Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

.' , 6 BENEFIT from page 1 riding the Fulbright Gold Star that carried Hunt er s o successfully earlier this s eason. It's a changeov er for Mont e who has been riding a Honda for qu ite a while, so Sunday was a s hake-dow n for him. F ifth in the class was Don J ones who, li ke the McDowe lis , is a member of a ra cin g family. Ev er y Sunday 'he rides t he heavyweight class after his boys Gary and DeWayne get t hrough collecting some of the Il ghtglory on t heir Bultacos . T he Open Amateur wa s a Triu mph ith Mike "in, Gary P a rker winning w Mort on breathing down his ne ck. The Open Expert c lass went to Bil l Manley who is now out of profe ss i onal co mpetition and showed his old s moot h style in s pite of a long lay-o ff with injuries. Aboard a BSA. he out-rode Mike Van Acker a nd J i m Bas s ey on Triumphs to win . Benefit Exhibition Sha ring the hea vyweight progra m wa s a moto-cross for the Class "C" rider s who ca me along to rid e t he Ben e fit a nd s ha re i n it by riding an exhibition, a nd the racing was good! The whole day was a s uccess . t he Ramblers fe el. The~· had a good turn out an d wer e able to really help Ron, who was out there sitting i n the s un e njoy ing t he ra cin g, He wants pers ona lly to t ha nk everyone who - came out eit he r to wat ch or ride t he Ben efit for him a nd wa nts you all to know how muc h he appreciates it . He says it mea nt a great deal to him. (Res ul ts on page 12) M,R,I, from page 1 • 5-MILE from page 1 up a full head of s team. The late laps found Markel making a nother bid for his 16th national win but the effort fell short by 15 to 20 yards at the c he c kere d flag . i Nix rode in for a distant third w th Washington's Sid Carlson in fourth . Five-time Illinois state champ , Babe DeMay, took fifth with Lawwill making up ground in larg e chunks to run a closin g s ixt h. The track was dus ty and dry in spite or muc h errort o n the part or the promote rs and track crews. The bad c ondItions was likened by many or the veterans to the Lincoln . Illinois track back in '62 that caused a six-rider s pill and rorce d the, re ti remen t or Carroll Resweber. J a ck Warren, yo unger broth er of Edd i e Warren , came th rough as expected to wi n t he amateur final , beating Denn y Kannen ber g from Minneapolis, MiDn. Th e wi n by Tanner was his !!fttl nati ona l win s i nce s c orin g his first at As c ot in 1959 . Th e nex t Nat iona l is a lso a ha lf-mil e e ve nt and wll l run on June 12th at Heidelberg. Pa. Th is wlll be the 15-miler. Midweek Short Track Excitement Wedn e sd a y night at Orange C ounty Spe e d wa y saw the re t urn of an old favo rite flatt racker fro m th e '65 sea s o n . Butch Landguth. Butch , up to his usual s t yle running a 250cc Honda , won th e " A" Main e ve nt as well as th e 25 0cc Trophy Dash . The B- Main went to Johnny Balaam on M a 250c c Du catl. Dave Ham o n a Hedaka conti nue d t o dom inate the IOOc c Younl Dave Smith also road races. main event. E ven t ho ug h R uss Robins on was able t o beat Dave in th e Trophy Dash, he was unable to do b etter than s econd in the main e ve nt . Thursday nigh t saw the openin g or the A.C. A. fiattrack season a t South Gate Raceway. Th e new 1/8th-mll e co urse prov ed to be very interesting and exciting Ior both the riders and the spectators. With the new ti ght corners and the lon g straightaways , rider s a re able to do a great deal more passing than on some of t he shorter s hort tra cks. The 50cc Trophy Dash and main e venl went to Dave Smith on his T ohatsu. Smith has started off dominating this class as he did throughout the '6 5 season . Dave Ham did a repeat pertermance or his Wednesday Oran ge County Ieat tly winnin g the IOOcc main. Th e 250 c c "B" main ev e nt we nt to J a M Selso n on a Bul ta co. In hot purs uit and c hall enging J ohn all the time was T ommy Banno n on a BSA. The 250cc South Gate lets pretty sUdy. U A" main event was won by Preston P etty on a Gre eves . P reston to ok ove r the lea d on t he last lap when the le ade r. Rick Woods. drifted high on the north turn a nd Pr es ton was able to pass on t he insid e an d take ove r the lead. Third place in t his e ve nt wen t to Lee stump enneus , als o on a Greeves. (Resul ts on pa ge 12) GREENHORN from page 1 appro ved AMArole eove rni ne prof es s ional rac ers riding non-prores s lonal e ve nts is caus in e some dis sention among the non-prores sional groups who don't unde r-s tan d its pUlllOse? KEEN: Yes. I'm well aware o r It . To set the record straight, the roles states tha t Class C Amateur and Ex pert riders will not be permitted to compete in sportsman scrambles. short track or hillclimb events. You will notice it does not arreel Novice riders. It doesn't torceanyone to cOqlete or not to compete In any c lass tor which he is eligible. It sim ply doesn't make it the rider's prerogati ve to be a profes s ional one day , an amateur t he next. and back to professional the third day . Once a rider has chosen to advance trom Novice (F ormula C) to prores s ional status. he no longer is eligible to compete in certain classes; ror instance, against Novices or in certain non-protesstonal events. The AMA is - not rorci ng anything on us. It simply Is a clarification or a rider's status. as in tennis, golf or root ball. went , on the minute for a total of 66 minutes. making approxi mately 264 riders in all. About 20 miles out , we came down a s ma ll road. hit a larger one and turn ed rlght. We proc eed ed down this road for about five miles and s udde nly realiz ed it wasn' t th e way as t here were people coming back and al l kinds of "t urn ar ound" signs o n the s houlders, We went back to th e t urn and ther e was this li ttle patb leading off the s houlde r, down ove r a bank, t hen a qui ck left , into a tub e and out i nto a sand was h. Tbanks to heave n ther e was no s ecr et c heck i n that wash, because they woul d ha ve caught a l ot of us firs t rid ers 'w ay late and we would hav e l ost a buncb of points. • W The Rule Is Needed hy As tor specific reasons why we must ha ve this rule , may I start by reminding you that AMA racing Is the only successful sport in the world that rorces amateurs to co mpete against profess ionals. We reel, as pro tes s tona l racers. that it Is grossly unfair to terce a rider who buys and sup ports hi s own machine, and whose total intent i s to have run (a nd these riders are of course the reason for being for the entire motorc ycle industry) to compete against tIlghl y trained, factory-sponsored, professional athletes. We, as professionals, reel that tlaving attaioed tbe status and accepted the responsibility or being a full-fledged journeyman racer, a man s hould compete as etten as possible, under the safest, most lucrative professional conditi ons possible. W feel that a nec essary part e or the s e protesstonal conditions is adequate insurance cov era ge and med ical rac ilities. T his you realize is a luxury not a rrorded non-proressional compe tito rs by any insurance company, T he re ar e other ar ea s outside or CalIromi a that do not hav e any moneypaying e vents at a ll . Ins tead, rac es are held unde r e very pro fes stona l co ndition except tor the paymen t or purs es . They hold ra ce s at pr epared rac e co urses, tbey ha ve track maintenan ce equipment. the rac es ar e prores sionally advertised, they ha ve grandstands, and they are held in many instanc es at night under the Itght s , In several areas the race s are s anc ti one d as .. s crambles" and are in ta ct promoted by pro tesstonal promoters and held on tatrgrcunds halfmile trac ks . These conditions l ead us to believ e that someone is making money and isn 't pay;ng his employees - - the Say aah, Doc! Bob Gree. e lakes Doc Bryce' s rider card. At Hi-Vista, we came in about one minute hot , tlad a 20-min ute gas ch eck to refue l a nd make any minor adjustments nece s s a ry. OUt-bound from Hi-Vista to F our Corners (Kramer' s Jct.), we crossed the ol d L os t Angels ha re scrambles c ourse and got on a pole line road that went out to ward Hwy. 395 . At the higbway we turned nortb and ran parallel to the road all the way to Four Corners. I noticed some of the peopl e on the highway ch ecki ng us a nd proba bly wond ering wba t in heck we were doin g out ther e in all that ca bby old desert . thrashing arou nd, when the re was all that beautiful road to ride on. (T tle same t hought pa ssed my mind after about tbe 100,OOOtti bump. ) At F our Corners. a 20-minute gas stop . Leaving Fo ur Corners , we headed out across the desert i n a nort h-ea sterly direction and so on crossed over i nto the vast expa nse or the J&R Ra nctl. and came boiling into Red Mountain for a onehour lun ch break, gas , fix-urn-up . and s o fort h. Cold Metr ec al and a beer chase r, wow !!! Ri ght at t he point of l ea ving Red Mt. for the 68- mile afternoon loop, I s udden- • racers. W reel as professional racers tha t e It Is very bigoted, illogical and unfair of us to e xpec t a tlig-tlme professional promoter like J. C. Agajanian to pay top prize money for 11 rac e s U the sam e men tak e the same machines out the next day and ra ce lor free . W ithout men or the s tat ure o r Aggi e , pror essional racing would be nil. May I doubly remind you that nnly through the ir professional counte rpa rts do ANY ama teur sports ga in promin enc e . WANT TO DO WHEELIES ? --First inst all a BARNETT CLUTCH .. THIS SUNDAY IRVINE JUNE 'S El .. ~"I='~m-_ ..... 3 . . . . . fIM plat .. req uired. M c-...~ '" . - . __ c-.. .. , 1>30..... AVAILABLE NOW: BT &E V iLLIERS & DUCA TI CLUTCH PLATES RIDERS SEE YOUR DEALE R. WE DO NOT SELL RETAIL 4915 PACIFIC BLVD., VERNON , CALIFORNIA, PHONE: 589-5488 ..

• Cover