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/125492
ASCOT OPENS A NEW SEASON·· WITH NEW STAR PERFORMERS! TT for TV -, Tap & Boltllm: Spills w.r. Irlquer!t as some riders tri.d their ble bikes at Ascot for the first 11m.. Below: You wouldn't send the kid up In a crat. Ilk. that. _uld you Red B_1 ~ f>;l :i!: f>;l ..,J U :>.. u The Clan gathered. 180 riders strong. for the first dirt track bash of the new and busy season last Sunday. The Clan iii call went out for the first Ascot TT of the year, and J .C. Aglljanian welcomed .. them. Twenty-one events ran off. surrounded 5i llY perfect weather and perfect racing. AIIowe: FIrst '67 pth".1 01 the TT clan spotlil/lled Swede (74.) Sawal'. Bruce (22r) Holland, Q The winning lads took home a purse of Jack (II) SlIIIIOIIS and til.. _ .. performlnl lor the people and til. TV cameras In IIwlnl $2600.00 for their efforts and the whole color. :; show was video-taPed and shown in .. color three hours later on Channel 5. .s The familiar names and national .8 champions, and the re are many around Clo Ascot, had to take a back seat this time to Dusty Coppage and Bob Bailey. These two exPerts were the class riders of the 46-man entry for the white plates. First they finished one-two in the fastest heat race. then Balley came back to win the trophy dash. Finally, in the big one, Coppage and Bailey ran end for end from start to finisb in the 15-1ap feature race to score what you may call a double upset over some of the more highly rated stars of the twist and turn. Both men rode a perfect chase in the final. with Bailey always right there waiting for the mistake by Coppage that never came. Skip Van Leeuwen moved up late in the race to make it a three-rider affair but never could climb any higher. The four heat races for the experts bad Gene Romero. Eddie Mulder, Coppage and Jack Simmons coming out of the smoke as front runners. Then Van Leeuwen surprised them all by winning the semi-main event with a faster time than any of the heat races! It was a typical day at Ascot. Mulder then jUJll.l)ed to a quick lead. AIIowe: Follow til. leader the jllllP wltII, I.ft to rlpt, S. Van LetlUw... GIIlI Romlro and a,; he us ually does. in the final and it acal•• SImmons. Below: Bob (33) Bailey and Dusty (91r) Coppael startld off nen, but finished looked like he was off to another fast one· two. start for the season win column. Dusty came UP to take the lead away on the third lap with Balley also passing the four time national TT champ to take over second. From then on it was Coppage and Bailey moving UP and Mulder moving down. Eddie dropped all the way to ninth before they could get the checkered flag out at the end of 15 circuits. Van Leeuwen passed Romero for third spot on lap seven with Dick Hammer, who had his pro blems ail day long, passing genial Gene for fourth place on lap eleven. The crowd, and it was a big one, felt that this was one of the best TT events ever run on the famed twister. They were right. More than 60 amateurs showed up to do battie, many of them racing for the first time on the hig machines. Star of the yellow plate class was first-time amateur, Larry Wilborn who made it a runa way in the ten lap final. Wil born outshined a crowd of top-flight northern amateurs to put the south back in the limelight in the newer rider class. Last year's top novice TT rider, John Sprague made the switch to the big jobs easy and finished a strong second to WilbOrn with northern rider. Roger Goldthwaite running in third. Watch this Goldthwaite, he could be a sleeper. III $ e First timer Tom Rockwood (son of Roxy) posted the fastest novice heat race win time of the five heats but it was the new ace from the north. Carl Cranke. fresh from running in both indoor main events from the night before. who took home the big apple. Cranke. Rockwood and Bill Cody shot to the front of the twelve rider field at the start of the main event and were running end for end on lap three when Cody's engine qult just as they hit the jump, Bill tried to stop and get 00 t of the way but took Rockwood off the_ groove and into the infield on the numher' five turn. This opened the door for Don Hughes who shot by both riders to challenge Cranke the rest of the way right down to the flag and give the north a one-two finish in the 250cc final! The next Ascot TT will be the annual 100 lapper for the 33 fastest amateur and expert riders along with a special race for all the novice potentials. This event will run the first weekend in March. (ResuHs on page 16) 0_ North Wins Novice Main Over in the novice class over sixty new riders showed uP to try their luck and run for t!:le bucks. Abowr. Mert Lawwlll alms lor till hlper thlnes.