Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

AI. IIUIS 1fC0ID AT corAD WffIfIID story at Pbotoa by Georce Martia An American Federation of Motorcyclists record, 106 ride.rs turned out to speed around Cotati last week. The large number of riders made for excellent racing with lots of traffic and passing. Mtil line dUlls II tile . . . rice s1arI of tbe "_,,lied .., IIIIIIdJ rou, fllslIIlII,allt .tile. . . . . . . a ftlll eveat WIS . creat po.....s "<0 0> .... ~ ,.., ...' " Rick Schell, in semi-retirement from racing since the opening of his S&T Sportcycles in Walnut Creek, had his 125cc dohc Honda out, and it proved to be the only thing under 250cc to beat Ron Grant's Yamaha 100. Grant, who al ways gets excellent starts, fired first and took off in a great hurry wi th Freddy Muhlberg close behind on his Honda 160 and Schell behind him on the Honda 125• .As the pack roared around for the finish of lap one Muhlberg had snatched the lead, but as he went into lap two Freddy overdid it and had to take the slip road at turn two, both his wheels locking and sliding in the process. While Fred sorted things out and restarted his engine, Schell, who had by then snatched the lead, was trying to shake Grant. .As they left the esses and bombed out onto the straight Schell began slOWly building up a lead despite Grant's fierce riding. While Grant continued his futile pursuit of Schell, Dwight Huffman of San Jose on a 125 Bultaco TSS was closing in on Rich Raschke, of Berkeley, on a Honda CR-93, in an attempt to steal Raschke's third place spot. On lap three Huffman was successful, but Raschke fought back .and regained the spot on the next lap, holding it to the finish. Schell continued to expand his lead and won, followed by Grant, Raschke, Huffman and Fred Muhlberg, who had passed almost the whole field after his engine-killing slip road trip earlY in the race. First into turn one in the 250 class was the white Yamaha TDl-C of Ron Grant followed by a howling pack which quickly sorted itself out to Grant, Ned Marandino on a Kawasaki and Yamaha-mounted Bill Judkins. .Farther back, Art Baumann, also on a TD1-C, had gotten a bad start and was carving through the pack like an electric knife. By lap two he was third and on lap three he had passed Bill Judkins for second place. Seconds later Baumann was nipping at Grant's heels and both riders were scratching for all they were worth. Both pulling rapidly away from the rest of the pack, Grant and Baumann began a series of lead swaps that were beautiful to behold until Art tried too hard coming out of turn one and threw it away. -I turned it on a little too soon, 1 guess, -Baumann said after the race, T~~1Ionda ~. Husqvarna - Complete Service. Parts. ..... v"::··:~··"., M,. . ~ "/;iii{;:),., M 0 T!O • - - ..., Is Fleddy Mubl.rl mlln&? 1Iecau. ba has a lead on the first lap 01 the 175cc and 18"Iar Grand Prix, He bald It until tba next lap wban h. lot all alit of shape In the sac_ tum. 250cc GP e CIl gue of _e11I.s IIImIIllg ...... tin o.e lid lIowa tile .,roacll to Cltatl'S : ~ fast 1eft-1IHd_ ... twG. 175cc aDd UDder e-z ...., .... I· In ruefully rubbing a scarfed spot on his black and orange leathers. After skidding along the ground for a few discomfiting seconds, Art leaped back on the sputtering Yamaha and shot off, still in second place but hopelessly behind Grant. At the finish it was Grant, Baumann and Judkins. 350-500-0pen First immediatelY and de'stined to remain that way was Bill Lyons on the red Triumph 650. Another Triumph, ridden by Tom Steele was second, third was Ron Grant and fourth was Art Baumann, on a Honda 350 recently build up by Aaron Wilbur and Freddy Muhlberg. Baumann passed Grant on lap two, but was unable to catch the speedy Triumph of Steel e until lap six. Moving uP from deep in the pack meanwhile was Art BerMelsel, on a huge looking Harley Sportster. Bern- heisel was making good use of the big Harley's thundering power as he moved into fifth place on lap two, then fourth one lap later. Pouring on the steam Bernheisel began stalking Steele's Triumph and caught him in a last-lap burst of speed to take third overall• Final results showed Lyons first, then Baumann, Bernbeisel, Tom Steele, and Phil Makanna, fifth on a Norton Manx. 250 and Under Production Bill Judkins, who had an easy win last time at Cotati in the 250 production race on his Kawasaki, met his waterloo in the form of an extremely fast Yamaha ridden by Nick Theroux. Judkins got off to a first lap lead but was only able to hold it for two laps. On lap three, Theroux passed him and although Judkins rode like a man possessed, Theroux's orange "Jack's Go-Shop· jersey stayed resolutely ahead. Third was Jim Keys, on a Suzuki xeS. 350 and Over Production The 350 and over production race gave the spectators another chance to watch Ron Grant push a bike to the abolute limit. Dave Burchards was piloting aHonda 450 and grabbed a quick lead with Grant second. concentrating utterly on getting the last ounce of speed from the Yamaha, Grant set out in pursuit. Burchards pressed on and almo'st turned the trick. But on the last lap as Burchards braked for the back hairpin, Grant swooped by and held off Burchards just long enough to take the checker first. SALES-SERVia PARTS" 10&... uo, -. BSIW 5 2422 E. HU:\T1N(;TO;\/ DRIVE DL'''\IlTE. C\UFORNIA rolophono 359.4548 ••••••••••••••• TELL THEM YOU SAW IT IN CYCLE NEWS ••••••••••••••• AMAZING NEW 01 Designed Exclusively for air COIled engines. IT'S 1D£Al fOft All METALS • AlUMINUM ...... • CHJtOMIUM • mVER • QOU) • com:. • NIC~El ONLY .125 NEV.-DULL Magic Wadding Polish so NEVR·OULL i!":o EASV TO USEI IT REMOVES RUST. W'LL NOT HARM FINEST FINISH _ NON ABRASIVE SAVES TIME .. , SAVES WORK •.. SAVES MONEY NEVII-IIULL lOX 341. lEU. CALIfORNIA Dlstrlbutor/D.al.r Inqulrt.s Inylted Oi stri buted Nationally by KASUMI 01 LCD. 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