Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

C YC L £ A L L £ Y By Bob Ebeling • Add a few inches and take off a few pounds," was the prescription that enabl ed Hi ch Hicharlls and bi s son Gary Hi chards, to set new records in elapsed lime and speed for a si~le-engine Trilnpb. A low percentage nitnHnix of about 10 percent, 45-inch barrels by Webcor and 230 pounds of frame and ge. pro.ced the record elapsed time of 10.32 seconds with a terminal speed of 143.16 miles per bour at Irwindale Raceway. that allow overboring of one hundred Attempts at enlarging Triumpb cylinders is not new; pistons are available thousandths (.100). Several individuals bave tried stroking the production 650 and others have tooled custom cylinders from solid steel billet. Only one man that I know threw his spoked wheel into the circle by a~proaching a me?il casting fum and ordenng 45-1 nch cylinders that look as though they were imported from Triumph Corp. Sonny Rout of Brentwood, Md., unveiled thi s product to west coast drag racers at the Lions Drag strip meet of last September 1966 with repeated low ten second runs at speeds of 140 mph or better, with a twin engine Triumph On gas. Now it has become a headline speed product for quarter-mile advocates. Rich Richards and Gary have proven that Webcor cylinders can withstand the tortuous nitro explosive combustion pressures and see high nine second sprints well within reach. I would not doubt it for a second after their record smashing runs of this weekend. Ray scored another FOrdyce and Honda. victory for Skip Gas Smith and Butterworth, HarleyDavidson and Laidlaw - familiar top names now and winners again. The correct combination for all the glory and performances like their winning figures of 11.29 and 124.86 for Top Gas. Tony Dodge wanted a change of pace and entered his 650 street bike in the gas class for some dragster blood. The color was right, but it was a light, not his opponent's artery. Jerry Nance's 650cc Triumph pulsed through the winner's light in 13.87 seconds at 75 miles per hou rand won bo th class and Jr. gas laurels. . Ron Knapp and Pappy Tiernan used their 250cc Yamaha cylinders for this week and defeated Bob Braverman in the final round for little gasser. Ron turned Ron Knapp - Yamaha 260cc. New Cash Awards Ray DowlKlm downs 'am far Skip Farl!Jc" s. .,.. Now The Big VICTOR' Engine: Single cylinder. air cooled. light Clutch: Multiple disc (four friction plates) Engine x clutch ratio: 2.07 to 1 Gearbox sprocket: 17T Rearwheel sprocket: 49T (% pitch chain) Wheelbase: 53" Overall length: 81 Ih" Ground clearance: 8" seat height: 32" Seat style: Dual racing Weight: 288 Ibs. Side stand: Standard equipment Engine guard: Standard equipment Handlebar: Hi-western design r Carburetion: One 30mm Amal Ignition: AC magneto Horsepower: 34 Electrical system: Direct lighting Exhaust system: Hi flow/sport muffler Bore x stroke: 79mm x 90mm Displacement: 441cc (26.9 cu. in.) Compression ratio: 9.5 to 1 Cam design: High torque Gearbox: 4 speed with footchange 1st gear 2.64 (final - 14.21) 2nd gear 1.64 (final 8.85) 3rd gear 1.24 (final 6.65) 4th gear 1.00 (final 5.36) dia. x 1 Va" wide Tires: Front Brakes: Front and rear Gas tank: Light aluminum alloy - 2 gallon Rear - 3.25 x 19 Dunlop K70 4.00 x 18 Dunlop K70 °T0'"g"' j 'ernacr" Ii' oWn'd a 431 W. Pac. Hwy. 5105 Atlaatic 81 11141 E. C.so. 81 4328 E. Anabeim Llnl Beach, Cal Ling Beacb, Cal Lakewoo'" Cal Ling leacb, Cal There always has been a problem in dividing cash awards and matching machines so that the races could be close and participants felt a fair shake. We may never find a solution but try, try again is the only way to probe for success. Tbis week Irwindale retained its normal class breakdown for trophies but instigated a new system in the money races. Rather than award Top Street money to one machine and rider the sum is split, half for Top Street bike, and the balance to Jr. Street bike. Top is a race between class winning cycles of 550cc to open displacement, and Jr. Street is 549cc to Occ. The cash is paid in three gas divisions of class winners; Top-750cc to Open; Jr.-550 to 749cc and LitUe or Competition of 549 to Occ. Fuel payoffs are Top-800 to open; Jr.-550 to 799cc. If the Junior Fuel bike is quicker than 10.75 E.T. he is bumped into Top Fuel. LitUe or Competition Fuel division is (}-549cc and if the quarter-mile trip is quicker than 12.25 seconds he is bumped to Jr. Fuel. Fuel Divisions Sonny Raslawski's Harley-Davidson $portster made it to the finish ligbts first but he was being pushed hard by Gary Richards on the 45-i.nch Triumph. Sonny turned 10,:10 and 146.00 while Gary recorded a 10,117 second ron, Bob Sirkegian and his BSA Super Bike was three quarters of a second behind Don Harris's Triumph fuel dragster during qualification runs but when eliminations were lined up the secret of BSA's reliability won tbe round. The innocent-looking Mark III toured up the firing road like a normal street bike, headlights and all. Don Harris clung to the door handle of his tow car until Bob was nearly out of sight down the road and then proceeded to grasp the handle a little harder while the car's speedometer climbed to 20, 25, 30, 35 and then release, engage the clutch. Blue flames from the headers, but only for a brief moment and then silence with the exception of Sirkegian's BSA and that meant it was all over. Tbe starter waved Sirkegian on to a single run of 11.91 seconds at 119.52 miles per hour. Ray Downard looked forward to a hard night of racing against Gerry Korman's Montesa and Denis Manning's ·blown· Honda 450, but the Montesa drank itself into obiivion with nitro, and the Honda's blower blew too hard (or not enough) and 12.68 and 101.46 mph. Top and Jr, Street Bruce MUler and the team of Haserot and Allen were both Harley-mounted wi th elapsed times that were almost duplicates. There can only be One winner and Bruce Miller pulled a hole sbot that made tbe Allen & Haserot's extra inches of displacement useless. Bruce reached the speed of 107.52 in 12,35 seconds whicb scores anotber place in the Sportsters trophy room. Old man MU/]lhy led a merry chase to yo... gsters on Hondas with his Su21lki X-6 and >\On Jr. Street in 13,76 seconds at 911.74 miles per hour, The closest contender was Al Gonzenbach on a 3:10 Honda that turned in a best or 14,66 and 89.47, Jack Mur phy is just like wine; he was born in a good year and gets beUer \Wth age. Bakersfield Next Sunday, April 2nd, will ge the day to race and race and race. Bakersfi eld is really rolling out the red carpet for bikes and promises bigger and better things, if we prove our value in numbers of contenders along with performances. The gates open at 8:00 a.m. at Smokers Drag Strip and bi kes will race for trophies, E.T. brackets, Jr. Eliminator (for the 9 and 10 second runners) and mile-per-hour money to the top bike. Racers will be met at Milt's Coffee shop around 7 :30 a.m. for a guided trip to the strip. Only 11 0 miles for L,A. racers and a great day. Directions: Up Hwy. 99 (Golden State Fwy.) to Olive Dr. turnoff, left over Fwy. to Mil t' s. If you get lost call 399-4975 and ask for Ebeling or Jerry Johnson. Remember The next M.D.R.A. meeting will be at 6:00 p.m., Sunday, April 9th, at EI Dorado Park, 2800 Studebaker Rd., just off the San Diego Freeway. (Results on page 16) HARLEV- DAVIDSON 01 Long Special MANY Used '65 '66 Tri_pbs fro. $795 3654 No. Le.g leae' 426-nOJ J "rd. - .~ "'C

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