OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => General Discussion => Topic started by: mx250 on September 18, 2007, 11:34:00 am
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I'm curious :), I've recently heard that Steve Gall first raced a Montesa V75. Anyone confirm, deny, add anything further. I beleive before that he raced and clean up on hodaka 100 or 125.
I've always associated Gally with Yammies ;).
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From conversations I've had with Gally over the years I've always believed that he went from an XR75 straight onto an MX250A and soon after a YZ250A for Macklin Motorcycles. If he had a Montesa Cappra, he never raced it to my knowledge.
I can remember racing against him in C grade in those early days and can only ever recall him aboard Yamahas. He was a rocket straight out of the box and wasn't in C grade very long and I believe he bypassed B grade and went straight to A grade.
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Thanks Firko, I meet a guy who believes he has Gally's V75 :o ??? Hed seems genuine. He might be right. He does claim that he only owned it for a short time.
I told him about the forum and invited him along. He might chime in.
.....he went from an XR75 straight onto an MX250A ....
I never knew Gally had such good taste in motorcycles :D
He obviously also had the good sense and talent to move on ;D.
I can remember racing against him in C grade in those early days and can only ever recall him aboard Yamahas.
First time I remember him was at Amaroo (he would have been a grade already and sponsored by Macklins).
Us; hung over from the night before, us; still doing a tune up by putting in a new plug, us; eating canteen meat pies and drinking coke before the 'off'. :-\ :o
Gally; bike prepped and clean, tools all laid out on a clean towell. Gally; drinking water and eating bananas. ;) :) 8)
He stood at from the crowd right from the start, and I'm not talking about his riding.
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Yes he did have a montesa in his early days for a short while, i saw him with it........ ;D
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hi
i beat Steve in his first ever race out of the mini bike club he road his hot xr75 or 100cc depend who you talk to and i was on a cz250.it was at nepean and a novice race with st George motor cycle club.the very next dirt track he had a new 125 and beat every one in his class.the next race meeting he had a 125 and a new 250 both yamahas.these were club days but then st George and dirttrack (short circuit)we big events.i am talking pre 73 here.i never saw Steve ride any thing other than yamahas.i was lucky enough to be in his team in 1973 and 1974 for the club teams campionships,have the trophy's at home to prove it as well.CHRIS DIXSON former Mr motorcross and owner of macklyn motor cycles sponsored Steve straight away.the Monty could have been in the gall family as there were 3 tracks on their farm in illawong (land value now about 10mill).his older brother used to race speedway cars and kept fit riding at home
cheers
jim
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Maybe the Montesa was his brother Deans bike? Harry Macklin himself sponsored young Steven right from the beginning. Gally would have been riding for the factory before Chris Dixon bought the shop. Dixon raced against Gally and was on the same team so it's doubtful he would have sponsored him.
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i also remember him arriving in a morris Ute this was owned by the mechanic (English cars)where he worked.Chris Dixon worked with my dad at the aaec at meani.he left to race then he bought the yamaha shop.firko you are right about that.i was all of 16 when all this was happening.my brother was a a grade rider and i used to ride only in the novice race and trail bike race till i got my license
cheers
Jim
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That's the first time I've ever heard the words Montesa and Gall in the same sentence. Maybe he test rode one for one of the magazines? I well remember Harry Macklins shop accross the road from Miranda railway station. I bought my new silver tanked MX250 there. He took my immaculate ex Peter Scaysbrook/Vic Lyon built and sponsored genuine DT1MX as a part trade. That bike was a very trick and very fast bike with lots of chromed bits as Vic Lyon liked to do. I often wonder if it still exists. I was told that Harry put it into his private collection along with some other cool bikes. What ever happened to Harry, his collection and that bike in particular. Sorry to partially hijack the thread.
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All i can say is when i was watching Gally at Jilliby, he was a deadset hero to us young sprouters . Now i find out he'also rode a montesa although this does come as a complete shock :o, that makes him deadset legend status. Has anyone got any pics of this as i still cant fully grasp it 8). Ive been on a google mission for about an hour and cant find mention of this happening anywhere
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I did see steve gall and his brother with a montesa each, they were in thier mid teens , they rode them on thier property, I had a picture somewhere. I have looked around but cannot find it, hopefully I will come across it and i will post it here. ;)
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I remember a practice day at Nepean 20 years ago when one of the blokes managed to talk Gally into doing some laps on his CR500 Honda. It was like an M15 spy drama. We had to promise not to take any photos and he wore another blokes riding gear so he wouldn't be recognised. He did about 10 laps came in offered the owner a bunch of set up suggestions and then ducked away to change back into his Yamaha gear. He really looked after his sponsors and was petrified that Yamaha would find out he rode something other than his beloved Yamahas. I did manage to get a few laps on his TT600 dirt tracker that day. What a weapon. I wonder where that bike ended up?
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For the penultimate answer... Why not Email steven?
Im sure he would be able to clear this up
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I don't know about Montessa's but he was seen on that "other" Japanese brand.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/gmcloa/Gall.jpg)
Courtesy of Ray Ryan & the Western Australian Vintage Motocross News, winter 96
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Arh, the Hoey part of the story is true; the Monty connection gains traction....
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hi
that pic says 1974 Steve is Little older than me i was 16 then he was already sponsored by macklyn yamaha then.we both rode dirt track in 1974 him on yamahas and me on a cz and also a 1968 capra.if Steve rode a Monty in dirt track i would have known.1973 and 1974 he raced yamahas in st George mccc dirt track.
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Had to ring Steve and ask him to settle it once and for all. Steve admits to riding a CZ and Hodaka once and a RM in 75 for a few months but otherwise he was and still is Yamaha thru and thru. Dunlop tyres were the other consistency
So Montessa and Gall - no
Tanner
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Had to ring Steve and ask him to settle it once and for all.
>:( Damn it Kawa, you really know how to put the kybosch on to a good whodunit don't ya ;D
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It just so happens that my cousin was Gally's boss when he was an apprentice mechanic. I'll ask him if there were any Montesa happenings... If anyone will know (other than Gally himself) it will be him. ;)
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Steve Gall may not have rode a Montesa and he indicated as much when I attended a training camp in the 70's at Hungry Creek but Anthony Gunter did, I believe, ride a Montesa at one stage.
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I was regular at all the open meetings during the 70's, i remember him( Gally) on a RM for a minute, but never a Montesa,
in fact back in those days Montesa's were very rare ( in A grade) There was Ron Dinsdale and in Sydney Chris Kane rode one.
Other than those i did don't recall any others. Most people were on YZ's RM's , Maicos and Honds, even Kawasakis were far and few between.
The seventies was a sea of yellow. Decoster rode one overseas, Gunter rode one here.
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I was having a bit of a clean-up & found a clipping from an old Revs or Motorcycle news magazine . I don't know if this is the same as the image that GMC posted ( that has now been deleted ), but I remembered the thread & scanned this image .
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I've seen a pic of him on a TM 250 (believe it or not) circa 75 in one of the mags of the day. Will have to try & find it
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I may be wrong but I think the shot of Gally on the Combat Wombat is from a Revs test. Phil Young would know, he was the Hodaka importer at the time. I'll check with the old fella and report back.
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I attended a Steven Gall / Anthony Gunter training camp at Hungry Creek in around '78. During a front brake training session Gally asked why I wasn't able to lock the front brake. I told him I could not brake any harder! Steven indicated that he had never ridden a Montesa (I was on a VB360) but thought I should be able to lock the wheel. Anthony Gunter did indicate that he had ridden a Montesa ( I have no details at all) and told Steven that the front brake of a Montesa was nothing like a Yamaha front brake and that a front wheel lock up on a Montesa was indeed a very rare thing (read - never happens).
I can only conclude that Steven Gall never rode Montesa. Now, did Anthony Gunter or his brother?
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I cleaned up my photobucket account a while back, this would have been the picture I had up.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/gmcloa/Gall.jpg)
Different picture but looks like the same day, same riding gear.
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I may be wrong but I think the shot of Gally on the Combat Wombat is from a Revs test. Phil Young would know, he was the Hodaka importer at the time. I'll check with the old fella and report back.
Phil got back to me and reports that he doesn't recall Gally on board a Hodaka or the Mt Kembla session shown in the photos. It's obviously not a race meeting going by the lack of numbers and the shot (with bike leaning against safety fence in background) of Steve going the wrong direction on the Mt Kembla straight. Phil didn't supply the bike so it may have been supplied by Victorian distributor or a private owner. the Like Jim states, Gally was riding Yamahas for Macklin Yamaha in 1974 so there's no way the photos are anything other than a magazine photo shoot.
(Slight thread hijack)The gun rider on Super Combat Hodakas in 1974 was Garry Hodge who rode both OSSA Phantoms and Hodakas for Phil Young. Garry shocked everyone at a big open at Amaroo Park in '74 by taking out the A grade 125 class on Phils Super Combat on its debut. He beat some of the best 125 riders in the sport that day (including me :'() and really got tongues wagging. Unfortunately injury and other things prevented him from riding for a few months after that and by then the RM 125 had been released and the Hodakas moment in the sun was over. Garry is one of those great riders that were good enough to beat anybody on their day but for whatever reason the breaks never came his way. At the very first vintage meeting at Amaroo in 1988 he rode his Phantom and fought bar to bar with Ron Dinsdale all day, showing that he still had plenty of speed. Hodgy made an appearance in the Kevlar Kompound at CD6 with his distinctive red OSSA Desert Phantom and is one of the funniest and nicest blokes I know, a dead set character.
(Hijack over, resume normal programming.)
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All i can say is when i was watching Gally at Jilliby, he was a deadset hero to us young sprouters . Now i find out he'also rode a montesa although this does come as a complete shock :o, that makes him deadset legend status. Has anyone got any pics of this as i still cant fully grasp it 8). Ive been on a google mission for about an hour and cant find mention of this happening anywhere
Friends dropped in for coffee this arvo and got sharing our CD7 trip and old mx tracks in oz.
Sandra Haslam mentioned she hung out with Sue Smith from the Diary farm behind the Jilliby track.They would sneak in through the fence and watch all the big names like Gall racing. ;D :P \
Sandra's partner mentioned he was doing his pro lap at Finke many moons ago on his DR350 and Andy Caldocote comes flying through .
Commentator goes "there goes AC passing the last prolapper".
Bloke yells out he would he's on a DR ;D
AC went onto win that year.
Good times :P