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/125454
,. VOLUME III NUMBER 27 WEEK OF JULY 14 through JULY 20, 19&& INSIDE 8>1PW&. BABE WINS FIRST NAT'L _. 7-\IILE NA110NAL RESULTS F nml LINCOLN. ILL. By Dick Pea rs o n (Speci al to Cycle News ): It took 14 years or hard work but it finally paid off for Illin ois' Babe DeMay. The M oline rider won his first national championship at Lincol n last Sunday afternoo n in a convincing manner. The track , which has not hosted a national sin ce 1962 when Carrol Resweber was knocked OUl of competition and Dick Klamfoth was forc ed into retirement, was in perfect racing condition this time. A capacity crowd watched the races in record breaking heat that found the temperat ure climbing to 105 degrees! DISTRICT 37 Backs DirtD's By Mauree n Lee When the roll was called at Thursday nights' District 37 Sports Committee Meeting, someone called out that they had brought along visitors from the Dirt Diggers . This was foll owed by applause. The meeting's main sub jec t was-the loss of club san ction to .ne Dirt Diggers M.C. and the revoking of their Per r i s event sanction. Discussion of thi s took over three-quarters of the meeting. It included comments and questions from many club represe ntatives showing thatthe us ual apathy has at last been overcome. •• Sports Committe e Pr esident Jean Car ter sai d that with AMA headquarters declin in g to renew the Dirt Diggers' charter, he had no other choi ce but to suspend them from the rollcall. At once, a representati ve voi ced a strong opi nion : MTo hell wi th the AMA. L et' s have a Di strict 37 charter . W can't we govern ourhy (Continued on pa ge 11 ) / • J Eflsy CfJ"fSe B)' Bob Goo di ng The Lions M.C. of san Di e go is on e of th e ol des t competiti on c l ubs in the We st , and maintains t he ol dfas hioned type of rough s c rambles. The ir e ve nt on J une 26 th was one of t hei r "w ors t, " or "b es t ," depe nding on whether o r not yo u to re up y o ur bik e . J ohn Hardy , popular p reside nt of t he Lio ns M.C.. and secretary of th e Sports Committee for District 37-A endo rses t he type of ridi ng enjoyed by onl y fortysix ride rs . who wer e a hardy lot i ndeed. as many riders don' t hav e the " hair" for a Lions MotcrCross. Ed Rosa. well known ex pe rt . was responsi bl e in a large way for today' s course. at Miramar Mesa. of well over a mil e of IJIl and down hills . big offca mber turn s and chuc k-holes tha t guara nteed bent rims . T he Lions do not adve rtise thei r runs to an y lar ge exte nt. but H you e ve r ge t a c hance tu ride o ne , I s tro ngly urge you to do so as they pro vide a real day of e xci te ment. Ei ght riders in the 90cc c las s braved th e starter and cha s ed Wayne Hosaka , who won. foll owed by Bill Beyer and Rick Horne r. Ca rol Good ing . the only fema le rider. came in fourth. Th e 250cc Novice group , usually a la rge class . fi eld ed only t welve riders . a nd Rick E cker t we nt on to win. Rick was chall en ged ve ry closely by Stan Col vin and Joe P hillips on . Harry Hayes in th e 250cc Exper t class could not be beaten . riding a hot an d reliable C-Z . Open Novice Al Adams nosed out Norm P hil li ps for his win. and rounding out the program was Niles Ussery , Open Expe rt . who rod e his Triumph lik e he was tryin g to break it. All in all. todays run wa s a great one even thou gh many ri der s decided to save their bike s and t hei r bodie s for a le s s demanding ra ce . (Resul ts on pa ge 12) WIDTEMAN AIR PARK AFM RACES P ine coye red hilis proyided backdrop lor short circuit Grand P rix action. SPEEDFEST FOR FANS ASCOT- HAABY HOT By Denni s Gree ne T he s ta rs of Sunda y's Whiteman Ai r P a rk Road Ra c es in cluded a really upand-comi ng you ngs ter from Southe rn California named St eve Galbraith who ride s a Tohatsu with as much s kill a s the riders with years of expe rie nce under their belts. a nd Tom St eel e from Santa Rosa who won the 175cc c lass on a Bridgest one and th en . s witching to Triumph. took Open Class honors. It wa s the seco nd e ve nt a t Whiteman Air P ar k in Pac oima , out In the San F ernando Valley. This track offe rs total visibility, somethi ng that no othe r track ca n boast about. T he whol e c irc Uit and all the turns ca n be viewed from the c enter grandstands . with all the advantages of long mlleage cou rs e co nde nsed int o a small ar ea and with all mod ern conveniences. Th e meets ha ve been draw in g rid ers to run in these profess ional e ve nts from as far away as Cotat i and it is dev elopi ng int o a dua l betwe en th e loca l rid ers and the o ne s from Northern California. Here's a chan ce for all you roadrac i ng fans who always say, " I want to go but I don 't want to stand and watc h j ust one c orner . " the AF M will be hosting anot he r event at W hiteman o n July 31st. T his coming week end . July 17th will see the thi rd running of the Road Racing S c h 0 0 1 that has been so suc cessful. ( Resul ts on pa ge 12) Mesa spee way Opens OILERS FIND AHOME By B.G. Gooding Just South of San Diego, at Brown Field, a new organization was recently formed, called the "Mesa Racing Association" . The Mesa group promptly called upon the Oilers M.C. to build their half-mile oval with a T. T. tied into it, duplicating Ascot. The Oilers put "reliable" Don Mathews to work and what a job he did! This new speedway is almost too much! A pre-race show was presented consisting of Sprint cars on the half mile, The •66 version of th e "BSA Wre cking Crew" again d estroy ed th e o pposition by winning all thre e e xpe rt heats , running o ne-t wo in th e trophy dash and then co mi ng o ut for th e third ti me i n on e ni gh t to run one - t wo in th e final in o ne of th e closest fi nishes on t he books . The MCrew ", T anner. Ha aby and White . z i ppe d a nd z a ppe d t heir way to respecti ve heat rac e wi ns a nd th en teamed up against Elli ot t Schultz in the dash . Schultz cut down tw o ' of th em but could not ke ep Haaby from wi nning hi s first dash e ve nt of th e year. Tanner was a s eldom-third with White i n fo urt h . Back they came for th e 15 lap final and it was Haaby o ut in fro nt from t he start o n his Gary Bra y sp ecial. Schultz was giving Tanner pl enty of competition for s e cond until the late laps when th e F l ea start ed to fly. Ea rly In the ra ce , C huck J o ne s, ri ding th e Jack O'Bri en BSA for the first time, collided with Ral ph White. Exit one t hird of the crew and one possible new member. Neither rid er was injured and bot h walked away. Tanner turn ed t he tables o n Ha aby this week and put o n th e late l a p drive that carried him to within s ix inch es of winning once a gain. Sammy c l os e d a soli d ten bik e lengths on the last lap and pulled even as t hey came down the final stretc h. Haaby s hut the door next to t he wall an d re c orded his thi rd main ev ent win o f the year. Th e cro wd. which ag ai n pa id o ver a $2,000 purse . gave both rid ers a s tan di ng ovat io n. Schultz ran third with the surprisi ng Pat Gosch taking fourth. Gos ch also won the s emi an d led Tanner most of the way in the hea t ra c e for hi s bes t s ho wi ng since m 0 v i n g from Omaha to California. It was Randy Say all the way o n th e BSA for the seco nd tim e t his yea r i n th e amate ur final. Say had t he fastest amateur heat ra ce time and then l ed wire to wire i n the final. He is s till way down In lOth in the standings due to a late start this season. Blue and ye llo w c lad Dan Kelly honked the Corona Yamaha around and around to win his heat race and th en lak e th e main e vent lead away from Honda mount ed Phil T odd on th e third lap in the " B" final. La rry Pru ett won his 12th s traig ht novice heat but fell way down to 6t h i n the fea ture and again los t seco nd plac e Pre-rac e fav orite Bart M el got ark the ba ll rolli ng by set ti ng the fa ste st time trial but the n was turn ed back by DeMay i n th e opening heat ra ce for the first ups et of the da y. . Oklahoma 's F red Nix returned to act io n from a s houlde r i n j u r y (s ee (Voice) and won the s econd heat rac e. Youn g Bill O' Bri en, riding the Ralph Berndt sp ecial. formerly ridden by C arr oll Res weber. won th e thi rd heat in hi s firs t try a t rae i ng for Bern dt. It wa s DeMay all the way in th e 14 lap final and he took the checke red fl a g a s t raightaway ahead of Mar kel. Bart was pres s ured all t he way for s econd by Nix and it was a nea r photo finish for the runner-up sp ot at t he flag. Sammy Tanner was again entered but was olf the lin e in the fina l ne xt tu la s t. The two-time na tiona l winn er thi s y ear worke d his way up to 5t h place by the end of the race but was never in contenti on. Th e ama teurs ga ve the pa cked s ta nds (Co ntin ued on pa ge 15) Sign Up to Win And VQJtr~he h~~QI'~ YsQUcR of most-wanted dream hikes i n our MWin th e Bike of Your Drea ms" contest . current ly runni ng in Cycle News. One su bscri ber , gambli ng t hat it would be a vailable thi s C hristmas when prize time comes due. want s a 4- cylinder German ' Mammut. " Th e co ntest. ope n to Cycle News Subscribe rs , offe rs a s Gra nd Priz e. any bike th e winn er names on his e nt ry as as lo ng as It is avai lable In the U.S. Second priz e is a Hodaka 90 and firs t through 50th pla c es win a 45-rpm rec ord of "T he Flying F l ea. ' sung by S. Tanner. En try blank for t he co ntest is on page 13 t hi s i s su e. You have to pay yo ur due s to Cy cl e News in o rder to win. GRIPSTERS OPEN NEW AREA. T he Gr i ps t e r s M.C . wi ll be holdi ng a no- po i nt sc rambles on Open Su nday , Au gust 7th . The run will be at Silver Lak e s i n Norco,California, t wo mil e s No rth of Corona. The a re a is i dea l . the Gripste rs say , as th ere is pl enty of s ha de , with swimming and trout fishing lak es a nd th e t rac k will be wa te re d . It i s ideal for an outing with the whole family. Sma ll bikes will start at e i ght . with th e big on es comme ncing at noon . T o re ac h area, take Norco turnoff from the Ri ver s i de Fre e wa y anc! go No rt h. BSAStarting July 18. 1966 co rreWESTERN avES SOUTH spond enc e to BSA Motor c y clesWe s t ern s ho ul d be addressed to P .O . Box 337 o r 27 45 E . Huntingt on Dr i ve . Du a rte, Calif. 9 10 10 . Thi s is th e address of th e Weste rn BSA d i stributor' s new headquarte rs . Ph o ne numbers for BSA will be (2 13 ) 359-9271 and 681-2621 . ' to c ana w 0 lIDS e Poi nt lead er Don Rob erts lost heat ra c e to Len Earl and then fell i n t he semi and did not qualify for finai . Both McDonald and Pruett ag ain right on hi s rear wheel for top s pot i n the s ta ndi ng; . ll . the off th e ar e the ----------------------------------------------------------(Conti nued on pa ge 6) SOlIIIi 'JIII:I '!PHI In, ',all 'PilI JIlt, 'II 1D! SM3N 31:>A:> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ y ...... ... y ........ "". 1'''_'''" y , _ .. ,r:s .,"'...,. 'I'~ • 1