John Owens’ & Kevin Cameron’s   New Book, “Superbike: An Illustrated History”

This great book chronicles the 1970s transition from the twin-cylinder BMWs, Ducatis, and Moto Guzzis and the wobbling and weaving first-generation Japanese four-cylinders to a rapidly improving wave of race-worthy machines that led to the sportbike revolution. Owens shot the black-and-white photographs published in this beautifully designed and produced 192-page hardcover book at five of the tracks that dotted the U.S. motorcycle road racing landscape at the time: Daytona, Bryar (a.k.a. Loudon), Laguna Seca, Pocono, and Road America.

Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Freddie Spencer—three Americans who went on to win a combined 10 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix World Championship—figured prominently in this AMA Superbike era. Throughout the book, Cameron and Owens provide insights and images of riders, crew members, and machines. “The desire to go fast, brake, turn and accelerate isn’t that complicated,” Cameron writes in the opening pages. “In any given era, the dominant rider is the person who has most imaginatively exploited the new possibilities presented by constantly evolving chassis, suspension and tires.”
 
Available for $75 from MotoRacing Books and Superbikebook.com, and more information is available from  [email protected] .