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/125440
DRAG RACING By Bob Ebeling Irwind al e' s T op Fuel Clas s was won Qy a 450cc bike Sunday. Only three fuelers mad e up the competition and the iche als' first round was bet ween Bob M "Black Knight " Harley and the twin engine T riumph of M urray and Cook. Bob made a great " hole s hot " and had the big doubl e behind him but when he re ache d for anoth er gear , all he got was neutral and the double stormed by for the win. The next and fina l run was between the doubl e and an under do g 450. When s tarti ng lights turn ed gree n the Honda got the jump and broke out in front . Smoke poured from the rubber and asphal t cl utc h of the big double , a sl am of metal to met al impact meant the -, SUPPORT YER BRAND DINGUSHURTS 2-STROKE SPEED EQUIPMENT I / 185 7 Merc ed Street £1 Monte, Cali forn ia 9 1733 S-M-L$2.00 to Box 1184 Burbank, Cal. BUlg~~CO "Two-Timer" with Dick Rlos, builder and rider, aboard, and unidentifi ed friends. Triumph' s pri mary chai n had pa rted but out- to- win J im Cook' didn't s hut down and tri ed in vain to ca tch the underdog. Early qualifing runs on Sat urday , at the new Irwind al e qua rter mile dra g strip , s howed Milford Blair the effe ct of hidden errors in what appears to be well cons tructed forks on a Harl ey Dra gster. Milford fired the bike for a first run af te r rec ent modifications and started an e asy run, repeatedly ope ning and closing the th rottle for bri ef bursts of accele ra tio n. Approxi mat ely fifty yards from the finish lights , the front wheel be gan to gyrate le ft and right, minor at firs t and then growing until it was lock to lock. Unco nt rollable , the bik e and rid er dumped onto the asp hal t. F ortunat ely Milfords controlled test sp e ed of a bout 50 mph prevented serious inj ury to either the rid er or ma chin e . I hope Bl ai r has found the villianous error! Nira J ohns on WOn to p gas i n great tune. His elapsed time was 11.63 and at speed the cloc ks read 114.21. Th is has be en a one and only s upe r hot 650 gasser for along time, but now the competition is gett in g close, for at Li ons Don Roberts rode Mike Tu ck er' s 40 inch Triumph to the clas s victory turning 11.66 E.T. and 111.80. This is close enough for a great match rac e. Saturday night an unus ual accident oc curred at Lion' s Dra g Stri p, Bob Braverman, who holds the A.H. R. A. world record for time in th e 250cc dragster class on his Yamaha raced agains t an altered coup e. Hal fway down the s tri p the fuel burnin g cou pe 's engine expl ode d and Bob was brui s ed by piec es of s hrapnel from th e ca r. LIONS SHARE OF ACTION Sunday ' s program re ad lik e a "whos who" book of the fas test buel burnin g quar ter milers. Dick Rios and his "Two T imer", P erry and Sco tty wit h their "Sta ge F right" and Murray & Cook's IfFlus tration" each twin-engine Triumphs. This was ti os' first time out since the international team' s trip to En gland. Firs t, third or hundredth time out , Dick turns .fast and c ons is te nt enough to ran k him as number one on th e dra g strip. He won the Top Fuel award s turnin g 148.76 mph and 10.52 E .T. against Utt erback and Muller's Harl ey fuel er. P er ry and Scotty broke a tran smis sion shaft whil e Murray and Cook just couldn' t find th e rig ht combinatio n of smoke plus E .T. and sp eed . P er ry and Scotty left the st rip and returned a sho rt time later wit h their trans repaired in time for a s ingle run . While they were gone Murray and Cook fir ed up the bike on th e roll er and so mehow the clutc h grabb ed the bike out of their ha nds and dumped some twenty feet away. Thir ty minut es lat er dama ges were repaired for a run. P erry rode th e "Stage Fright" on th e single run turning 10.34 E .T. , Cook made a tour on the " Flus tration" in the 11 second bracket. At leas t two of thes e fabulous twin en gine bikes will be at Irwindal e next Saturday , possibly all of them. . T o highli ght Sunllay, Dick Rios rac ed against an A gas dra gster (auto). Dick ra ce d to win and did: A great j ump s ta rt by Rios helped enough to make the dra gst er ask for a s ec ond race . Dick agree d and lost this one by get ting a little out of s hape comin g out of the gate. T his was one rac e each, but ther e was not enough time for a third to dec ide who was top , bike or auto. Maybe we will s ee a remat ch soon! All of the good ra cing at Irwin dal e and Lions was not only amoung big machin es. Sev en bikes wer e ent ered bel ow 150c c and Jim M urphy' s Honda was a handy winn er. Good s portsmans hip was on exhibit and proudly dis play ed. In an eli minati on M. Dis haroon s hut his bike off when a co mpe ti tor ha d engine trouble and waited for repai rs to be made . Ed McDonal d s wit che d from s tree t to gas clas s for good racing instead of taking a trophy for a sin gle run . Thi s was the bes t weeke nd eve r al l becaus e of fine people and great bik es. Next we ekend , Li ons will be closed on Easter Sunday s o it will be Irwindale Saturday and Fo ntana Sunda y for Cycle News and me. 0 FOR THE ~ RD STRAIGHT TIME April 2, 1966 ASCOT TT STEEPLECHASE A S NOVICE MAIN c o T l.~!.JOHN SPRAGUE BULTACO 2. BUTCH KING BSA 3. 4. 5. 6. PHIL BROWN CARL PATRICK GENE CANNADY CHRIS HARTMAN BULTACO BULTACO BULTACO BULTACO ; / FOR THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF YOUR NEAREST DEALER CONTACT WE~T~ ~ N 0 11418 BURBAN K BOULEVARD N ORTH HOllY W OO D, CALIF . TR;ong'. 7-2400 - POplor 94141