Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125436
MARCH 10 IIIrough 16, 1966 VOLUME III NUMBER 9 "Steady Eddie" Mulder , consistent winner at local A.M.A. events lately, did it again Sunday at t he 6th ann ual Ascot Grand Prix TT 100 lapper . Triumph-mounted on a new "stock " TT Special, Mulder c ar rie d home record winnings of Sll80. From th e time the fl a g dropped on th e fi eld of 33 starters , it a ppeare d to be Dick Hammer's day as he took th e lead into th e fir st turn and held it with no one challenging him, for 70 laps. Rid ing a stron g s mooth race, he had la pped practically th e whol e ~~~in~~.en hi s primary c ha in broke , putting th e Lakewood "Iron Man" out of th e r l His buddy, Skip Van L eeuw en too k over as leade r, and Eddie Mulder running co mfortably in third, respond ed to wild s i gnal s from his pit with a dri ve th at brought him . within inches of Van Leeuwen. At one point, Skip was blocked by an Amateu r Onc e cle a r , Van L eeuw en started to cl as s rid e r who absolutely refused t o put some distanc e betw een hims elf and move over although running about th ree Mulder, but hi s brak es wer e goi ng, and in laps be hind, unt il Jack O'Brien who had Turn one th e le ver bott omed so badly it himself moved for th e leader, politely redu g into th e hard track , dumping machine minded him that it was th e ni ce thing to do . and rid er. (Continued on pace 6 ) . A.F.M. AT COTATI Nor. Cal. Road Race Opener By Darryl Skrabalt It was a day for mixed breeds in t he Northern California A.F.L . road ra c e season open e r F eb . 27 at Cotati Raceway . Ev e rything from a Harley 74 (s id ecar) to a 50c c Honda (e i ght- s pee d) got on the track , and th e s um of their efforts was some ve ry entertaining racin g. T he mix in g started with th e fir s t eve nt, an af fair for unde r 100cc bi kes. On the grid wer e half a dozen grand prix mac hInes, mos t o f th em eight-speed CR 110 Hond as, with t he ir riders crouc hed over them In re adin e s s for a push-s t art. To the res t of tbe GP bik es th e und er !,OOcc e ntran t s lined up - on the opposite • sIde of th e co urse from th eir machines. They we re to have a L eMans typ e start. At the drop of th e flag th e GP bik es pushed off. A paus , and then th e product ion people went s crambling a cro s s the track to pump their hummers. SOOn the co urse was filled with angry little bike s. Into the le ad went Dave • Burc hards, clos e ly followed by J im W s e n ul Both were on th e shifty little Hond as . Some of th e other Hondas gav e up th e chase ea rly , and third and fourth spots turned into a family affai r betw een Bill Boyd and his l ovely wife , Leslie. Bill a nd Le sli e wer e attired in s mar t look-al ike outfits - red one-piece leathers and blu e helmets - and raced identical Yamaha 100 cc twi ns from AI Fergoda 's shop in San F rancisco . Bill , who is pre side nt of th e ' San F rancisco chapter of the American Federation of Motorcyclists and a rid er of many years' experie nce, co uld catch his wife on some of the corners, but on t he s tra ights he r we igh t advantage paid off and she would bu zz ~ay. . At th e end of ten laps Bur chards was still ahead of Wulz en, and Les lie got th e best of B11l. ' Next on th e a genda wer e the" ov er 100 cc" production bikes . As one might exp ect , this rather broad cla s s i fic ati on attracted an extens ive e nt ry . Acco rding to A.F.M. rul es , producti on bik es must ca rry lights and look like s t ock , but any internal modifications ar e le gal. Almost eve ryo ne at th e track had somethin g that fit th e rules , so almos t e ve ryone ra n. Anot he r LeMans start got the fie l d away without mishaps. Into the lead c harged a I;aggle of - - guess what - - -l~Oc c Hond a s, th e ir rid ers conferring bl e s s ings on electric starte rs. F ollowing was a herd of e ve rythi ng Suzukis, Triumphs, Yamah as , Harl ey s , more Hondas. All wore color-co de d number plate s to indi cat e s ize , but even 's o the score rs wer e driv en into a fre nzy with so many bike s . ( Co nll nu e d on pace 4 ) Frank Mar , W ean inner of 100ee el ass; pushes o~t of the hole with the ble bikes• Photos '& report by Larry Haley rider who didn't go to th e Coa chella Valley M.C.' s Har e Scr ambl es F eb. 27 mis s ed one heck uva good run. In th e past, con te ntion was th at th e ar ea ar ound Indi o .isn't ve ry ' good for bike ri din g " Beach " sand and hidden rocks makes for pretty tou gh going. But th e whol e c lu b pitche d in and l aid out a run toward des ert ce nte r, in th e high des ert country wher e Gen er al Patton trained his tank co rps durin g W orld WarII The co urse' was ve ry ve rsati le , and called for close attention and lo ts of s kill on the ri ders' part . It had uph ills, do wnhllls , roug h going , s mooth going, sharp tu rns and do wnhill sand washes lor l ~ mil es around five loop s. It was rough as a cob, with a ll tho s e old rut s le ft by th e tan ks of 2~ years ago , bu t it was not dan ge rous . You simply had to pl ay it cool, or else. Lonnie Pete rs on had th e lead for a while but got tired pretty fast (he i s jus t recove red from th e fl u) and lost the l ead to Larry Ber gquist on a healthy BSA t win . L ar ry s oon put a ve ry lo n g di stan c e between hims elf a nd Bob F erro , and th at ' s how t hey fini sh ed. P eterson held on to thi rd , and he was followed in by th e fir s t li ghtwei ght , Lynn Col e on a Ch allen ger. Any Oddly eno ug h, th e light weig ht amateurs beat the pan t s off the experts and dominat ed th e results . T he fir st 250 ex pe rt was 11th overall , whil e amateurs were -lth and 5th overall. Gary Col e had th e fir st place ex pert 250cc spo t well in hand when he bl ew a ge a rbox on the fourth loop. It was a ple as ant, sp ring de s er t day with tempe ra ture s in the high 70's and a gentle bree ze blowin g. The club pres ented the tro phies on th e spot, af ter everybody ha d been invited to atte nd a buffet lun ch (SI. lor al l yo u co uld eat.) Afte r all th is , The Coacotorcycle Club deserves he lla Valley M be tter attendance at th e ir fut ure runs . T hree chee rs an d a tige r for the C .V.M.C. (Resu lts on page 12) T,T, ON TVSATURDAY Sunday's 100 lap clas si c reported In this Is sue will appear on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" natlcnally, and on local channe l 7, Saturday afternoon April 12th at 5:00 p.m,