Sergei Tarabanko - The 1970s Ice King

Back in the days when Ice Speedway could still be seen on television, commentator Dave Lanning used to call Sergei Tarabanko "Sergei The Sure Guy".This softly spoken PE teacher was ice speedway's equal to Ivan Mauger... totally dominant at his chosen discipline during the 70s and guaranteed a place in the speedway history books. Away from the track, Sergei did not look like the tough guy he was taken for on the track... He was a quiet man who loved fishing and taught PE at a Moscow school for a living, but during the last half of the 70s decade, Sergei ruled the ice racing circuits of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Ready to race... note the cut down tyres to protect his knees.

Tarabanko arrived on the ice racing scene in 1966 and was trained by Russian ice racing ace Gabdrakhman Kadyrov, who had won the World title an amazing six times. Tarabanko hit the headlines in 1975, when he won the World Championship in front of over 100,000 fanatical Russian fans in the Dynamo football stadium in Moscow. It was an emphatic display from the new Russian ace. A combination of talent, skill, nerve and training and technical advice from Kadyrov meant that Tarabanko was never beaten over the two days, racing to 10 straight race wins. It was mighty lift for the Russians, whose previous dominance of the World Ice Racing Championships had been broken in 1974 by Milan Spinka from Czechoslovakia.

In 1976, Tarabanko travelled to Assen in Holland in an attempt to retain his title. On day 1 he was invincible, scoring another maximum fifteen points. On day two, he scored thirteen points, but he was already home and dry by the time he dropped his first points of the meeting.

Sergei Tarabanko warms up his Jawa ice racer in the pits at Eindhoven in 1979

In 1977, the World Championship final was held at Inzell in what was West Germany. Tarabanko's attempt to win his third consecutive title suffered a setback when he had an uncharacteristic crash during the fist days racing, but another immaculate five ride maximum on the second day gave Tarabanko his hat-trick of World titles. Assen in Holland was the venue for the 1978 World final and another fifteen point maximum on the first day put Tarabanko on the way to a fourth title. Day two cemented his place in the history books as thirteen point were enough to give the Russian ace his fourth consecutive title.

Tarabanko leads Vladimir Subotin on his way to World tile No4 at Assen in 1978.

Tarabanko also played his part in the Soviet Union's dominance of the World Ice Racing Team championship, leading them to victory in the first ever competition in 1979 and again in 1980 and 1981.

Tarabanko's Double Over-Head Cam, 2-valve Jawa at Den Hagg in 1980.

(Text adapted from the "On Two Wheels" magazine collection... photos from Speedway Mail archives)

JAWA-CZ MOTORCYCLES

I have a real soft spot for most Eastern European motorcycles, even if they do have a reputation for being a bit like grey porridge; you know what I mean, stodgy, bland and even ugly in some peoples eyes. This may be the case when it comes to the simple commuter machines that have always been designed to be affordable and utilitarian, but when it comes to competition machines, the Czech machines have a record to be proud of.

The Ceska Zbrojovka factory in Strakonice began production of armaments in 1918 diversifying into bicycle production in 1930. It wasn't long before engines were added to these bicycles, progressing to complete motorcycle production within a couple of years. The CZ98 of 1934 was the first machine to go into mass production and continued to be produced for many years. Over the next 5 years 125cc, 250cc and 50cc machines were produced and 1938 saw the first appearance of CZ sidecars.


Can this really be James Dean on a CZ?

The German army took control of the factory during WW2 and no motorcycles were produced at all, but production did resume in 1946 with the CZ125 2-stroke twin. In 1949, CZ was brought under the control of the CSAZ (Czech Auto Industry) which brought the Czech motorcycle industry together under one banner.

Included in this new organisation was JAWA, a company formed by Frantisek Janecek in 1928 to produce a motorcycle based on the German Wanderer machine. The name JAWA is taken from the first two letters of JAnacek and WAnderer. The machine proved to be overly expensive though and Janecek had to re-evaluate his business and design a new, more cost effective machine. Ironically, it was Englishman George.W.Patchett who set him on the path to success, designing a 175cc machine that used a British Villiers engine and an Albion 3-speed gearbox. This was quickly followed by a 250cc version and the JAWA quickly became the most popular motorcycle on the Czecoslovakian roads.

George Patchett on a JAWA at the 1932 Isle of Man TT

Taking the Villiers engine as a model, JAWA began production of their own 175cc 2-stroke engine in 1932 and by the late 1940s, JAWA were producing their own 175cc and 250cc 2-strokes and also a range of 175cc, 250cc and 350cc 4-stroke models. In 1946, JAWA designed an advanced 250cc 2-stroke engine that was to become the basis of JAWA motorcycles for many years to come. When CZ and JAWA were joined together in 1949, both factories were able to utilise each others best design features, including this engine design and CZs proven forks, suspension and brakes. The iconic JAWA-CZ design was more or less set during this period and even today, many JAWA-CZ models retain some element of that classic 50s look.

Sporting success has always been important to the Czech manufacturers and the ISDT (International Six Days Trial) models and motorcrossers produced throughout the 1960s and 70s were pure "form and function" in their design and very successful they were too. CZ had taken the Silver Vase in the 1947 ISDT and during the next 15 years they had added 7 Gold Medals to their trophy cabinet. JAWA-CZ machines also came 1st in the 500cc World MX championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968 and the legendary Joel Robert won his first World title on a Czech machine too. JAWA-CZ machines were also at the forefront of road racing in the 60s, the most famous example being the highly advanced 350cc R67 ridden by Bill Ivy.



JAWA 4-cylinder 350cc racing machine

The third manufacturer to become part of CSAZ in 1949 was the ESO factory from Divisov. ESO were well known in Czechoslovakia at the time for their 250cc, 350cc and 500cc 4-stroke motocross and speedway machines. The 500cc ESO DT5 speedway engine was quickly gaining a reputation outside of Czechoslovakia too, especially in the hands of riders like the legendary Barry Briggs. In spite of its sporting success, the ESO name was not internationally recognised, so in July 1966, CSAZ re-branded the ESO DT5 as the JAWA type 680 and a legend was born. The JAWA has become synonymous with success in speedway at all levels and has won numerous World Championships in speedway, longtrack and ice speedway.

1972 JAWA Speedway Racer

1980 JAWA Ice Speedway racer

 The modern day JAWA speedway engine has recently had another name change and is now  known as JRM (Jawa Racing Motorcycles) to differentiate it from the JAWA roadsters.