Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

. .. NORTHWEST TT RIDERS TOPS IN NATION Amateur TT high point rl der lor the year Just past was Mark W lliams, 01 Cottaee Grove, I Oregon. ) NaUonal Number 69, Sonny Burres, th. naUon' s top-ranki ng AMA Expert TT rider lor The road to the top Is not a smooth one, but Mark Will iams (#130q as an Amateur and now Expert #4q) overcame such dlfflcultles as th..e to rank fi rst In the U.s. over all other yellowplate TT competitors. He won a total 01 56 rae.. In 1967. Sto ry a nd P ho to s by F ran k Williams Me et the Numbe r On e AMA IT rid er s in the Nation , all o f them from Or egon, hotbed of activ ity in the t wis t and turn dep artment. The fi rst pla ce Ex p ert is Sonny Burr e s , Na tio na l Number 69 , fro m P or tland , Or egon. Bu rre s wo n 31 firs ts, 25 seconds a nd 7 thi rds for a total of 245 points fo r 1967. Ca lif ornia' s Skip Van Le euw en plac ed seco nd in th e fi na l National ta lly . A mat eur #130q , Mark Willi a ms from Cottage Gro ve , Or egon too k the top IT hono rs i n hi s divis io n. Now E xpe rt #4q fo r 19 68 , W llia ms scored 308 i poi nt s i n winning 56 fi rsts , 8 seconds and 2 third plac es. Novice IT rid er Ike Re e d. #107q from salem , Ore go n came o ut on top in hi s cla ss wi th 57 fir s t pla c e s . 6 seconds a nd 3 thirds. Ike joined th e Ma rin e Corps ha lf-wa y thro ug h the ' S7 racing seaso n. Hat' s off to the top three , who brou ght glo ry not only to th emselve s but to Or e gon as well. Photo by Dennis Greene where. Unless someone puts on an unwanted show as Car l Morrow did when he practiced the unwise art of burning out In the pits and creamed his Spor tster Into pit director Clem Johnson's car. Top Qualifiers Boris Murray unveiled his appea rance as both rider and owner of the big twin-engine T r I u mph .. Flustratlon," with a run of 10. 63 - 150. 00. Don McEvoy's twin-engine Tr iumph was r idden Into the top six ranks by Buddy Martinez at 10.48 seconds. Jim Cook was mounted on the fabulous 45-lnch Triumph of Rich Richards . The spot In Top Eliminat or was secured with a r un of 10.50 - 139.00. " Red Baron" Art Houston pus hed Into the ranks by the narrow margin of one-hundredth of a second. 10.99 to be exact. . Bob Braverman's u screamin Demon" Yamaha made the run In a shor t 10.61 seconds at 127.00 mph. Best of the runners with a quick 10.05 - 143 "' lLS the big Harley- Davidson of Joe Smi th. Clem Johnson, Irwindale pit director, had no desire to split top bike money Into single dollar awards , so put It all In a bundie of 100 doll ars for Top Bike and 20 dollars to the runn er-up. Eli mi nations The top men and mac hines of quarte r mile acceleration filed Into the pits at Irwindale Raceway las t weekend to provide the gr eatest thrills seen In nearly a year' s passage of ti me. Six may sound li ke a small number, yet when each of these qualifier s has traveled the distance between tim ing clocks quicker than 11 seconds, that number six Is Insi gnificant. After all, those machines total nine engines and a total of generated power beyond my ability to compute. I didn't Intend to lead the reader to assume a total entry list of six, there were many more In the class eliminations for trophies . When there Is such a gathering of top bikes , It's just hard to switch attention else- Neediess to say, a field of six had to be reduced to one, and with a conglome r ation of top bikes, It's ten percent luck , te n percent reflexes , ten percent rider and a balance of 70 percent mechanical stability combined with superiority. J im Cook stayed in contention with an elimination that was staged with McEvoy'S twin-engined Triumph. As both the Richards and McEvoy Triumph were towed to a start, the 45-lnch single burped Into life , but Buddy Martinez prayed, cur s ed and twisted the big doubles throttle , which pr oduced only sounds fr om one engine. Jim Cook went on a s ingle r un of 10.53 - 141.00 mph. Ar t Houston had to swallow the eli mInation spot of Triumph vs . top qualifyIng Har ley and Joe Smith . The big Ford - plstoned, Lai dlaw dragster put It to the Triumph with a r un of 10.37 141.00. Bor is Murray ' s big double wan' t up to par of past performanc e due to a set of broken rings and lan ds which mad e the race against Braverman's Yamaha far fr om a sure thing . It wasn 't even definite at the eighth-mile. The only moment of truth was when Murray's winning light ca me on and the Chron dex 1967. White 250cc MOTO-CROSS Exclusive Territories Another Oregon ri der, I k. Reed, wound up I n IIrst plac e over all other Novice TT competl. tors. ti ming clocks read 10.41 - 147 for the double and 10.83 - 127.00 for Braverman . Then there wer e three! The two ex-partners of Murray and Cook were squared off. Each mac hine fired without the slightest hes itation and it was hard to tell the difference between 45 arid 80 Inches of Triumph. Both were wheeled Into the staging lights and the Inevitable counodown began . There are five yello ws before a gr een but Boris Murray only saw four of them and was on his way. Cook was out of the gate after the appropriale five and drew an autom atic win. J im Cook' s ti me ticket read 10.63 - 143.00 mph and Murray' s showed 10.30 - 153.00 . Then there were twol A final r ound is always tense and speculative . Both machine' and riders had to be good or they wouldn't have It through the !Ield of eli mi nations . Cook was having trouble keeping the li ghtweight fr ame of Richar d's design on the gro und and Joe Smith wasn't able to back up the Ini tial elapsed ti me of 10.05 s econds . His runs were now in the 10.20 realm and the 45- lnch single had been there before. They fir ed and stag ed, watched the lights fli ckering down, anticipating the gr een and dumped the clutches for a final sprint to 100 dollars with twenty for the one behind. Laidiaw' s fai th in Har ley- Davidson and Joe Smith paid off, for the big one rea ched the lights ahead of Cook with a 10.22 - 142.00 mph. Next Week Racing will be a mite slow In Southlan d areas as the majority of racers trek east to the A.H.R.A. Winter National s In Ar izona. Three days of r ecor d sett ing and eliminations for class winner s and the battle for top bike. But for us left behind, there are Irwi ndale and Lions for the quick trip through ti ming cl ocks and winner' s or los er' S lights. Available in So. CaliL Inquire about our attractive new dealer assistance plan New line of 1969 Sports Vehicles coming soon. · Contact WhiteInternational Corporation (714) 835-8285 PO Box1864, Santa Ana, Calif. Walt Axthe/m:--I!lliI·-" Triumph-5uzuki Motors 1049 West 5t h Street Pomona, Calif. (714) 629-8642 NEW '68 HONDAS fANTASTIC DISCOUNTS ~ Honda. Bultaco and Min i Bikes GARTNER ENTERPRISES Ph. (213) 775-1802 or 326·38 10 SINGLE SWINGERS MOTORCYCLE TOU R JULY 12, 1968 ALL INCLUSIVE " Y o ur own personal gl3morous E urope.m Guide I,girrl. . BM\'; motorcyc!e. 'AIr fare. lodging, '11",als, ' 2 1 days through E uro pe ' s swrriqmqe st sports, '~,'otorcycle flown non-e. Joe l Robert and To rs ten Hal lman are your host s i n Bel gium. BY THE ORIGINATORS OF THE RAllY IN EUROPE TOURS. Wnet"': E(!l.,,;o/l ,-; i On- . P .O. 13(1.'\ :;,);-1. ~

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