Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

ANOTHER CALIF. W IN 14 By Roxy Rockwood HODAD 90 FIRST PLACE THE FINISH LINE lDOcc CLASS That was quit e a s how t he As c ot " Ka mi ka ze pilots ' put on la s we e k. T hes e guys do nothi ng but get bett er a nd bette r. T anner can ' t win the m a ll an d when he gets h ung up in the back of the pa ck it be c ome s a wi de open ra c e . An y bod y i n th e ma i n event can wi n whe n Sammy is not re ally " on. ' ' , , Thi s kid Draa yer never seems to s top improving . His style is so easy it Co mmittee scrambles card to ,be e llgi ble is difficult to really se e hi m closing up to, road ra,c e as a novic e, Th iS only a ppiles to dirt track and TT e~ents. on the lead ers . One lap he is not th ere, the next he is right there. 1 think that , The purse at Carls~d W be upped ill Sammy was so surprised to see him uus ti~e to 40% a gainst a guaranteed runnin g right along s ide i n the heat rac e purse. r nrs Will allow all owners of that it co mple tely t hrew him off the $100.0 Q-a-month cycles ~o compete on groove the rest of the night. at leas t a brea k-even baSIS. White Ca me Thr ough DAVID HAM orange County Speedway 100cc Expen Main WINS : SHIRLEY SLAGLE Silver Queens M.C, Scrambles, Las Vegas, Nevada, Girls Class 2nd place Peggy Ferguson-Hod. HODAKABILITY IS THE WAY TO WIN H. A. NELSON (213) 243-1017 Glenda le, Calif. SEE YOU R HODAKA DEALER '(/~dI~ DOES IT A GAIN u.s. NATIONAL G.P. RIVERSI DE RACEW AY , Chris le ft a fte r the rac e to ente r th e 5 mile nationa l that comes up this Suniscons in. Don' t be s urprised if day in W he win s it. Bart Markel is the favorite but will get ple nty of co mpeti tio n from Chris and Mert Lawwlli. Good to see Elliott Schultz back in the saddle . He has been the only to p gun miss in g thi s year and was a bit rusty, If Elliott will stick with it this time he'll be right back up there a ga in, just lik e he was in '62 and ' 63. Tha t ' s Quite an Enfield team Shell has going for him this year . Blackie Broce, GUy Loui s and Elliott Schul tz . Th ese thr ee plus La wwill and Draa ye r on the Harl eys ar e what make it i nteresting each week a t the tra ck th e BSAs buil t. It also see med li ke old ti mes last Friday wit h the H-Ds a nd the Ya mahas a gain going a t it i n the novice c lass. M ny riders started the season on othe r a brands but have again switched, rath er tha n fight, to the two brands that have done most of the winning since novi ce rider s were scaled down to the 250s. Help may be on the way soo n for the Honda owners as a man from J apan has been in the sta nds the la st two weeks watching the lon e Honda get waxed in the finals. He knows his apples on how to make them run a nd a n unoffic ial word has it that he may soo n get them arci ng for the faithful follow ers. It seems as th ough they hav e s old a few of these Honda machi nes her e in the States and just may be aro und awhil e. Rac ing doesn' t se ll al l the bikes, but it he lps . Les Richt er, mana ger of Riverside Raceway, was in the pres s boot h for the s how last week and highly int er ested in the ' silo' rac ers as the AMA boys were recently referred to by a n edito r on one magaztne . Th ere's plenty of room i n the infield at Rivers ide ; Les a nd Saturday nights are wide ope n. Much less politi cs to contend wit h than there is in road racin g. lst: 500cc Production eurageous olUlthfull omplete Local , ,E xci6.JrJl.g N Draayer Lawwi II Hea d East Help For Hondas? 1st. 350cc G. P, 1448 West Main St. Alhambra Phone (213) 281- 7143 C Y C Five-Mile. Nat iona l predi ction-take M rkel to win all th e way. W a ord back east is tha t he has never looked bette r, or gone f~ster . If there IS to be an,upset then It Will be Draayer. Amateur wmn er ? Jack Warren. younge r broth er of tuner , Eddie W arren. , P ete Bodette was s ia ted to go ba ck until he hroke his collarbone . Sid enot e: Sa mmy ! ann er drove a midget last Saturd ay night at As cot. Put the ca r in the final 'and then was kick ed out in favor of one of the ti red old men who has been going nowhere for ye a rs Schultz Ret urn s AREA DISTRIBUTOR IN SOUTHERN' CA . LIF BELOW KERN COUNTY LINE I Markel In Good Form Iron man White, who has more s kid marks on him than the lIarbor Free way, ca me up again to knock orr the big one. lie only won one main eve nt all last ye a r and now he has two this year wi th the season not yet one-quarter completed. Ralph has to be co mpared wit h a good wine. Th e older he gets the bet te r e' a nd faster he gets . W ll bet that Dra ayer will not le ave the gate ope n again on the final turn if he gets anot her shot at the final. 40%At Ca r ls bad The Car lsbad road race was su ch a success two wee ks ago that track owne r Sa ndy Bel and has s lated anothe r pursepaye r for Sunda y aft ernoon, J une 19th. Th e same easy plan as last time wit h all novic e, a mate ur and expert riders getti ng plent y of practi ce a nd rac ing. One poi nt t bat s hould be made clear to a ll novice rider s is tha t th ey do not need a n a mate ur or expert Sports ew and ye ars . K eep at ' em, Sam. American Team Tackles Isle Of Man F or the first time , an o rga nized team o f American motorcycle rac e rs will compete i n E urope a n moto rcycle roa d racin g in 1966. P eople throughout the world re gard the Is le of M T ouris t Tr ophy races as an the bigges t event on the International motorcycle ra c in g cale nda r. Many America n rider s have made the tri p to the tiny island in the Irish Sea to compete as pri vate e ntries , even though they knew ther e was not the s lightest chance of winni ng. Th eir only hope has bee n to make a good showing. Sportsmen admire a good performance, eve n when it is n' t a winni ng one. Becau s e the TT has s uch prestige , Cycle World M agazine is s ponsoring a team of four rid ers from the U.S. i n the 1966 250cc "Lightweight TTo" T eam members have chos en the Yamaha TDl -B as th eir mounts . F our machines have been loaned by Yamaha Int erna ti onal. Th e TDI -B is a twincyli nder , two-s troke , five-speed. " product ion" road ra c er, of a bout 34 hp, with a to p s pee d of 130-plus mph. F or al most thr ee yea rs , this machine has show n a clea r sup eriority i n th e 250cc class in most American road rac es . The bik es will be pa inted red, whit e and blue, the rid ers will be decked out i n American-style blue leathers with a white sleeve st ripe . a nd th eir Bell helmets will be decorated lik e a segme nt of the Amer ican fla g. There'll be no doubt a bout where they come from. P rimary goal at the To urist Trophy rac es will be to win the Team Prize. Weather permitting, a secondary ob- jective will be to a ttempt an a verage speed of 90 mph around the 38 mile, 219-tum road course, for the race. T eam members are Don Ves co, Buddy Parri ott , Ron Grant , and "ba ck-up" team a lte rnate man, Gordon J ennings. • All Ca l ifornia ns But One Don Ves co is married, has a dau ght er, a nd is a Yamaha/BSA deal er in San Die go. Ves co is the only Ameri can eve r to win a n Int ernational Grand Prix at the United Stat es Grand Prix in Daytona, 1963. F or many years he ha s competed in nume rous forms of motorcy cl e competi tion, but mos t notably as a road racer in west coast eve nts , and nati onally with the American Motorcycl e Association. He has been rid in g since he was 16 years old, and began ra cing when he was 17. Don comes from a ra cing family . He and his fat her ar e well-kn own on the Bonne vill e salt fla ts, where they have accumula te d so me very i mpressive records . Don bel ongs to the "200 mph Club," comprised of men who ha ve gone 200 mph or bett er on the salt flat s . Buddy Parriott also be gan ridin g a t 16. At 20, he ente red his firs t co mpetition. and in 1948 mad e his first score by wi nning the Box Sprin gs TT in Rivers ide , California. In 1964 he was firs t in the AFM Sant a Barbara road races, repeating the fea t in 1965. Th at sa me ye ar in Daytona . Florida. he finis hed second behind Mike Hallw ood, the world 's 500cc champ ion, beating a n int ernational field in the process . He has won s everal eve nts at the road rac ers ' training grounds, Willow Springs . Ron Grant was born In the s uburbs of London. England. and had attained a cons ide rable reputation for himself in English club ra ci ng before coming to the U.S. in 1961. Ron may possibl y provoke a rea ction from the British that the team is not all Ame rican. However. this is a country of immi grants . 'Ron is an Ame rican , and has ea rned most of his reputation raci ng in our st yl e of compe tition. Ron has been riding in competit ion since 1960, when he e nte red the Bank Holiday ra ce at Thruxton in England. He rac ed in scrambles as well as road racing. He has ridden a number of rath er exo tic machin es, s uc h as the Honda four. ' He holds track records at La guna s eca, Cotati, Vaca vill e, a nd W illow Springs. He was first in the 500c c class in AFM eve nts in 1964. and '65 . Ron' s most important asset to the team is his 91 mph lap at the Isle of M Manx an Grand Prix , on a Norto n minus fai ri ng. He is marri ed, has one dau ghter, and s ell s motorcycles for a li vi ng. Gordon J en nin gs is Cycl e W orld's T echnical Editor and will rid e as team alternate. Should an a ccident remove one of the primary member s, Gordon will fill the vacancy. In a dditio n, J ennings will be the T eam' s chie f technician. He maintained and rac ed a Yamaha TD-I all through one and one-ha lf seasons with s uc cess . All the ride rs an d machines wllI depart for London via Pa n American Airways, May 28th, an d then to the Islan d 80 mil es from Liv erpool, and virtu a lly the same dis tances from Dublin a nd Glasgow. T hey will compete under the scrutiny of more than 150, 000 Briti s h and foreign motorcycle enthusiasts, against Briti sh , J apa nese, Itali a n. Czechoslova kian , Australi an, African. New Zealand, Cana dian, Swedish, West German, East German . F rench, Rus sian an d Spanish riders. Dr. D. O. Hutchins will accompany the team as physic ian, and Cycle World ' s publi sh ers J oe and B. J. Parkhurst will go al ong as historians and adviso rs . • • • • • MORE FAVORITE RIDING PLACES E xceptD.oJrJl.al W hat are YOlUl wai6n.g for ? s lUlbscribe OK. send me,Cycle News for one year via faster Second Cla ss Mall service. or money order I enclose check for $7.50, or bill me Send subscript ion to Name _ c:1 Address _ City _ _ _ _ O . _ _ _ _ This department regrets having to do it , but this week we a re forced to re ve a l th e favorite s ecret riding place of Baro n Clyd e C harle s Von Schazy. Looking for some more common place rid i ng grounds, we discove re d that all had be en posted " off limits " to motor c y cle s . Tha t le ft only Von Scha z y' s crazy place. 0 Santa Monica Warehouse _ _ _ _ State _ _ _ _ _ Mail to CYCLE NEWS, Box 498. Lon g Bea ch. Ca lif. Zlp _ So fa r very few cycle bugs k now of the g rooviest i ndoor 1/ 6 mile concrete t rac k sinc e the Long B each Arena. It is the floor of an abandoned warehous e located on Culver Boulevard near L inc ol n in C ul ve r City. Clyd e and others, includi ng some % midget driv ers, practice th ere unmol ested ( s o far) but it may only be a short time befo re some promoter locks it up and c ha rges adm ission, or th e state s eizes it for a pony park, but havi ng . as we s a y , no alternative , we hesitantly reveal it anyway. L oc a l taboos - be ready to a ct ni c e if th e police arrive. . ..

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