CZ World Championships

What is it about CZ motorcycles? Although the Česká zbrojovka factory in the former Czechoslovakia continues to produce automobile parts and measuring equipment, motorcycle production ceased in 1997 after the brand was purchased by well-meaning but financially strapped Italian manufacturer Cagiva. And yet for some reason, decades later, vintage motocross racers maintain a strong affinity for these seemingly crude machines.

One might be forgiven for suspecting that it’s the lure of the unobtainable. Not many Americans dared venture to the communist countries behind the Iron Curtain before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. So perhaps it was difficult to get one’s hands on a CZ? Not true: They were sold in great numbers worldwide.

Maybe it’s the lightweight two-strokes’ track record, then? Indeed, many of the star riders of the 1960s–70s piloted CZs, and team riders Paul Friedrichs, Joel Robert, and Victor Arbekov broke the four-stroke stranglehold on the world championships by winning seven titles between them. Compelling, but there’s got to be a more tangible reason than that…

To learn the truth, I headed to the CZ World Championships at E-Street MX Park in Marysville, California, north of Sacramento. Although billed as the “Third Annual,” that’s just a nod to the current venue and the fact that the event is named in honor of promoter Robin Hannah’s late friend Don Matthews, former proprietor of the Zed Shed in Terrebonne, Oregon. Similar events were in fact held as long ago as the late 1970s and continued into the 2000s at various Southern California locations. Those early races are generally acknowledged as having kickstarted the vintage motocross movement.

I attended one such event at Carlsbad Raceway sometime in the ’90s and was somewhat disappointed. While there were a couple dozen CZ riders on hand, few lined up for the World Championship races because they were more concerned about scoring points in their regular classes. Not only that, but the event was hardly international in scope, as the vast majority of riders hailed from the Golden State.

Not so this time. The entry list showed riders from all over North America, plus the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, and Italy. The foreigners wore team jerseys in their respective countries’ colors and brought flags that were flown along the fence line, giving the event a true international flavor. And many of the other racers dressed the part, wearing period gear or Czech hockey jerseys. Longtime Jawa-CZ dealer Bertus made a killing selling nylon vented jerseys emblazoned with his shop’s logo.

Perhaps more impressively, word was there were 122 CZs—plus a handful of machines from sister marque Jawa—on hand. These were arranged chronologically by row on the start straight for Saturday morning’s show, and only a few were trailer queens, as most were later ridden in Sunday's races. Put on by Dave Boydstun’s American Vintage Dirt Racers Association (AVDRA), these drew 150 entries in 28 different classes. Those in the know said that in 1972, the year of CZ’s largest annual production, there were never more than 200 units at the factory at one time, making this one of the largest gatherings ever.

A few words about the venue: Modern motocross tracks are too jumpy for short-travel vintage bikes, so E-Street added an “Original Standard Motocross” track. That might not be the most inspired term, but the natural-terrain track is a little slice of heaven, snaking through a grove between two bridges in the sandy flood plain of the Yuba River. Veteran racer Lori Payne (younger sister of Nancy Payne, the first women's national champion) said the layout reminded her of the old Shadow Glen track at Indian Dunes.

There were a number of celebrities on hand, and each had a CZ story to tell. America’s first World Champion, Brad Lackey recalled throwing away the lead on purpose at the 1970 Unadilla Trans-AMA when he was just 16 years old. “The grass was wet in practice, and I fell so many times that it stripped out my shift lever,” he said. “I knew I was going to get caught and passed, so I said, ‘Screw this!’ and ghost-rode the bike out of Screw U.” That performance led to Lackey being invited to compete in the Grands Prix, during which time he lived and worked at the Czech factory.

Rex Staten’s 15 minutes of fame came while leading the 1975 500cc USGP at Carlsbad on a Harry Klemm-tuned CZ. Unfortunately, it didn’t last. “The motor mounts broke, the motor was shaking, and I was hanging on for my life!” he recalled.

“The only things holding the motor in the frame were the chain, the pipe, and the carb,” Klemm added.

John DeSoto recalled switching to CZ “because [Husqvarna importer] Edison Dye didn’t pay me for six months.” His fondest CZ memory was winning the 100-mile Elsinore Grand Prix in 1970, topping 1,200 riders on Saturday and 1,700 on Sunday.

It was great to hear the former pros tell these stories, but what I really wanted to know was, “Why CZ?” I asked countless CZ aficionados that question throughout the weekend, and each had his own reasons for rally­ing behind the brand. Seldom, however, did one fail to mention a quality that “CZ Guy” Lee Holth first spoke of at that Carlsbad race all those many years ago: reliability. “You go to a vintage swap meet and you see CZ, CZ, Husky in a box,” he said. “You just can’t break them!”

Staten seconded that sentiment, calling them “bulletproof,” while DeSoto spoke of their inde­structible gearboxes: “I always got good starts because with your hand on your helmet, like we did at the time, you could just jam it in gear without the clutch.” And Lackey explained that there really weren’t any other options if you wanted a trustworthy motocrosser: “Back in the early times there were only CZs, Hodakas, and a couple other brands. If you wanted to race, and finish, every weekend—and just clean your air filter in between—you rode a CZ.”

Racing chiropractor Gary DeForest summed it up best, when in a post-race Facebook post he wrote, “Buy a CZ and you’ll never have to work on a bike again.”

Now that’s a reason I can get my head around!