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/125463
times were close enough to make it any
mans money.
Leo Payne was a little slower than
usual and bis task of defeating the twin
engine Triumph did not look easy. Sonny
Routs double is the quickest and fastest
gas bike known and be was proving his
EastCoastreputation bY turning elapsed
time.s in the higb tens at speeds or 140
plus. This machine has speciallY designed 48" cylinders that SOnny sells
under the business name or Wehcor.
Wh en tbe race was over a derinite ract
was shown, tbat inches and gas just
cannot catch inches and fuel. ror Leo
Payne again took tbe round.
SOnny Raslawski and Bob Ebeling
weretbe remainingtwo and their elapsed
times were scant hundredths apart.
Ebeling was just a breath raster ort tbe
line and took tbe win turning 11.07
elapsed time. Sonny's E.T. ticket showed II. 09 elapsed time and that was
close!
The final round brought Leo Payne
and Ebeling to the line and Leo was
determined to preserve his unbroken
winning streak. Determination and Harley Davidson are a great acceleration
team. ror they worked together In defeating the Triumph with a !inal elapsed
time of iO.19 and at the speed or 148.56
miles per hour.
TOP STREET & GAS
In the regular program events or Top
Gas & street there was a large field or
good machines and Ron steinberg had to
turn a 12.40 second run to take the Gas
title while Johnnie Eastes was victorious in the street class turning 13.16
E.T. at 103.16 m.p.h. in street.
1'17"
LIONS ALL 8 LAb
uv"T
aDD
Leo Payne collected th.e biggest
share or the purse as a farewell gesture
to California and SOnny Rout took the
largest remaining balance of llansportation back to Brentwood, MarYland.
As the gates swung open at 9:00 a.m.
atLions drag striP. bites were in abuDdance berore the enm hootb. Machines
and riderl owners, presented a good
varie\}' from the entire U.s. of excellent
equiPment and sportsmen. A good deal
of confusion presented itseU with the
Tbe novel\}' events sucb as sidehacks were an entertaining spot in the
meet, especiallY when led by a notable
like Keenan wYnn and not to be over
looked were the wheel stand ellminations that were won by the notorious
"spider" Jim summer and bis Harley.
mouey run witbout competition, perry
Prentiss rode Ebelinp 650cc Triumph
for a single run and automatic win.
Karl Bulluck took the C fuel honors
with his Honda traveling at 98.03 miles
per hour in a short 13.68 seconds.
TOP FUEL
Undoubtedly the rastest and quickest
is SOnny Routt, but he bad to prove it
when the time came ror races against
some great contenders such as SOnny
Raslawski (who turned a 10.99 E.T.
Friday nite). Jimmy Enz double and
Larry welcbes quick Harley-Davidson.
• A' dragster division had the largest
number or class entries but through this
large field SOnny's big dou ble plowed a
quick path to top gas laurels that will
long be remembered here on lIIe west
Coast. This fabulous gasser turned
10.72 elapsed time with a speed well
above 140 mph. Top performing macbinery is wbat wlos and he deserves every
bit of glory be received.
The race ror top ruel was an aut~
matic win ror Leo Payne when Murray
and Cooks twin engine Triwnph blew
the cases of its rear engine apart and
let the insides come out.
PerlY and scotty bad arrived with
their big twin engine TriumPh but the
entries were closed before their arrival.
In order to provide some show, PerlY
and scotty agreed to race Leo's Harley
just ror kicks and they almost broke
Leo's unbeaten run of wins. Perry rode
the double in great sl3'le and made it
out of the gate first. but the Harley put
its power straight to the aspbalt and
pulled ahead at the top end. Leo's
elapsed time was 10.16 and the speed
through the traps was 148.51 m.p.b.
Just a sbort while before this race
Perry and scotty made a run in tbe 9
second bracket and it they bad done it
this time but they didn't and it was
all Leo's.
The Bfuel class bas only two entries
due to the recent breakage or some or
tbe best. That breakage gremiin again
presented itself because Don McEvOY's
fueler met an abrupt end early in the
arternoon. Wben \t came tlme ror a
The wrone way to make a low E.T.
running or 66 trophY classes plus an
additional 9 classes for tbe money, but
when it was all over there were not
many sad or angJY faces except or those
who bad become victims of metal and
mental ratigue. Again, as with most new
things, many lessons were learned in
bow to present such a program. Tbe rirst
and roremost is the need ror better organization next time I
A wide variel3' or approaches to
sbortening elapsed times over a quarter
mile were present sucb as a sanit81Y,
blown Honda which used two new aut~
motive, smog control inj e c to r sup~
chargers and the 650cc gas bike of Ron
steinberg that sported an imPorted Alf
Hagan drag !fame, James Enz and his
twin750cc engined Entield,and a selection of space !fame units that de~
description•
•
TOP GAS
TOP STR....T
1:11:1
Tbe name Leo Payne has used a
great deal or ink in the results or this
meet and bere again it takes a share as
Leo secured tbe A street victory with
tbe fastest and qulckest elapsed time
and speed in the street bike Tanks. Leos
speed in the final eliminations was
121.29 mph with an E.T. or 11.37.
At any bike meet the 650cc entry list
qas quite long but Grant Hannah paid
no beed to the task necessary for a 'B'
Thlsls the way to do It.A pair of Trlulllph doubleseal off the ..... at Lion's all bike due ....
.................................................................................................. ..................................•..
_viDg closer, Ibe competWoa in &lie
UPtweigbt classes is baildlDg lIP to
maIle &be remainder of &be _ _ quite
exclttng.
So.f' Gafe lace wa,
.
Tbe 250cc trophy dasb and A main
event went to Rick Woods on bis Ducati.
Second was Meryl Hamm on a BUltaco.
Third place went to Randy Layne on a
Honda. Randy had started orr in last
position and worked his way up through
Ibe 10 lap main event to finish in lbird
spot. In lap 4 of lIIe A Main Keilb Mashburn and sal Acosta played • tangle
tires" comlDg out of tum 4 and went rear
wheel over handlebars. Luckily only
Ibeir pride was hurt.
'
Tbe ~Occ B Main event was taken
by fvan OdeD wbo moved out in front
an.d pretl;y weD bad IIIi event to bi..sell throughout the enUre 10 laps.
Tbe l8Oc:c MaiD Event was a complete line up of who's who in lllis class
with CallWls coming out on top. Russ
RobiD_, the leading points rider in the
l00cc class, couldn't quite get going,
when be dropped bis air IDler lind was
_ble to do better Iban foartb.
.
CHICO CHASE
Rlcll Woods Iuds orr the 5Oc:c un wIUI wiDner D.... $lnltb (#3) on his left, nlllllber two m..
(#35) Keltll Malllburn and third placa RalldJ La",e (#4) clo.. behind.
Ora.ge CO••
f,
AcUo.
Tbe 250cc TroPbY Dash and MaiD
Event apin this weell. went to Ivan
OdeD, making his 191b consecutive win
at Orange County. In hot pursuit and a
real cballeDger to Ivan was sal Aco ta
on bis BUltaco. sal tri ed several times
in the maiD tlvent both on the inside and
outside to get aroIBIlI. but bad to settle
,
-
for second. A quote by one rider concerning Ivan, "the old man just doeso't
make a mistake at Orange County and
once be's in front, it's almost Impossible to pass bim" •
Tbe lOOcc MaiD Eveot went to the
top point man in the lOOcc class Russ
Robinson, 00 bis Yamaha. Cbalienglng
Russ throughout the entire event was
'