Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Thl Flying Dutchman Skip Van LOt!uwen, proved he's sUIl the man to beat at the Ascot Part< twist and tum TT course. T riumph-mounted, he won the Main Event, look his heat raee to boot. One hundred an d sixty r iders , sunny skies, a fast track an d a good crowd the for mula for all successful raci ng. That was Ascot's TT opener last Sunday afternoon and the start of the dirt track action in Dist. 37. New Referee Chub Kellam ran off a rapid fire program that paid the r iders just under $2500.00 for a three hour effort. Bob Bailey started the ball rolling in the Expert class that boasted 50 entries. Bailey came back with a bang from last year's shoulder injur y layoff by taking fast heat race time honors over Skip Van Leeuwen, Dusty Coppage and Bill Manley. It was Bailey first to the checker again to grab off the Trophy Dish win over Manley, Van Leeuwen and Mer t Lawwill. The s tring ended for Bailey a t that poi nt as he cam e up with oiling sys tem . trouble s while running four th In the fea ture event. Bob just limped across the llne, in last, as the checkered flag fell on the dozen fastest Exper ts . Not one first year Expert mad e the Main Event. The big final '1\'3.5 a two- rider show ail the way with Mert Lawwill an d his Dud Per kins H-D Sportster leading Skip Van Leeuwen the first four laps. Skip then took the lead but could not break away fr om the Frisco Flash an d the two crossed the finish line far ahead of the rest of the field. Dusty Coppage was a distant third with Manley baving his best afternoon a t Ascot in fourth. Cal Rayborn also enjoyed his best TI effort and finished in fifth. Living up to exp ectations, nlw AMA novici Keith Mashburn (lOlr) and the new Yamah a 250 singl e flew to fa st e st heat race win and victo ry In the a-lap gree n-pla te final. Three big s urprises al ong the way dur ing the afternoon. The biggest was Eddie Mulder fal ling off In his heat race and not making the transfer . This Is only the second time that Mulder has ever lost his wheels at Ascot. Then Dick Hammer and Dave Palmer, both National TI champs, found the going rough and neither transferred from the Semi -Main, though Hammer missed out by just a whisker and looked both smooth and shaped in his first return to the dirt since being Injured at the '67 Oklahoma City Na tional. The Amateurs put on a cr owd- pleaser with Alex Chinowski moving over from the half -mile ranks to win his first TT event. He was pressed hard early by Barreling Bill Jamison, who led for two laps , and later by Ron Pierce. Jamison t -I T hrOt! rid ers led the hard-lought la-lap Ama· teur Main, but at the che cker Alex Chi IlOw ski (TrI umph) came out on top. Experl Tr ophy Das h wi..... Bob Ba iley (33), sporting hIs new non-hip pie hal rdo, rocel VIS congrat ulations for a job well done from T rophy Gi rl J aye Swean y and Promoter J . C. Agajan lan. Mlkl Mo rton (25x) Is loa ding his Amatour hlat race at this point, but high-fl yin g Bill Jamison (16y) c losld In, passed him and won thl fastost Yi llow plat l hlat of thl day. Both were ab oard Tr iumphs. , Fla shy purpll sl dehack rig of pilot Ed Wade and passenger Doug Bingha m proY! ded pllnty of action during exhibiti on race. Close company In an Expert heal. From 11ft, Gi no Romero (20), Dic k Hammer (16), Skip Van Lee uwen (59) and Larry Hl ln selman (73x). Dave Aldana ( BSAL wa s 2nd plac e Novic e. hid engine troubles which slowed him rather drastically on la p 7, and Pier ce blew his chance when he fell off trying to take the lead late in the ten-lap final. Jamison still wound up second. Chinows ki, Jamison, J im Pe terson an d Danny Carlt on were the four heat race winner s ( Jamison' s time was the quickest aboard J im Odom's last year' s rig), but only Chinows ki could keep the effort goi ng for the entir e after noon. The Novice class again produced what appears to be many future top riders. Mos t outstanding was s crambler Keith Mashburn who wheeled the new Yamaha 250cc single to the fastest heat race win and then a runaway ride in the final . Also winning 250 heat races were Don Castro, Dave Stroman, Dive Aldana and Don Dudek. Castro fell off early In the final and Aldana had troubles finding the track early in the race . Dudek fell off while running in third late in the race. It was the first TT win eve r a t Ascot for the Yamaha brand a nd Mashburn was alr ea dy near the track record mark in the hea t race. An exciting sldehack exhibition r ace again added spice to the int ermission acti tiv ities , with two Har1ey- Dividson r igs , piloted by the teams of Dave Roesch/Rulon Gulbranson and Ed Wadel Doug Bingham, keeping the crowd on their toes. After much passing and repassing the orange-leathered team of Roesch and Gulbranson beat out the sparkling purple-clad duo of Wade and Bingham . T. T. ti me in Mar ch fin ds the novice riders go I n g on Saturday afternoon, March 2nd and the amateurs and experts moving In on March 3rd for the annual 100 lapper that hosts the 33 fastest riders for 100 times around. Thefastest novice riders from Saturday will also move over to Sunday for a special llghtweight main event. (Results on page 16)

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