Jawa jollies

Reading the Jawa story in OBA 82 brings back memories. Picture a nice sunny Sunday morning in the mid ‘70s in Qld (that’s easy). Working for Brisk Sales I had the use of Demonstrators in our range of bikes; Kawasaki, Jawa and CZ, and Maico. Previously in the year in question I had ridden a 634.5 Jawa to spectate at the Easter Races at Bathurst. The only “modifications” to the bike for the approximately 2000 km round trip was a pair of Continental Tyres. Back to the sunny Sunday morning. Having decided to go for a nice lazy ride I happened to call past Lakeside Raceway. The track was busy with what I, a bit unkindly, call the “Queen Street Racing Club” (better Lakeside than the street). After a while Snowie the caretaker who also collected the tenner, the cost of a few hours on the track back then, said “Rob do a few laps, l wont charge you”. Initially after saying no l relented and said, “Just a few”.

Of course, wearing all the protective gear ie: suede jacket, jeans, walkers, a Bell Magnum open face helmet and sunglasses, onto the track I go. Once wound up the Jawa stayed in top gear all the way round (pre-Bus Stop days) so within a handful of laps, having passed all the 4 cylinder four into one jockeys I pulled into the pits and was swamped by “What have you done to that thing etc, etc”. It wasn’t a fair fight as I had been round that place a few times before but that’s another story, it did show however that a “big 350” from Czechoslovakia didn’t go to badly.

Rob Olsen

Brisbane, Qld.

Nice story Rob, although I suspect your experience and riding ability played more than a small part in the lap times. Still, those 350 Jawas were (and are) a much-underrated machine. – Ed