MONTESA

My love for the Montesa Cappra Vr250 started in 1997 with my Dad hearing of a state Vintage Motocross championships in Narrogin Western Australia. We went as spectators, it was a cold and rainy day, but the smell of the Castrol R30 and the sounds of 500 BSA'S with straight through exhausts was enough to get us both hooked back on Motocross after many years away from it.

We went away from that event with dad saying he knows where an old Yamaha is in a shed on a farm, and he will go straight to work on the owner on Monday. The Yamaha ended up being the "score of the century", but it took several years of talks before the owner finally parted with the YZ360B.

In the mean time, dads work took him from the workshop and out to various farms and houses in the area. One small job in particular, ended up being a most profitable one. While on a farm fitting a small window, he happened to look inside the shed as he walked past and saw an old Montesa virtually complete, just in need of restoration. He approached the owner and asked what was he doing with the bike. He was told it was originally bought for the kids, but was too powerful and scared them so it was placed in the shed to be forgotten. After a bit of bartering, they agreed on the window job being free in exchange for the Montesa (remember I said it was a small window). Dad couldn't pack the bike on the ute quick enough, and as he was leaving the owner even chased him down the driveway asking if he wanted the original owners manual as well! The sweet deal had just got sweeter.

When he got it home the phone calls began worldwide to find out a little more about the bike. After speaking to the 1970's Australian distributor for them, he was told it was an Early Vr250 Cappra and not many of these were imported into Australia. (To this day I have only seen one other here in West Australia and no others at the two National titles I have attended).

The bike showed no signs of ever being raced as the fork legs, when polished, looked like new with absolutely no pitting in them. Dad started the restoration to bring the old "Monty" back to new. The motor didn't get touched, just inspected and put back together. Cosmetics were all it needed and dad did a fine job of that. Next was "take it out and get it dirty". We joined the VMX Club of W.A. and put it and myself to the test (I hadn't raced myself for over 14 years).

To this day VMX is still a part of our family. I don't ride much at the moment, as finances are tight with a mortgage, wife and 3 kids. But my father-in-law still races the El Bandito Bultaco he purchased new in 1968 as well as dad racing any one of the bikes in his collection on almost a fortnightly basis. He loves his Spanish machines, his preferences go to Bultaco. His Vmx collection contains Bultaco's, Montesa, Yamaha, and Hondas, just to name a few.

The Monty pulled 3 firsts and a dnf for it's first outing and we were excited because this motor was still on its first bore and the bike was 25 years old! More calls were made and we received a few tips on how to really get it going. The bike turned out to be a powerful contender at a state level, and if ridden by a smaller person could easily of taken out a title or two. But I was content with a bike that handled like a dream (for its age), went hard enough to keep me at the pointy end of the field in most events, and was admired by most because of its rarity.