Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

SCRAMBLIN' from page 12 ASCOT REVIEW from page 15 DRAGS from page 18 Jim's bike wooldn' t start it wa s La rry W ilburn who wor1led on it so J im coul d rid e to at l ea s t a la st pla c e thereby pemap s losing the number ooe pla te for La rry). win the s emi-main eve nt and then come hack an d win the 15 lap final on th e same night. No l es s tha n nine expe rt s won th e main e vent at l ea s t onc e for ano t her new mar k at the loca l sli de and rid e ar ena that put s fear into the hear ts of al l hut the truly brave of th e two wheel kni ghts . Th e out s tan ding feat ure of thi s year' s expe rt class was that no rid er eve r won mor e than two main eve nts in a row ove r the span of thirty-one wee ks! down the d rag strip-fire UP road . T ha t eage r antic ipation drew Sonny' s mind from th e dire necess ity of turn ing on the fuel. As a result th e Har ley did not fire and Jim Cook made a single victory run Th e of 10.01 seconds and157 .89 mph. s war ds wer e already gi ven and yet Murray and Cook and Sonny Ras lawski did the whol e s how o ve r a gain minu s the error, "jus t to deli'ght th e spe ctators and satis fy thei r own disir es for a good race. When it wa s al l over, the M & C Triumph was s ti ll on to p, but Sonny will not s pe nd a restful night until - until .•. Holiday W ishes • , This is my second Christmas with Cycle News and I want to say Happy Holidays to everyo ne I know who ha s been part of my life for 1966 . It has been a great year wi th many cha nge s , I would lik e to ask Santa Claus for a few presents (if th e receivers ar e willing): For Jim Hunt er•••a full-rac e l eg. F or Blll Ril ey•••more trophies in 1967 than he got in ' 66. In other words Santa, l1:llod health for Bill ! For Chuc k M inert.••a " real" Victor. ith W would like to see our " F ee ts " w e the Victor tha t mad e the name so famous . One j ust li ke the machin e tha t carried Jerr Smith to the M cross Champio noto ship in Europe a nd tha t in this co untry is cal le d a " Grand Prix" mod el . Fo r Mike Cha mberlain•••a ne w Daytona 500cc Triumph now tha t he is an Expert. li e is no w having to go a gain s t thos e hot BSA Gol ds tars and on certain hi ghsp ee d tra ck s in this Distri ct a littl e pepp er amon g the salt would be a good thing ! F or Doua Yerkes •••a whole boatload on New Yea rs Day o f 5-speed 360cc Bultacos , pl us so me of the ne w superduper Lobito scrambler Models, Fo r th e Sideh ack Ass ociation •••ex trasu per courage for t he m whil e the ir big ri/:s are ge tti ng bea t by the great Bulta co team of Burns and L eBlanc. Thi s pai r is trul y • Davi ds aga ins t Goli a ths." For all th e so i vel ers ••.hand embroidered crying towel s. For Larry W ilburn•••an Ascot Amateu r TT cl ass ri de so that he can afford to co nti nue in the Sportsman Op en class an d no t hav e to move down to th e 500cc cl ass . Finally •••P ea c e of a ll ki nds. Settlement s of th e beefs withi n our indus try an d within racing circles. And mos t important, in th e whole world so that our riders who ar e now servi ng all over the globe can now co me back to where they belong. lIome in our own battles! Merry Christmas! Happ y New Year! Amateur Clas s While th e e xpert class wa s one of the strongest ever assembled the amateur class , al tho ugh well balanced, wa s one of th e weakes t. Some of the rea s on may be blamed on la ck of top notch equipment, a s the ultragood stuff us ua lly finds it s way int o the ex pe rt rank s . W eek a fte r wee k a n amateur woul d be a hero one F riday night and j ust an o ther ride r th e nex t week. T he final pha s e of th e seaso n fina lly found a veteran of t he novic e and amateur rank s putting toge the r the only impressive win streak of the entire year, Tha t was Sho rty Seaborn. Ron Krus eman, the point champio n of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year With this column a ye a r of great advances in dra g raci ng a nd t he rel ayin g of result s an d s tories on the pa ges of Cycl e News ar e drawn to a close . I hav e made many friends and a fe w e nemies , both of which I va lue a great deal. F or some REMEMBER THIS ••. • M.D.R.A. meeting this c oming Thu rsd ay, January 5th, at EI Nido park in T orren ce, Calif. Th e location is west of Ha wthorne BIvd., on to 182nd s t., to the co rne r of Kin gsdal e Ave . Tim e is 9 p.m. and a gues t s pea ke r will be J oe Hunt , the well known Magnet o specialist. Irwindale Ra ceway will be ope n at 8 a.rn. an d racing res umes a t 8: 30 a.m. , Monday, December ~ti, 1966 and January 2nd, 1967. (Results o n pa ge 21) SUBSCRIB E th e ama te urs" w on only one main eve n t . thi s. yea r. Asco t ha s ne ve r produ ced a large amoun t or top caliber ama t eurs in a ny one season s o one might say tha t a ll the ama te u rs th i s year peo ple ar e unfo rtunate enough to hav e neithe r. Working at the strips a nd in co mpetition events helped support my avid de s ire to go fast and quick. T he ai d given me a t Cycle News for support, both fiscal and moral a re invalua ble , When you see this column afte r the Holidays, I hop e there has been an abundent and beautiful Merry Christmas that will make a better 1967. NOW ow i n much Ole same li ght. Th ey did set one record, howev er, that will be hard to to p. No less than twel ve differ ent rid ers won the ma in event at lea st once . BE I NfOR1'\[ 0 FOR THE YEA.R Novice Cl ass Th e novi c e story is so mewhat different in that th er e are at l ea s t three rid ers, with luck , tha t may move to t he b i g bike s nex t year a nd eventua lly i nto the expe rt ranks a s pot ential winners. Marty MacDonal d and La m ' Prue tt ca me on s tro ng ea rly in th e season with Mike Morton grah hing the Iimel tght late in the year. Seven no vi c e ride rs fought their way into the winn er' s ci rcle to tie a reco rd for lightweig ht winne rs . T wo riders won four straight main events over the season to again sh ow tha t the talent wa s ther e as was t he eq uipment . H-D s topped Yamaha for hi gh point machine honors for the fi rst time in th ree yea rs . Suzuki ca me on th e scene thi s yea r and won th eir firs t America n di rt track rae es . The T, T.'s: By W Cooley es • ,. We're glad to see that a few Americans a re gaining a li t tl e inte rnational prominence. P a ul Hunt repeated his DirtD i gger ' s Moto c ross performa nce by ta king second place in th e New Zealand Gold Leaf Mota cross held at Christ Ch urch, New Zeala nd on Decem ber 11th, behind Big J ohn Burton. We ce rtainly wis h Paul a great deal of luc k in t he comi ng series in New Zealand. It appears he is off to a terrific start with a second place in t he fi rst event. T he recent heavy rains should make t he coming mota cross season which will get under way her e in January, quite interesting for both the spectator and the rider. Plans are still underway and contracts ar e bein g signed for the Gold Cup mota cross series which is also to start in January. More on this series in the future, but I wlll say, te ntat ive plans a re that the 250cc and 500cc class es will be professional, and all other classes , including a 250cc and 500cc class, will be run on an amateur and trophy basis. By this, we hope to stimulate inte rest in i nte rna tional mota crossevents. Of course, all these events will be run under FLI\! rules as th ey are in other parts of the world. In this way , we hope that next year we can set up a seri es in conjunction with the annual DlrtDigger event s o th e rid ers coming from Europe would hav e the opportunity to compete in three or four international mota crass events whil e in this part of th e co untry wit h ride rs who ha ve had some experience on this type of co urse. The riders who wo uld truly like to compete in international events with international rid ers have got to s ta rt practicing a nd ra cing on European- type mota c ros s cou rs es i f they ev er expect to be c ompe titi ve with ri ders su ch as To rsten Hallman. I hav e no doubt in my mind that we ha ve many capable and talent ed ri ders ; all t hey lack is a little expe rie nce . I've always hop ed t hat t he Unit ed States would hav e a world' s ch a mpio n. I felt it might be in th e roa d racin g fi eld , but t he re 's the possi bility I might be wrong and maybe our firs t champion will co me in the mota c rass events. Sinc e thi s is the las t issue in 1966 , I want to ta ke this ojiport unlty to wish yo u all Happy Holidays and continued good luck an d fortu ne in 1967 . WANT TH E BEST IN CYCLES AN D SERVICE? USE THE DEALER & SERVICES DIRECTORY Lik e the half mil e season, it was also a good one for the once a mont h TT rid e r of whom most a re glo ri fie d scramblers in disguise. More and more , th ou gh t he trend Is tu rning towards th e a ll around rid er tha t ca n rid e th e half mile as well as the TT' s . TV came to the races late i n ' 66. And with bette r announci ng it might replace "P eyt on P lac e" as t he star show of t he tub e. Eddie Mulder was again the point cha mpion and al though he had hi s greates t yea r i n na tional TT's he s uHe red more lumps an d setbacks than ever befor e on hi s home tra ck. An early season challeng e for the crown cam e from th e well worn vet eran Dick Hammer but a gai n for th e uptee oth year th e Lakewood ace s hot hims elf out of cont enti on due to racing injuries. Th e gauntlet was t he n pi c ke d up by first ye ar expe rt Gene Romero who look e d like a s ure ove rall poin t winner until late in th e season whe n TV 's leading man, Skip Van L eeuwen came along an d to rne d hack both Mulde r a nd Romero t wo straight ti mes. It was close at the finish but Muld er ' s ab ility and ever reliable equipment a gain came through with Van L eeuw en endi ng up seco nd and Romero droppin g to third in th e point tallies after th e final ra c e. Spasmodic challen ges to Trium ph' s thr ee ti gers came during th e year from Jack Simmons, Dan Haa by and Dav e Pal mer. Mulde r stands alon e on his rec ord a s the best TT' er in th e land. Th e bench racing argument now is whether he is better ri ght now than Dick Dorres t eyn was in his heyday. $7.50 fOR ONE" YEAR TT Amate ur s Rich Th orwaldson and Jim Berry saved th e TT amateur cl ass from bei ng in the sam e boat as th e amateur half milers. Thorwa lds on, when the equipment was running, was outstanding - head and sh ould er s better than any amateur i n th e na tion. Berry s howe d a few ho t nashes from time to ti me but was no matc h for Ri ch wh o is slated to depart for the Navy, this ti me for s ure , in April Th e le s s said abo ut the '66 novic e TT cl a ss the bet ter. It co uld al l be s ummed up on the head of a needle. Th ey looke d far bett er la st F'ebruar y than th ey did this month in the final effort . The no vic e class failed to produce even one top rider that was capa bl e of winning ove r any length of time . The)' made it more than difffcult to predict wh o will emerge from the pile and /:0 on to become a realty top amateur or ex pert. But to find out for su re (mayb e we OHI'loo ked a fut ure star) kee p tuned in to Cycle IIi ews in 1967 as the new season unfolds. - - - - - - - - SUBSCRIPTON BLANK-- - - - - - -, (Please check one) Please send me Cycle News for one year via 2nd class mail 0 S7.50. Please sendme CycleNews for one year via first class mail 0 $12.50. Please send me Cycle News for one year via Air Mail• • , • OS18.50 I enclose check or money order 0 (or) Please bill me laterD Name .Address I I . State City . I . Zip _ .........•............ Mall to: Cycle News, Box 1198, Long Beach, Calif.

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