Marty Tripes's Works Honda RC250 Found!

Comments from Jerome Heiberger, who raced the bike after it was claimed...

I remember racing back in the late 70's and early 80's, I was a local expert  ranked at the top of my class for a number of years.

I met John Roeder at the local race track and we became friends, I remember that weekend at the Hangtown National, watching Marty Tripes win the 250 class. It was awesome display of talent, as he blew away the competition. Afterwards when John claimed the bike, all I remember was all the controversy and how upset Honda was.

It was a week or two after that when I asked John if I could race the bike, surprisingly he said yes and gave me the bike to race for a couple of weeks.

It was the coolest thing that ever happened to me at the time. Here I was, a local expert with a factory Honda!!! It was so trick, titanium everything, the bike felt so light. I won a few races on it and gave it back to John, only to ask him if I could race it one more time, at Mammoth Mountain. I don't think I did very well, because in the first moto, I turned the rear shock shafts blue, over heated them. I felt bad when I gave John the bike back because of that. The valving on the suspension, was setup for Hangtown, not Mammoth Mountain.

The RC Honda was very light, but what I remember most was the power. You would think the Honda would have had lots explosive HP, however the setup on the power was actually very tame. The factory mechanics setup the bike for the Hangtown track, which is hardpack dirt, very slippery, so the milder power worked great for that track. The power band on the bike was more like a 500cc engine with a steady pull.

Attached please find a picture of me from Cycle News on the bike at Baylands Raceway.

Jerome Heiberger

John Roeder/2005 pulling the 79 RC250 he claimed in 1979, out of storage where it sat since 1979!