Whilst officially still being a pretty regular Hagon JAP of the 1970's, we thought these pictures of Roger Heath's were a separate page from the regular Hagon machines as we think you'll agree it's rather something special. We pick up the story courtesy of Roger's Nephew Mike Heath.
It has been a while but I have finally taken some pictures of my uncle, Roger Heath's?JAP, "Saturday Night Fever".?Before he purchased it from F.R. Miller,?the bike was ridden by Wayne Ishi "The Bonsai Kid" and was supposed to be previously ridden by Danny "Berserko" Becker but true or not most owners of JAPs here in the US clamed that.
The bike is a 1974 Hagon and was in very poor condition. The engine mounting holes in the cases had to be machined and bushed while the engine was completely overhauled. New motor plates were made to except a Jawa layshaft replacing the Rotrax unit the bike came with. The bike was filthy and supported the usual dull silver frame and blue fiberglass fenders and a patina of caster oil scum and dirt.
My uncle did most of the paint, It was done during the 70s disco era so the "Saturday Night Fever" theme was used.
I used it for a backup bike and Dave Cox match raced it occasionally. One night racing in Caruthers I got tangled up with another rider an had a nasty get off striking my head in the process. My pit man Randy said I counted the track's medic's fingers and passed his other tests but I remembered nothing until I regained full consciousness at the starting tapes setting on this JAP waiting for the gated to go up!
Interesting story Mike, and one we
appreciate.
Two images are missing from this page