Hangin ’ Up The Cape
With the sad demise of Pukekohe still sitting heavily upon many of our minds , I took the opportunity to catch up with some of the racers I hadn ’ t seen for what seemed like years ( and it had been ), whilst inhaling the sights and smells of the biggest race meet of them all – you can read all about the last ever meeting in the link above . So , while I was there , I caught up with good mate and recently retired fast bastard , Paul Pavletich ( a . k . a Superman ), and the fabulously fettled bike that Zak Fuller was piloting so well for the weekend . I mean , the stock OW-01 was , in its day , one of those super sexy , rare as rocking horse shit homologation specials ( Yamaha made 500 of them ) created to fit into and abuse the living crap out of the then 750cc capacity ceiling brought into the superbike rule book to slow the new generation of ‘ production racers ’ down ( unless it was a 1000cc Ducati twin … but I digress ). With that exotic starting point , and no real capacity limit on the post classic scene here in NZ , this bike took on the Pavletich family obsession with performance , and silenced many critics of Yamaha ’ s stubbornly weird five-valve cylinder-head configuration . The tech-head of the Pav family , Mark , is responsible for the mechanical side of the beast , so here ’ s a recap on what was done . It may well surprise many …
END OF TWO ERAS So , how did Zak Fuller end up on Pav ’ s monster and why was I not asked ? Too slow , basically . It is not only Pukekohe that sees the curtain fall on an illustrious innings . Pav , after sustaining broken ribs , a birthday , cracked pelvis , a birthday ( life changing events , those ) and a detached lung ( did I mention a birthday ?) in a motocross accident recently decided “ Crap , I ’ m not 63 anymore , maybe I need to call it quits ” and so , after contemplating doing Cemetery circuit one more time ( it would have been 40 years since his first podium there ) Superman has grounded himself . He has just purchased a race car , so he hasn ’ t taken up knitting . With a bucketful of National titles covering a bunch of classes , three of which he won on this bike , a collection of Auckland club titles and a career that saw him go toe-to-toe with many of our greats over the past 45 years , there is nothing left to prove , just a massive love for our sport that the two-time head honcho of MNZ still has burning . I did suggest he paint the OW- 01 to match his Gold Card next year and become a government sponsored racer , but , no , his mind was made up . Maybe a comeback when buses become free , aye Pav ? To get some perspective on this ever-evolving Yamaha , I took it out for a few laps a couple of weeks prior to The Classic Festival , mainly to refresh my mind and to marvel at what a