Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

LAST '66 RACE fOR ASCOT T he final motorcyc le ra c e of 1966 a n 18- e ve nt s teeplechase program i s s late d for Su nday, Dec. 4 th , at As cot Park. P o st time is 2 p .m. J .C . .Aga ja nia n expects mor e t han 125 riders fo r th e windup. eve nt . ul In clud ed is E ddie M de r, Burbank . t he o utstandi ng steeplechas e meets i ii 1966 , Hrst rid er e ver to s co re a sweep i n t hi s fi eld. . Mu ld e r will fac e stiff compe tition from suc h ot her s t ando uts as Gene Ro mero , Skip Van L ee uwe n , J a ck Si mmons , Dick Ham me r , Ra l ph White and Dan Haaby, Rid e rs will tac kl e t he usu al cou rs e t hat inc l ude s both le ft a nd ri gh t t u rns and a spectacular j ump in fro nt of th e main gra ndstand • . T he Dec. 4 th race wi ll b e the l a st a ppea ra nce a t Ascot for th e t wowheeled rac e rs fo r s everal we eks . ENGLAND'S VISITING RACER GIVES HIS VIEWS OF CALIF, COMPETITION ,SCEN E By Maurice G. Arden Maurice has only one tie, besides being a s~r-entbuslast. to the motorcycle inmstry in England and that is be designed. developed and promoted the original Big John boots. After four yea rs he has sold his rights to the Rickmans. and the trip here represented part 0 f the profits, I wis h to refer to the Shamrocks State Champions hip Ha re and Hounds ev ent , i n which I to ok pa rt. I took UP my position on the start li ne a long with my Host, Bill Blake sle e. frien ds were busy taking photographs and the nex t minut e bike s were starting a ll a round us. At the end of the fir st la p I was informed that I was in 41st pos it ion, which was i nc redible to my mind, I did not thi nk that the Ii..in g had been fast and it was my inte ntio n that I would finis h the run, I didn't really care where I finishe d. However we had to go off on that second (first) lap again and lik e Larry Hal ey said, it was a real fun ride . which I really enjoye d until the gearbo x selector spring on my 250 broke (kindly loaned to my by Gordon Karrel , bless ' im). No tools and miles from anywhere at the top of a hill of dee p sand which by that ti me ha d been churne d UP by a few hundred wheel s . I went looking for a rock a nd found a skeleto n! I looke d to the sky to see if the re were any buzzards waiting for me al so . Boy did I feel a long way from home I But to work, I must finish, the idea was to smash the primary case s of Gordon' s beloved bike an d see wha t was wrong i n there , and if a ble to fix it te mporarily, ri de in to the fin ish area. we had sp ares there and could fix it, I coul d the n do the othe r loop. About to smash the bik e when up screams someo ne on a T riumph, forget the chap's name, but who-ev er. many thank s to him, he'd got to ol s and I could get at the P esky trouble . We ar e then j oine d by L on P eterson a nd so n (1 think) , who to ld me the way to go if I couldn ' t get the thing running again. As it was s till my inte ntio n to jam ' this bike in gear a nd rid e in on one cog if nec essary, they said it was doubtful that it would stay i n ge ar , but 1 was 6,000 miles from home an d more tha n anyt hing, I wanted to fini s h (oh for a bent nal l). So with the bik e jammed in a gear as best I could. returned the tools wit h thanks , 1 roll e d down the hi ll to try to start it ,. away it went first ti me, Gre at ... turned it round at the bott om a nd pointed it, let ' it off and was going great guns for about 15 yar ds , the n P in g . .... it j umped out of gear and that was that , so I coaste d to the botto m of the hill a nd DAYTONA join ed the othe r unfortuna tes who ha d re tire d. 1 had been told 1 was 18 miles from the finis h point , but in actua l fact this turned out to be only about four miles , so mewhere near Dove Springs Road I think , having got ove r the bit te r disappointment of reti ring, 1 settle d down to a long freewheel nearly all th e way down that vall ey i n heat that we have ne ver experienced before . And they said i t was cool out there that day... they M UST be kiddin g. Than ks to the lad s wit h the P ic kup tru ck for the ride home and the 7-Up. The li ming and the DANGER markin g was out of this world, we ha ve noth i ng like that in Englan d. It was a bsol utely inc redi ble that riders be warned of th is sort of thin g, in England one bel ts acro s s the Moors and its u p to the rid er if he ' s going too fas t at the wrong ti me. Good thin king that, I li ked it. T o sum this up, I just feel that I would like to ride in more of these events. I understand that this pa rticular one was quite easy. There appe ars no rea son at all to me why the Unite d States s hould not win the International 6 Days Trial. becau se your rid er s a re riding one , al most e ve ry week, The thin g a gainst you is the . extreme wet which can an d is mos t lik ely to he encount ered in Europe. T his is where trial s riding comes in. It has always been the writ ers fi rm belief that trials ar e the making of any motor cycling. Ask J eff Smith , ask Geoff Duke (British Northern Champion in the 50' s ) and it was my firm belief when 1 was over in the U.S. In September that more trials ridi ng coul d improve the lot of the American rider al mos t what e ver his final choice of racin g is. If as 1 hope , i t will be my fortune to persuade my wife to' com", to Ii ve in the Unit ed States, then I shall try to promote English type trials here more , than they a ppear to be at this ti me. F inally, to a ll who he lped me in any small way when I was in you r fine coun try , may 1 s ay thank y ou, I had a wonderful time and met so me equally wonderful peop le . CALICO RELAY RACE Reporte d by Hi-Jinx FMC The fir st annua l Cali co 125 re lay rac e for trail bik es ended a huge s uccess , but the race ha d to be calle d off short of the sch edu led distance due to dar kness . Jeff P aul aboard a Bridgest one and W ie ill Kuhlmann ridin g a Yamaha 80 won the rac e. The race was schedule d to last 125 mile s , but the winners were stopped af.ter. only 115. due to the setting s un. The rac e began at 9:30 a. m. on November 13. The winning team too k the lead on the 43rd l ap and held on to it for ·the rest of the way over a dry-l ake bed eou rse below Calico Ghos t Town. A time laps e of thre e minutes se perated them from second placers Frank Vallefouco , Hodak a, and Ral ph Luhm, Yamaha. The fa ther and son team of J ohn Welborn an d Larry Welborn led the race for the first 42 lap s , wit h only one lap out of the lead when the second plac e fin ishers took charge momen tar ily . Bud Den sl ow and Bill O' Neill placed third aboard Yamanas , followed by anot her fatber and so n team of Don and Kei th Tenn is, riding a Bridgestone and a Hodak a , The younge st team to enter with a combine d total age of 26 ye ar s plac ed fifth as Ken Webe r and Ric hie Mendez rode in on a Honda. Ray Carv ajal took sixth on a Yamaha. Among the notabl e who took part in the race incl uded Earl Roes eler and his " soupy" 97cc competition Zundapp. Earl is number 1 des ert trail bik e rid er. The rac e was completely free from inj uries, al though adequate medical faciliti es were avaiIahle had there bee n a need for them. The relay pan of the race took part in front of the pit s , as the rid er s would zoom in to a li med area where th eir partner was wai ting to scoot off. The ret iring rider would zi p off a pla stie neckla ce, and s lip it over his partner 's head. PROVEN THE 32 TO40 TO 1 LUBE RACING CASTOR and SUPER FILM N&~" E:'dnmely deem burning UNEQUALLED for INJECTOR or GAS-OIL M IX ADDZIP ADDITIVES t433-1437 FIRST ST. ESCALON , CALIFORNIP .... .... SPY MOTORCYCLE-Shapely Ro lla Altman disp lays fa mous sidecar combination used in spy-spoof movies and created by George Barris. who d reamed up Ba tmobile and other T V ca rs. and which will be one of top highlights of 8th annual Mo torama set for Dec. 1-4 a t the Great Weste rn Exhibit Center, Santa Ana Freeway just off the Atlantic Blvd. ram p.

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