Norton vs Ducati at Willow Springs 1987

Just saw this video of a twins race at Willow Springs back in 1987. Some great moves by Mick Ofield on his Rickman Commando against the Erion Brothers Ducatis. Our own Jim Schmidt is also there on his Norton, but unfortunately didn't get much coverage.



Ken

That was fun, Thanks.....

Great stuff!

Very enjoyable. Thank you.

Great final lap.

Brilliant, I was on the edge of my seat “COME ON MICK”...!!

They left me hanging on whether James got to the gas pumps

Probably under the bleachers doing something inappropriate

Nice race Ken , thanks for posting it up !

Loved that!!! Brilliant stuff

Incredible run by Mic. I'm amazed that these vids exist.

Yeah, it is a real blast from the past. I raced with Mick at Willow Springs more times than I can count back in those days. He was way faster than I was. When he first emigrated he was racing a Vendetta framed Norton, but it eventually fatigued so much that he got tired of welding it back together and replaced it with a Rickman frame. That one also cracked fairly quickly, so he welded in a couple of support tubes at the front. Mick is a great guy, and we had a lot of good times together until he retired and moved to Tennessee. The bike eventually ended up with my friend, Scott Fabro, who raced it in vintage races locally, and took it to the Isle of Man in 2013 for the Manx GP, but didn't make it to the race. This is a shot of him on the starting line for practice.



This is a shot of the bike without fairing in front of my shop, back in 2010. Scott had asked me to refurb it mechanically, but wanted to keep the period patina.






A good no-nonsense race bike that worked extremely well, with a lot of good results for both Mick and Scott over the years.

Ken

I asked Mic about his best lap times and this is what he said:

From what I can figure, 1m 39secs for the Norton was pretty good. The 750 Ducati was 1m 32secs and the 900 Ducati was in to the 20's, say 1m 28secs. That bike was a Ducati 749 beater and ultimately too fast for me! I think these times are right, but it was a long time ago. .. Cheers Mick