Cycle News

~ BLM CLOSES PANOCHE ACCESS ROAD TEMPORARILY - The Panoche Access Road and Public Lands In the Panoche H1lls in Fresno County, Call!. will be closed starting April 18th to all vehicular traffic and off-the-road vehicular use except for administrative purposes. The area w1ll re-open July 7, 1969. The nearby New Idriaarea will remain open for use. The Panoche area is being temporarily closed "to protect the w1ldlife as this is the time of the year when the chukar partridge and Cailfornia quail are nesting and rearing their young." But mainly large herds of sheep are moved in to the area to feed on the young grass. During this closure the U.S. Bureauof Land Management will be working on a multiple use program for the area that will Include off-the-road vehicle use. ~ a.. V) ~ r.:l ~ r.:l -J U >.. U SPEEDWAY- HOW THEY DO IT IN ENGLAND Husi, Owners Picnic la, 4 On the fourth of May the first annuai Husqvarna Owners Picnic will be held at Saddleback Park, Irvine, Call!., starting at 11 a.m. and continuing until dusk.' The picnic promoter Edison Dye, president of Med-International, Husqvarna distributor, invites all Husqvarna owners and their families to the affair and promises interesting entertainment for the whole family. Some races and contest events will be featured, with merchandise prizes for the winners. One event scheduled is a two-hour team scrambles, bavlng one expert and one novice as ~mates. Guest of Honor w1ll be Mr. Bengt O. Farnstrom, President of Husqvarna of Sweden. A family-style barbecue will be served by caterers. Since the picnic is given as a kind of appreciation to all Husqvarna friends, owners and dealers, the main costs w1ll be absorbed by the promoter. There w1ll be a very small cbarge of $1 per person for beef plates and 10~ for cold beer or other refreshments. There will also be displays of motorcycle accessories and other items of interest to Husqvarna lovers. All Husky owners can pick lijl tickets at their local dealer or from Cycle News. By Peter White Call!ornian speedway rider DeWayne Keeter has decided to campaign in Britain during the 1969 season. This follows a successful tour of Australia and New Zealand recently. World Champion Ivan Mauger recommended him to the British promoters and after prolonged negotiations De Wayne has signed for the Leicester team. This outfit is situated in the English midlands, apprOXimately 100 miles north of London. Speedway here revolves around league racing which is quite a complex system. There are two divisions with 19 teams operating in Division 1 and 16 in Division 2. SWEEPS The FIELD CARLSBAD MOTO·CROSS (Golden State series) 1st 1st 250" Expert Class Gary Bailey Greens Short Stroke 250" Junior Class 1st 1 st Jim Harber Greeves Short S1roke 500" Expert Class Gary Bailey 2nd Jim Wilson Greens 360cc 500" Junior Class Jim Harber Greens Short S1roke Slddleback Motocross - April 6. 1969 1st 250" Junior Class Jim Harber Greeves Short Stroke 1 sf 500" Junior Class Paul Harber Greeves 360ee .....~~... . YOU'LL BUY ONE ~"'" Leicester runs every Tuesday evening but the team rides an average of three times a week at various tracks throughout Britain. Matches are on a home and away basis with every team in the league. Teams consist of seven riders. Three heat leaders (the top men), two second strings (the back lijl boys) and two equal reserves. Every race is a scratch start with four riders - two from each team. The match is run over 13 heats. Points are allocated on a 3, 2, 1 basis for placings and bonus points are paid if a rider follows his team mate home. This, of course, is to encourage team racing. Each man rides four times in the match proper and therefore may score a maximum of 12 points. Following the league match is the second half of the program. This usually consists of some half dozen races which are not treated quite so seriously. Competition in Britain isflerce. There is no harder speedway school in the world. Each team member is expected topull his weight and if he is not faring well he is liable to be replaced very smartly bY the reserve. Team,places are calculated on a rider's point score average over the previous six meets. Fall below l! certain standard and you are out. This makes it very hard on the newcomer such as Keeter. Often on a meet away from home ("home" in Keeter's instance is Leicester) the rider is going to a track he has never seen before. He is then expected to go out and match it with riders who compete there every week and hence know the best way round. And every track seems to be different. Basically they are larger than those in America but smaller than the Australasian counterparts. Just to give you some idea of the problems now confronting DeWayne: Keeter definitely prefers the bigger tracks. He settled down quickly In A ustralia where he was able to move up high on the banking and pour the power on. In England it is completely d1fferent. Here skill plays a far greater part than speed. A rider must emply throttle control and body swerve to negotiate the tight bends correctly. IJe Wayne is at present behind the eight ball as far as experience goes, but be w1ll get there eventually. Of that I am sure. He went to Leicester in a glare at publicity. They bad lost their best rider - A Swede named Anders Michanel wbo reached the World Championship Final last year - and DeWayne was expected to replace himI Keeter shows great promise but he isn't that good•• .yet. Keeter's first meeting was at Leicester on April 1. He rode a borrowed ESO but falled to score in his four rides. He fell, harmlessly, three times. Opponents on this occasion were King's Lynn who were defeated. His second meeting was again at Leicester. On Good Friday, April 4. West Ham were visiting and they managed to pull off a win - an unusuai occurrence for it is extremely difficult to defeat a team on their home ground. DeWayne had three rides but could not manage any points. He was never far behind the leaders at any time; it's just that the boys here rarely makes mistakes so once you miss that all-important start it is extremely difficult to come from behind. On Easter Monday (April 7) Keeter made his debut in "the big smoke" London. Leicester was visiting West Ham on British League duty and De Wayne was listed at number four as parlner to English rider John Hart. . West Ham is one of the largest tracks in the country and Keeter showed his immediate llking for the open spaces by coming in third in his first race. He really got stuck into it and no more could have been expected for he faced two of Ham's best: Olle Nygren (a world class Swede) and Brian Leonard (a young bondon hot- shot). Next time out De Wayne failed to score but in heat 10 he caused a sensation by blasting his way from last to first on the final corner. Then when only yards from the finish, he became tangled in heavy dirt on the outside of the track and fell heavily. Not surprising, for he was going so fast he actually passed Ken McKinlay, the West Ham captain, and I am assured that's just not done I This ride endeared Keeter to the Slijlporters and he is now a firm favorite in the Metropolis. For the remainder of the meeting he was cheered loudly every time he appeared. Which is half the battle really•••to be accepted by the fans; especially those of another track. Yes, make no mistake. Come October when the season concludes DeWayne will have made his mark in British speedway. u.s. TEAl(from page8) but too late to qualify for a position, John, the spectacular one, was dicing with the moto's eventual winner, Ole Pederson (works Suzuki). Roo passed him, then realized who it was and backed off, letting him get around. Because of the mud, scoring was completely fouled lijl. It appears that Joel Robert (CZ) woo overall, but the runnerup positions are In dispute. The wboJe meet may be declared DO COlltest. but the Americans proved their abWty to stay with the best. Team Manager Hopkins, DOW back In the U.S., says "The team idel.is the only way to go. You gotta apply for starts early, like a year before. A rider's gotta have some kind of business manager to argue with the promoters about start money. Every country bad its own currency and problems that a guy just can't be expected to cope with alone and still race well. Ron and John are pretty cluey. They'll get along okay now." The Amerrcan Motocross Team fund is going well. Cycle News readers have already contributed several hundred dollars to keep the team going and the letters of encouragement are pouring In.

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