THE RACER’S RACER

For some, racing is more than the taking part – it’s the look, the feel, the attitude. Jon Bell is one of those competitors

Words: John Harrison Photos: Tom Bing

IT MUST BE a generational thing. I like flat track bikes to look like flat trackers. No mudguards, a big, square race plate up front, a spool front hub – the obvious visual pointers that other racing disciplines don’t have.

Modern 450s are impressive weapons in the right hands, and I love to watch them race, but the bikes leave me cold because they look like what they are, converted motocrossers. It irks me when their riders leave the front ’guard on and use the stock, shield-shaped number plates. But then I don’t understand why they prefer to race flat track wearing outfits that look like pyjamas when there are leathers on offer.

I know I’m just a silly old fart, out of touch... A generational thing.

This motorcycle and its builder/rider couldn’t be mistaken for belonging to anything but the flat track world.

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The UK dirt track scene doesn’t have the history of half-mile and mile tracks our American protagonists enjoy. Consequently, the national class for big-motored bikes – Thunderbikes – is largely filled with Rotaxpowered machines, so much so that Sportax, the UK’s Rotax specialist, sponsors it. I can only think of a couple of big twins in the class, a Yamaha XS750 framer and a Wasp-Yamaha MT-07 (as featured on the covers of SB32 and SB37 respectively). In classic framer chassis from the US, or CCM road bike based1, Rotaxes are proven and successful powerplants. But you don’t need one to win, as this beauty, with a Yamaha SR500 at its heart, has regularly demonstrated. Jon Bell raced short track for four seasons in the noughties, aboard a tricked-out KTM. He did well, enjoyed the racing, but stopped and sold the bike in 2008, turning to mountain bikes for his kicks. But flat track and its aesthetic never left his heart. ‘In 2014, I went to watch a DTRA race at my local track, Leicester, and was taken by a couple of SR500-based bikes that were racing that day. They looked like Kenny Roberts-era Yamahas, and they got my juices flowing again. I’d bought a clunker SR a couple of years earlier with thoughts of turning it into a street tracker, but seeing these two racers inspired me to build my own version. ‘I bought some of the racer’s favourites: a pair of R6 forks and some yokes I found on the VFT website, made by a Californian engineer called Robert Cuthbertson. He made them with a 60mm offset and they’re perfect. An ally swingarm purchased from eBay was supposed to be a straight bolt-in, but needed lots of fettling around the pivot to make it fit.’ Jon then took the stock frame to CC Engineering in Hull to get it de-raked to 25 degrees. Proprietor Neil Martin was the owner of one of the Yamaha racers that had so impressed Jon at the track, so it was logical to copy what he had previously done. Long nights spent in the shed with the frame built-up and on wheels, playing with ride heights, led to ordering a pair of Hagon shocks. ‘I like the bike to look right. My bike looks right to me.’ Amen to that. With the chassis sorted, it was time to get to work on the motor. ‘I found a chap on the internet called Rod Spry, who worked on classic Yamahas, and he rebuilt it with a big-bore kit and ported head. Interestingly, he converted it to wet sump, the theory Appendix

(opposite, clockwise from top left) Happy Jon; Chasing down Westley Agius, the racer Jon’s bike and style inspired to go flat track racing (see SB38); Classic big numbers on his back; Classic speed blocks on his bike; Effortlessly making up places being the engine runs cooler, it provides more positive lubrication and the oil sits low in the engine, so the weight is at its lowest. I had a cam ground by Kent Cams. I told them what it was for and explained how I wanted the engine to perform and it works very well.’ The dyno said 40bhp at the wheel and Jon hoped that would do the trick. ‘I wanted the exhaust to go under the motor, with the silencer coming out next to the swingarm. Hoos Racing Specialities in Iowa, who produce race parts for Yamaha 500 singles and 650 twins, provided just what I wanted. They make a nice underslung pipe that hugs the frame and runs at the same angles. To my eyes, it sits a treat,’ says Jon. A tank and seat that wouldn’t look out of place on a golden-era race bike, topped off with his own orange take on the classic Yamaha speed block paint job, and by 2016 Jon was ready to resume his racing. Disc brake? Nah, the stock drum would suffice, brakes are for slowing down and that wasn’t in the plan. So, a winning package out of the box? No. ‘I struggled with gearing early on, and also dropping valves from over revving. That issue was soon resolved with a set of R&D valve springs supplied by Hoos. I’ve had no trouble since, it’s very reliable. ‘I changed the shockers this year. The Hagons I had were limited on adjustment and worked OK for three and a half seasons, but this summer I got talking to Ben [BG Motorsport, a regular at DTRA races] and bit the bullet, investing in a pair of Öhlins to try and improve things. I think I’ve made some headway on set-up, especially at the last round of the season at Greenfield. ‘The Yam’s a bit heavy compared to some, but I’m not bothered because it looks great, performs well and it’s consistent.’ The racer’s racer, Jon Bell doesn’t have a road bike. When he’s riding, he’s racing. He races firm but clean. With a style honed as a junior team speedway rider in his youth, he seems to make up places effortlessly and smoothly. Typically at the pointy end and usually ending the day on the podium, he is proof that a well-prepared, converted road bike will do the job.

Always immaculately turned out, in 2019 Jon debuted the leathers he designed in the style of, and in homage to, the greatest Yamaha rider of all time, King Kenny Roberts.

Jon Bell enjoys being a flat track racer and riding a flat track bike. There’s no mistaking either for anything else.