Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

MADERA from page 1 event , as Ray Huff and Wayne Sumner pitted thei r Bultacos against each other. Huff emerged on to p; Sumner was closely tailed by Jawa-mounted Amateur Herb W olff at th e fin ish. Th e 500 cc Novi c e final was sp iced by close racin g all the way, as Don Bonkos ky pushed his Triumph from thir d place to win ove r early leade r W e C hase (H-D). P lenty of action ayn took place in the 650cc Novice as well . L e ad ing off the li ne a nd into the t urn, J oh n Ba s s (BSA) held on for th e entire Sumner. s o close was the action. Huff (40" BSA) a nd Sumner (440 BSA) both got by Clar k on lap three , but Clark regained the lead on the next time arou nd, rode c los e to the pol e for th e remaining laps and emer ged vic to rio us at the checker. Lights, Camera, Etc. Adding a uniqu e touc h to the proceedi ngs . the Madera M.C. used a light s tart . system throughout t he eveni ng. A red Iight flashed on to wa rn riders that the s ta rt wa s immine nt, t hen within fi ve seconds . a white lig ht sent them on th ei r w,,- . Si nce jumping the red light autoy GRIPSTERS COME TO GRIPS AT PRADO PARK • By Mauree n Lee The G ripsters were the sponsoring club at Prado Park Sunday, running things with their usual efficiency. We know that they're a good-sized clUb but that needn't mean a thing. It's gemng all the guys to pull together that counts. Riders were greeted at the signup booth and heat board by notices informing them that from now on machines must have three number plates when ridden at prado, The side-ones need not be the official Dist. 31 plates but they m ust be legible, Th e 50cc c lass bega n things for th e da y a s Kir k McD owe II won, wi th yo ung Chris Robins on in s ec ond place. Chris hasn't been ridin g too l ong, we hear, but he goes ! The 100cc Expert c lass was another Honda-McDowell win , but David Ham and his hot little Hodaka were right behind him. T he 100 Amateur was a not he r crowded cl as s (Novices hav e to rid e as Amateurs ) but Dal e Smith on a Honda won over Hayward Mend enhall on a Yamaha. Bultaco Time distanc e. despite lots of contention from runnerup Wayne Head and third place Darrell Graham, both on Triumphs. Open Amateur winner Marvin Heath (H- D) moved up fro m third to take the lead on th e last lap, beating out Triumph mounted Paul Navarro. Then came the hig one - - the Open Ex pert. T ommy Clark sh ot into an e arly lead on his 440 BSA. but less t ha n a bik e length s eparated him from Ray Huff and Wayne Photo montage attempts to show the spirit of t he action at Madera night scramble s. Photos by John Ramos, speci al effect s by Denni s Greene. matically s ent a rid er t o the ba ck row, ther e was no chea ti ng off the line this night. (Results on pa ge 12) HEIDELBERG from page 1 va nce to the final. California's Cal Rayborn. rid in g his fir s t half-mil e sinc e being injured at th e As cot opene r la st April, was el imi nated from the Nati onal final when t he seat fell off his Harley during th e heat rac e. Track Record To Boot Tanner was eve n mor e brilliant in winni ng the 15-mil er tha n he was when he won the s-nuter two wee ks ago . This time he s hat te re d th e track record ove r th e 32-lap distance afte r Markel led the early laps. Tanner took ove r e arly in ra ce a nd went on to def eat the defending champio n by nin e bike lengths. The old 15-mile record was 13:22.13 set last year by Markel when he beat Tanner by a third of a lap. This time Tanner wbistled to victory on the C. R. Axtell Special with tbe scorcbing time of 12:50.12! ! A s pill during th e final, which again found Nix out of cont rol. took Gary Ni xon a nd Nix down hard. Again it wa s Nix broad siding an oth er rid er. Nixo n remounte d to finish the rac e but Ni x was out wi th a broken collarbone . The Amateur final was also t urned in record ti me with Lenny Waldo aboard a Harley-Dav ids on the winner . Wisconsin Amateur winner Jack Warren fell i n th e fi nal t ryi ng to o ve rta ke the winn er . This was Tanner's sixth National C hampio ns hip rac e win since 1959 and his s ec ond straight this year. Next AMA Na ti onal , an other half-mile, is on tap on June 26th at Columbus , Ohio . This will be the big lo-mile National. Roed er is the defending cha mp; Tanner did not rid e thi s o ne last year. He is very much e ntere d this year. (Results on pa ge 12) Ri ehl: Noted Honda tuner Monte Darli ng trie s out a BSA. Below : Cycle News correspondent Maureen Lee does a lilli e scramblln' around fi rst hand. Th e larger lightwei ghts wer e, as usual, in fin e form. Th e 250cc Amateurs had a wild Main, as two Bultac os , ridden by J obn Spra gue and Larry Lindenberg, a nd Dave Brittain on a Honda, proc e ed ed to tangle . They s wa pped pl ac es fo r a bit , wit h Brit ta in making a visit int o t he boonies afte r the jump , but t hey finally settle d it with sp rague in first , Linden ber g second an d Brittain third. The Exper t 250 was just as interesting. Out to break up the current Bul ta c o monopoly were Ge orge Omo on a Montesa an d hard- riding Len Earl on a Har ley. T hey succ eeded pretty well. At the finish of the Main it was Ca rl P atr ic k on a Bulta co first , Omo a nd Ear l in for second an d thi rd. F ourt h and fift h came to more Bulta c os with Doug Yer ke s and Dewa yne Jo nes. aboard. The 350 Amateur ctass again weni to Mike Posey on his Honda. Wearing a sharp green helmet, it seems that lately Mike is THE contender in that class. However, another Honda ridden by Bob Foster is usually around to see that Mike doesn't get the idea that his days' riding will be easy. The Open Amat eurs s aw Fred Nimo really ride. hard to win th e s emi , but in t he Main a rider .c ut under him on the hump putting F red down and out for the rest of the rac e. Th e eve nt ual winner was C. D. Gerardy on a Triumph , and i n s econd John Spra gue. The 500 Experts had th eir share of woes with only thr ee rid ers rep orting to the line for the thi rd moto. BSA-moun ted Jim Hunter was the ev entual winner but not without expe rie nci ng a cons tant challeng e from a Triumph rid er who was glued to his rear whe el. Th e Open Expert boys went at it with co ns i derable talent in t he ir line-up and turne d in some really fast lap t imes , in cluding two rid ers , Bill Ril ey and L. Wilburn, who crac ked off a single lap eac h in 51 s econds. Rile y als o turned o ne from a standing start in 53,*- ! That's hauling! Th e clas s co uld have gone to any one for a while, a s it fielded C. H. Wheat , always a t hreat , Mont e Darling , who ca n rid e hard on an Open mac hine and who had snagged a ride on a BSA for the day, and As cot Novi ce star Jim Ashm ore on a big Harl ey. Th e win, howev er , went to Riley. Onc e he get s past his c ha llenge rs he appears uncatc ha ble . Could It Be? In the Novice heavyweight class, co ntroversy wa s heard in the tower for a whil e as so meo ne thought that Ed Enochs, who was co mpletely demolishing hi s opposition on his Triumph, was , a wolf in sheep's clothing (t.e ., a bi g bad Ascot rider forbidden to ride because of the ruling and who was out getting his jo llies do tng in the Novices). Some of us insisted that it wasn't who they thought it wa s. and it was wishful thinking on thei r part to catch this guy domg something like that. But really, gang. he wouldn't be THAT stupi d! Anyway, it provided some fun for a while until Whitey Harp er left the tower to get a rea ll y good look at Enochs and bring hack the word. T he Competition Committee ca ught a fe w on Sunday , including rid er s tryi ng to ride machines that had al ready be en ridden, and a pair of Honda s, one of which had the engi ne number comp le tely remo ved and th e ot her with numbers that were obvio us ly not the factory variety. There was al s o a Bultaco protest pending against a Greeves , but it failed to materialize when th e Greeves ended up with a broken clutch lever on the line. • ..

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