They say 2000 was the Year of the Twin. With Honda's new RC51, Ducati's 996, Aprilia's fine WSC performances from Troy Corser and the RSV, they wouldn't be wrong.

But if 2000 was the year of the Twin, the era from about 1983 to 1991 was the Decade of the Twin.

In those days, the BOTT, Pro Twin (Modified and Grand Prix) and TTF1 classes were in many ways the pre-runners to today's Superbike racing. The factories weren't directly involved, but they were lending support to some pretty dang good private squads. Commonwealth Honda, Leoni Racing, Ferracci, the infamous "Lucifer's Hammer" Harley, Dr. John's Guzzis...pretty fierce competition on machines that had "one wheel set in the late 70's and one in the early 80's", according to Mick Ofield, a competitor of the era.

The bikes hadn't yet succumbed to the "drastic plastic" days of modern aerodynamics, suspensions still sucked and tires were harder than a tech inspector's heart. But in these machines lay the seed of the modern era when Superbikes can turn the same lap times as GP machines, and Supersport-prepped 600s can lap Daytona faster than anything King Kenny ever raced.

The bikes themselves were pretty heterogeneous; whereas today's racebikes are almost variations on a theme, the old Twins were a delightful hodge-podge of whatever worked, or whatever was available. Privateers with the dough and dedication could make a serious dent on the race scene. One such privateer, Mick Ofield, remembers those days, and how he and a bike named "Guido" mixed it up with the best of 'em.

In late 1987, Ofield was united with this machine, a Ducati Pantah. "I was riding a Metisse-framed Norton at club events and at local Nationals," says Ofield, an Englishman living in California. "Tired of getting beaten by Ducatis, I looked around for a good one to buy. Cagiva North America was located in Gardena and were helping two race efforts, both run out of their shop."

"One bike was ridden by Duane Summers who worked at Cagiva and one was ridden by Fred Eiker and was owned by a Cagiva employee called Brian Smyth. I knew Fred very well, we had been racing together on Nortons before he went on to compete full-time in AMA Nationals," Mick says.

Eight grand and a handshake later, "Guido" was his. "The bike came with special tools and a year's worth of parts. During 1987 it was raced by Fred Eiker at both national and club events. The highest it was placed at an AMA BOTT race was 4th. The year of manufacture I don't know. It was never registered and could well have been the product of a parts bins. There is a rumor it was the bike that Cycle World's Steve Anderson won the La Carrera Mexican open roads race on, but I don't know."

Ofield quickly changed the bike over to right-hand shift. ("Old habits die hard, and Marco Luccinelli did the same to his factory TT-F1 bike.")

"Guido" also came with a trick, springless Roma air shock, just like the works Ducati bikes had. It weighed less than three pounds. "The compression and rebound damping was adjusted by nitrogen pressure. The system was real tricky to set up and caused a crash when it slowly leaked, considerably reducing ride height," says Ofield. The troublesome shock soon was replaced by a Marzocchi aluminum unit, revalved by PPS.

The Ducati mill was a work of art, with numerous trick parts sourced from Ducati speed shops the world over, with an emphasis on NCR Ducati stuff. "The motor was pretty well tweaked," Mick says. "Carrillo rods, NCR#7 cams, 41mm Malossi carbs (which were Dellortos with the bodies totally reworked, the accelerator pumps removed, lightweight springs installed and billet bell-mouths machined to blend into the body), heads ported by FBF, 810cc piston and barrel kit by FBF, NCR exhaust with a really loud NCR megaphone and a NCR lightweight flywheel. The transmission had a lightened clutch basket, possibly from NCR, but was otherwise pretty stock."

The chassis sported Technomagnesium 5 spoke wheels (5.5 rear, 3.50 front), fully floating front Brembo rotors, and special rear Brembo rotors with a Husqvarna caliper and mount. Those were the days before you got out your credit card and ordered a complete race kit from the factory.

But Guido was in for an inauspicious debut. "The first outing was pretty eye opening, with 20-30 more horsepower than I was used to," says Ofield. The consequence of the added power was a massive get off in turn nine at Willow Springs, a la Jamie Hacking this season. "The damage was pretty extensive, wheels, crankcases and of course tank, seat and fairing. New cases came from the factory the rest came from my pockets!"

Over time, Ofield refined his beloved "Guido." "The big bore kit started to cause problems because the barrels had iron sleeves, not nikasil," states Ofield. A set of stock 750 barrels and Borgo two-ring pistons, ex-Kevin Erion parts, were bought from Dan Kyle. "These cured the oiling/seizing problems. The heads were re-ported by myself after measuring showed considerable difference between them. The horizontal exhaust rocker cover has an oil drain to the front of the crankcase like the NCR factory bikes. The rear cylinder head has air ducted to it works style from behind the front wheel."

Some parts went the to the wayside, as the years of racing eventually took their toll on "Guido". "The hydraulic clutch was ditched a long time ago in favor of cable operated one of my design using early TZ250 clutch operating helix, as NCR ones are virtually unobtainable," says Ofield.

"The frame is now the 2nd one. They metal-fatigue real easy and the bumps and G forces in turn 8 at Willow only add to the punishment," Mick surmises. "The crankcases are now the 3rd set, the front right engine mount pulls out under stress. When this occurs the engine and back wheel are only held to the front wheel by 1 bolt and the throttle cables!"

That problem was cured by having Nigel Patrick of Patrick Racing weld a tube of aluminum across the cases to convert the mount to a through bolt like the newer 900 and 750 cases.

Pistons were also switched. "The Borgo pistons need replacing every few races so have been replaced by stock Montjuich ones. Not replacing the Brogo units caused the only mechanical failure in the bikes history. The piston let go at 10,000rpm between turns one and two at Willow. The resulting damage was a bent Carrillo rod, wrecked barrel and bent valves."

Guido and Ofield continued to race at club events and Nationals in the area.

In 1999, Ofield decided to restore "Guido" to his former glory. "After years of nothing but race, replace, crash, race, race, he looked pretty tatty," says Ofield. "I have renovated the bike to NCR colors of the TTF2/F1's of the early 80's era. The beautiful paint was done by Cycle Color (909-471-2933, and highly recommended).

"Guido's a combination of road-going F1 and NCR TTF2/1 technology and parts," says Ofield. "I've always preferred revvy bikes, and 'Guido' has the cams and reliability to wind up to 10,000 or 11,000 rpm with no problems. It's a great bike to race, like a 250 with a bit more torque. But not much more with the NCR cams and exhaust!"

Guido also sports sprockets by AFAM and tires from Graves Motorsports. "An immense amount of help concerning getting the right parts for a rare bike came from Paul in the parts department at Pro Italia. He is the one person up there who really knows Ducati parts."

Mick would like to track down the previous owner. "If anyone knows the whereabouts of Brain Smyth let him know to contact me, I would like to send him shots to show Guido still lives!"

While the era is over, "Guido" and Mick still can offer us a glimpse into our history, when racing motorcycles were not as refined as they are today, but were still just as exciting.