Say it’s the summer of 1964 and you’re 17 years old, living in a California suburb, and you’ve saved enough money from your job working at the local Mobilgas station to buy a Honda 305 Scrambler—the CL77 that every moto-minded teenager in America seemed to want and a whole lot got. Once you had the thing, you bought and installed the most vital components any self-respecting CL rider could buy: Snuff-or-Nots.

For the historically minded, the important questions regarding Snuff-or-Nots are: What were they, who invented them, where and when?

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A decade ago, Cycle World and Ride for Kids came together with a common goal to make a difference in the lives of brain tumor survivors. With the importance of education in mind, the foundation was built for Cycle World’s Joseph C. Parkhurst Education Fund. This fund, named after Cycle World’s founder, Joe Parkhurst, is a unique college scholarship fund dedicated to helping pediatric brain tumor survivors achieve their educational hopes and dreams.

Due to the tremendous advancements made in pediatric brain tumor research and treatment, more children are surviving the deadliest form of childhood cancer than ever before. As they progress in school and aspire to attend college, they are faced with yet another challenge. After many years of life-saving medical procedures and stacking medical bills, families of these survivors are finding the cost of a secondary education for their children too much to bear. This unsettling reality has become commonplace for many survivors and their families, but through the efforts of Cycle World, Ride for Kids and thousands of readers, fans and supporters like you, $276,000 has been raised and 788 college scholarships have been awarded since 2002.

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The second life of Moto Morini that started in 2003 has come to a sad end. On April 10, all that remains of one of the makes that helped create the legend of the Italian light- and middleweight bikes from the 1930s to the ’60s will go to the highest bidder.

Moto Morini’s assets have been valued at 5.5 million euros, but bidders will be given the opportunity to bid either for the premises alone, starting at 3.3 million euros, or for the brand and what is still in stock, starting at 2.2 million euros. The lack of credible offers to acquire Moto Morini after it applied for Chapter 11 was the gloomiest aspect of the collapse, a condition that progressively turned into a black hole from which the company was unable to recover.

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Eric Bostrom qualified fifth for the Daytona 200 on his Team Cycle World Attack Performance Kawasaki ZX-6R, one spot behind his teammate, JD Beach. Photos by Brian J. Nelson

Daytona has a way of expressing itself in extremes. This was the case in 1994 during my inaugural trip to Bike Week as a pro dirt-tracker. The first night at Municipal Stadium, I had an extraordinary qualifying result for the main event. That stellar effort was backed up the following evening by disappointment: I failed to make the night program. After loading up the van early, I had a 3000-mile drive home to stew over it.

A few years later, I was overjoyed with my first AMA Supersport podium at the Speedway when I finished second to my childhood hero, Doug Chandler. The following year, I flew out of saddle exiting the International Horseshoe and landed directly on Dr. Ting’s cold operating table. A few years after that, I took pole for the 200 on a Ducati 998 and, with victory just six laps away, the oil cooler failed.

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Harry Klinzmann on the Racecrafters Kawasaki ELR1000 in the 1982 Daytona Superbike race. Klinzmann was the first rider outside of the factory team to get one of the rare and highly desirable Eddie Lawson Replicas. (All photos from the Harry Klinzmann collection)

Harry Klinzmann was one of the early stars of AMA Superbike racing. The Garden Grove, California, racer was there when Superbikes were transitioning from a modest support class at AMA roadrace nationals to being the next big thing. Mirroring the status of the series, Harry went from riding old-school BMW Superbikes during the Seventies to the then-ultra-modern Kawasaki Z1, a Racecrafters-sponsored Superbike. Such was the impact of the Racecrafters machine that enthusiasts today in Europe have built nearly exact replicas of the Kawasaki as a tribute to the formative days of Superbike racing–Klinzmann’s glory days.

Klinzmann was from a racing family. His father Alfred Klinzmann roadraced a Norton Manx during the Fifties in his native Germany, and encouraged Harry, when he came of age, to get into the sport.

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Victory Circle: Daytona International Speedway

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Friday morning, between practice and his SuperBike race, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young told me, “I have a weird feeling about today’s race. Usually I have a definite feeling before a race starts, about whether or not I’m going to win that race. But this feeling is just weird. I can’t tell if I’m going to win or do well or what. I don’t know what to think.”

Blake Young (leading Tommy Hayden) started off his SuperBike season right with a double victory at the opening round in Daytona. Photo by Catherine Wedmore

Young won that SuperBike race. I didn’t have the chance to talk with him afterward, to find out what it felt like to have the uncertainty of his weird feeling transform into earned fortune. I didn’t have the chance until after Saturday’s SuperBike race, which he also won.

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Blake Young, Rockstar Makita Suzuki, American SuperBike. Photos by Tim White

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“I have no kids, I have no worries. I’m 52 years old and living my dream. I’m racing again after giving it up 20-plus-years ago.”

Nick Hayman, last man running in the Daytona SuperSport race. Photos by Catherine Wedmore

That’s what Nick Hayman told me after finishing the SuperSport race at Daytona International Speedway, on the last running bike in the race. Sure, technically that’s not a win, but for a 52-year-old, just racing on the high banks at Daytona can feel like a huge win.

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What’s the story this weekend in roadracing in the Daytona 200 on International Speedway Boulevard? Maybe it’s kids, maybe it’s a foreigner.

Bostjan Skubic on his SuperBike. Skubic is a 37-year-old racer from Slovenia and a Daytona regular with some good finishes in the past. Photo by Catherine Wedmore

Is it the economy, is it the grueling P90X program necessary to be in winning form, or is it the long working hours that have resulted in Jason DiSalvo being the oldest rider on the provisional front row for the Daytona 200? He’s under 30 years old! He’s 27. The second-fastest rider, P.J. Jacobson, is only 17. Third quickest in the field is JD Beach, who’s 19 years old. And Danny Eslick, with the fourth-fastest time of all, is 24. This is the first time in years that adding up the ages of the front row’s four riders in qualifying for the Daytona 200 adds up to an age that one human being might be, and still be a living human being. But we won’t know if this holds until Friday afternoon. Bless the kids.

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Josh Hayes, Graves Yamaha, American SuperBike

Expert lensman Tim White snapped the attached images on Thursday at Daytona International Speedway during the afternoon AMA Pro practice and qualifying sessions. Morning practice was washed out by overnight rainstorms. By 10 a.m., the storm had blown through town, and DIS’s whistling jet dryers were clearing moisture from the racing surface. Clear weather is expected for the rest of the weekend.

In the American SuperBike class, Graves Yamaha rider Josh Hayes led the way, posting a best timed lap of 1:38.804. The reigning series champion was trailed closely by the Rockstar Makita Suzuki duo of Tommy Hayden (1:38.889) and Blake Young (1:39.167). Foremost Insurance-backed Larry Pegram (1:39.290), who has shown early speed on his BMW S1000RR, and new Jordan Suzuki recruit Ben Bostrom rounded out the top five.

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Prepare to launch: Eric Bostrom works on his starting technique.

This past Tuesday, nine-time world motorcycle drag-racing champion Rickey Gadson invited Team Cycle World Attack Performance rider Eric Bostrom to the Central Florida Racing Complex for a drag-racing lesson on the brand-new Kawasaki ZX-10R. The eighth-mile strip is located in an industrial park on the outskirts of Orlando. The 40-acre facility also features autocross, drifting, karting, supermoto and a concert venue.

The 2011 ZX-10R that Gadson brought to CFRC was fitted with a Brock’s Performance slip-on muffler. He had also altered the gearing, going from the stock 17/39 setup to 16/41 in hopes of more closely replicating the acceleration of the AMA Pro American SuperBike that Bostrom will ride at the opening round of the series this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Gadson further modified the clutch, fitting stiffer Brock’s springs preloaded with aluminum spacers; with the tall stock gearing, the standard clutch wouldn’t have lasted more than two or three runs, he claimed. Traction control was turned off.

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Photos by Chris P. Anderson

Bike Week 2011 kicked off this past Saturday night with the ninth round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series in the infield of “The World Center of Racing,” Daytona International Speedway.

Factory Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto took control of the 20-lap 450cc main event and the overall series points lead after early leader and heat-race winner James Stewart crashed spectacularly on the seventh go-round. Villopoto is the first back-to-back Daytona Supercross race-winner since Ricky Carmichael in 2002-’03.

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AMA season opener at Daytona will mark AMA debut of new ZX-10R (shown) and return to competition of CW’s Ten Best-winning ZX-6R.

In six short weeks, Richard Stanboli and the Team Cycle World Attack Performance crew have built two Kawasaki ZX-10R AMA Pro American SuperBikes and four ZX-6R Daytona SportBikes. During that same time span, riders Eric Bostrom and JD Beach have tested variations of those machines at Daytona International Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Buttonwillow Raceway and Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, all in preparation for the opening round the 2011 AMA Pro Road Racing season at Daytona International Speedway, March 10-12.

The Chuckwalla test was held under clear, blue skies one week after the team returned from Buttonwillow. Neither Bostrom nor Beach had ever ridden the 16-turn, Ed Bargy-designed, 2.68-mile circuit, which has become a popular testing spot for AMA Pro teams. In preparation, Stanboli had modified the 10R’s stock rear suspension link, dramatically altering its leverage ratio to move dynamic balance toward the front of the motorcycle.

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Jason Griffin racing at the Indy Mile. (Photo by Larry Lawrence)

The first time I saw Jason Griffin fly past as I watched the Pro Singles class rip around the Indy Mile, I did a double-take. Did I really see what I thought I just saw? A rider missing an arm? On the Indy Mile? When Griffin came around during the next lap, I focused my camera on him and hit the motor drive to click off a half-dozen shots. I immediately hit the review button on the camera and, sure enough, there it was, clear as day: Rider number 23C, who was flying around Indy’s turns three and four as fast as anyone, was missing his right arm. I stood there in disbelief. How could a rider with just one arm race a Pro Singles bike around the Indy Mile? The concept didn’t seem to compute.

Fast forward to Springfield, Illinois, last September. I was watching the 36-year-old from Easley, South Carolina, in the final session of AMA Pro Singles qualifying. He hadn’t yet qualified for a national final, but that day he looked fast and was using the draft well. When the checkered flag came out I walked over to look at the timing-and-scoring TV monitor. Griffin missed the cut. He needed a few more tenths.

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