Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• . • Should I have bee n surprised. when the ne w diaper clad Imag e of 1968 appeared with a grey bea rd tha t te rmi nated at the lower corner of the cott on triangle? Last year the outloo k of prospects In an Incr eased schedule of r ac ing even ts and number of con tes tan ts was standing proud at displaying an avenue of exci tement. The year moved through winte r goos e bumps, odors of spring freshness and Into swelt ering summer , ac compani ed by all-bike meets, the Increase In two-stroke advancement, Incr eased displacement machines su ch as 45-lnch Triumphs an d 80- lnch Harley s .Of course perfor mance was improved In a very direct proportion. Suzuki placed the 250cc X-6 Into the kingdom of 13 second ma chines , an area previously untouched by street class ed two-strokes. As . the year ended, one street class Suzuki, tha t's owned by Jack "Old Man " Murphy, was setting records at 110.00 mph an d with elapsed times that r an Into the 12.70' s. Fur ther Increases In the two- s trokes ' predominance was led by Bob Brave r man an d Yamaha. His excellent frame design for an ultimate In power to weigh t ratio and fine tunin g, modification etc ., led the Yamaha into low 12 second runs and speeds of 107 miles per hour . As though Inevitable , Bob coupled a pair of the Yamahas Into a twin - engine drags te r that now has s topped the clocks a t 10.70 and 127.00 mph. The achievem ents of two-strokes were ou tstanding In all of their r elative displacement classes and by far the leade r below 200cc was the previous ly s hadowed brand of MotoBeta. The' one factor that s houl d never be dismis sed in praise of the two-strokes' ac com plishment, Is that each an d every one has used gasoline , not any special fuel mix or additives. Bob Si rkegian and his BSA Super Bi ke. Results of 1967 Due to the su rges of Increased pe r formance, many racers have s tepped out of the competition ranks . They are not Insufficient In mechanical knowledge but scarce on facilities a nd money required to produce performance ma tche d to a winner. As a direct result , the numbers are gr owing s mall. There must be some way to provide a place In racing for the low budget r acer as well as wha t I' ll call the pro. What makes It diffi cult Is that you can 't fai r ly handicap and thus put the pros ' expense and efforts for speed aside as a wor thless expense. I cannot provide an answer for '6 8, can you? Three of the best were qualified for top bike . McEvoy an d Martinez' twin engine Triumph a rrived a t Irwindale with a ne w five Inch s li ck that netted a qualifying run of 10.50 se conds . Bob Braverman qualified with his best ye t E. T. of 10.52 se conds , Joe Smith's big 100 plus Inch, Harle y- Davidson completed the field with a qualifying run of better th an 10.25 seconds. Round one of top bik e eliminations had Joe Smith and Martinez matched for a close race between the two qulckest. Joe was out of the star ting gate ahead of the bi g double . At the elapsed time ligh t Joe was the winne r with a r un of 10.1 9 and 144 mph. Martinez s tor med by with a 10.06 - 153.00 but too late! Round two had Braverman and Smith ma tched. Braverman v..a s out of the ga te early, too early In fa ct, as the red light sho wed. S m i t h came out s trong, s o strong his slick was a l most fr ee - wheelIng, Joe s hut off an d then was back on It again or a wheel lift and conti nued ac celer a tion through the clocks. Braverman had r eached the lights first but the red light made it al l null and void. J oe Smith's La idlaw s pe cial won top bik e honors . • What' s New Super Bikes .. BSA and Triu mph decide d to match the dr ag racing trend of "Funny Ca r s ." Stoc k appearance but fed with fuel mixes of nitro me thane . Bob Sirkegian and Tony Dodge fielded the respective brands of BSA and Triumph . Tony led for awhile and then suddenly Sir keg ian s urged ahead with a now unma tc hed performanc e of 10.78 and 128.00 mph. Since thai time , the en thu siasm for Super bikes has waned due to the lack of confidence that others have In doing as well or bett er than BSA. CZ ¥ Jawa Triwnph ... Suzuki ~ There are no events of major Impor tan ce scheduled for 1968 othe r than the Immedlate A.H.R.A. Winter Nationals . These are to be held January 19, 20 and 21 at Sc otts dal e , Arizona. It has been relayed to me that a heavy migra ti on of racers fr om all points of the compass Inte n to compe te a t these events . I have al s o been told that Cook Neil s on, Associate Edi tor of .. Cycle" magaZi ne will cover the scene and also compete with his Harley-Davidson. For the pe rson who woul d like to s tart racing with the best In machiner y, Dick Kelm has placed his 30.50 cus to m twin ove r head cam Triumph and 650cc Trium ph on the au ction bl ock . Tha t 30.5 0 holds the cur r en t Bonneville Salt Fla t record for a AA500 machine at 130 mph . Mike Tucker has prepa r ed another 650cc Triumph, gas dr ags ter an d will be running the quarter- m ile withi n the next couple of wee ks . Rich Ric hards new twin engine Triumph Is almost finis hed. Two 45 Inchers , and one alone turns 143 miles per hour at 10.25. Care to speculate on what this big twin engine machine can turn In the quarter mile? Greeves at Wait Axthlem Triumph-Suzuki Motors. 1049 W. 5th si., Pomon a, C ~if. (71 4) 629-8642. ••••••••••••••••••• .. .. Fran cbco Ca s lo roll , Iln-slIde, Fi- .. .. !:lass tan ks &: sea ts , .l u hn Cooper &: .. .. Jli2 .John Roots. All Availabl e From .. .. SIMPSON MOTORS 4210 San Fernando Rd" Glendale, Calif. 91204 Thi s fir st weekend of a full raci ng sched ule at all So. Ca l. racing plants provided a s mall number of contestan ts at each location. Fontana Rac eway was a record setting location and I know that seve r al we re establis hed but no one Informed me of who, what or when. In a total count there r-z~ .. (213\ 247-3068 tl~S~"" 169 OR ANGE A VE •• GOLETA . CA LI F • • 930 17 . HIGH COMPRESSION - BIG BORE (10.5 & 12.5:1 STD. TO . 160 OVERSIZES) I AND PRE·ASSEMBLED STROKER KITS Stro ker Kib for All 50·5....S34.!5 - AII 90" se ce Bore Kit for All 50·s.__..•..•.•_ 9ftcc •. 070" • Hlg" Cl'lrnp. acre Kit for , 11 9oce ._ _.•_ $43 .15 12.50 _ 105ee Bore Kit lo~ All 9Oee 175ce . ,070" · High Compo Bor e Kit for All 150 & 160cc 190ce Bore Kit for All 16OCc 475ee Bote Kit tor CB 450'5_... _,_, For compllte Inf_ ati ol I ~" 22.15 25 .1:' a .to 55."1 IS.OO ,1IIr Milida Milder No. Iild ,ear. plul SOC i'" tDi Il I:" SbtnPI to: POWROL.L. P ERFORMANCE P.O. BO I 926, Dept. CN, Bend, Ore. 97701 , ~ I : $03-3826395 .... "I •••••••••••••• WORLD MOTO·CROSS CHAMPION AT YOUR SERVICE Marcel Mun i er, 2 ye a r s Wor ld C ha mpi on Moto-C ro s s rac er , i s your mechan i c . B r i ng your servi ce pro blems to A-I Serv ice Dept . Compression releas es expe rtly Installed . Used parts at bargai n prices. I N T E R t~ A TI O N A L M C CO. I Triwnph Yanaha H.daka Moto-Beta 7233 Can oga Ave.. Can oga P a rk open Tu es. through Saturday (213) 34&-3700 •••••••••••• DISMANTLING THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS! _ c _ c _ c _ a _ a _ a _ o _ r _ a _ c _ c _ .. 00 YOU WANT TO JOIN THE TOUR WITHOUT RIDING A MOTORCYCLE? This i s possible. For those we have available a special deluxe motor coach that will accompany the tour. ... ........ ..... . ,. s.d ,.... llftltl.. 1 lD T1Ie Au_ . . . c.• of Cpc" _. . . Ilu 491, U.I a.dl, Catlr. So",. wll" til ..II Mt ..... UI to lind Inchl••1 rlllll ... P .... 80 S-9 6., - t!91 9 .r .. ••••• ** •••••••••••• HONDA NO S!'ACERS - READY TO BOLT·IN WE PAY CASH FOR USED PARTS - ALL MAKES a n d develo pment co . '&& HONDA 450 '65 HONDA 5-90 '67 BRIDGESTONE 175 '14 YAMAH A YOS 2-251 '84 HONDA C-2011-90cc I The tour wi II be i n MaJ-June. 1968. With the purchase of f(~NORTON, A.J.S. Start planning Jcur vacatillll now. a new motorcycle ~ MATCHLESS, BMW EnjoJtheTulip Festival In Holland . TRIUMPH and the world·famous Isle of Man TT all far FREE! FOR DETAILS VAN-DER·KOLK & SONS GLENOALE, CALI F. PH: (213) 244-5000 CALL OR WRITE 1809 SO. BRANO BLVD• .. .. . ... .........- \'O~:~c.\'\ AIR FARE, HOTELS, MEALS FOR FREE AND SIGHTSEEING .. .. .. .. foryour THREE MILLION USED M ARTS Ie Sunday 1968 I .. Fi ttmn .\ i r Fill('rs, J uds on. Prods . MORP MUsCLe I ~~'<)3TOUR o' EUROPE WE'='K~~~:~ION'" , - - - I rwindale Four-Strokes At last year' s beginning the Triumph, both twin e ngine and s ingles were at the top of the list. Suddenly the big Inches of Harley- Davids on ca me on the scene an d rapidly dispatched any competition that was willing to cballenge . Ah yes, Inches are superior and now Triumph Is attemptin g a fee ble come back as new cyli nde r s a r e pur chase d tha t contain 45 inc hes' or more . Eve n grea te r displacements are being atte mpted In the San F rancisco bay area . One Tri umph dr ag ster Is s portin g 53 Inches. Harley Sports te rs that are Increased to 80 Inches or more have repeatedly tu rn ed In the low 10 second field and s pe eds are averaged abo ve 140 mph. Of cou r se a rare one su ch as Leo Payne, runs at cons is tent nine second ti mes and the speeds are well abo ve 150 mph. Harley Is also r epresented with the first really su ccessful " Knuckle Head" by Joe Smith and Lai dlaw Har ley- Davidson . Tha t' s the fi r st one to be consis tent at low ten runs and with speeds of 140 mph. were about ten to fifteen ma chines, Including the turbine dragste r fr om San Diego and a BSA fr om San Francis co. The BSA was mounted In a Hagon frame and while the engine was stock the E. T ,'s ran 12. 50 or better . Lions Drag Str ip was hos t to twentyfi ve en tries. The quic ke s t of the gr oup was Ame rican Speed Cycle' S 650cc Triumph which clocked an E. T . of 12.1 6 an d turned 109.16 mph, that al s o delivered th e title of the day's fas test. One Harley-Davidson almost took the glory fr om American . Al Sherwin won the A modified street class with a 12.36 - 107.00. Pos sibly the r eader has noticed that Lions has no r ecogni ti on fo r top bike . Out of the twen ty-five entries , thirte en received trophies . Mr . c.s. Hart the drag strip manager, Justly feels that eve n the a wards now given are exces s ive for the am 0 un t of entries . The r a cer should also expect cash In addi tion to the present awards ? I sug ges t that If you would lik e a cash prize, add an extra dollar to your entry fee and give this one hundr ed pe nnies to Ed Thomson, the pi t direc tor . If the twen ty-five entries had seen fit to do thl s then a r es pec tive purse could have bee n pos ted. Ed will be abs ent fr om Lions next Sunday, but talk it ove r when he re turns . i .-.! WE SHIP ANYWHERE. WRITE OR CALL FOR OUR PROMPT SERVICE -

• Cover