Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

-- FI~ . .!----THE ~!! J !..;J Persoaa.lities was a busy place in the pr s box, also. Tulare promoters. Bill Cumbie and Tom Clark was there. Portland National sponsor Jack Leigh was there and Hal'" old Murrell was tbere for San Jose and Santa Rosa. The Tulare entry deadline for the five mile National on July 1st is midnight this weekend and Cumbie and Clark were in town to check with the riders and finalize the event. The Tulare National will be a first time affair with th time trials and a Novice race on Friday night. June 30th. They are looking for a large in vasion from the East and Midwest to spice the show. Portla.ad Mile Portland-s 20 mile National on the mile track keeps picking up steam as Jack Leigh is already pouring the pu~ liclty into the Northwest for the July 16th race. He has the only track going that will offer a glass-enclosed grandstand with air conditioning!! He pointed out that it is only a two hour flight time from Los Angeles to Portland and looks for between 15.000 and 20.000 people to be on hand for the first race since 1955. Murrell is again getting his next winter indoor races set up for san Francisco and Oakland tnt is pushing hard DOW for a Don-National mile track date OD July 30th for Santa Rosa. He feels that the great majority of top riders from all over the country will be in california during July and this hall'-way point between the Northw est and SOuthern Calif. would be an ideal spOt for a rematch two weeks after the Portland mile date. Final details will come in the next couple of weeks. IKsplaced Heidelbarg This sunday the National trail swings to Lomsvi lle. Ky. for the 15 miler that THE OSH CH TRAIl by JlI'dy McKeen Short track season opened up on the East Coast saturday night. May 27th. Dorsey Speedway in Maryland was the scene for night short track racing which will go on a weekly basis from now on. Coming from California were Dick Hammer and Red McKeen. National number 79. Bl\ddy Elmore, hailing from El Paso, Texas was also on hand. Dead Heat In the trophy dash it was Nixon and Hammer doing some fabulous racing. One lap it wo uld be Nixon in front, the next Hammer. By the last lap there wasn't one spectator sitting down. Would you believe it was a dead heat. I was sitting on the starting line and I could have sworn it was one bike taking the checkered flag instead of two. The first heat W'as won by Nixon on his very fast Triumph. second was Eddy Adkins on a Ducati, and third was Carl Williamson on a Triumph. The second heat saw Malcolm Doying outspeed everyone on a Bultaco. Ha.mmer 800 Boo's Elmore and McKeen both got bad starts and did a good job fighting their way through the pack to make second and third place heat money. The third heat was Hammer all the way, also riding one of Nixon's cubs. Second was Amateur Earl Meyers aboard a Bultaco. and third went to Joe Skelton on a Yamaha. The fitSt Semi again Nixon's all the way, with Malcolm Doying in second, and Red McKeen in third. The second semi found Hammer carrying the checkered flag around the track. He was doing a beautiful wheelie for the crowd on the back stretch when somehow or other the bike got out from under him and down he went. So off to the hospital went Dick with a broken bone in his foot. It not only put him out of the Main but also out of the 12 mile National at Reading the following day. The Main Event was won by the was pulled out of Heidelburg, Pa. a couple of months ago. No rider has ever ridden the track SO the door is op n. Don't bet that Markei will have troubles two times in a row. Nixon now leads Roeder and Lawwill by fourteen small points so the National chase should really be interesting wben the riders come out bere next montb for 'tulare on July 1s1. Castle Rock July 8th, Portland July 16th and the Asco TT On July 22Dd. Nixon and Roeder are not known for their TT ability and there will be two in July. Tbe half-mile and the mile is another story. Tbe Tulare promoters. Cumbie and Clark. known as C&C Enterprises. have slated racing for central Calif. and Nortbern Calif. -this year on a regular basis. Tulare runs twice a montb and Sacramento will run TT's twi'Ce a montb from now on. sacramento has bad water pro~ lerns with flooding on the track but tbat looks like a thing of the past the rest of tbe way. If you are planning on going to th e Tulare National. C&C suggests that you plan ahead and contact a motel at Tulare or Fresno. or Bakersfield as they look for a sellout crowd of over 8.000 for race night on the 1st. Leillh pointed out another DOte of interest. There are still two riders active who rode tbe last Portland mile back in '55 AI Gunter and Dick Mann. Mann was then an Amateur. The winner of that long ago event was Gene Thiesen from Eugene, Oregon. Gene is now a cycl~ dealer and you can bet be will be on hand to watch and cheer for Mann and Gunter 00 July 16th. Congratulations to CYCLE WORLD for another fine show at the LA SpOrts arena. We need more of this. The show must bave again broken all records. hero of Baltimore, Gary Nixon. I believe Gary is one of the most colorful riders in the motorcycle world. The public absolutely loves him. He gi ves them a great show, and thats what they pay their money to see. In second was our hot little novice Malcolm Doying. I believe as the weeks progress here at Dorsey that Malcolm will be giving Mr. Nixon a race for his money. There should be a lot more d.ders in the weeks to come when they find out that Dorsey is a really bitchin' race track. They're of{ and running again at Orange County Speedway with short track racing for bikes with displac ments of 100cc, 200cc, 250cc and 500cc. Gates open at 6 p.m., with racing beginning at 8 p.m. Money will be paid to competitors to the tune of 40% of the gate. ACA head Wes Cooley reports that although 500cc displacement' machines will not run on a separate night at this time, they will have a date of the week set apart for themselves as soon as the larger O.C. track is completed. So, if you hav an old JAP or an ESC gathering spiderwebs in your garage bring it on down to Orange County Speedway and gi v it a try. Big bike ~h.ort track racing is coming back to stay! To get there. go south on the santa Ana FwY and take the Laguna Canyon offramp. Turn left on Placentia and continue for about two and a half miles. The track is visible from the street. 5 -Well, for biad meY- 0 The quarter-mile dirt track race at Merced was a climax to a long week-end of racing. The weather had been good all weekend and it did not decide to change for M rced. The crowd enthusiastically greeted all the riders and cheered their local boys. but it was evident that Jimmy Odom was their darling. In the riders parade event the mention of his number, 16y. was enough to cause an uproar. In the heat race he started from the back row and charged up to the lead. During the Main Event he and Roger Goldthwaite had the spectators on the edge of their seats. JImmy had the lead up to the 11 th laP. when he got off the groove and Roger, not one to miss a chance. took over tile lead and held it. Roger is another top .Amateur in this district with some of the style and smoothness of Dick Dorresteyn. (Re b 011 Pll!:e 2e) ce everybody is be- FINISH THE FUN Y CO TEST WIN ER Ed and Loretta Harvey of Downey, Calif. won the latest "Finish the Funny" contest sponsored by Cycle News. Readers had a field day with their senses of humor, writing titles for the backward rider in the cartoon. We thought it would be a tough one to title, but the Harveys' gag line really broke us up. Their winning caption appears beneath the gag picture. They'll get to split the prize, $5 in American currency. Everyone else who sent in a finish for the funny drew a smile or two from our hard-bitten contest judges. Some of the runners-up were: "Re's a retired de . per for the stude....er C...,..yl"- lay 'lieU "11Iat's _ last u- ru tI"y a.t service deIot!" - JoIIII Kincaid. s.I,.. MIIN e.. 11le " - . . . _ , ~I a-JI, e.IIf. ef CJCIe SeIrJ, ..-lltlII......" - , _ Rtegias. . .. THE IINSWER' • aMlJcI do a MieeJie," SlIid tIJe fmot braIIe!" - BeU-y ". 10I Loser. lit .. ---.r- LATE BRIEF E 5I Dean Garrison, Grant Rapids, Mich •• motorcycle designer. has shattered two long-standing AHRA drag racing records with marks of 12.20 sec. and : :4'.OO. .hiD the standinu;rter mile on his Kawasaki 250 samurai. *** ******** ************************ Al (GUS) Lauer of sacramento scored his first Main Event win at the''' Monterey Fairgrounds season on May 28th by beating out former winner Mike Yarn by two lengths. Third place went to Ken Weakley of Fremont, and fourth to Carl Cranke of sacramento. The B Main was won hy Dave Smith while second and third places were taken b;l' Mel Schwartz and&Graham. • •• **••••• Thirteen year old Bill Manley Jr. beat all comers in the lightweight division of the Red Arrow Endurance Run. sponsored hy the Sonora Pass M.C. **************************************** Any individuals inter sted in building a 50cc road racer just like the one featured in a soon to b released CYCLE NEWS series may obtain one for the price of$150.oo from Roma M.C. Inc., 6264 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys. Motorcycles are brand new and ready to run. • • • • • • • • • • • • se ~~. • 'E: ~ND GET YOUR NA ON THE FRONT PAGE: • .... " _ CJiIII -CJIII - CJ'III _,.. 311I11-. ,.. FInI 1Ir_,.. • ..,...0 P'-e print nerne.._ • 1_.._"• • City • III PI-. _._ _ AcIdress__.•.•_._..••......•...._ ... ~s&er. a-CALm.,.29 Merced ·••••••••••••*..*****•••• 11. o.c. e_ colony? . . . .·t Drst race aJIlI 110& a soul ahead of _!"-ltaIph iJIte" Jr. (Tbis was ..... most a lie. but the winning gag ..as _lied 4 days earlier). ". already know the course forward!"Jack Ferguson. "T1li is ho.. Floyd Clymer starled!"Jolin Hedin. "W thata weird jump!?"-Nonn Walke. "lIow's this, Evel?" - Curtis QUick. "Man, dlese E.....pean rules are somethin!: else!" - Don Coach. There were 42 entries, all told. Another busy double-header weekend is out 01 the way at Ascot with Friday night linding Chuck Jones again showing that this will be his best year by lar and Skip Van Leeuwen proved that he is the rider to beat in the Ascot TT National on July 22nd. It - •. & __ _.!IlI~~ _ _.__.__ ..•_._.•_........•.........._ State TIlls I 0 •••• CyCUIRW.... • 0 $1&. OSlUl • 0 ..... ---0 : • _.__._..__._ _ . _..................... _ _ • O. • Lip............ TIlls ls 1 ..-.1 •••• j • •

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