We can’t get enough of Ron Wood’s beautifully prepared flat track racers. Jamie Waters’ bike was featured in Sideburn #3; it’s one of two big-tube framed Nortons built by Wood, and it’s also one of the few Nortons to make an impact on the AMA Flat Track champs.
According to Waters, the bike “won the Ascot Championship three years running in the mid-seventies, and is full of Ron Wood’s and CR Axtell’s best stuff”. (Axtell was a noted cylinder head and flow bench specialist.) Norton’s support faded away soon after, the result of business crises at home, and the 750 cc engine was simply too long in the tooth to match the Harleys and Yamahas for power.
The image was taken by Vincent Prat of the French club Southsiders MC at the 2008 Legend of the Motorcycle show in California. There, the bike took First Place in the Norton Competition class—no small achievement given that LotM is one of the world’s premier motorcycle concours d’élégance.