The bike that would be a star
The year was 1969. American motocross was young and struggling to climb out of obscurity. In October, at the Inter-Am motocross race in Pepperell, Massachusetts, it got its big break: “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” showed up to film the event and expose would-be American fans to the European stars who dominated the sport.
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Although Sweden’s Arne Kring won the race on his works Husqvarna, CZ’s American rider, Barry Higgins, became an underdog hero to a national audience. He finished fifth, and top American, on this machine, beating several Euro stars.
“Motocross racers were far from sports heroes then,” says Higgins, who now runs H&H KTM World in Douglasville, Georgia. “We were thought of as hooligans on motorcycles, and getting on TV was a big step to help change that.”
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Higgins is quick to credit the bike for his performance. Thanks to trick stock parts and solid reliability, the Czechoslovakian-made CZ was a natural choice. The year before, Jawa had won the 500cc and 250cc FIM World Championships, as well as the U.S. 250cc Inter-Am Championship.
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“The Czechs built a solid bike,” Higgins says. “It was bulletproof compared to the Huskys, Bultacos, Maicos or anything else out of Europe. My mechanic did make a downpipe for it and ported the cylinder, and we ran alloy wheels, but everything else was stock—stock forks, shocks, brakes, chassis.” ... Read more
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