About to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the annual Two-Stroke Extravaganza pitched its tents at the popular Hansen Dam 40-acre recreational area located in Lake Terrace, CA in the North Valley about a half hour’s ride from downtown L.A.
At the event’s helm were Paul Kralick and Mike Martinez, the two even handcrafting the show trophies from 2-stroke parts. Says Paul “The first show back in ’98 was held at La Mirada and I think about five guys showed up. We’ve come a long way since then, the event attracting a great variety of machines, many rarely seen. We’re just guys that love the 2-stroke bikes and have a loose-knit group, no dues or rules, focusing on rides throughout the year as well as the show.”
When asked for his pick of some of the rally’s highlights, Paul says, “Just seeing Jay Leno ride up on the Scott Flying Squirrel was great. We had invited him to the show when we saw him at Newcomb’s Ranch the day before on our pre-show ride through the Angeles Crest. We had riders from San Francisco, Arizona, Nevada and locally. We all jumped on our bikes and rode 60 miles out to the canyons.”
Among the many rare machines that made an appearance at the Extravaganza was the Suzuki “Gamma” RG500, circa ’85-87. The 94 HP/ 350 lb. street legal race replica was ridden by Nick Cook who happens to live just two miles from the famous SoCal bike gathering spot “Cooks Corner.” The Gamma family included engine displacements of 250, 400 and the 500, the name linked to Suzuki’s RG “Gamma” GP racer that had taken seven consecutive wins in the 500cc class. Meanwhile the “Cook” family includes several classic two-strokers brought to the event. Nick’s restored 1973 Kawi 750 H2 triple garnered the rally’s Best Kawasaki trophy and a restored bad-boy blue ‘71 Kawi 500 H1 triple also took an award.
The 500’s big brother, the Mach IV H2 was launched in 1972 and rightly tagged a “superbike.” It set a production bike ¼ mile record of 11.95 seconds at 115.38mph on March 11, 1972. Though a monster, it was relatively refined and sold new for $1395 circa’72-’75. Prices have accelerated since then.
A 2-stroke bike that sold by the droves in the U.S. was the ‘70s Yamaha RD350/400s, many of which showed up in force for the Extravaganza, both restored and modified and that included Bill O’Hanlon’s “plum purple” 1975 RD350 that earned the “Best Modified” show award.
One of the event highlights was the “mass light up” that involved everyone switching on their bikes and taking several “parade laps” around the staging area. Like they say, the sound alone was worth the price of admission. And that included the distinctive growl of the near legendary Kawi 500 and 750 triples that back in the ‘70s the mags called “scary fast.” Today they’re much prized motorcycle milestones as were many of the bikes in the show or ridden in by spectators. That said, the event was free to the public, any funds made going to paying for the park permits, etc. Sponsors that help made the show a great success included early founder Doug from Moto Carrera in Washington State, HVC Cycle located in Nebraska and Economy Cycle in Illinois. Summing it up organizer Paul Kralick says, “The Hansen Park people were great and we’ll be back here next year for the 20th.
Refined Panic
When you threw your leg over a Kawi H2 750, you were dancing with one of motorcycling’s most fearsome street machine. Best Restoration went to Rodney Peacock for his outstanding ’72 H2.
Who First Lit the 2-Stroke Match?
It all began puffing along in 1880 when an English engineer Dugald Clerk banged together a 2-stroke engine design. But then it took about another 25 years before another Brit, one Alfred Scott, secured the first patent for a 2-stroke, in this case a V-Twin. To further enshrine his name into the history books, a few years later in 1912 he came up the rotary valve engine. Scott was also the innovative thinker that gave the world the Scott Flying Squirrel motorcycle, and yes the bike ridden to the Extravaganza by Jay Leno.
Two-strokes initially burst upon the international scene in a big way during the 1960s World Championships when Yamaha and Suzuki took command of the event taking the checkered flag. What won on the track won on the showroom floor as well, resulting in a plethora of ringy-dingers literally popping up from various manufacturers. Eventually design changes did away with was the messy separate mixing of oil and gasoline when Yamaha introduced its “Autolube” design that automatically mixed both fuel and lubricant, something found in the family of Yamaha RD models as well as many others.
Thumbs up goes to this Yamaha FZ, the V-4 featuring then radical 5-valve cylinder head in a radial design producing a 750cc bike good enough in ’85 to offer 150mph.
The GT stands for “Grand Touring” as the 550 was part of the 3-cyclinder 2-stroke series produced by Suzuki including 60,000 of the 550s produced in just six months in 1972. The front cylinder scoop was part of the “Ram Air” cooling system to help reduce temperature induced power loss. For the U.S. market the bike was also tagged the “Indy” model, the bike producing about 50 HP.
Best Kawasaki – 1973 H2 750 Nick Cook
Best Honda – 1996 NSR 250 Gary Bjorling
Best Exotic – Pete Phillips 1966 Bultaco Metralla 250
Best Yamaha – Dan Patterson 1976 RD 400
Best Daily Rider – Mitch Feingerseth 1972 Kawasaki H2 750
Best Suzuki – Jose Tejeras 1976 GT 550
Best Restoration – Rodney Peacock 1972 Kawasaki H2 750
Best Scooter/Moped – George Yamanaka 1971 Suzuki Trailhopper 50
Best Off Road/Enduro – A Pro’s Touch 1974 Suzuki TM 125
Stage 13 Porting Award – Stacy Porter 1977 Yamaha RD 400
Best Modified – Bill O’Hanlon 1975 Yamaha RD 350
Best Rat Bike – Sam Hoffman 1976 Bultaco Alpina 250
Best of Show – Gary Bjorling 1996 Honda NSR 250
