Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• .. HOPETOWN STORY B y Maureen L ee Simi Ranch (Hopetown) was the scene of the first International ~to-cross scrambles ever held in this country. The DirtDiggers ~torcycle club and the A.C.A. ran a great race this weekend and turned it into a beautiful classictype event. There are so many riders, so much t(Osee and try to see and the track is so big, that it overwhelms the senses until the experience of this event is felt rather than written or read about. We all came home with many new i~ pressions. Impress ions li ke wa tching Torsten oto-cros s Hall man, th e 250cc World M champio n from Sweden on a Hus qvarna turning in lap s faste r tha n anyone has eve r ridden the track before. And eve n if you had so me idea in your mind how a W orld's Champion would look in act ion , it is a thrilling expe rienc e whe n you see him! Talking with T ors ten, you' re not di s appoin ted either, he behaves as all great rac ers do, polite, well-manne red and knowhat edgab le about hi s profes sion. W ab out his i mpres si ons? When as ked how he liked the trac k Tors t en repli ed in almost impec cab le English, " I li ke it , but it is a littl e fast. Th e back sectio n is th e bes t becaus e it Is ti ght and rough. But here , I thin k (gesturing towards the pit s t raight) it i s too fa st . " Mal colm Smith, the young Husqvarna rider and P aul Hunt were the only local men who co uld ac tually st ay within real sh oot i ng dis tance of Hallman at times . Ridin g wit h consentratio n and a s mil e on hi s fac e but plagued with plug-Ioull ngprobl ems , Malcolm to ok fourth pl ac e both days in the Internationa l cl ass . Th e c rowd was co ns ide ra bly impres s ed by Hallman. but Malcolm was their local favorit e! We were impressed a ls o by the Ekin 's , Dave and Bud riding on the gre at surface we had Sa turday in real California weat her . and then charging ag ain on Sunda y on the th ree s oli d miles of mud and slime the trac k became when it rai ned an d rai ned and RAINED. Th e beautiful Rickman Metisse mac hines ridden by Bud Ekins to a third in the Intern ati ona l event Sunday and by W Axthelm to fir st in alt th e Open Expert clas s under co nditions tha t co uldn't ha ve be en worse in Siberi a . We tho ught that we were abo ut to see a ride r kill ed when in the 250 Ama teur c la s s, the lead er went over t he handl eba rs in the fi rst turn, and j umping up ran back thro ugh the dust cl oud and the whole pa ck of rid ers , found his machine , res tarte d and rode off without one othe r rider hit tin g him or goi ng down bec aus e of him! Incr edi ble! . W watched Ga ry Conrad' s Gree eves refus e to start at th e beginnin g of the 250 Int ernational heat Saturday . Unab le to transfe r to the s eco nd heat , Gary was allowed to ride the 250 Expe rt c lass ins tead , and still the Gre eves wouldn't start. So Nic k Nichols on, the Gre eve s dis tri but or dashed down to the T own whe re he ha d a new Challenger on exhibit , fired up the bra nd new machine with zero mil es on it , brought it back and Ga ry proceeded to go out and win th e class ha nds down. W hing Steve Scott slide and atc charge around the track in hot purs uit of To rsten Hallman to end up with s econd place priz e money aboard a Bultaco whic h was a us ed bike that had been sitti ng on the floo r at Bultaco-W tern, waiting to be so ld. es Th e impression of watchi ng J oh n Ric e who always rides lik e J ohn R. (flat-outl ) goi ng great aboard a Hus-, qvarna, only to be knock ed out of the s ec ond Internati onal Moto-cross becaus e s ome idio t had thrown a beer can out on the track. It wedged up under his rear fender s topping th e wheel and the result was that J ohn took a chi n-fi rs t header into a rock with some stitches schedul ed for the end of the day. W atchin g Frank Macknn, wno nas be en out of serious competition for LA. I DEALERS. I Wal t Axt helm winner of the Open AmateurExpert class, outstanding an a Rickman Tr iu mph . ----- ..,..-..,..-""" ...,....._.......... : ROBT. M. LAW M/ C Ana he i m, MISS10N IIILLS M/ c Sepulveda, STE VE I HURD M/ c Mont eb ello , HO CKI E S I WC Torra nce , ~t4. SON MOTORS Pasadena, NI CIIQLSON MOTORS I N. Holl y woo d , TEM PLE CI TY 1I0 NI DA T emple City , JACK BALDWIN I M/ c San ta Moni ca , K & N MOTORCYC L ES Riversid e, T RA CY 'S M/ c I Burban k , BILL KRA USE In gl ewoo d, I L A MOREA UX M/ c Sunland , S1IELL MOT ORS L y n wood. ... -------~----_ Next Week Big AMA Issue HueD Puts SAFETY where the ACTION is! SEND FOR suco's FREE SAFETY HELMET CATALOG BUeO PRODUCTS BOX 1065 NORTHLANOCENTER SOll'rHFlEl D, Mi CHIG AN 48076 Above: Viewfinder tries movie stunts to stay aboard. Below: Scott Autrey , all tuck ed In, tried har d to pass R. Montgomery . ~ Fo r you r n e w ~ Ib~VNP:P SEE-< A - I~.a.\ YA.MAHA ~ HARRY FOSTER MOTORCYCLES 10425 Quit e a while (alt hough he still plays in the desert ) working his way up th rough the 500 Amateur-Expert cl ass to fi rst place in s pite of the great early lead s that Art Heinrich an d Mike Chamberlain had built up. T he re were impressions at the mud-hol e on th e back strai ght Sunday and at th e incre di ble s pectacle of the big-bore riders plastered in mud s truggli ng throu gh, some fallin g down or s pin ning out eve ry lap while oth er s seemed automatic ally to fi nd the right path and blasted through in s howe rs of mud and s lop. Watching Hoppy Hopkins on the only Grand Prix Victo r in these parts ridi ng hard to a fi nish in th e International, and although his machin e looks li ke our Victors , you sens e the re is a co ns ide rabl e differ ence! And P aul Hunt ' on a Matchl es s G80CS ridin g bea utifully to a s econd place on hi s las t day in t he St ates before flyi'ng to Hawai i to be married and t hen on to New Zealand for th e Moto- c ros s series there. T he impres s ion that in sp it e of all th e furor going on in local racin g circles, our last remai ni ng great c la ssic event will continue to get bett er and better. Th is year it was surely the greatest spectacle ever, with a true Inte rnati onal flavor, and the biggest crowds SImi has eve r s een. Crowd co ntro l was excell ent , th ere were abundant faciliti es . T he co urse was challengi ng. Afte r two days solid sp ent there, impres s ion aft er impression goes through your mind, but the on e we want to end up wit h is "only in Cali fornia" as we think of Paul Hunt a nd Hoppy Hopki ns tal king race s trategy in pouring rain under a vio let umbrell a with "M ary Poppins" written on it ! ( Res ults on pa ge 15) HONDA of TORRANCE so. VERMONT AVE. 754-2811 On Sepulved. Blvd., south of Nordhoff St. "In the heart 01 the Valley" PARTS • ACCESSORIES LARGE SELECTION OF USED MOTORCYCLES 894-9218 il

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