Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Y Larry Haley &< Cart Bartlett. AFM at WHITEMAN F irst moto rcycle outi ng at the ne w Whiteman Airpark track in P ac oi ma was an AFM road race e vent he ld last Sunday afternoo n. Cl os e to s i xty rider s on a wid e var iety of equi pment show ed up for the initial go, a nd all c lasses from 50cc to Ope n were re pres ented; Surprisingly , a des er t sidehac k team s to le the show from t he more sophistic ated t rack mode ls . slidi ng the co rne rs with a ve ngeance although losing out i n the final tally. Ha ruo Kosh ino, pint-s ized Suzuki ac e , le d the way home in 50cc , l25c c a nd 250c c c ompetiti on; Ron Grant (Honda) too k 350 cc hono rs : Norto n M nx mounted a Al Whitney was first 500cc to fi nis h. In the 175cc GP class , it wa s a ll Os s amounted Stev e P eders on. Des pit e breaking down la te in the ra ce , his lead wa s s o treme ndous that he s till had ti me --- Jusl like 'over lhere". Winn ing '.'::" Suzuki In fore ground. :.~ , ~ >= "'... ..,..- - , ,~ - ~tl:« = ,: - : • _~ i~ t o push t he machi ne across the line for fir s t place ! In the Open clas s T om Steele an d his T riumph e merged vict ori ous . while Ernie Caesar and Re g Pridmore whee led their Triton t o s id ecar vic t ory . The 4/1D-mile Whiteman Airpark cou rse. which utilizes both turn s of the third-mile pa ved oval ( m e fiat, me steeply banked) and paved portions of the infi eld, didn't give the machines much room to show their power potential. Several intere sting rac es e ns ue d, bowever, and s pectators were afforded good van tage points from all seats. F or riders with road ra cin g as pirations , a school for beginn ers is being co nducte d at the Whiteman tra c k this Sunda y, J une 5th . Conduc ted by Bob Bra ver man. Steve Gibson. Da ve Het zler and ot her well known exponents of th e road ra c ing art , t he s c hool is open from 10:30 a.m.. to 6:00 p.m, for a modest $7. 50 to ta l' ree , Bri ng you r ma chine , hel met . glove s , goggles and lea t her jacket to 12930 P ierc e s t. , Pa c oi ma. (Res ults on pa ge 12) --.J News correspondent Larry '1 heads out of noon check. Inset: . • Iy reali z ed that I was s tarting to ti re. I couldn't understand it. I rode the Gree nhorn the year before and I never once felt tired and this year didn't seem to be a ny worse or rougher. I couldn't make up my mind which was worse , my stiff le g muscles or the t hrottle han d tha t felt numb clear to th e elb ow, or the sorer posterior . At this point I kept crashing in some of t he most ridiculous places, like in sand was hes and turns in fire roa ds . My rear tire felt like it was flat, but it was n' t. What had hap pene d was my re ar s hocks had completely wasted and that do strange things to one ' s . machine . G d S 00 amautan Along abo ut this far into t he c ours e , so me 140 mlles, physical flttness is of the essence . F or one who was not in shape , ridi ng every week to ke ep that way t it was pur e murder. My mouth felt full of cotton c andy, and I would hav e given anything for a drink of wate r. About two-thirds of th e way aro und t his loop th ere was a Good Samaritan sitting at a roa d crossing giving a drink of wat er t o rid ers who wanted it. Man, it was pure nectar; hot, but pure ne ctar. This rejuvenated me for a while , but i t was really only a figment of my imagination, as I was just as ti red and thirsty in 10 miles again. Boy, if I co uld only go back 20 years younge r at thi s point. W c ame al on g a railroad track and e there was a crowd of people who thought the i r rid ers might need some water or gas . Still 15 mlles to go to Inyokern. There it was, at last, the gas c hec k and a 20-minute rest. I only had 10 minutes late. so at thi s point I tuck ed my tail betw een my legs and admitted defeat and quit. I'm probably not the only one by any stretch of the imagination who was tired, so re a nd thirsty . For instance . Rosemarie Martin o. the only gi rl riding in the 100cc class , went 205 mile s before sh e was disqualified for being one minut e ove r the hour la te . At t he ti me Ros emarie real ly didn' t ca re a s he r hand was blistered and sh e was s o tir ed and sore, but Sunday mornin g she was ready to go again and felt bad abou t being disquali- • OSS fie d. But fran kly , I was ti c kle d to be sitting in that van wi th my buddy Mil Green and my wife driving us bac k to Red Mountain while old buddy and I did honors to two big coo lers full of ic e cold bee r and ta lked about the run. After Inyokern , the riders pret ty much follow ed the course as it was last year. ove r the mountains and a cros s the Searles Yalley and up the back side of Gove rnment Peak and i nto Red Mountain for the night layover. ' Dea d' but st ill Rid ing Had a chat with Lloyd Larson who has ridden e very Greenhorn s inc e 1952. Thi s one make s his 14th and he is 66. A few ye ar s back his doctors told him he was a dead man, and then he started ridi ng motorcyc les. Boy, I sho uld liv e so l ong as to be that healthy when 'I' m 66 yea rs ol d. Sunday mom a t 6:01, t he firs t riders took off on the second day and to make a long rid e short th ey repeated Saturda y's co urse thr ough Inyokern, in rev erse with a couple of variations . F or one they went a bit farther to t he west and, us ed some of the old prospe ctors' enduro tra lls over t he El P aso Mounta ins . After lea ving Inyokern, they foll owed Saturday' s trail in revers e exce pt th ey tur ned back towa rd Red M ountain s ooner, thereby e li mina ting that section of rocky fenc e line t hat we rode by on Saturday p.m, In at Red M ountai n for one- hour c how break , and t hen back out on t he final leg of the return run to P earblos s om - only 95 miles to go. F or so me reas on or a not her, J&R Ran ch revok ed the us e of their land for t he return t rip, so it Was re-rout ed down the high way for abo ut 8 or 10 miles a nd then to F our Corners . From t here it followed th e Saturday morning co urse in rev ers e back into Hi-Vfsta for a gas stop and t hen to P ea rblos s om for t he finish. Inci denta lly, I mus t co mmend the Pas ad ena M.C. on their splendid job of staging the 20th Annual Greenhorn Endurowi th th e coo perati on of various law enf orcement ag encies throughout t he ent ire 40D-mile desert run. (Results will be publish ed in Cycle News when they are available. M ore photos ne xt week . ) , UPSET NIGHT AT ASCOT Another of "them there young whipper-snappers" carrying Expert plates for the first season popped up at Ascot last Friday to grab most of the limeli ght. This time it was genial Gene Romero who came within a blink of the eye of scoring the all -time upse t. He won hts firs t heat race of the s eason, beating four-ti me heat ra ce winner , GUy Louis. It Was the s econd faste s t heat rac e run a t Ascot in two years. Romero wa s runnin g hot e nough t~ wi!! th e Trop~ da sh, too, beating flye-tune Dash winn er Sam"!y Ta~ne r With the fastest th ree-lap tlme smc e th e rec ord was set back in ' 63. Two of the t hree laps in th e Dash were t he fastest tu rned a t the loca l oval since 1964 ! W d things be di ffer ent in t he oul Main Event. Tanner led at th e e nd of one but Romer o was in ches behi nd. He to ok the lead from Sam on lap t wo. Around and aro und they went , with Da n H ~by . Ralph White ~nd Dic k Hammer fil.ling out the SUPPOrllDg roles. Romer o led a ll the way to the south turn on th e 9th lap when his luck ra n out. He hit the deck in an e asy manner, a nd a sta rtle d Mr. As c ot went down with him! Haaby then found hims elf in front a nd away to his firs t Main Event win of the season. Dan's winning time was j us t off t he track record s et in ' 64. Had Romero and Tanner kept goin g it woul d undoubt edly hav e been a new t rac k rec ord! Th e 15-lap mark was s et by Elliott Schultz who fin ished a solid s econd ri ght behind Haaby, T his was only his sec ond time on the tra ck in a bout a year and his first time in t he Main E vent this seas on. Anothe r Amateur Winner The odd hap penin gs that seem to he the byword every week this yea r co ntinu ed in the Amate ur final. Northerner Joe Schmidt came so uth for the fourth time and put th e job on the local Amateurs with a wi re-to-w ire run in the tenla p fina l. He became the firth straight ne w name to win the Amateur Main. Th e Novice clas s was JUSI a s much of a thriller as the two big broth er M n E vents. This ti me it was Oran geai clad Keith Krus er ta ki ng t he lead on t he t hird lap and going on for his sec ond M i n Event win of t he yea r. J im Ash. a more led th e first lap , P hil Todd was the le ade r on the second. Kruser an d his Yamaha buddy , Larry Pruett, a lso ga ve t he fans a thr ill in the Nov ice Tr ophy Da s h. Krus er by winning the event . Pruett by trying to win it a nd t he n falling off after shooting hi gh into the a ir. He later walked away a nd bac k into t he Main Ev ent. Only accident or the night round Randy Say returning to action an d then winning his hea t rac e. In t he final, on the last la p , Say got into the tum too hot and wen t down. ta king former M in a Event winner Tim lIa rris along with him. Say walk e d awayand Harris wa s hurrie d to the hospi tal for trea tmen t of a broken nose a nd c rac ked kneecap. This Friday finds the return of Chris Draayer, the first year Expert who just ab out won it all two weeks ago. Romero has company this t ime. ' (Res ults on pa ge 12) wins over competition and "racing lUCK' - - - ~A:' "- Steve Pederson, left, boomed his • Barcelona Bullet- to such a tremendous lead in the 175cc class at Whiteman Stadium that after a breakdown late in the race , he PUSHED his Ossa production racer across the finish to 1st place: (Steve even raced without a fairing). • Sole U.S, Distributors ANAHEIM MOTORCYCLE CENTER INC. 127 S. MANCHESTER. ANAHEIM, CALIF. anyone can have "racing luck" onl y OSSA has the power to overcome it! o 175cc " Barcel ona Bullet" full price $989 (including fairing) '. •

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