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/125460
CYCLE NEWS August 25. 1966 Page • Ron Pierce, 192 on a Yamaha leads Suzuki mounted Dick Kilgroe toward turn two. Pierce placed second. Geoffrey Ryan's 250cc Parllla managed lourth place at Cotati. Hate to confess but the "speed lines" are a bush In the out·ol-Iocus loreground. . .- • • BATMAN 120 pound Dave Burchards, who usually rides CR series Hondas lopnd tbls 55 cubic Inch Harley Sportster quite a handful. Burchards gol Inlo some hairy slides and wobbles with lhe big brute bul managed to say up. right and took fifth in the open GP. Team Cutlass' Dick Kllgroe turns up his double-disc braked Honda 450. Kllgroe was third In the 500 GP Event. WINS COTATI CLASS Report and Photos by George Marlin It was a short course and Ron Grant made ,Quick work of it with both a speedy 250cc water cooled Bultaco TSS and a pushrod BSA 500 on August 14 at Cotati Raceway near Santa Rosa, California. Grant's sleek two-stroke roared to victory in the 250 and 350 Grand Prix classes, then he switched machines to take a first with the big ones, too. Grant was second into the first turn in the 250 ev~nt, following Honda mounted Da·ve Burchards, but by lap two he had gained the lead and began turning laps in 1 minute 13 seconds. If this seems a bit quick for Cotati it is because the course was cut to about 1.5 miles to make it easier for spectators to see and to encourage closer dicing. A victim of some of that dicing was Burchards, who was passed by Yamaha-mounted Ron Pierce while Grant worked to lengthen his lead. Behind Pierce came Geoff Ryan on a Parilla followed by Bob Cambou (Yamaha) and Tom Finlay (Yamaha). The group finished in that order. For the 350 Race, Grant again came to the grid, this time facing a gaggle of bored-out Hondas. Foremost among these was Art Baumann of Team Cutlass who gave Grant his hardest fight. Baumann's racing partner Dick Kilgroe led into the first turn followed by Baumann, Jay Hemingway and Grant. By lap two. Baumann had gained the lead and Grant had made it to secand place followed by Kilgroe, Hemingway and Phil Terranella, all 'Honda mounted. By lap three Grant had nipped into the lead and was never headed. He was followed home by Baumann, Hemingway, Kilgroe and Terrannella. In the 500 GP, Grant got off badly and was far back in the pack as Phil Makanna on a Manx Norton led into the first turn. 0,1 the third go-round, Grant climbed up to fourth place, edged Dick Kilgroe for third one lap later. got past open class winner Haywire Haynes (TrL) on lap six and began stalking Makanna. Grant got by on the eighth lap, turning another 1 minute 13.5 second lap and raced home to victory followed by Makanna Haynes, and Kilgroe. The 250 and under production race provided a screaming finish as Art Baumann's leading Suzuki X-6 broke a connecting rod and ended the race as a MI25.· Baumann had built up a good lead when the right rod went on the last lap. He limped home as second-place B. Anderson gave his all to catch him. It was a close one but Baumann made it to the line a split-second ahead. Freddy Muhlberg was the victim of Keystone-Koppery in the 500 production race. While nearing the Mton· on the straight, Fred's leathers came unzipped and, as he said later,·I was ballooning out like Batman or something. • It almost tore me off the bike.· Freddy made an unplanned pit stop long enough for his wife to re-zip him, and then tore off to try and catch tbe pack. It was a hard r.ide but he was successful and crossed the line ahead of~. Davis (Honda) and John Redd on a 1951 OHC Norton International. Ducati-mounted Ralph LeClercq clinched his 175cc AFM title by winning that class at Cotati. With seven 'out of 12 events finished LeClerq has seven wins and is now safe from competition. (Fesulls on page 16) I • Ron Grant has just passed Pllil Makanna In this photo for the 500 GP. The machines have jUit felt tum three. 1~