Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

4 A,F.M, AT COTATI ROAD RACING ARLEiBAD , ~R IC :S P. O . BOX 26, CARLSBAD, CALIF O RNI A MARCH 20 - ACA Road Races PALOMAR A IRPORT ROAD 7 MILES EAST OF 101 WHY NOT UNLOAD nose 110 Lonpr lIeodod ItoIIIl Throup •• • C ontinued fr om fr ont p age From the first. the lead was assumed hy Dave Burchard s aboard a -t5Occ Honda. and he did not relinquish it throughout the ten lap eve nt, winnin g his second race or th e day. Into second moved To ny M tz, pushing hard on a 650cc T riumph e from his Berkeley shop. Back In th e fi eld an Int erestin g co ntest betw e en e x-Englrs hman Ron Grant and Bill Boyd was ens uing. Boyd , on a 305cc Yamaha. was maintainin g bare headway ove r gran t. who rode t he lon e Ossa at the track. Th e Ossa di s placed 175cc. '","hile the riders strung out and th e progress of the competit io n bec ame mor e confus ing . the s pect ato rs began following the antics of th e Honda -t50s in the corners . Th e ne w big ' uns proved very squirrely . and it was fun to watch which way they would weave out of a co me r next. Th e hairy handling got the be tter of Hondaman Rich McClintock about midrace. He went plungin g down the gre enery near the exi t of a tum. doing a commendable job of holding on until the grass gripped the s lowing front wheel and gav e McClintock a neat judo Iltp, Uns hake n. he continued the chase. Meanwhll e Gran t had lI!lUIe his way pas t Boyd and was takin g up matters with so me of the leadin g 250s . At the fini sh it was Burchards on the 0150 Honda we ll in adva nce of Tr iumph-mounted Met z. Anot he r hi g Honda with Fr ed Muhl ber g up was third. followe d byYamaha 250cc rid er Gerald Long. T he A.F.M. has for some ti me sought to establi s h a s idec ar class. and Sunday it presented its first hack In many years. Fo r five laps the ri g was demonstrated by two ra ther cauti ous men who apparen tly were j us t getting the han g of thin gs . With it s big Harl ey 701 en gin e putting out a fine bellow. it sh ould made an int er es ti ng pi ece when comp e tition arri ves . While the hac k pottered about. Ron Gran t and his s pons ors wer e busy with Os sa. Th ey put a fai ring on it . and when the 125cc - 175cc gran d prix fie ld assumed the grid . t he re wa s Grant and the Os s a among the DOHC CR 93 Honda 125cc twin s and s uc h. T he fiel d pushed o[f and CR93-mounted Ri ck Sch ell n ew into an earl)' lead . tn s e cond was 175cc Ducati rid er Ralph LeClerq, [allowed by Grant On the Os s a . which still wore its muffler. At fi rs t It looked as if Sch ell might run away with th e race , but after a few laps Th e Duc ati ri der LeClerq ups e t this, be gan shaving down lap times and by midrac e had the lead fo r good. Schell and Gran t continued with safe s econd and third spots. Came the 250cc - 350c c contest and Gran t was hack on the gri d again , thi s time with .a Harley-Davidson Sprin t borrowed [rom a fellow En gli shman. Harry Webst er. W hster hi mseIr was ente red on e an oth er Sprint. this one just out of the box from Dudley P erkins' dealer s hi p in San Franci s co. Th e P erk ins peo ple wanted W ster to test the new bik e prior to eb grooming it for the A.M.A. s eason . T he n a!: droppe d and Frank Scurria Ever have one of those days when everything CO" wrong? CYCLE NEWS WANT ADS (Use the coupon on pag e 11) o LAWNDALE CYCLE INC£ YAMAHA 0 ):t" VELOCETTE Due AT I TCHLE55 HODAKA HAWTHORNE LAWNOALE CALIF II,' SALES· PARTS· SERVICE EDDIE CROWELL 10427 P ra iri e , In gle wood OR.3- 9573 SALES'SERVICE' PARTS' RENTALS 153 24 • BOULEV ARD • SP 2 1822 os 6 -9546 THE FAMILY FUN CENTER For your new 1iq",VNP~ see~gA~ ~ YAMAHA ~ HARRY FOSTER MOTORCYCLES 10 4 2 5 SO. VERMONT AVE. 754-2811 ~SAN FRANCISCO CYCLE SCENE ~ (Contin ue d from last week ) WANT TO DO WHEELlES? FIRST INSTALL A BARNETT CLUTCH ... AVAILASLE NOW, BT & E VILlIERS & DUCATI CLUTCH PLATES A group of H. A. 's met poet Allen Gin s ber g in dehate at San Jose State Col lege. Ginsberg. representing the Vietnam Day Committ ee. said, "We've got to gr0ove with the Hell's Angels inste ad of getting into fights with them." Ginsber g di d groove. With a small delegati on he was hosted to a party at th e home of Sonny Bar ger . North ern p aliforni a presi dent of th e H.S' s. Bot h Ginsber g an d Bar ger lat er i s s ued press statements proclaiming peace between th e H.A.'s and the VDC. T he meeting of the gentle post and the tough gang l eader indeli hly changed the image or th e motorcycle c lub, Since tha t event the Angel s hav e become a hip attraction. Th ey were liste d as one of th e features of th e recent Tr ips F estl val. advertised as a " psychedeli c experience without drugs " and attended and proclaimed by virtually all the bay area's avan t garde. Although th eir ne w status doesn't get them invited everypl ace . it does al l ow the m a new public . Sometim es . for ins tance . they park their b i k e s along Tel e gra ph Avenue in Ber kel ey and admit the UC stude nts to s ome of their " zl orv." S. F. see your motorcycle deafer ~i~ ... ~, 4915 PACIFIC BLVD" VERNON, CALIFORNIA, PHONE: 589-5488 RAC IN G On th e racin g scen e . the events whi ch led to the end of half-mil e mot orcycle rain g at Champion Spe edway ar e an inte res ti ng co mmentary on the s ituation of pro fessio nal ra c ing in th e hay ar ea, and can offe r som e i ndi catio n of what the inOuences on th e prof es sional and amateur sport are likely to be in the future . With the open in g of Champion, it was hoped th e bay area might be emergi ng BY 'D~1 Skrabak from a lon g motorcycle racing slump. Since the quarter-mile day s at Belmont, which ended when the A.M.A. abru ptly removed Class C bikes from the small tracks. oval tra ck racing had been stymied. Attempts to promote s hort track races with 15 cu bic inch machines failed ; a halt-mil a season promised at Vallejo never gnt beyond a few meetings; th e Uni ted States Motorcycle Club held a full season at a college football track one s ummer in Sacramen to, hut didn' t come back the next year. P rofessional ra cing nouris hed regul arly at one track : a small TT COurse at Hayward. This year the pros will be at Hay ward again for a s ev en-week season beginning in Augus t. The ina ug ural meet at Champ ion proved unfortunately. a preview of what was to come. The track was so rough competitors thought lon gingly of the swinging arm frames they had left home. While the condition of the track slowed lap limes, a few races stretched Into a very lo ng afternoon. In tim e the races went into a night series. Th e track s urface improve d.' hut never approached the carpe t-s mooth appearance of As cot. Th e speed of running off th e events . however. did not improve . Candl estick Park i s famed for its winds and nasty weather. and nearb y Champion Speedway has the s ame climate. Th e racing audien ce. thou gh turnin g out in promisin g number s for the e ar lier races. got tired of freezing through slow rac e programs. Th ey be gan spending their Sa turday and Frid ay nights elsewhe re . (Cont inue d nex t we ek )

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