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February 11th saw the opening of the 1968 ACA road racing season at Willow Springs International Race_y, with 141 eager road racers waiting for their opportunity to ge t on the course an d the " ACA Ope ner" proved to be a tr emendous beginning for the 1968 s eason, with some fine competition In both the GP and Produc tion classes . In the practi ce session a mishap occ ur r ed when Andre Lascoutx le ft his 250cc Yamaha going down through Turn 5 an d Injured his right arm. As In the past, Andr e would have been a top contender In the 250cc class. Another disappointment to the riders and fans was the absence on the course of Na ti onal #1, Buddry Parriott . However, Buddy was In the pits giving encourageme nt to s ome of the other riders with a taped-up right hand. He had received an Injury at an earlier date and it was not quite healed, but we have been assured that the 125, 250, and 500cc events on Ma r ch 24th at Wlllow Spr ings will be hotly conte nded by Buddy. After the heat races were com pleted, the Main Events got underway , with the fi r s t li ghtweight even t being for the 50cc and 100cc GP classes. On the first lap, last year s ' 100cc champion, Jeff Pasternak on a Yam aha took the lead and was not contes ted throughout the entire eve nt. In hot pursuit a nd fini s hing second overall was #3 Rudy Galindo on a Honda , and right behind Rudy came a newcomer to r oad r acing this year, but an old dirt r ider , #51 Brad Stankey on a Yamaha. Finishing fi r s t In the _50c c Class 1 and 7th ove r al l was Tony Nicosia on a Suzuki and first In the 50cc class Il was Dan Osbo rn e on a n Ital, The second event of the day were the 125cc, 175 and 200cc classes. The se classes are r un together but scored s epar ately . Fi r s t over all and last year' s 350cc champion, cave Dam r on, took fi rst on a 200cc Oss a . Pushing cave and finishing second over all and first In the 175cc class was Steve Galbraith on a PR Spec ial, and In third place was Gary Ni wa on a 200cc Bultaco. Fi r s t In the 125cc -class and 7th over all was Myr on Tracy on a Honda . . The thi rd race was ope n to the 250cc GP class with so me twenty -odd entries and a pr etty im pressive fie ld . From the starting gun, Rod Gould on a Kawas aki br oke out In front. In hot pursuit was Jody Nicholas on a Yam aha and behind Jody cam e John Buckner , also Yamaha mounted. This was the fir s t event for Jo hn af te r a two-year hitch in the army an d he did very well for su ch a long absence trom road racing. Behind these r iders came a whole s tring of some twenty riders tightl y grouped together . The gr ea te s t excitement was centered around Rod an d Jody. On lap six, Rod made a slight bobble going through turn 6 and let Jody slip underneath him. Jody s tarted pulling away very qulckly on the Yamaha down the chute and into turn eig ht. Rod on the Kawasaki tucked in behind and was forced to toll ow Jody for the next four la ps . On the fi nal lap of the 25-mile main event, coming out ot Turn 9, it was an absolute drag race down the straighta way. Jody approached turn nine first, , THRE EMILLION ~ 81 ~ ACA ROAD RACE OPENER ' AT ~ WIU«!.!"~~!~NGS In the 250cc GP class at Willow Springs Rod Gould (66) and his Kawasaki swept to victory ahead of Yamaha-mounted Jody Nicholas (58). Later. Nicholas 1II0k the Open Class on a BSA. Gould switched to Honda I ... 500cc class honors. A lWays I n close eententien , the #89 BMW sidecar outf i t 01 dri ver Bob Bakker and passenger Bob Bender had to seUle for second thi s li me out to the Tri umph combi nati on of Reg Pridmore/ Ernie Caesar. but Rod was c losing tast . They both ca me out of turn nine with the Yamaha one bike length in front ot the Kawas aki, and down the straightaway they came, side by s ide .....'hen they crossed the startfini s h li ne, Rod on the Kawasaki had ac celerated half a bi ke length past Jody to take the checkered flag In the 250cc Main Eve nt. Buckner finis hed third and behind John was Joe Hamilton. In seventh place and ha ving e nging trouble was #71 Ralph White . Ralph had quite a tew mechanical problems throughout the mor nIng in both the pr actice s ession and his heat r ac e , an d the ma chine certainly was not perfor ming . The fourth eve nt of the afternoon was made up df the lightweight production classes , including 50, 100, 125, 175 and 200c c machines. These classes run together but a re s cored and tr opht ed Indi vidually. Overal l winner was last year's cha mpion, #3 cave Damr on on a Suzuki. To everyone ' s s urprise, r ight behind cave came James Harris on a 175cc Os sa , finis hing sec ond over al l and In third place on a 200cc machine was Chle t 9albraith, Bulta co moun te d. Behind these three tront riders was li terally a bumblebee ot small machines hovering tightly together. Fir st in the 125cc class was Steve Fros chauer , and fir s t In the 100cc class was Mike Velasco on a Br ldgestone, and the 50cc class went" to Dick Pearce on a Mondial. Dick, by the way. Is one ot the local PennzoU distributors and graciously donated two cases ot Pennzoll to the nrstptace winners. The fifth race was tor the sidecars. Even though there were only two entries, I think the fans find the s idecars an exciting an d inte resting event. It takes quite a gr ea t deal ot courage for both rider and passenger to go tea r ing through corners at Willow Spr i ngs or any othe r course. On the first lap, the leader was #89, drive r Bob Bakker, passenger Bob Bender. On lap two, Bob had a little trouble and #711, Reg Pridmore driver and Ernie Caesar passenger , got by and from then on It was Pridmore and caesar' s event. Ne xt came the Heavyweight pr oducti on classes which proved to be the most hotly contested event ot the day . On lap one. cave camron on a 250cc Suzuki, broke out Into the lead. Following Dave came Byron Black on a Kawasaki, then Jon Graber on a Bultaco and Dick Kilgroe on a Honda. These four me n changed positions two or three ti mes throughout the entire event and most of the time, a very large blanket co uld have covered the m. cave led laps one and two. On lap three, Byr on Black took over the lead and Dick Kilg r oe moved into second. cave fe ll Into third and Jon Graber Into fourth. On the next lap, Jon go t behind cave, cave moved Into third. On the ve ry next lap Kilgroe , pressuring Black, moved into fi rst place. On the final lap, and ge tti ng . the chec kered fla g, Bla ck regai ned the lead trom Kilgroe and finished tirs t overall on the 350cc Kawasaki, with Dick fini s hing se cond on the 500cc Honda. Third place went to Jon Graber on a Bultaco and four th to cave camron on a Suzuki. Jerry Greene took fifth on a Bridgestone. First In the Open Class and s ixth overall was Roland Pagan on a Triumph. The final event of the day was open to the 350cc, 500cc and Open GP ma chines , with Jody Nicholas on a 650cc BSA takIng the advantage and holding it trom start to finish. Jody' s lead was never contes ted. Rod Gould #95, on a 500cc Honda got off to a ba d star t and on the first la p was running In si xth post lion . Pushing hard, Rod was able to move up Into second place, but that' s as fa r as he could go . Many In the pi ts wondered what J ody could have done on a BSA It Rod would have had a good strt In the beginning. The track record at Willow is held by Cal Rayborn and Jody Nicholas came within .2 of a ,second of tying It. Right behind Rod was #6 Dick Kilgroe on a Honda and the n #711 Reg Pridmore on his br and new Nor ton Ma nx. Sixth on the road and n r sein class was Byron Bla ck on his 350cc Kawasaki . With a slight overcast an d the temperatures r unning in the high 50' s an d low 70' s, It was an e xcellent day for road racing. We're looking forward to seeing many of these top r ide r s do well at caytona thi s year. We a r e also anxiously looking forward to their return to CalIfrornia and to their participation In our next road race at Willow Springs on March 24th. 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