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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125552
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l 102 MPH AVERAGE-Rayborn
~ Laps The Field
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Harley-DlvldsonJ Yamaha and Honda
came home the winn e r s this year from
Q. the annual AMA Speedweek at famed and
~ fast Daytona International Speedway.
H- D rega1ned the winner's circle after
~ a two-year shutout. Yamaha kept right on
r.:I rolling an d won the lightweight division
:i!: honors for the four th straight year . And
r.:I a Honda, without aid or assistance,
scored for the fi rst time In Florida.
;:...,
The 200- mile Na ti onal was supposed
U to be a Harley-Davidson runaway. It was,
but not of the size and magnitude that
was p r e di cled early In the week of speed.
Cai Rayborn added his name to the list
of stars that have won the biggest road
race of them all. He did It In grand s ty le,
lapping the entire fi eld and turning in a
near flawless r ide on one of the seven
Harley faclory team entries.
Even with one s pill early In the race,
Rayborn s till bombed the banks for a
r ecord breaking ride and an averag e
speed of just under 102 mph! It now
give s Cal three Na tio nal road racing
wins and H- D the Na ti onal point lead
after two e ve nts In '68.
Th e s urpri se of th e 200 was the Yamaha 350' s. Th ey ran li ke bombs, eve n
though gi ving mo re than twi ce the cc -s
away to the Harle y team. Th e s econd
time effort paid ort with a second and
lhird place finish and two of th e choice
three spots In the winner' s ci rcle.
T he 53-lap grind found the Harley
team grabbing off th e front four places
from the drop of the flag. Rayborn,
Mert La v."WIll, Fred Nix an d Roger Reiman were the front running fou r that
broke track records right from the
opening lap. Rayborn was in and out of
the lead and the firs t five rounds but
took over for good on lap six and raced
to hi s tor y .
The first half of the race was all
Harley with Yamaha playing catch-up
although due to a series of dropouts and
mechanical fai lures defending champ
Gary Nixon did manage to move Into
second place briefly for three laps before ma ki ng a gas stop and then later
dropping out of the r ace e ntirely .
By the end of the 43rd circuit Rayborn
ha d lapped the entire fie ld a nd there were
still ten laps to go . England's Phil Re ad
supplied the crowd with late lap a c ti on
by overtaking and passing Rayborn not
once b ut three times as the t wo riders
chose to due l each other - although Re ad
was many laps behind due to a pit stop
for gas that found the engine unable to
r estart for an extended amount of time.
It was a big day for Califor nian s as
the y grabbed off five of the top len finish
spots . This also gives the Western
r ider s a bundle of National points and a
hea d start for the yet-young season.
~
cj
Amateur loo-Miler
Cailfornia sent new road racer Bill
Lyo ns Into the win circle on the priva te ly entered Honda 450 . It was to be
another record-breaking ride and an easy
r un for the 25-year-old mechanic from
san F rancisco.
Lyons was off like a shot for the th ir d
r ow starting positron' and was never in
serious danger of losing the lead and the
win. He now Joins Walt Fu lto n Jr. an d
Ken Ri dder as the three who hav e built
up an Amate ur big bik e win s treak that
ma y never be stopped.
Veteran Florida road racer Ra y Hempstead rode Int o second on the east coast
fa ctory backed BSA that was formerly
r idden by Jody Nicholas . Fast qualifier
Art Nlnci , H- D mo unted fr o m Kansas
Ci ty , was a distant third.
The Honda ridden by Lyo ns , an d sponsored by Precision Machine Co . , Is the
same 450 that carried Ar t Bau mann to
two Amateur road race National wins in
'67 . It was one of only a total of five
Honda's entered In the race.
Ninci broke the old one - lap track
record set last year by Honda-mounted
Jimmy Odo m with Nlnci ge tt ing the ne w
ma r k up to 133- plus mph.
Hard luck Californian was Bob Mc
Elvain. Pulling In fr om hi s ti me trial
effort he was hit by a car In the pits an d
s uffer ed a broken colla rbone.
set ba ck In '66 by Walt F ulton when the
Calif ornian rode a team Suzuki fr om last
to first and a record that s tood until last
saturday.
The en tire week of racing an d tuning
was done under foul weather con di tions
until t he fi nal da y on Sunday. The 200mller was run with what was perhaps the
be st weather ever and the records proved
It.
The largest crowd (17 , 500) to ever see
a cycle r a ce at Daytona was on hand fo r
the 200 .
(Re sul ts on page 20)
or the field and again 11 was a record
breaking ride.
Hollingsworth comes from the racingest family In America. His fa the r Is an
H-D deaier and Don an d two othe r
brothers have all been co mpeting at
Dlylona many times In the past In the
s portsmen and Novi ce races.
Town;;ley ma y have ha d ' th e horsepo wer to win the race but Hollingwor th
just plain outrode his nearest competitor
for the win In the 78- mlle chase that Is
yearly made up of the future Na tional
c hamps .
Hollingsworth shattered the old recor d
-0
.
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The Combined 250cc Race
What was to be a th ree- way due l
be twee n Yamaha, Kawasaki a nd Suzuki
in the annual l OO- m il e race for the
250 ' s failed to materialize . Yamaha
grabbed off all rou, A the heat r ace wins
earller In the day , then came storming
back to take eleven of the first fourteen
posl tions In the race that was stopped
after only fifleen laps due to a typical
Florida type cloudburst that called a
sliding halt to the show.
The first eight laps found Gary Nixon,
Mike Duff and Yvon DuHamel putting on
a "picture" race with the three riding
as one on every turn an d every straightaway. The lead changed hands many,
many times the first nine laps before
Nixon dropped off the pace and left the
two Canadians to battle It out.
The rains started shortly after and
both Nixon and Duff fell off on the first
turn le aving DuHamel way out In front
as the water increased in flooding quan tities.
The race then reverted to the new
battle for second place between former
winne r Bob Winters and ex- World ·250
champ , Phil Re ad . Surprisingly, Winte rs
Increased his margin as the rain became
hea vie r an d the Arkansas road runner
was a solid second when the r ace was
stopped. Four of the top eleven places
went to Callfornla riders with Bakersfield's Ron Pierce easily the highes t
ranking Am a teur In a well deserved fifth
place finish on his self-sponsored Ya maha.
It was the first time In the history or
the Speedway that a cy cle race has been
stopped due to rain but It was done with
wisdom as many riders fell orf during the
last four laps-or after the rains came .
The Novice 250 Race
This event was the closest duel from
star t to finis h with a surprise win for
H- D and the Sprint model 250 . Veleran
sportsman road racer Don Holllngsworth
from florida came from behind many
times to go on for the win over Yamaha
riding Dave Townsley from Louisiana.
n e two riders far outclassed the rest
Here'. Mike Duff'. 350cc Yamaha, one of the . izz llng seereners that really lore ' e m up at Daytona, going taster than two-.trokes have ever gone at the famed Speedweek event s,
RES ULTS OF THE~ 8. 7o.. M l LE NOVICE CHAMPIONSH IP RACE RUN OVER THE 3 .8 1
MILE INTERN
ATIONAL ROAD-TRACK COURSE AT DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL
SPEEDWAY ON SATURDAY , MARCH 16 , 1968 AT 1:00 PM
Pas
I
2
3
4
.S
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
IS
16
17
18
19
20
H
23
24
25
~9
NO
87
121
36 .
149
47
14 0
43
84
155
56
53
25
86
94
67
5
42
510
0
13
14~
5
I
6
82
152
RIDER & HOME
MACHINE
Don Hollingsworth , St . Augtl stlne , Fla. Harley-Davidson
David Townsle y , Metairie. La.
Yamaha
Yamaha
VvUllam Pew, Wayne I'll.
Duane Santee Belo1t, Ohio
Yamaha
Nick Weiss , Na s hv1lle , Tenn.
Yamaha
John Cooper, Niagara F.lls , Ont , , Can. Harley-Davidson
Dennis POn
elelt , Sarasota . Fla.
Harley-Davidson
Frank Bee cher Wooding , Woods Hole , Mass. Yamaha
Yamal:a
Robert Undsey, Ptttsburqh , Pa .
Wllllam Hinson, JacksonvIlle, Fla.
Honda
Wade K1lIen, Milwaukee, Wlsc .
Harley-DAvidson
Wendell Tisdale , Rogers , Ark.
Dacufl
Walter Finnegan, Gibsonia. I'll.
Bultaco
Harold Heitzman ·, Jr., Evansville, Ind . Suzuki
Michael KavanaJ/n, Brampton, Ont., Can.Greel'es
Freddy Richie, Jol1et, III
Harley-Davidson
Richard M1\chn lak, Inkster . Mlch
Yamaha
Graha :n Ja mes , Florence, Ala.
Ynma hs
Joseph /j11the , Chester I'll .
Har!~ r- Da·.rtdson
Ia~ ZuraffJ Sioux Falls, SD
Bu tta co
P:;fydJ~~~k '@>~eSfFn9 ~ : f:~ '
Robert Wa rzek. Cohoes NY
Norris Hughes, Birmingha m, Ala.
Darrell Brown, De s Moin e s, Iowar
~'ffe~~David:Dn
Ya mana
Harle y- Davids on
Suzuki
Wrzfcf UJcJtrcirg!b;;SJceneetadY! NY Bai'tg~
Thomas Eit e l, We s t PalmBeach, Fa.
Honda
Ducat!
Arden Jensen . Jr. Mlll ml, Fla.
John Long. Miami Betsch , Fla.
Ducat!
James Allen . Toronto, Ont , Can.
Su z" ki
Frank Dever. Nashv1lle . Tenn.
Honda
Dave Brown. Sarasota . Fla .
Suzuki
Keith B1lIlngs , Wa ter loo Iowa
Yamaha
Ducat! .
John Gregory. Kenosha. Wlsc .
John 5,,:unidt , Elg in , ill
Honda
Yamaha
Burns Wm. Moo re , Syracuse NY
Richard Cobb , Fran' l:lgham, Ma s s
Harley-Davidson
James DaOk, Oxnard, Ca ll! .
Ha rJey-DiwidSln
tarrY Ynrbrou