Vintage Mini Bike racing footage (music video)

capguncowboy

Well-Known Member
#1
A buddy of mine sent me this a while back. Its pretty awesome. Not a fan of the music, but the video is great. Enjoy!
[video=youtube;Fx-EfjsRcBk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx-EfjsRcBk&sns=em[/video]
 
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capguncowboy

Well-Known Member
#6
Anyone else notice the guy riding a wheelie across the start/finish line at 0:45 ? My son got a kick out of that.

I think the guy that won was riding a Bonanza MX, and there are a few others riding them as well. You can see the same guy going through the downhill turn a little earlier in the video and you can see the Bonanza Wheels and Tank, and I think it's a Hodaka engine.

There were a few guys riding the same bikes that had the same jackets on (maybe a team?), but the guy that won had a silver helmet, and the other two had stars-and-stripes.





 
#7
I think the guy that won was riding a Bonanza MX, and there are a few others riding them as well. You can see the same guy going through the downhill turn a little earlier in the video and you can see the Bonanza Wheels and Tank, and I think it's a Hodaka engine.

There were a few guys riding the same bikes that had the same jackets on (maybe a team?), but the guy that won had a silver helmet, and the other two had stars-and-stripes.
Yes, and I think you're right on the bike. Just another reason why you don't see me jumping all over those "what is it" posts. LOL :laugh: I did stop the video, and thought that silver-helmeted rider was sporting a flat head, but in the stills above, it does look more like a Hodaka. Also, on some of the footage where were some front wheels coming up under acceleration, so they had transmissions on the track.
 

buckeye

Well-Known Member
#8
To be a kid back then. And have access to those bikes.
Heck, I guess we are doing it now as older kids.
Just more money and no parents to tell us no.
Great share.
 
#10
A friend to many of us on OldMiniBikes, Kustom Kart Kid has a lot of Bonanza history knowledge. The following information on the winning rider in this video is submitted with his permission:

That's the 2nd Saddleback Park championship circa 1970. The guy who won is Joey Iacobitti a Bonanza factory rider. He's wearing the factory orange jacket and riding a Hodaka 100 5 speed bike that was built and prepped by Jack Costella and Erv Kanemoto. These were the same 2 guys who built the Bonanza mini bikes that ran at Bonneville . Costella holds a bunch of streamliner records and Kanamoto went on to great fame as a GP bike tuner for Yamaha and Kawasaki.

Joey Iacobitti had a successful career as a flat track racer, sprint car driver and even raced hydroplanes. As a teenager, Iacobetti had a wild head of hair and a gold front tooth and would scare the hell out of the other riders just by looking crazy...plus he could ride. The other Bonanza factory riders included Greg Hodges, Ron Attebury, Dave Uyehara and Rex Ward. Attebury and and Uyehara both later gained fame as top fuel chassis builders in the NHRA.

This is a picture of the silver helmet he's wearing in that video. He still owns it almost 50 years later. He also still has the Bonanza he won the 1969 championship with.

Helmet.JPG
 

capguncowboy

Well-Known Member
#11
A friend to many of us on OldMiniBikes, Kustom Kart Kid has a lot of Bonanza history knowledge. The following information on the winning rider in this video is submitted with his permission:

That's the 2nd Saddleback Park championship circa 1970. The guy who won is Joey Iacobitti a Bonanza factory rider. He's wearing the factory orange jacket and riding a Hodaka 100 5 speed bike that was built and prepped by Jack Costella and Erv Kanamoto. These were the same 2 guys who built the Bonanza mini bikes that ran at Bonneville . Costella holds a bunch of streamliner records and Kanamoto went on to great fame as a GP bike tuner for Yamaha and Kawasaki.

Joey Iacobitti had a successful career as a flat track racer, sprint car driver and even raced hydroplanes. As a teenager, Iacobetti had a wild head of hair and a gold front tooth and would scare the hell out of the other riders just by looking crazy...plus he could ride. The other Bonanza factory riders included Greg Hodges, Ron Attebury, Dave Uyehara and Rex Ward. Attebury and and Uyehara both later gained fame as top fuel chassis builders in the NHRA.

This is a picture of the silver helmet he's wearing in that video. He still owns it almost 50 years later. He also still has the Bonanza he won the 1969 championship with.

View attachment 97574
Dave, thank you for posting that. And [MENTION=18631]KustomKartKid[/MENTION], I know you're not around much, but thank you for taking the time to inform Dave of this. Information like this needs to be shared or it'll just disappear into oblivion

Awesome stuff!
 
#12
Awesome stuff, indeed. I'm not familiar with Jack Costella, but Erv Kanemoto is a legendary motorcycle tuner. He prepped Gary Nixon's Kawasaki triple during their run to the U.S. road racing championship in 1973, worked with late British 500cc GP world champion Barry Sheene on a Suzuki, and most famously tuned for U.S. racer Freddie Spencer on the Honda factory GP team. Spencer and Kanemoto took 500cc world road racing championship titles in 1983 and 1985. Spencer also won the 250cc world road racing championship in 1985 with Kanemoto tuning. That double championship in 1985 was the first of its kind and has not been repeated.

I especially remember the 1985 season. It was riveting as Spencer rode two classes to a double season championship. Both classes run on the same day at the same event. This left Spencer little time to rest or confer with his team on machine settings and strategy. Where the other riders would have breaks between practice, qualifying and racing, Spencer would come in, hop on the other bike and go right back out again.

Here's a photo of Kanemoto and Spencer during that time, somewhere on the GP trail.

 
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