Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

PORTLAND'S INDOOR FINALE What A Race! ny J. K. Lacey' Portland, Oregon' s i n doo r racing closed Feb. 23rd with a crash and a bang, ending a fairly successful season at the Multnomah County Exposition Center. Several name riders were on hand to do battle but dido't take home all the money as the local talent had the pressure on and turned in some im pressive rides. Mike Gregg, on a Dobbins Kawasald, set the fastest time and took the trophy dash over National Number 69, Sonny Burres, and Portland's Ray Carroll. The scratch final saw little Dick Donaca get under Burres and run a w y to an ima pressive win over R. carroll, Burres, and the season's high point winner, Larry Parker. Two Califor nia aces trying their luck were nationally ranked Dave Bostrom, who this time brought his Montesa but did no better than the last, and 0Ul Thomps on, now stationed in Spokane with the USAF, who borrowed a Cub from Empire Cycle there and turned out to be COOS BAY CROSSCOUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP ~ co the sleeper of the night really putiing it on ' e m in the handicap feature event. Handicap final time and out came the surviving eight. Scratch winner D. Donaca, steady R. carroll, Dave Bostrom National 23 , Portland's leading Indoor handlebar ace L. parker, M. Gregg, D. Jordan, J. Lacey, and D. Thompson. Flag jumping caused two restarts but when they go t It started things happened fast . D, Thompson who bad come to Portland without his skid-shoe, was fi rst into the corner and the lead and there he stayed. Meanwhile back in the pack L. Parker unloaded after terribly overdoing it but returned to the fray while Bostrom , Lacey and Carr oll tangled putting the latter two out and letiing Gregg get by Bostrom into second place. About the same time Donaca went down in the second turn ending his chances and Thompson went on to his surprise win . What a race! F ull of thrills, spills, and heartbreak, And with that Portland end ed Its 1968 indoor season. (Results on page 20) .<:: ~ Dale Demaris at Toled o, Oregon, riding a 250Cc CZ, was the overall winner in the 5th Annual Southern Oregon CrossCountry Championship he ld Sunday, February 11 at Coos Bay, Oregon. En route Demaris turned In a time at 1 hour and 28 minutes for the 50-mile run, one min ute ahead of second place man Charles Standford of Springfield, Ore. who did the deedona360 Greeves . standford was a repeat winner in the 650 class from 1967. Larry Robinson from Seattle, Washington was the third man in. Larry was riding a 250 Husqvarna and finished in I hr . , 32 mins. This was the fifth year be's ridden the event, always placing in the top two or three. Said Larry, "I sure would like to win overall. I'll be back again in 1969." John Watson of Coos Bay was ab le to post fas t time In the 100cc Expert Cla s s of 1 hr. and 42 mlns ., giving hi m the class ch:l.mpionshin for five consecutive '" yea r s . John Is not oniy a good rider but ~ a fine sportsman, too . During the last 6 miles of the race, he carried along a ~ friend in the 650 c lass, who had broken til down. Although los ing out several places :c: to larger machines, John was still able til to finish 8 minutes ahead of the second place rider In his class. ;.., Coos Bay truly lived up to Its reputa - U tlon of being the "banana belt" of the Pacific Coast. There were sunny skies and enough moisture on the ground to Insure a dust-free course for all. Only one complaint was r egi s tered when It was found that a Novice rider had mistakenly left with the 250 Experts, thus hav ing an adVantage of 6 minutes, plus less traffic to work through. The rider turned a fast time and could easily have won his class, but due to the Improper s tart he was disqualified . d (Results on page 20) MOTO-CROSS NORTHER CALIF. STYLE Story and Photos Ooops! Cloyse Halland (64e) I s about to losl 11 here, but he and his Bullaco eventually wound up second In 1IIe 250cc Novi co motocross at Aubum. It seems moto-cross racing Is on the way in . Went to one two weeks ago and the Sierra Motorcycle Club of Auburn, Calif. had ano ther one on February 25 . It was set up European style, fairly long wi!!, several mud holes and s om e water, a few fa st spots, an d very narrow in a lot of places. The straightaway to the fi rst hazard was arc d 100 yards long and narrowed down to one bike- width; · there were three good ways to get by. A lot of spills were antic1pated but only a few happened. Yamaha-mounted, Mike ElIl s (17k) mmped to victory In ... 100« Amateur/ Expert di vi sion. ... ....,.. ..... ~ ..•••••• • • • • • • • •• ~ • • • - - . '\.~" ....... rrr:: r::: b)" Dale McKinnon From a spectator's standPoint It was the most boring race I've ....atched in a lo ng time. No matter where you were the riders would come by, then you wouldn't see anyone for ten or fifteen minutes. I sure would like to have r idde n it, though. Ron Long took a quick lead in the 100 Amateur Moto, but Mike Ellis and Roger Smart weren't far behind. Ellis won the second moto with a come-from-behind finish. It seemed whoever got off the line firs t in most cases lost It somewhere along the line and there were lot of places to get goofed up, as Ron found out even though be got a second In the second Moto by pushing his bike across. In the first 250 Amateur/Expert moto Miles Anderson took a rather nasty spill; the word got around be broke his leg, but be got up and rode away after a litlle help. In the second one Miles and his Husky took the lead again, no mishaps this time. John Smith and Bob Haustein were rlgh t on his tall, both mounted on CZs . Bob won the third after l:lking second in the other one . After hearing there were lot of spills at the first water hole, I went over, and not a single rider had the least bit of trouble. After lief! I heard they had a lot more spills and riders getting stuck. In the last 100 Amateur/Expert moto Jim Childress took off like his tail was on fire . It was shortly put out as Mike Ellis and Roger Smart were fighting for the lead at the end of the first lap. Ron Long, after doing so well in the flrsttwo motos, broke his chain in this one an d didn't finish. Debbie Jackilne, riding with the boys again, did pretty good but lady lu ck wasn't with her this weekend lik e it was last week, and she didn't trophy this time out. The 163 r iders who participated en joyed themselves, but fe w said they' d show up for a r epeat. Most of th e s pe ctators like it even though there wasn't much to see. The ma in bad thing about it was In a lot of peoples' opinion the cour s e was too lon g. They started out with threelappers, then two, and finaily one . It dido't seem fair to the riders In my opinion as it wasn't long enough for many riders to foul up and the steady good riders didn 't get a chance to pick up places. But I guess that's the way the racing cookie crumbles. (Results on page 20) 'It· . .: ::::.•:::::.•" "I:/, ••• :,t.t) ~. Over 160 riders tumed out lor 1111 5111ra M.C.'s mete-eress, Including U,l s 360cc Grolves rider momentarily ri ding on onl whee l. The COUrsl was lone. and over varied ti llai n. Ttwough the underbrush goes John Fry (SSc) on his Husqvarna. Fry took third place In the SOOcc Amateur Expert class. Hazards Incl uded a mudholl and a straightaway that narrowld to one / bike widtll. -:. •.... ",'. "~':':':'. : 4, ~ r ~.: : •• :.:.:.: ". :.:.:.: : :. . N .:':':' i'

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