Steve Gall's Montesa V75

[211kawasaki]

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

[mx250]

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

[AjayVMX]

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.

[montynut]

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.

[MX125B]

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.

[Husky500evo]

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 .   

[JC]

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

[firko]

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.

[montynut]

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?

[GMC]

I cleaned up my photobucket account a while back, this would have been the picture I had up.



Different picture but looks like the same day, same riding gear.

[firko]

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.)

[VMX247]

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 , that makes him deadset legend status. Has anyone got any pics of this as i still cant fully grasp it . 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.    \
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 
AC went onto win that year.
Good times