Even More CMR Racing Products Down Under

A really nice thing happened just before we left for Australia and New Zealand in January 2018. Denis got a phone call from Joe O'Neill in Dunedin, NZ. Joe asked for verification of the pedigree of a motorcycle that he'd just purchased while on a business trip to Los Angeles. He said that he'd purchased it as a Seeley Norton. On leaving LA he'd travelled up to visit relatives in Vancouver, B.C. and showed them photos of the bike he'd just purchased. Someone knew of Denis Curtis and his frame-building business, and had actually seen the bike racing in the 1970s at Westwood track near Vancouver (it's since been replaced by a subdivision.)

Joe went on-line, found Denis' phone number, and rang him. Denis asked for photos, had a look, and wonder of wonders - it was the very first motorcycle frame that Denis had built in Canada. Now, that doesn't happen every day! If you go to the History section on the CMR Racing Products website (here's a good link) and read through to the '70s road racing section, you can read the rest of the story.

The frame the youthful Denis is working on was built into a Curtis Seeley Norton750; it was a replica of the Colin Seeley MkII Seeley 750 racer. The bike was built in the Curtis Racing Frames facility for employee Lief Sorenson, who went on to race it quite successfully. When Lief left Curtis Racing Denis lost contact with him, and the bike.

The photo opposite shows the bike in the early 1980s after it was purchased and rebuilt by the founder of the CVMG (Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group) Peter Gagan. Peter saw the launch of CMR Racing Products website in 2007 and kindly sent this photo. Peter eventually sold this bike to a fellow in Los Angeles to compete in AHRMA (American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association) and that was where the story ended, until Joe contacted us.

Here are the photographs Joe sent to Denis.

They show the bike in its current form, with the same tank and seat, fairing and exhaust system. The LA owner changed the frame and swing arm  from green-painted to nickel plated, the tank, seat and fairing to Ferrari Red. The bike has the same front forks, wheels and brakes as originally fitted.

Kevin Docherty

As it turned out Denis had been invited to be at the Phillip Island Races in Australia by Team USA. He was also invited to visit New Zealand and see some of the race bikes he had supplied to customers there, and also to the N.Z. Team.
Joe invited Denis to visit the bike at his place in Dunedin, South Island. This next series of photos was taken, the day Denis was reunited with the first Curtis Racing frame, built into this exceptional motorcycle.

Joe was called away on business, but Kevin Dougherty of Motoxtreme Services Ltd., Dunedin, who takes care of all of Joe's motorcycles, took Denis over to visit Joe's garage.

The best moment was when Denis got on board this bike, the first time since 1973, and found it alive and well on the other side of the planet.

Sincere thanks to Joe O'Neill and Kevin Dougherty for their hospitality.

Denis of CMR Racing Products in his happy place

CMR Racing Products Down Under

 January 2018, Australia. Phillip Island Racing Circuit. The 25th Anniversary running of the International Classic  Motorcycle Road Racing Challenge Races. The teams competing: Team USA, Team UK, Team New Zealand and the home team - Team Australia.

The photo at left shows Team USA members on their bikes. On the front row from left to right: Number 17, Dave Crussell, Team USA Captain on his CMR-framed Yamaha TZ750. Next to him, Number 98, is Jake Zemke, riding Dave's CMR-framed Yamaha F1-FJ1250. Next to Jake, is Number 5, Colin Edwards on Carey Andrew's CMR-framed Yamaha F1_FJ1250. And next to him, Number 43, Jason Pridmore on Ralph Hudson's CMR-framed Yamaha F1-FJ1250. On the back row, left to right: Number 29 is Barrett Long, on Dave Crussell's #2 CMR-framed Yamaha TZ750. And next to him, Number 72 is Eirik Nielson on his own CMR-framed Yamaha F1-FJ1250.

The next photo shows Denis Curtis of CMR Racing talking with Colin Edwards about his chassis set-up. Paul Schaeffer, Denis' sponsor for the event, is in the background.

To the right is Colin Edwards showing his enthusiasm for the new set-up. Denis couldn't be happier.

 Here's Colin trackside basking in the 41 degree Celsius temperatures for the race weekend.

Here's Colin in action, with his knee down and going for it!

Ralph Hudson, owner of the bike in the foreground of this photo, sent us this article from a local motorcycle racing magazine on his Facebook post. Ralph's bike was ridden by Jason Pridmore who did very well at Phillip Island. Behind Jason is Barrett Long. These are second generation road racers! Jason's father is the famous Reg Pridmore, and Barrett's father is John Long.

 We were invited, as part of Team USA, to the 2018 Phillip Island International Classic event, and what a great time we had! Thanks to Dave Crussell, Team Captain, and a special thanks to Paul Schaeffer, one of the original sponsors of the International Challenge race effort for Team USA as far back as 10 years ago. Paul provided us with air fare and accommodation for the 25th Anniversary event.

L to R: Denis, Dave Crussell, Lorraine Crussell, unknown,
Bruce Lind, Mike Studzinski

 Seeing the photo posted by Ralph Hudson, got me thinking about PI 2018, all the people I wanted to thank and all the stories of great riders and their efforts, that I've been wanting to tell. It's amazing how popular classic motorcycle racing has become.  The Australian Phillip Island Classic Motorcycle Road Racing International Challenge Races is held in January each year: Classic motorcycle racing has been gathering lots of interest recently around the world, from spectators and former road racers alike.

Phillip Island Classic International Challenge brings in comparable numbers of spectators to the World Superbike rounds held at the same circuit.

photo credit Roger Colvin

For 2018, Team USA was fortunate to have some very fast former world champion road racers join the team, as well as a  former USA AMA and Daytona #1 plate holder, also.

Colin Edwards is a former two-time World Superbike Champion.

Jason Pridmore is a former two-time World 24 Hour Endurance Road Racing Champion.

Jake Zemke is a former Daytona winner and AMA National Champion.

Team USA faired very well in qualifying. Colin Edwards, who knows the track well, qualified 6th fastest. Jason Pridmore, who has never raced at this track before, finished 7th fastest, only .001 seconds behind  Colin. Jake Zemke finished 11th fastest, only .5 seconds behind Jason.

The overall results from the four-race series was that Team USA finished THIRD, however there were some very fast times run by Team USA: 

Jason Pridmore finished 4th in Races #1 and #2 but retired on the last lap but one, in third position, with a broken engine in Race #3.  He was unable to compete in Race #4.

Colin Edwards finished thirteenth in Race #1, fifth in Race #2, tenth in Race #3, and twelfth in Race #4 with ongoing clutch issues.

Jake Zemke finished eighth in Races #1 and #2, twelfth in Race #3 but could not start in Race #4 because of engine problems.

Jason Pridmore was very fast during the three races he competed in, and thanked CMR's Denis Curtis after the races for a fine-handling race bike. He said "this is the best-handling race bike I've ever ridden." Jason has been instrumental in bringing the team back in 2019 to challenge the podium.

Jeremy McWilliams spoke with CMR's Denis Curtis after Race #2 and told him that Jason Pridmore will be very hard to beat in 2019, if his engine has more power. Jeremy said he could not stay with Jason in two of the technical corners of PI. After the races, Jeremy brought his Team UK boss, Roger Winfield, over to meet Denis. Roger spent 40 minutes with Denis, reviewing what made CMR frames handle better than his Harris frames. To be continued...

For more information about Team USA's  objectives for PI 2019, check out Team Mojo-Yamaha 2019 Phillip Island Classic International Challenge here!

A Unique Yamaha TZ750 Hill Climber/Motard Race Bike

A CMR customer from the UK contacted us in 2016 and asked us if we had ever built a replica of the Kenny Roberts 'Miler' flat tracker from the 1970s. We had built a couple of these bikes as Denis had first-hand knowledge of the bike that was built for Stevie Baker at Yamaha Motor Canada in 1973/4.








After several conversations with our customer, we realized that he was not looking for a race bike that went around oval dirt tracks in an anti-clockwise direction, but rather wanted a UK and Euro pseudo-road race bike which would corner to the right and to the left during an ascent of an European hill-climb mountain event. So the bike was to end up like a 'Motard' that runs on pavement and dirt and needs to be able to corner both ways. In the UK these hill climbs are called 'twisty sprints.'

Here is what CMR came up with - at this point the bike is not finished, but will be used 'in anger' later this season. Of note is the full road race expansion chamber system that we use on our I.O.M. Classic TT race bikes but it is equipped with an aluminum 'Champion style' fuel tank and aluminum seat, as these races are sometimes only 1.5 kilometers long. The race is against the clock.









The customer specified twin shocks and straight bars.

We can't wait to see how well this bike performs in places like Switzerland, France and Italy. It will use treaded, not slick tires, but we put these road race wheels on to ensure the geometry of the bike was correct. In this type of racing, brakes are used on front and rear wheels.

 

Denis at CMR Racing - get in touch!

A Cool Street/Track Project from Indiana

Back in 2015, Andrew Krabill of Indiana contacted CMR Racing Products. He was interested in some of the unique parts CMR makes for Yamaha RD 350/400 street and track bikes.

CMR supplied Andrew with photos of some of the aluminum tanks and seats we had produced for this model, and Andrew responded with an order and some very interesting suggestions for the design of the seat. We loved his ideas, and especially the way he carried out the project.

We'll let you decide what you think about his paint scheme and the overall styling of the bike, especially the seat.

The Team at CMR Racing Products think Andrew did an outstanding job. Well done, Andrew!

 CMR Racing Products carries stock of the aluminum fuel tank and the aluminum seat that Andrew used for his project, at all times. We can supply the seat with or without an oil tank, and have several options for tail lights...or no lights at all.

These tanks and seats will fit the following Yamaha models: DS7, R5, TR3, RD350, RD400 and TZA.

Contact Denis at cmrracingproducts@gmail.com with any questions. Find us on Facebook.

More CMR Racing Products Success Stories in 2016

Vin's first season in 2015 on the new CMR Kawasaki H2R750 

Vin Borbone of New Hampshire, USA purchased one of our CMR Kawasaki H2R750 frame, swing arm and fuel tank kits in 2014 and has since become very successful in racing his bike in USCRA events. In 2016 Vin won the USCRA Heavy Weight Super Vintage Class Championship.

Congratulations, Vin from your friends at CMR Racing Products, Inc.

A confident Vin winning his Championship Season at Louden, NH

Vin with Miles Baldwin at a very wet Louden, NH

More CMR Successes in 2016

Dirk DeWinter from Belgium has been riding one of CMR's Drixton Yamaha XS650 framed race bikes since 2013 and continues to do very well against much more powerful machinery. His bike has the Yamaha XS650 twin engine bored out to 750cc. and is much lighter and handles much better than the larger 4 cylinder bikes in his class.

Congratulations Dirk on your second place in the 2016 Belgian Classic Bike Championship!

CMR currently has two of these CMR Drixton Yamaha XS650 frame, swing-arm, and fuel tank kits in stock. Contact Denis at cmrracingproducts@gmail.com. Visit us on Facebook!