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United States 50cc championships

50cc road racing in United States of America:
The California scene by Franco Garavoglia:


Apparently the 50cc racing in California has been active at least from the late ‘60s. Some old timers, and ItalJet suppliers, remember seeing the factory Suzuki racer Itoh at Willow Spring (CA) with an RK67…by the sound on the track they thought the engine had ignition problem, but at the bike closer inspection in the pits, they came to the conclusion what they heard was just a sequence of gear shifts! These so called “old timers”, and I say it with all my respect, were the nicest persons I ever met…they contributed to the 50cc cause with great dedication and always extended their availability in helping anyone in need. They were “wood board track” racers (when bikes had only one speed and an ignition kill-switch to slow down instead of brakes!?!?) and their name should not be forgotten: Sid Chambers and Ed Kelly. I used to see them during my lunch break in their shop in Long Beach, CA. To answer your questions: Yes I did own all three bikes. I purchased my first 50cc, a Suzuki TS50, from Dale Brown Suzuki (Long Beach, CA) in 1974. In 1975 I purchased, through a friend in Turin Italy (my home town), the Ringhini owned by Mr. Inserra (racer in the senior class of the Italian Championship). In 1975 I met Walter Villa (250-350GP world champion) at Ontario Raceway CA and he became my connection to Francesco Villa. Yes I did prepare and maintained all the bikes in that period. My call to the two-stroke technology was stronger than my passion for racing.
1975 Ontario, CA - Bob Nolan on Garavoglias TS50.
Most of my work went into the Suzuki because of the great challenge to convert a street bike into a racing machine. With this machine I was able to race and win against the Italjets. When I introduced the Ringhini and the Villa on the race tracks it had the effect of awakening the real lover of the sport but, unfortunately, also had the effect of discouraging all the racers that could not afford to buy racing equipment from Europe (or to take the challenge by building their own racing equipment). The photos I sent you about the large gathering at Riverside, was an event intended to bring some attention to the smaller class and also to attract potential buyers for ItalJet; ItalJet’s importer Keith Mullins, Mario Caldato Sr., and myself were in contact with Leopoldo Tartarini (President/Owner of ItalJet in Italy) pushing for running a small production of 50cc racers for the US market.
Franco Garavoglia in front of the fifty lineup at Riverside 1979.
1979 Riverside - 50cc class winners:1st Jewel Hendricks Kreidler, 2nd Franco Garavoglia Suzuki, 3rd Mario Caldato Jr. Italjet.
So the 50GP lovers showing up at the tracks with real GP machines was Jewel Hendricks with his own frame and a Kreidler engine, Jim Ahrens on a Jewel Hendricks’ frame and Kreidler engine, some Honda CR110 (not very competitive), an occasional Tomos, and many vintage ItalJets (Minarelli P6 with 5-6 HP). My disappointment came when I realized that with little work, all those ItalJets could have been boosted to at least double their original power. I worked on Doug Stanton’s ItalJet Minarelli P6 and with cylinder porting, intake timing, spark timing, and expansion chamber modification raised the engine performance to almost 12HP. What I’m trying to say is that the class died in my view for lack of technical passion.

When I purchased the Italian bikes, they came with many spare parts. The biggest upset I encountered was about the failure of the primary shaft (Villa’s gear box); that part came late enough, I believe, to discourage Jewel Hendricks from racing for lack of real competitors. When I finally came into racing with my Ringhini, Jewel Hendricks was no longer racing (to bad! I was really looking forward to good racing).

My racing involvement ended when my company transferred me to Michigan.
Franco Garavoglia 2011.
1976 Ontario, CA - The Franco Garavoglia team: 374 ? on Suzuki TS50, 224 Philippe deLespinay on Ringhini, 787 Bob Nolan on Villa. The fast Suzuki and Franco Garavoglia.
1976 Ontario: 787 Bob Nolan on Villa 50, 781 Franco Garavoglia Suzuki TS50.