Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

00 se .... 0> Wouldn' t It be ni ce to see on. of these on the Harbor Freeway? (Con tinue d from pa ge ~ ) Pre-race festi vities over , th e bark of tuned raci ng e xhaus ts filled th e huge Astrodome as the first hea t ra ce lined Up. It wa s an ill-fat ed co llection of Amat eur qualifi ers . T en rid ers sta rte d in a bun ch and eight failed to make itout of the second corne r. The race was called hack and restar ted, but se ven more piled up on the slick ape x of th e south turn and some had diffi culti es getting restarted. so the second heat was brough t on while the f irst li ne up st rai ght ened forks and handlebars and wor k ed brui ses o ut of th emselve s. Da ve Atherton of Mi chi gan on a Sprint and Chuc k Baker of Cali fornia , Mont esa mounted, mixed it up i n first place for a l ap or two until Bill Lyons of San Franci s co took it awa y with his Sprint and held i t . T exanB ob B err y with a BSA took second place, follow ed by BUffalo Bill Cody , H-D mounte d from Laguna Bea ch. HOUSTO Thir d Tim e ' s T he Charm T he firs t Amateur heat bombed off again with Ron Pier ce and Steve Ellswort h, bot h Californians , dueli ng on B ultacos. Ell sworth held th e edge with Pi erce taking seco nd , followed by Dave Smith. The fla gman looked lik e a matador a s th e three Buls flashed by him. I mi ssed the whole thi rd heat becaus e I was expl ai ni ng the differenc e, to some new fans who had ask ed me, bet ween this kind of racing a nd figure 8 car races, which they wer e familiar wi th. ' You see, they are n't supposed to c rash••. • I was saying. I did see Bob Greenro se of P rospec t, K en tu c ky , tak e a n ea rly l ead . Expe rt Hea t number o ne was marred by a freak accident. Ron Kruseman and anoth er rider went down on the sli ck spot and , lik e good ra c ers a re taught to do, th ey both lay there in the track , hoping to stop the ra ce and get an oth er chan ce at Winni ng. Someh ow Fred Nix wa s unable to keep fro m crashing i nto K ruseman and Ron had to be tak en away in the ambu la nce with a pos sibl e br oken hip. I t was the only time the ambul a nc e was used th at nigh t. R esta rti ng, th e Experts all cooled it with Cal Rayborn taking fir st all th e ' way . followed by Mert -La w wl l l , bot h on Spri nts and Ronnie Rail on a B enelli worked hi s way up to thi rd. Ba rt Ma rk el , getting away last, took an easy fourth . Yarn Unravel s Vet erans Exp ert H eat #2 rod e one practi ce lap and ran smoo thly with ne w Exp ert Mi k e Yarn from san Jos e beating Butch Corder , Dann y Hammond , Ed di e Wirth , Bob Sholly , Skip 'Van L eeuwen , etc. with his Bultaco. T he thi rd Exp ert heat found Sam Tanner and Eddie Muld er match ed , with sam on a B eezer and Eddi e on his trusty Mon tesa. Th ey were really clo se , but Steady Eddie edged awa y from the Flyin ' Flea , who too k second , with Dan Haaby on hi s new H-D bringing up third. ' Wat ch #12 doa wheelie ,' I said to th e figure 8 fan s, a nd Muld er did not di sappoint us. T he fa ns were thrille d, e specially th e little gi rl , all of 3 years ol d , who had kept her hands over her ears during th e rac e s. Heat 4 was a no- nonsens e episode or ra cing with J im McMurren l eadin g o ff a Harl ey- Davi dson sw eep , follow ed by Chuck Jones a nd Darrel Dovel. Th e fifth and l ast Exp ert heat began with Gr and Nationa l Ch ampi on Gary Nixon , resplend ent in new white l ea th er s with i rides ce nt co pper s tripes and sparkly. # 1 embl azo ned on the hack , l eadi ng Elliott Schu lt z. Da n Welty a nd Roger Reiman around th e mangled trac k . Schultz s lipped his new Yamaha singie under the champ and Reiman got past Welty at the chec ke r. Ph o to s by D enni s Gree oe 3 1 ,372 Paid Attendance - A Record Th en 'semi -mai n s were run to further winnow the startin g lineup fo r th e mai n. The giant scoreboard flashed th e information that paid attendance wa s 31,372 souls. That is rou ghly $100 ,000 gro ss for the promo t ers . The riders would split a purse of $6.000 . St eve Ellsworth repeated hi s hea t rac e performan ce winning th e 10-lap Amat eur Main in 2 minutes , 47 seconds . He was followed at a consid erable distance by Bill Cody and clos e behi nd Bill was Ron P i erce, a Harley i n a B ultaco sandwich . Do n L oftus of Des Moi ne s l ed for a while, but seemed to lose pow e r afte r lap six. And finally, with a kind of hu shed anticipation, the 12 top Exp erts of th e ni ght lin ed up in two rows for the 25-lap Shor t Track Nati onal. Announ cer Rock wood announced th e name s and the engi nes fired up with an expecta n t roar . The 1968 Sh.ort Tr a c k Nati on al Champ ionsh i p Out of th e first l ap it was Ca l Rayborn l eading the bunched-up , snarling pack with Roger Reim a n and Haaby close on his pipes , Jon e s i n 4th and t hat fast- rising Bultaco ac e Mike Yarn ri ght in there amon g th e veterans . Haaby too k Reiman on the 5th l ap and i t was still 4 Harl eys and a Bu l , but Gary Nixon . on the new 250cc Triumph Trophy , was begi nnin g to turn i t on. Yarn passed Reiman to move into 'seco nd and Nixon pas sed ·L awwi ll o n lap eight to fin d hims elf in 4th place. And there th e f rontru nners stayed unt il lap 12 when Nixon took Yarn at the same tim e that Haaby wa s get ti ng under Rayborn . Throu gh laps 14 and 15 Ronni e Rail and Bart Markel were pick in g off rid ers hack in the pack like l eap fro g. On th e 16th circuit the l eade r was still Haaby , stret chin g hi s advan ta ge, followed by Nixon, Rayborn , L a wwill , Yarn. Rail, Mark el, Jon e s, Muld er , Reiman and McMurren i n tha t orde r. Heart break Fo r Haab y Then Rail t ook Yarn , and later so did Markel. It was ob vi ou s that Haaby had it in the hag. His Gary Bray-tuned Sprint was pumping like it was 'suppos ed to and Nixon seemed to be conte nt wi t h second place. Then, o n lap 22, heartbreak for Haaby. Exiting the so uth turn Dan l o st it and went down in a tang le of wheels and fe et. He lay th ere with the wind kno ck ed out, his slidin g foot caught in the rear wheel until Neil Keen arrived with the sid ecutters and sni pped the spok es . Haaby th en go t up groggily. to a standing ovati on from th e crow d, but the National Championship was won by Nixon. Lawwill wa s sec ond , Ray born thi rd and Rail 4 th o Yarn had repass ed Mar k el to place 5th- remarkable for a first tim e ex pe r t running in that fast compa ny ! Nex t Sto p - Da y ton a . ~ \ Th. top three ri ders - winner #l Gary Nixon (Triumph), third place #25 Cal Rayborn (H· D) and runnerup #18 Mert Laww l ll (H. D) seem pleued about It all, but there appear to be mixed emotions In the background. After the battle Gary Nixon hun ted up the cre st fallen Haaby . • You had it i n the bag ," Gary told him. Dan' s spiri ts seeme d to b righten a li t tle. So the 19 68 Champi onship trail starte d with a cli ma x tha t i t wi ll be hard on t op. Next s top will be Daytona and the magnifi cent 200 Miler on Sai nt Patri ck' s Day. W ho will reap the l uck of the I ri sh ? Y ou'll find o ut in Cy cl e News t hat wee k . ( Re s u lts o n p a ge 20)

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