Keith Stacker – the bloke who created Maico heaven Down Under
Keith Stacker began racing motorcycles when he was 17. A year later he won the 1954 250cc Australian Hill Climb Championship on a BSA that was almost as old as he was. This led to an offer to campaign the famous Walsh BSA Bantam which put Keith’s signature red-and-white striped rugby jersey regularly on the podium.
“Many people have asked about the significance of that jersey,” Keith told AMCN. “But the truth is mum bought it when I was quite young, it was very comfortable, very hard wearing, and I never outgrew it.”
A disagreement with Walsh over race strategy in the Grand National Scramble saw Keith working – and riding – for Jimmy Guilfoyle Motorcycles. Handy on the spanners, it was here Keith unleashed his skills; building such unusual specials as Arthur Pimm’s 237km/h Vincent-powered Manx Norton and the 350 BSA powered AJS for his on-track competitor John Burrows. And it was Burrows who Keith teamed up with to form Burrows & Stacker in High Street in Malvern, Victoria. For serious racers B&S was the place where you could purchase Greeves, DOT, Matchless, OSSA or even a Rickman Metisse Special on the drip feed; all through the B&S Finance Company.
Selling motorcycles on credit was a risky proposition back in the early 1960s and, now appointed as a Honda dealer, B&S Finance had hundreds of debtors. Plus the expense of a huge workshop employing top dirtbike racers such as Trevor Flood and Jack Pengelly. But despite the wide choice of machines at his disposal, Keith was constantly modifying and fabricating parts for off-road applications; and demonstrating their worth by winning both the 1968 Victorian and NSW Grand Nationals.
The B&S partnership folded in 1972 and Keith set up shop in Kew, selling Honda and Maico. In 1979 he raced the only pre-production Honda XR500 in the Wonthaggi 6 Hour Enduro declaring the machine hopeless; though not in so few words. In a few days he’d rectified the problems by jamming Honda’s free revving four-stroke into a 1978 Maico frame. Keith recalls a magazine reviewer declared the result perfect, but “the day after publication Honda was on the doorstep demanding their bike back.”
Keith also consolidated his relationship with Maico, a marque much underrated in Australia until the well-publicised 1972 International Tour, starring World Motocross rivals, Suzuki’s Roger de Coster and Maico’s Willi Bauer, with Keith supporting the Maico team at his own cost; though the team contributed a pile of spare parts on departure. The campaign also prepared the ground for Keith to take over Maico’s off-road activities Down Under.
All who knew Keith were astonished at his ability and craftsmanship, fettling Maicos for winner of the 1977 Grand National and scores of open class events Jack Pengelly. As Australia’s best known Maico exponent, Geoff Ballard, recalls. “Keith helped me sort my first Maico and became a big part of my world, helping in every way he could,” he said. “It made no difference whether it was motocross or enduro, he knew all the models and was always there to lend a hand.
“He built me a hybrid Maico with an ’83 cylinder head on earlier cases. It was difficult to comprehend how difficult that was to do, but the result was an instant winner. Next thing I had people on the phone from Germany wanting to know the details. My reply… ask Stacker!
“He was a bit of a genius in my eyes.”
After an stellar 30-year career and almost as many broken bones, Keith ceased serious riding in 1975 and his son Paul joined the business a few years later. It was out trail riding with Paul and a few mates in 2001 that Keith had a bad fall suffering irreparable damage to his neck. Even that didn’t slow him down for long.
Now, at 83, Keith has finally retired from the lathe, but still retains a keen interest in the vintage motocross scene.
by Peter Whitaker