Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• '0 . THE BACK EAST SCENE • checkered flag 11 was Dovel, McAlexander , Little an d McKeen. The second semi was won by a first year Expe r t, Larry Dillon on a Spri nt . The next thr ee plac es were al l new Novices, Sis son on a Sprint , Albr ight aboard a BSA and Dever riding a Honda. In the non- qualifying heat there was one spec tac ular cr as h. An Ama teur , 8111 Halweg; went down hard on the fourth turn and ne w novic e Pat Wil so n crashed Into him and then hit the wall head on, looking lik e a billy-goat trying to butt someone . They s ay you can 't hur t thes e young kids and I believe It now, when I s aw them both walk a way without s o much as lim ping. There was plen ty of c rashing and bangi ng a t the s tart - of the Ma in Event. Dovel broke loose and there was no stopping him. After riders qu1l falling and things got underway the finish was Dovel, Dillon McAle xander and McKeen. After the race there was a r iders' meeting and we found out the race 110'3.5 prote sted. A r ider pr otested the time trials. Pe rsonally, I am with the r ider as they did change his ti me trial . So the purse was hel d up and sent to the A. M.A. to dec ide on the protest. On To Cincinnati • By Jud y McKeen In my opinion these Indoor short tracks are the only way to fiy. Especially back here where the snow and Ice are plenillul, and racing comes to a stands111 in the winter months . So 11 was with much ex c1lement that we hea ded for two wonderful days of racing at Nashville, Tenn. and Cin cinnati, Ohio, January 20 and 21. At Nashvl1le there were a fe w new National Numbers , and a bunch of new Novices . Charlie Southgate, new Na ti onal #56, blew his Honda In practice and sat on the side-lines watchi ng the first race of the season . Being a home town boy, Charlie was none too happy about the situation. The first heat was won by Uirrel Dovel. Dovel' s Harley looks li ke it Is in fine shape for the opening indoor National In Houston, Texas. The s econd heat was Out of 12 starters at thl Cincinnati Indoor IV. . I, Nationa l Number Onl Gary Nixon lapped all but runnlrup Bob Irwl no won by another new National Number , Ray Utile (19) aboard a Sprint. The Trophy Dash was the ups e t of the night. A young ne w Novice, Albert Me Alexande r riding a Husqvarna did the thing to Dovel an d Little . I understand Albert's fa the r carr ied Na tional #94 for quite a fe w years and when he r e ti r ed, George Roeder took over the number. This was Albert's fir s t professional race and If thi s was an example of his riding this boy will go fa r . Dovel got a second and Little a thi rd . In the fir st semi, Dovel wasn ' t having any mor e of this being beaten by a Novice, but the competition was tough. Dovel got the lea d, with Lit tle a nd Red Mc Keen hot on his tafl, On the fifth lap McAlexander ca me by Lit tle and McKeen and se t his s ights on Dovel. At the Fr om Nashville we drove all night to Cincinna ti , Ohio for anot her try at Indoor racing on a basketball cour t . There were a lot more Experts a nd Novices there than at Nashv111e. Some of those ne r vous Novices we could have done without. There wasn 't a race tha t went by without a Novice causing a crash or two. You could have sworn they had neve r been aboard a bike In their life. In the first hea t Myron Nagor s ki, an Expe r t aboard a Spri nt , lea ped out in fron t and stayed there. Meanwhile, back In the pack , the Novices were raising hell. The y were not only trying to destroy each other, but were aiming for the Exper ts . On a track this small speed doe sn't do too much good. It helps, but It's know- how that r eally counts . So it was hard to stay away from the Novi ces on the first couple of laps. Outr iding the banzai boys wer e Tom Hodges on a Bultaco, Bob Sholley ( BSA) an d Chuck Palmgren (Triumph). The second heat r eally got wild. It was bla ck- f1agged four times. J ohn Francis, a nervous NOVice , cente r - punched Darrell Dovel, not one time, but threE' differ ent ti mes. This guy crashed more than any ten guys shoul d. After the third restart he crashed again, then pulled into the infi eld an d waited till the leaders came around. And poor Dovel was one of them and got cen ter-punched AGAIN. It ended up with Dovel getting a r eally worked-for fourth place. The event was won by Richard Moore on a Tr i umph. This third heai was Gary Nixon all the way. Gary was r iding hts new 250Cc Triumph and it looks like It mig ht dothe Job for him at Houston . The fourth heat was comp le te mayhe m. With only two Experts In this r ac e they didn't stand a chance. Both Red McKeen and Bob H1nkle were crashed Into and put out of the run ning . Nixon got the scratch in the Trophy Dash, but on the second lap Myron Nagor s ki got under him In the first turn and won, with Nixon takin g second. In the first se mi Nixon made sure he made no mistakes. Nag or s ki s tayed with him the entire race, but had no chance to ge t by. Palmgren an d Sholley battled It out with Palmgren In third and Sholly In s eco nd. The second sem i 110'3.5 more cr as hing and banging. That Is everyone but John Lemme. He stretched out his lead and wpnt on for a win. I thought that the racing couldn't get any more ex citing than it had been already, but when the Main was run I was badly mistaken. Nixon had the le ad for about seven laps when he went too high and Nagorski got under him and took over . Gary was working hard to tr y to r egain his lead when Nago r ski cr as hed coming out of the fourth tur n. Farther back, riders were falling ail ove r the place. It was impossible to keep up with them . Gary then started lapping riders . He lapped all but second place which was Bob Irwin. Only four of the twelve starters didn' t fall. Gary plan s on riding all of his races In 1968 like this one an d keeping his number one plate , and he DOES look pretty good with it . After the race was ove r the officials had one hell of a time trying to figure results of that Main. But with riders' help and pa tience al l cam e out well . After saying our goodbyes and congratulating r iders on ne w number s , etc. we head ed back for Mar ylan d, looki ng for war d to the compe ti tion and ex citement of the fi rst Na tional of the season at Houston, Texas. (Results on page 16) B OLD WORLD fO~ 68 lH£ • ~~ The improved BSA Lightning for 68 features double-leading shoe racing type front brake, all new rear shocks, twin carbureto rs, ana ful l race camsha fL The brawny over-square 650 cc unit type engine tu rns out the torque like a competition m - puts su rging power ill to use at the flick of you r wrisL En joy the th riIIing 650 performance now betterthan ever. ~§A 650 LIGHTNING FOR 68 Remember: Your BSA Dealer sfill has a few fabulous buys on 67 model BSA's. SEE HIM TODA Yl ~§A Western 2745 E. Huntington Drive, Duarte, California 91010 Ph (21 359-9271 3) ~ II> Ql) _ .~ ~ 0> ... 0> t- ;g .::; II> tz., ~ ~ :i!: ~ U ;;.., U

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