Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

8 ~~ c-z (t. M;b~hiin o'i' M 0 R S 2422 E. H UNTINGTON DRIVE DUARTE, CALIFORNIA Tolophono 359-4541 SPRING TIME IS TRAIL TIME - Own five acres of land in the heart of Antelope Valley's trail riding area. Buy prope rty now. $ 17 .50 Down & $17.50 per Mo. Larger parcels as lo w as $ 125.00 per acre • CLYDE J ENSEN, Realtor 2949 Si erra Hi ghw ay Bo x 74 6, Rosamond, Calif . /.3££ !(Wf/-M? HONDA -1257 S. LA BREA 671-0407 IN6LEWOOD HaveYour Bike Tuned Where the Winners Do FIRST 5lIO P..duclilll FIRST 250-0PEN Gol.enNuggetG. second 35lI Grand Prix Willow Springs, March 6, lS66 BOB VINEYARD (350 rider-tuner) is now _Ioyed at: ALHAMBRA HONDA 1&48 west Main St, Alhambra Phone 281·7143 Tmvup . SUZUKI • DUCATI BULTACO SALES·PARTS·SERVICE SPEED 1l.,IoI1NG ROAD & RAOIC ACCESSCRIES con A.UA. CALIF. nl'J"2-UQ 11. IE.PORT IUD . HOME OF CHAMP IONS IRV B EAVER BSA 0 BMW 0 SUZUKI SALES- PARTS- SERVICE Photos by Carl Bartlett From the very beginning ana tn rougnout the entire Cen tenni al Gold Nugget Grand Pr ix. two mac hin es dominated the complete show, John Buckner, #53, on his 250cc Yamaha and Ron Grant on his 350cc Hond a. Ma J' other rid ers co ntended the l ead various times, but these two put on a spectac ular show that became a race between them only . The 250cc and 350cc Willow lap reco rds were broken by the representative riders with a fantastic time of 145.52 officially clocked, for both Grant and Buckner. This is within a second at the 500cc record. Throu ghout th e entire 20 lap, ~ O mile ev ent. first place chan ged no les s than eigh t ti mes and mos t of the ti me the two rid ers wer e duellin g wheel to wheel. Eve n lapping and passing slower trarrlc it didn't seem as If either one of them would gi ve one inch to the other. nor would they take one the y did not deserve. When Buckn er's ~O passed the fiDish line. Gran t on the Honda was about a bike length behind and it was probably the most spe ctacu l ar show or ridin g s kill and racing that any spectator has witne s s ed . All in all. Sunday was a great day of racing for the tans as well as the ride rs. It was a beautiful b rig h t sunny day at Willow Springs Rac eway and the track was in its best shape at the season. Rains had washed the asphalt clean and made the adhesion excellent which co ntributed to the fact that several course records were broken. The first events at the day consisted . of 50cc an d the 100cc chases. Yoshio Ito on a 50cc Suzuk i took the lead, tollowed Qy Walt F u It a n on a Suz uki and Dave J ones . T en seconds later. Bar ry Herrmann got the 100cc cl ass of the l ine first, followed by St ev e P e d e r son and Chi ef Galbraith . Alt er the !l rst lap, many of the 100cc mac hines had begun to pass the 50's, and Jeff Pasternak . from a poo r start, I Largest stock on West Coast Dealer Inquiries Invited QU ALITY MOTORCYCL EACCESSORIES AlSO IN STO CK ~ ~ t, ~I.-IIfl PHONE: 213 633-5178 15710 Garfield Avenue, Paramount, California 90723 moved his gyt-kit th rougn the pack and began ch allenging the leaders . Ito , followed by Walt Fulton. P a s ternak was able to get Qy Walt Fulton in the closing laps but never quite caught Ito on his eightspeed 50cc Suz uki. Pasternak wan the 100cc c lass to remaln undeteated so far this year. Bruc e Shaw on his J7~cc Honda , in his usually excellent ridin g form, was able to win the I ~- 1 7 ~ c c e vent over last ye ar 's 1 7 ~ cc ch ampio n Ralph LeCl erc q, Head of the l ~c c class, Ste ve McLau ghl iD, was the prid e of his prominent father . John McLaug hli n. At the verr start, of the 250 go. Roger Wilcox on a Yamaha took the lead, rcltowe Qy John Buc kner. Dick Krlgroe, Gordon Jen nings and Stan Wegner. Still pushing and trying to get his machine running as most of the bikes were entering tum I was Walt Fulton. On the second lap , Buckner had pulled into the lead , Wilcox and Jennings were running second and third. Behind the t ront leaders grouped together were the remainder at the riders . and behind them, coming up fast , was Walt Fulton. By the half-way point Fulton had passed the main pack of riders and was in contention to r fourth place. Jennings had some technical problems and fell back. allowing Roger Wilcox to move into second place. followed by Jon Gra ber and Fulton. In the last two laps. Fulton moved up into second spot , with no possibility of c atching Buckner . Earlier Walt had taken a fall in Tu rn 9 at approximately 120 miles pe r hour and completely des troyed hi s origi nal ride . The mac hine he p arti cipated on was originally buil t tor Ito to run at Day ton a: On with the Production class race. open to all machines from ~ Occ to Open which meet the California Highway Veh icle Code standards . Riders are requ ired to NE 84864 Royal Enfield Special ist COMPLETE ROYAL ENFIELD PARTS SUPPLY 1955 TO 1965 SHELL MOTORS 334fi Century Rd. Lynwood, Calif. I I I T H E 19661 I I S HERE ! TRIUMPH OF BURBANK 1329 N. HOLLYWOOD WAY 8~8 '72 33 I I ~EAD PORTING .SPEED TUN IN~ FOR RACING · OUR SPECIALTY tap e the ir heaalights and tail li ght s . re""""e the re ar view mirror s and cen te r s tands. A.gaiD, Walt Fulton on a 250cc Suzuki, foll owed by Ito, also on a SUZUki . and Larry Michaels on a Triumph, l ed the field. On the fourth lap going Into Tum I, Michaels' front w h ee l lock ed and hi s beauti ful T riumph went end over end , moving Hugh McL ean on his Harl ey-Da vidso n into t h i r d s pot. Sheer horsepow er an d sp eed had pulled McLean int o third pos ition alter a h a r d t ime ge tti ng his 7~0 Harl ey s tarted. While I e a din g the P roducti on race, Fulton 's front ti re blew, sending his Suzuki end over end, and throwing Walt and tor the second time he walked away. Wonder if they'll r e p I ace two Suzukis on the guarantee? At the three-quarters point, running in first place, McLean 's Harley, with tremendous bursts of speed, did pull away from the other bi kes in the straightaways, but the Suzuki, with a little better handling ability . would soon make up the distance in the tight corners. On the last lap on Tum 9, going into the straightaway, McLean took the corner wide and went bounding out into the dirt , allowing Ito on his 250cc Suzuki, to nip underneath. So, for the second time this year. a 250cc Suzuki was able to win the production race over-all. Harley-Davidson , second . In the ~Occ, ~OOc c and Open class race, goin g through Tum 1. Ron Grant on a 3~Occ bri ght blue Honda was leading the pack. In close were th e Nortons of Fraser McAninch, Jon Graber and Lance Weil. With two laps to go, Graber plunged into first place . follow ed by McA.niDch, Well and Grant. Throughout the entire event , the four leading riders continually changed positions, and at one time or another every one of them held or could have taken first place . (Resu lts on page 12) ................... • • YAMAHA I • $21er • • • • I • I • S • Comple te Parts & Serv ice ~dn£ ~., dn.c. SPECIALISTS IN ACCESSORIES 194' L COLORADO STREET PASADENA 793-S153 • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I •

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