Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• Page 68 CA LIFORN ' R IA IDER ENTERED AT DAYTONA S . EXPERTS 2lMl-Miler AI Gunier Kaw Shorty seahoume BSA Clyde Litch ' Hon Jim McMurren Mat Ralph While Tri Dick Hammer Suz M LawwllJ ert H-D Gene Romero Ma t Dan Haaby H-D H-D Cal RaYborn Dick Newell BSA Dewayne Keeter Hon Gerry Sequin H-D Skip Van Leeuwen Trl Ron Grant SUz Joe Klocow H-D Art Baumann Yam Sid Carlson Mat EXPERTS 200 250cc AMATEURS 250 100 J immy Odom Tri Eddie Wirth BSA Suz Rob Harrison Vel Walt Fulton H-D Kaw H-D Lee Pa tterson John Buchner Yam Yam II-D Art Bemheisel Don Vesco Bill Lyons Hon Bri Yam Johmy Apple Suz SUZ Steve Pederson 'Ka w Mat J im Dour Mat Kaw AMATEURS 250cc Am. 100 NOVICE 250cc RACE Gerry Howerton Yam Mat Suz EUls Bole Larry Pruett Yam Suz Bob MacEIvain Hon Hon Tony Nicosia Hon Rich Carrera Yam BSA Tom White H-D Tom Rockwood Yam Mat Rankin Fisher Yam Ron Pierce Yam BSA Clouis Brown suz Ron Erle r Dave SCot t Bul H-D Jim Dauk Howard Utsey Tri Kaw Jim Ashmore H-n Keith Mashburn 250cc Suz Hon Suz Kaw suz Suz Yam Mon Yam suz Yam suz TRAClNGT AMA SANCT. fIRS T SAT. Of ·EVERY MONTH Tp.... ~~;:~ 8:15 p.m. fLAT T ACK RACING R EVERY fRIDA Y -/ SEASON OPENER APRIL 5th RACES p.m. PRACTICE 8.15pm START • "7 I -' ,At Ascot Pa" 183rd & Vermont - Off Harbor Freeway 1 • NO FOOLING. THEALL NEW j HONDA - ARE O,N450'5 CL DISPLAY NOW AT Wlr. rest" .. ~8~ ,~ e· MOTO .BETA~~ THREE HUGE SOUTHLAND LOCATIONS 15745 Lakewood Blvd. " Paramount, Calif. (213) M lJ-4313 E PREVI EW By RoxY Rockwood They're 0[[ and running at Daytona in the biggest and best yet since it all st arted way back in '37. If racing doesn't sell, or at l east help to sell cycles, then many companies are at lea st spending lots of the good old green ju st to have their brands on the track. " PRACTICE DAYTONA 224 N. Anaheim Bl vd. Anaheim. Calif. (71'1) ~ 35 -3 6 H ' 9536 E. F irestone Blvd. Downey. Calif. , .. (213) 869-0000',\ ' H- D, who has lost the last two years to Triumph, wUl flel d a seven-rider team . And get this , for the fir s t time sin ce the round wheel was invented their riders w1ll all be mounted on matching cycles with matching colored leathers !! No more rum mage sale effec t here and the well-worn dis guise of coming fr om the individual barn is over. Triumph co u n t e r s with their own seven-rider team. No matching leathers and no mat ching pai nt . jobs on the machines . I gues s you have to los e a couple befor e it comes to 100%profes s ionalism. Yamaha has a se ven-rider 250cc team and a thr ee-rider 350cc tea m for the bigger 200- mUer. Once again al l machines painted ali ke. Kawasa ki fields a three-rider tea m with ma tching leathers and machines . The same for Suzuki in the 250 race a nd a two-rider entry in the 200-mlle r with the new 500cc two-strokes. The s tale of Cal1fornia will be bare for a couple of weeks. The Golden West boys again lea d all others in total entries . Honda will not be ther e this year . Apparently they have taken a defeatist attitude after their one and only attempt in ' 67. However , Bob Hans en and his Racin e Racers will be back with a two-rider team on the ever - rellable G-50 Matchlesses that appear to thump forever. BSA is al so bac k with a four-rider effort and Br idgestone jumps into the act this year with their new 350' s. One Thousand Riders! The f1na1 pre- r ace entry list hosts no less than a thousan d entries, not includ ing the two nights of quarter- mUe shor t tracking! The larges t entry comes in the combtned 250cc Ama teur/Exper t 100mlle race with no les s than 140 entries! Then there is the Novice 250 race that al so has 140 entries . Next is the 200mUe big bike expert entry with a r ecord 120 riders for the Speedway, Down a notch is the 100- mlle Amateur big bike r ace with a record 105 r ider s. For all the various Spor tsm en classes, from 100cc up to and including 250cc' s there is another record entry of 231 r ider s . And yet another record for the Endur o with a co mbined class entry of 275 riders! Daytona an d its annual Speed Week may not sell cycles but it sure as hell helps tear them UP. H- D comes in th1s year only ' for the 200- mller . No more is 'ther e a factory effort in the 250cc 100-mile race . Milwaukee boasts of former cha mp Roger Reiman and a supporting cast of Mert Lawwill, Cal Rayborn, Fred NiX, Bart Mar kel, Walt F ulton and Dan Haaby , Rayborn w1ll s tray away long enough to join Dick Hammer and Ron Grant in the 250cc race to make up the threer ider Suzuki team. Fulton jumps aboard a Kawasaki with Ralph White and Limey Red Gould for the maroon and whit e team of the big " K" • The rest of the H- D team will be r ailbirds on the day of the 250 event. be on a private entry while Nixon and Elmore are official team riders. BSA bounces back for a third "team" try in the 200 with Dickie Newell, Dick Mann, Eddie Wirth and Bobby Winters. Newell and Winters also will be riding for Yamaha in the 250 race while Mann w1ll enter the nrst Ossa into road racing competition at Daytona. The private entry of Bob Hansen has Gene Romero ' going in the Expert class and Tom Rockwood uP for Hansen in the Amateur 100 mtler , Former team member Swede Savage w1ll be racing stock ears on race day up at Bristol, Tenn. and will miss the meeting this year. The 250 bash will find Yamaha led by ' 67 winner Gary Nixon and two-time world champion, PhU Read. Backing them uP will be ' 66 winner Bobby Winters, new hotshot Art Baumann, Buddy Elmore, Canadian Mike Duff and ever surprising Dickie Newell . There are so many other top rider s on the Yamaha brand on a priva te basis that spa ce allows jus t a few, such na mes as John Buckner, who finished s econd in '66 and Car lsbad champion, Ron Pier ce . Bridgestone fields two 350's for the first time , each a pr iva te entr y but factory backed. Veteran Don Vesco r ides one and gentle man road racer Gordon Jennings guides the other. Kawasaki w1ll not, rep eat , will not, send a factor y entry in the 200 alo ng the 350 lines. The one that has been tested stays in the barn but Al Gunter w1llenter one on a privat e basis. Prediction Time Picking the winners becomes more difficult as each individual factory and dis tributor extends more effort. H- Dand Triumph will battle it out for 200-mUe win honor s and Yamaba wlll have a revamped Kawasaki team to contend with. Nixon Is s till the rider to bea t and his tuner s have plac ed their Tri umph in the top four positions ever y year sin ce going to the Speedway in '61 . II would be asking too much to say that Nixon can als o win for Yam aha in the 250 race and s cor e the double for the second straight year. We have a feeling tha t Nixon will not win the 250 race but a Yamaha will stlll be the fi rst ac ross the Hne with another team leading the way to victor y for the four th straight , year . In fact , look for Yamaba to score their greatest sweep ever and place no less than seventeen rtdersIn the fi rst twenty posi tions! That' 5 a large order for any brand to flll but Yamaha has the rider s and the equipment. Kawasaki fights them with only thr ee riders, the same for Suzukl. The odds are too great, maybe next year • Five non-Americans challenge the converted dirt-trackers of Uncle Sa m. PhU Read and Rod Gould fr om England , Mike Duff from Canada, Roberto GaIl1na from La Spezia , Ital y and Mitsue Ito from Japan. None of these r ider s will win but they will add much to the col or of the s how. Read is one of the finest 250 rider s th1s column has ever seen in act ion but he cannot afford to be beaten. If he is not in the lead, or near the front, in the la te laps, he will pull to the pits. He has too much going for him on a contr ac t basis on the European circuit to be defeated by anyone of the many Amer ican "unknowns" . Where Phi l will s hine is on the Yamaha 350 agai ns t the bigger 500's and Kingpins at Daytona for the big 200 750' s, He has nothing to lose and a high will be Triumph with Gar y Nixon, Ralph finish, say insi de the top ten, would be White and Buddy Elmore; all three are as outstanding as a win itse lf. Keep in former winners . Along with them for the mind that al l 350's ar e limited to four Tigers will be Skip Van Leeuwen, Red speed gear boxes - even though they are production models . Just one of the many Gould, Ji mmy Odom and f1rst-t1me road racer Chuck Pal mgren . unsolved "rules" that govern our curNixon, Elmore and Van Lee uwen.will rent r acing se tup. al l be Yamaha -mounted when the IlghtCal1forn ia will win at least one of the •• W.eJght~'lpo.~mlleI:"l;Vlls',~.(jUW the day....I...tou r , mai~, road racing-'E!Ve.nt,:;·.a ~.~"'::~ before the 200- mller . Van Leeuwen will tona, maybe two. Three Former Winners

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