Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Spactatlll'l cntWd a,..d ca.tle Roell Expert aad ANt., wl_. 11m La_III and JI_, Odom. Mert cIIa,pd pal Van L...... aad Pal.., to .... 11It0 Mc.d place In lite AlIA Grand .atlonal Point Stan"nls. ..d . . .... fir lie "In! II. uti .. tile IIIIrt1 II. tile II Rebe's· ... . . . IIIe .1••• calltlnia n rllIen •• """'1111 except tbe ke, to till It till ..., ....let If castte RleIe, lie _IIelt step In lIIe nanllal cln:ldt 1Ic11 ,.•• cI" In one of the biggest upse'ts and surprises in years, 'Frisco's Mert Lawwill ended up the winner of the National 3~lap Final - and he did it in record timel It was the second national win for Lawwill and the first ever for Harley-Davidson in a west coast National TI event. Melt dogged the rear wheel of Skip Van Leeuwen the first eleven laps before taking the lead with Dan Huby coming right on by the Dutchman also to move into second place. Skip Bre&ks L&p Record Up to that point the show was all Van Leeuwen who had set a new one lap track record on Friday night in time trials and then backed it up on race night with the fastest heat race of the four Expert affairs. Skip built an early and sizeable lead after passing defending champ, Eddie Mulder halfway through the first lap. Huby and Lawwill also moved by the four time champ on lap two and this is the way they ran the first half of the race. The last half of the race saw Dave Palmer put on one of his familiar charges mo ving all the way to second at the halfway point in the event. Chris Draayer fell off early in the race. lost many positions, still got back uP and finisheO a closing third place!! Palmer gave Lawwill a run for the title, at the same race which Dave won in '65. During the late, late laps Palmer's engine developed a miss and it was Lawwill by a safe margin at the finisb. Dlck.-am co I_ tile I_do. He til.. tile best., III avoid ill_lied bJ . 1 _ I_ lito ..... r8c" 1Itoa n and ~d . . . . . 1.111 be .ad d1d't f101'" 10 lite 1181.. HARLEY-DAVIDSON 5 DOMINATE CASTLE ROCI Nixon Shut Down It was discovered after the event that Van Leeuwen lost the lead because tbe bOlt holding the swinging arm frame had worked loose and fallen out. This jammed the brake lever and was tbe one big factor that again kept him from scoring his first national win. Local favorite, Sonny Burres, failed to transfer from the beat race to the final. He ran fifth, they took four from each heat to the Main Event. Gary Nixon, making a bid to again score national points after being turned back at Tulare two weeks ago, was again shut down. Local ace, Francis Franklin, unloaded in front of Gary, taking the national point leader down also. Franklin later re-e ntered tbe race and "las the last rider running at the finish. Gary was out of tbe race and for tbe second national in a row - no national points. Grand National champ, Bart Markel, who was sensational in practice on Friday night, looped his macbine off tbe starting line in the heat race and was out of the running for the second straight year. Wbile Harley-Davidson and Norton were grabbing tbe limelignt in tbe Expert class, it was again Jimmy Odom wbo carried the Triumph ban~ saved tbe evening for England. Mukel Loops &t St&rt Odom, fresb from winning everything at the Tulare National, was even more impressive at Castle Rock. He set a new track record everytime he was on the track in time trials, the heat race and the 15 lap final. To say be made it look easy would be putting it mild,y. Mark Williams, the fellow from Oregon who was supposed to stop Odom, was tbe second fastest qualifier, won his beat race (two seconds slower than that of Odom's) and missed a shift off the line in tbe Final. Williams tben turned in a good ride to come from 9tb piace to finish a distant second behind Odom at the cbeckered flag. Tbese two will again be matched at Portland on tbe mile oval this coming Sunday afternoon. Williams was also Triumph mounted. (Results 011 Pllle 16)

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