I have gas shooting from the carburater directly into the air filter and subsequently leaking out onto clothing and bike. Any ideas what makes this happen.

Your carburetor is equipped with an accelerator pump that shoots a squirt of gasoline into the carb when you twist the throttle. There is a brass nozzle located in the very front of the throat of the carb that squirts the fuel. This nozzle is supposed to be positioned to squirt the fuel inwards into the carb. Is there a chance someone has turned this nozzle. If you look at it very closely, you can see the small **** or hole that the fuel comes out of.

Now, are you running your bike without the air cleaner on the engine. Although the accelerator pump nozzle should be set to direct the fuel into the carb, the air flow generated by the running engine should be pulling the fuel into the carb as well.

If you've got gasoline coming out of the carb and the engine is not running and you're not cranking on the throttle, you've got a problem with the needle and seat in the carb. Probably a piece of trash caught in the seat. You'll need to take the float bowl off of the carb to fix this problem.

You could also have a bad diaphragm in the accelerator pump. If the diaphragm gets a hole in it. fuel will flow up the tower that the accelerator pump actuator rod goes down into. While you've got the float bowl off, go ahead and replace this diaphragm for the accelerator pump as well. They're not that expensive.

Good Luck
Steve