Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125550
Fierce But Friendly North-South Mesa eet Th e Mesa M .C . Idcked of! I ts 1968 racing season with a highly successful TT scrambles program , Sunday , Feb.25 as it hosted the largest group of entries in the San Di ego area to date, at 15 rae1ng plant 00 Otay Mesa, South of Chula Vista, Calif. A welrome nnmberofr1ders from the Los Angeles area were in evidence to oUer tr1end1y butfierce confl1ct to the local cy c11sts. The h1gh1y touted conti rma tton of the three-way ccntest between Doo Mattbews. Myron Carter aDd AI Flnan in the Open Expert class was unfortunately term1nated in the first molio wben Mattbe'Ws lost b1s mount coming out of the sweeper aDd was injured to the extent that be was UDabIe to COQH ....., leaYing Carter and F1nan to ftn1sh 1-2 in the beat. in the second molio, carter dropped b1.s scooter 00 the swillcbbaclt and atthoQgb be completed the race be bad been el1m1nated from cooI:ential. 10 the f1na1 molio carter got off !be JiDe poorJ,y posltlooed and was jammed back in the gnq> wh1le UttJe AI rammed Earl Boldl's bot Trilllllllb 1nto the lead aDd was SIDQ and Photos by Bin Hanner ' "" ~ ~ lo:I 50 cc Noylce lield j oc lotJl nc lor posllion ... t of lIIe slarllnC ..... _d onlo lb. cruclstaad ~ slralpUway. >.. U .-er sertously pressed to caputre the mote aDd the egeDt... MatIbe'Ws vowed to be bid< 00 Mike Garrett's BSAGoidstar with renewed ~ March 10th. at Debesa 00 £ados &ad Pretes&s TIle 2SOcc Expert class was a thr1l1er espec1any in the secood mota wbea Wayne BosaJta aDd DIclt MIDs dueled lui>-to-hnb for many laps. Coming do1m the grandstand stra1gbt, Mllls was about the width 01 b1.s front wbeel in front of HosaIcl wbea his b1keSlJlijen1 ydeve~ a h1gb speed wobble 2nd flipped eod over end about three times. M1l1s unl oaded and was not ser1ous1y hurt. Be appareotl y was awarded second place in the m olio even though ther e may bave been some quest10n as to Tlbether be and his b1ke finished toge ther . Damage to his mount prevented his compe11ng in the f1na1 Tr lumph-_lIled John Hat.l.y (l U x) from BUJ1lank, lea ds 500 .DY1 ce fi el d lIlraulh the "S- tum. Directly beh ind him Is Lou l. WIlliams who hel d second a ll the way. Back In lbe croup can be seen eYelllual 3n1 place finlsller Ray Vand.rpool (XX). moto glviDg Hosaka and R. Ring first an d second wh11e he retained enough points fo r third honors . Th e 250cc Amateur moto-eros s prov ed Inter esting inasmuch as It ...as not the · usual t wo-stroke pa rade. Bob KIng on a Harley sprint an d Ed Newcomb on a Duca ti pressed winning Suzuki pilot Don Emde all the way. The 250cc Novice lain event took an unusual turn when the oU1cla1s decided to re-run It on an a1.1owed p r otest by Yamaba rider, "Shifty" Barret because two f ull minutes were not allowed to perm it the rider s to get to the starting line. Vic Hanna ( Yamaha) and Larry Co11le ( Kawasaki) battled a one an d two fin15h with protester Barret r i ding his twin to an Impressive third place. It was " Graduatloo Day" for young 1 Jim Harmon ... 10 bas dom inated th e r ecent Open Novice events, bavlng gatned his wbite number plates in j ust seven races as a Novice, four of ....hich he won. He found his new big bike compe titors a little too hungry but be did f ind to his liking In the l OOcc Expert class.JIm tool ed his rejuvenated Yamaha to an pressive second place ahead of Bridgestone-mounted Jim Dunn and behind old master Jim McGuire on his finely lUlled • T. . . . . . &de (571) 1I.,•• s sUI ........ "'r lIolD-C_s ........ .., "sa LCo ,eI ~s s.z.kJ lIM. . . . . ., . . Z5tcc A_ Hodaka. The 500cc Novice trophy went t o Los Angeles with T riumpbrtderJohnHateley who proved to be too quick for the local boys but he was closely prodded by Honda mounted Lon1e WUllams and third place Ray Vanderpool who w111 bear f uture watcb1ng on his screaming 350c c Yamaha twin. Los Angeles arear i ders made a clean sweep of the 500cc Expert class wi th John Fishburn astri de his A r iel tak1ng top bonors in the three motos with BSA mounted rider s Gary Jones and Jack Hateley keeping h1m from getting too careless . John Hoy, on a Triumph, showed pr omise in the Open Novice series, winning the Main E1'l!I1t hand1Jy out in front of BSA-monnted Roy Law and Jim T ocker who copped secood and third. Bliltaco r1d1ng Tim Leque showed impressive ability in dom1nat1ng the 200cc event but was never really out of danger from Bridgestone-mounted Jim Dunn or Bultaco rider steve HIrsch. With the ag111ty shown by bikes in lh1s class It seems strange lbat they are DDt more popular. A visitor from Hunt1ngton Beach, MIke Bultaco Loblto, eclipsed the l ocal favorite, Chuck Claydon an d his Kawasaki to win the l O cc novice pr oO gram with Bob Silverthorn a close third. Statuesque, blonde Shirl ee News om , wi th long golden tresses !lying out behind her hel met led cute teenage Debera Reon from start to finish . Both girls were HodaJca mounted and were the on1¥ entrants to show for the usually popular powder puff event. Pay se on a Sportsmanship Shown With the approaching season, the 1esa Speedwa y promises to become a common meeting ground to further confuse the 15sue of supremacy in mote-sports beB 'em San Diego and Los Angeles area TT racers . The competitioo between the DIstrict 37 and 38 riders can caly be described as fierce on the track and friendly in the pits. Riders were observed admiring others' out!ltsand ex changjDg bits of lpful Information and even a.rrang1ng to helP locate bard to f1nd parts for various machines . 'lb1s type of spar . see ms to be the usml rather than the exception among cyc11sts. Three members of the Grlp5ters M.C. trncIa!d their bikes down for the day. Russ Shull and IUJo Ringen l ed by club vice pr es ident, Doo England, ran Into sorry times on the track but wer e more than enthnslastic about the speed way , th e races and tbe ba.ndllng of the day s program. They pr om ised to return in the near future wi th rei nforcements to r elieve the San Di ego area boy s from some of their gold. The M esa M .C . 15 to be com mended for one of the best organized and dispatched race meets to be presen ted in a long time. Cr owd control was good without being too curtaillng. ~tator and flagmen were in the right place at the right time and the large program was carried out with a m1nimnm of delay. 'They promise an equally good, or better program on Sunday March 24th and Invite Angelenos, both contestants 2nd spectators to attend. 'The ~ 15 eas1ly accessible from Inters tate 5. Just take the MaIn St. olf ramp South 01 Chula Vista and follow the lime from there. Be sure to bring your O'WD food and drinks; there are absolutely none anJ.lable at the track. (Results 00 page 20)