Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

'. Husband and wife team enters Lions Drag Strip competition on a Pho to by Bob Ebeli ng pair of 100cc Yamahas. .. Bob Braverman's twin-engine Yamaha provided a good show with consis ten t r uns in the mld- ten- second bracket a nd Joe Smith'S Harley-Davidson along with Boris Murr ay's twin-engine Triumph were plagued with pr oblem s . Murray broke a whee l and God only knows what else I Joe Smith was seated In a forlorn cor ner of the pi ts, r asping at the cylinder s with a fine file to tr y and seat a pair of poorly matched s urfaces that prevented good runs . But as gr im as thin gs ' looked on the days preceding Sunday, La idla w Harle yDavidson can have even more faith In Joe Smith's perserverance. That file must have been handled Jus t r ight. When It came ti me for the top bike r ace, Mur ray had been eliminated and Joe Smi th and Braver man were to have at lti When this moment of truth arrived Joe Smi th tur ned his best elapsed time of two day s and put Braverman down In the top bike da s h. Joe Smith turned 10.21 seconds a nd 139 miles pe r hour . Cheer s for the 44 brand, " Hip, Hip, Hooray, eUL.T~CC For Your Neare$t "Built 'To-Go" Dealer Call TR. 7·2400 or PO. 9-0441 ADVERTISE IN CYCLE NEWS (213) 423-0431 V) ~ APRIL 7, 1968 nt 1} 1} Me/Ill"" H""pitnl Bf"... 1} 1} : ..,J o >. u Harley!" All the exatlc equipment such as th is twin-engine Tr iumph will be an hand la r the blg$900 bike meet at Lions Drag Strip March 23. d th d By nob E belin g . The results of petite and very remrnine Pat Burnett's day's racing made spectators forge t the lure of large englne displacements and ulti ma te speeds and e l apsed times. The spectators' chee r s to a vic tor when Pat defea ted Mike Vallsco and his 180cc Br ldgestone left mental scars on Mike that he won' t forget for a lo ng time. But remember Mike, s he's just a gi r l! Pat's hus band Is manager of Motor cyc le Salvage In Azusa . and It' s quite appr opr iate to assume he supervises the collection of just the good pa rts. His Yama ha won the F modified laurels at 16.91 seconds and 73.71 miles pe r hour. But, I left out just how the 100cc Yamaha ma n a ge d to defeat the 180Cc Brldgestone . It seems that Vallsco was s o upset by his shapely opponent, tha t his eyes couldn't see the fuel tank petcocks and a s a result the lines were dr y a t an eighth- mile an d Pat's Yamaha cruised by just as though she and It were the only ones that had a r ight to running the quarter mile . Fastest and Quick A stock 500cc Suzuki proved to be the fastest and quickest of the s toc k classed s treet ma chines. A gen tlema n by the name of Somme r s establis hed a quarter-mile s print that was more than a second quicker and four miles an hour faster than the biggest Harley. His class winning ticket bore the figu res of 13.50 seconds and 98. 15 seconds . . The machinery with a little polish and piec es were led by Brackett and Miller's Harley-Davidson Sportster , We all know that Brackett does the poli s hing and Miller puts the pieces together and the combined efforts pr oduced a wor thy elapsed time of 11.98 seconds accompanied by 110.83 miles per hour. Quite a few gassers rna e e rag scene and this avante gr oup was led by a Harley-Davidson ridden by Morrow. This top gass er turned In 11.4 0 and 118.78 for winner'S glo r y. Jerry Nance was second best In terms of top time but the run of 11.86 seconds and 111.38 ' miles per hour was the be s t yet for his 650cc Trium ph . . Irwindale As pe r the usual contributi on to spectator delight si x fuel bikes mad e up the conte nti on lI~t In the race for top bike . Art Houston, Trl. ; Kotalack, Vincent; Don Harris , twin-engine Trl .; McE voyMartinez, twin-engine Trl .; Richards & Cook, 45-lnch Trl .; an d Ebe ling, 40Inch Triumph . McEvoy and Martinez led the quallfyIng field with a best r un of 9.74 seconds and they wer e ye t to clock an even better days r un as eliminations prog ressed . One by one the field was decreased until only two r emained for the flnai race' Ebeling and McEvoy-Mar tine z. Ebeling'S best elapsed ti me ti cket read '10.29 s econds an d Buddy Martinez had • ridden the 180- degree timed tWin-engine beast to a best of 9.63 seconds. Wa~ there a cha nce for the single engine machine? As au competitors know, there Is always a chanc e for e ver y square Inch of the quarter-mile and only the e le ctronic eyes at the end will tell. And they told the winner on this elimination sprint as the McEvoy-Ma rtinez double-trippe d the timing beam In 9. 94 seconds . Ebeling followed through the traps In 10.31 seconds. Twin e ngines , well tuned, had clocked a day' s best speed of 157 miles per hour, while the single engine Triumph tur ned 136 m iles pe r hour. Bakers field Not too much to tell about an eve nt 130 miles awa y from home ba se with only three bikes entered for a top bi ke r a ce . Due Respect EI Dor ado Raceway of Sac r amento, Cal if ., Is managed by Mr . Kerry Clar k, a long time and well known devo tee of moto rcycles . What bette r pr oof can be give n than his las t week's participa tion in an act of memori um to Eddie Witt, de ceased cy cle drag r acer. Eddie me t with the s ad misfortune of fate an d God i n an auto mobile accident that snuffed out his days of a ctive r acing an d living the good life at El Dor ado. Eddie Witt r esided in Ca r micha el, Ca lif., and was buried after services In Modes to, Calif. Eddie ha d su cce ssfully ca mpaigned an d represe nted cycle drag racers on a 350Cc Honda tha t had ma de a mantlepiece resplenda nt with trophies . On Sunday , March 3, al l racing was brought to a halt, automotive a nd cycle al ike . A gentleman by the name of Dale Souther n, Eddie Witt' s closes t frie nd, gr asped the handlebars of Witt' s Honda dr ag bike and walked It down the full quarter- mile as 100 friends and a cquaintances follo wed in a r es pectful silent parade. As the process ion trekked the dis tance , "Arnie" Auer ing, the El Dorado announcer paid tribute to Witt with si ncer e si mpli city . " He was one of the most popular and well li ked guys around." Thanks Mr . Kerry Clar k, El Dor ado manager , for the due r espe ct give n. Next Saturday it' s the big 900 dollar pur se bike meet race day, Saturday, Ma r c h 23rd. Gates at Lio ns Dr ag Strip ope n at 1:30 p.m ., a chan ce for eve ryone with ten or more E .T. brackets . Also a reminder tha t Ir windale Raceway Is now ope r ating on Sa turdays wi th gates open a t 1:00 p.rn, The re wlll be no compe tition for bik es on saturday the 23r d, It' s al l a day r es erved for Lio ns ' a ction! (Results on page 20) M/B ..... ....... .. . . . . . ..... ... u.- ~ . ... Jot Llthtweight-HNyYWeight L.ea.... 8:01 I.t Tr.il Ii... Lea.... 10101 T..A II .... Ge so M.... _ L We.. .M H.,WL &. 125 Ma,.._tllftA_CAM " _ ,"""",,,eo '1'1 M' l,ft, . . . . . . lImED TO A IIVJI8CIl mo.... LftII D , .tltfWlTll ~ L Mail EDtzy ' • •00 •• .. nt _ " Post Entry ' S.OO - . . . ..........,... , ..... IL . . . . . . DRAWING APRIL 3, SUNlAND PARK. 8a3O P.M. TCPI ~ 7735 ~:';;JtTIfG.. CALIF• • loa A.C.E. RIM ~ACK 01strJ buted by: AMERICAN COMPETITION ENGINEERING 163 S. Fairfax Ave. Los Angel es, Calif. 90036 ••••••••••••••••••• .. F i ll m n At r Filll· r~ 1 .Iud.s o n. 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