Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Cycle News 1966 09 15

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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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 '

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