learned this months later when he offered to sell it...Grown men racing 80s for fun....has to be a cheater bike in the bunch LOL..

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Tracktor
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Tracktor 12/12/2018 10:39am
12/12/2018 10:39am
Sir Roostsalot wrote:
Back in yhe '80's Kawasaki made a 100 kit for the KX80. It was intended to be used for the 105 open class. I always wondered...
Back in yhe '80's Kawasaki made a 100 kit for the KX80. It was intended to be used for the 105 open class. I always wondered if any of the other kids ran one on their 80 class bikes.
barnett468 wrote:
I doubt anyone ran them in the mini amateur nationals and none of the factory kawi guys did, but it probably happened somewhere.

We've lined up against big bores in the 85 class more times than I can count. At both local and national events. Happens pretty regularly. Going to be tougher on the 2018+ KTM/Husy 85's since the cylinder now looks different but will never stop........At a recent national event a kid go pulled off the line in the limited class for running an aftermarket silencer but the official walked right past the 105 bike, lol......and no it wasn't us......
rikhek
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rikhek 12/13/2018 1:30pm
12/13/2018 1:30pm
Creative rule interpretation is synonymous with cheating and has ALWAYS been a part of racing. I currently race sport cars but raced MX for years and I don't know a single person who hasn't had a custom part or two or other sort of novelty. It's part of the game/sport and always will be....
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