yz 490 daryl willoughby

[lms6201]

  just this evening i picked up another 490 k  , the bloke told me he bought it over from adelaide with him when they moved , a number of years ago , he,s had the bike since 1991 , he also told it would be of interest as he believes it was owned by a daryl willoughby when it was new , i,m not familiar with the name , perhaps can someone  tell me what the connection may be ? thanks     

[Hoony]

daryl willoughby was a top A grade national rider back then, he rode for trevor flood amongst others.
if that bike is indeed one of his and is unmolested it would be a well sorted YZ490.

[090]

Definitely top 10, maybe even top 5. I loved his style of riding, especially the way he jumped. Cool find if it is true.

[lms6201]

 i don,t know how it could be verified , but anyway bike is the best origional 490 i,ve seen , had been road reg.d for enduro, has a lighting coil,big muffler , big big gearing    he did some organising or something like that for fink, has it 490 forks and wheel is the only thing non orig. , about $50 will get it racing 

[Maico31]

Willoughby was a hard charging front runner in the early 80's. Rode for Pitmans Yamaha on YZ465 & 490's. Had some great battles with Gally on 465's and could beat the best on his day.

[Hoony]

lets see some pic's of the bike if you can post them up.

[Tony T]

I've got a couple of photos of him on a 490 at the '83 Nationals over here................ somewhere.............. 

[Tony T]

This is from the right meeting but it's not Willoughby.
Rob Twyerould maybe??

[lms6201]

thanks for that photo ,that big round ally silencer looks very much the same as the unit on this one ,looks like a custom job , very professional,  bike had an it tank on it at one stage and a matching blue seat (still on it )can now catgorise my 490,s by seat color ,i gave it a quick run today , has been jetted rich and is geared to run 100mph  44 tooth rear , no ping , possibly due to jetting but may have been de pinged , as far as photo,s go just looks like an old 490 (with a blue seat)

[Tony T]

I don't remember any YZ's running blue seats in '83. Maybe it's a WR500 seat??
And the gearing suggests it was set up for desert or enduro at some stage...............maybe?
I've probably got more questions than answers, sorry......... 
Does anyone know where Darryl Willoughby is now?
I'm sure I could find him if nobody else knows.
pm me if you want me to chase this up. 

[LWC82PE]

what was the last model 490? i know the 89 YZ250WR had a blue seat. maybe yours is a 89 model???
i also have an article in T & T on a YZ 490 with red seat set up for enduro use with lights etc.

[Maico31]

Tony i think Willoughby is still in SA. It's a wonder no one has tried to contact him about appearing at a Classic Dirt event.

[Tony T]

I reckon the last 490 might have been '87??
With all due respect to someone who was faster than most of us dream about............ Darryl never quite "made it".
Maybe being from S.A. had something to do with it................. 

[lms6201]

the seat has been recovered , (of coarse!) the last 490 was the 1990 "a" i think was the model #  with the wr500,s following in 92 ,93  possibly 91 in the states but i,m unsure , the only change from the "new style cased" yz465 bottom end through out the (13 year ?) run , appart from gear numbers and ratios, is they shifted the clutch cover dowls on the later ones , my wr cover won,t go on my 465 g , the wr was detuned significantly and is fitted with a smaller carby than a yz and had the same pinging problems, some say a good 250 would eat a wr500   , mine is fitted with a yz cylinder and is lots of fun , the bike i mentioned above also has the same fork seal covers as the one in the photo , but that silencer looks very sameish 

[Maico31]

Tony i think Darryl had a lot of shoulder trouble which affected his performance also. I remember at the Aussie titles at Dargle in 1980 he was battling for the lead with Gall and his shoulder 'popped out' forcing him to retire.