Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

.. • • SALE Of 24 BRANDS BANNED BY CHP In an effort to understand this disaster which had struck th industry and, more importan t. find out what to do about it. Cycle News spoke with distributors, dealers and officials of the California Highway Patrol, under wbose letterhead the edict was issued. Industry spokesmen were bewildered. "We've resubmitted our lights to Sacremento four times now,· says Jack Steel of Gilera. "The r Quirements aren't too clear, but we think we've got it right this time. We expect clearance in a few days.· Montesa importer Kim Kimbal1 fears the news release may put a lot of small people out of business. One dealer wbo handles several of the independent brands says he is left with only one line to sell- Norton. "I might as well close up until tbis thing is straightened out," says another. Inspector Adrian Dillon, Executive Assistant to the Commissioner in Sacramento and Inspector Howard Amborn of the CHP in Los Angeles both said they were not sure how the ban was going to be enforced. Neither could say whether it affected sports machines which were not to be operated on the road, or whether individual owners would be penalized fOJ the manufacturer's infractions. Kimball said he was "very upset" by the announcement since he has "tried repeatedly" to get his brands approved, only to be frustrated at every step. "It seems there are only four factories in the world that make approved plastic for the tail light lenses,· says Kim. "They leave it to us to guess who. and then try to deal with them for our plastic. We need at least another 30 days for testing and approval, then the factory wi1l need another month to produce the goods.· Jack Steel feels that the approval time could be shortened considerably if the department would test all of a unit at once and not just seno it back when one part proved faulty. "We fix one thing and send it back and then they discover sometbing else wrong that we could have changed the first time around it we had known.· Cycle News has. asked tbe CHP to clarify their destructi~e edict and we have pleaded on behalf of the industry for a 30-60'day moratonum on enforceto permit importers to correct the deficiencies. At press time no statement has been received. Apparently the policy makers of the CHP are bent on destroying an important segment of the State's economy by declaring its goods contraband. But nobody seems to know. BULLETIN AS WE GO TO PRESS Word has just been received from the California Highway Patrol clarifying their ban on two dozen brands (see facsimile reproduction on page 4). First, not all models of the listed makes are banned from sale. Many standard models have approval and can be sold. SPORTING BIKES OKAY FOR SALE J The ban will not affect motorcycles which are sold for only 0[[road use. The law will be enforced by checking each motorcycle registration as it is received in the Department of Motor Vehicles Registration bureau in Sacramento. Models which failed to pass the exhaustive tests at the CHP Berkeley testing facility will be noted and a complain t will be issued against the dealer who sold the machine and his distributor. Sports machines which are unlicensed tor road use can still be sold. In November, 1965 manufacturers with unapproved equipment were advised that they would have until March 1, 1966 to correct the deficiencies. Most were able to comply. 1966 GREEVES CHALLENGER • With 67 long forks, lengthened swing arm, thick seat, mod. tuned Exhaust, Barnett clutch ExIt cond $735.00 Also'65 Greeves Challenger Many Extras $585.00 BULTACO-WESTERN 11418 Burbank Blvd. N. Hollywood TR 7-2400 PO 9-0441 GO SUPER FAST • • with CYCLE CITY OSSA - BENELLI - SUZUKI C'omplele Machine Shop 2142 Long Beach Boulevard Long Buch - 591-1389 THE 1967 IS COMING! • Cant. from page 4 Exclusive 10,000 mile warranty at TRIUMPH OF BURBANK 1329 N. HOLLYWOOD WAY 848-7233 HEAD PORTING,SPEED TUNING FOR RACING - OUR SPECIALTY the National Circuit By Annette Camp IT'S GETTING TO BE more exciting as the big weekend of Springfield draws near. This week more West Coast· racers and tuners arrived in Waukegan. Ed Wirth and company. Bioks and Harold Sellars, are bere. Also Swede Savage and Amateur Mike Libby, who will be out for the rest of the season due to a broken hand. acquired during tbe half mile event at Memphis, Missouri last August 5. Also Amateurs John Issacs, Tim Harris and Bert Ersbig and all their tuners. we also have Novices Marty MacDonald and Donny Roberts. Also (tbis is beginning to sound like a tape) Dusty Coppage and friends were bere for a time. We cannot leave au t Fred Beall of Texas and if I did leave au t anybody I am truly sorry. So far. between the two houses. we get a count of thirty-one people and forty-five motorcycles, give or take a couple. The weather back bere is slowly getting colder now. Tbe weekend activities had six half miles going and a TT. One of ·Saturday'S half miles at Austin, Minn. was rained out. This was also to be the Minnesota Half-Mile State Championship. It was not rescheduled. That night some of the racers participated in the rodeo there at the fair. A well known amateur here. Howard Jacob rode a bare back bronc to the bell. Novice Gene Hartline rode a Brahma bull and a bronc. Red McKeen rode a bronc and Chuck "HP" Felton also rode a bull and a bronc. For Sunday's race at Austin the grandstands were packed. In the final event Gary Nixon took the glory, C!;lris Draayer was second. Dan Haaby was third and Cal Janisch was fourth. At the same time, the balf-mile at Sac City. Iowa was running. Here they ran the Amateurs and the Experts togetber as they were short on racers. All the money was put in the final and several riders made the long drive for almost nothing. What some people don't se em to understand that back here all the racers usually have to drive about a hundred miles to a race and sometimes as many as eight hundred. So if a guy makes the final, with all the money in it. and bis bike doesn't make it or he crashes, he's rode for nothing. Being in one of the first four spots in his heat race didn't do him any good, if there was money in the heat be would bave made something. even if be didn't make it in the final. These are AMA rules and they shouid not be rearranged by anyone except the AMA where they apply. In tbe final Fred Nix took the Win, witb a taped together frame. Darrel Dovel was second. John DRAGS Cycle Alley columnist Bob Ebeling is away competing for a record at Bonneville this week. Watc/l for a full report In Cycle News next week. Tiben was in tbird. Herb Balillgcr was fourth and Lyle Sharer was in fiftb. At Sturges. SOuth Dakota the Expert finals botb Saturday and Sunday were won by Dick Mann. saturday Babe De May was in second and Neil Keen was in third. Sunday it was Keen second ana DeMay in third. The Amateur final on Sat urday was won bY Larry Mc Bride and Sunday it was won by John Issacs. AS this is written. all across the United States the top Experts and Amateurs are preparing for the big day at Sprlngfieldthe Fifty-Mile National. Mile bikes are being built by the best mechanics in the business for this race, HONDA CI> Ql ll() C\l S~ SetIItHU!ft Sale e6,ai",eee4- Steve Allen Honda 9000 Santa Monica BlVd. Friday night, Aug. 12-This was the night for the Santa Fe Fifty Lap TT. The grandstands were fUll to the brim to watch fifty-seven riders. The Novice hats were really a show. After the Qualifying heats, th r-e were two heats with ten ri ders each in them and several spills. The first Amateur heat was won by Harold Lyons of Indiana. The second beat was won by Tom Bowersox, also of Indiana. In the first Expert heat California's Red McKeen grabbed the lead on his Norton. He was soon passed by another California racer. Ed Wirth. Wirth went on to take the win. with Joe Evans in second. McKeen in third, John Goodpaster in fourth. In the second heat it was Jim Corpe tbe TT lion taking the lead and the win. George Wassi was second, Moun Bucannan was third and Richard Franer was fourth. In the Novice final it was Dale Harding taking tbe lead. In tbe~last five laps he and Gary Cape battled for the first spot. At tbe checkered flag it was Cape in front and Harding taking second. Seeing how there were only thirteen Experts. all would get to ride tlle final events. In the Amateur final it was Tom Bowersox taking tbe win. with Curtis Krause in the second spot. In the Expert finalCand the actual fifty lap TT). it was favorite Jim Corpe taking tbe lead with Ed Wirth rigbt behind him. In the second lap Wirth passed Corpe like a shot. Wirtb rode a fantastic fifty laps, never losing the lead after the second lap. He lapped the field twice on bis Triumph. during tbe 29.54.49 minutes of the whole race. Corpe came in second on his BSA. steady tblrd place man was George Wassi, fourth was Moun Bucannan, fifth was Red McKeen and sixth was Art Barda. THE FINISH LINE By ROXY ROCKWOOD PECATONICA PACKS 'EM IN The population of little Pecatonica, Wisconsin rose from 1,000 (including livestock?) to 5,300 last Thursday night, when Promoter Jim Kidd put on half-mile racing at the Pecatonica Fairgrounds. Five thousand tbree bundred of tbose citizens were in the grandstands wa~ching Fred Nix win the Expert final over Pbil Haw.k and Swede Savage, all on Harleys. In four years the Pecatonica purse has risen from $400 to over $1.200 this year. Motorcycle racing is tbe rage all around the country. Again a record crowd of 30,000 paid admissions jammed the grandstands and infield of the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the 50-Mile AMA National Championship race last Sunday. By placing second in Ute final on his Harley-Davidson tuned by Bob Claudfelter, Bart Markel retains a comfy lead in National Championship points. Gary Nixon moved up to second place and Chris Draayer is still in third. Eddie Mulder drops to fourUt and Sammy Tanner is fifUt in points. BY taking the final sprint out of the last turn at Springfield, Gary Nixon won tbe shortest race in history and took borne a total of 53,300. Mert Lawwill. who led all laps but the last one, got nearly 51400. Markel said, "MY back tire was wearing badly and ) knew I bad to hold my speed down in the turns." said Nixnn. ") didn't realize I bad won until I heard Ute cheering from the fans. I was just cnncentrating on getting second on that track.· said LawwiIJ ") bad no idea anything was wrong until.•." Last year Mert was leading the same race by more tban 20 lengths when be went out on lap 11. Had Rallih White not fallen it might have been a repeat of last year's 50-mile finish. _ One-half hour after the race it began to rain. ~ OJ ::s ll() ::s ~ CI) Los Angeles, California SANTA FE TT '1., ~ f;zJ :c:: f;zJ ..:J W ;:.., * * W Prompt dependable service! Largest selection of accessories in Nevada. 1001 S, Main Las Vegas, Nevada 384-4100 81'" hi.h, laced. weiaht 2 Ibs. per plrir $15.95 plus c.o.d. post.C. KEN MAELY the sboeman Route 2, Box 758, Corona, Calif. Irk tire ~It 11III, w,;irs "',/ $22.50 - Send boot or c.rdboanl cutout. MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS WANTED!! 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