Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• IWO WEEKENDS OF. ROUGH RIDERS Al D .EHESA ..... ..... ..... . .Q. -e F 111. DehlSa co.... II lut "'camlnl one 01 malt papula, spatl In Soulll.m California Ill, a ..nny SundlY afternoan'1 raup scrlmbl ... Lald··aut by Ellrapun ma~rall Ice Joel Raaland hll sp_1Iy cobarts, lIIe track reilly IIvlS lIIe boyl 1_11I111I to lIlaollar In precisian, Ilyle and spHd. Fa... tin... appralchel •• lila. . lbo_ Slory. and Photos by Bill Rarmpr 10 San Diego on Sunday, March 3, the Titans M.C . staged its tlrst 1968 Team Rough Scrambles at the Hi-Boots Dehesa course, Icorporatlng the torturous course which was laid out by JoelRobert and the touring European cbamplons who raced here In December of last year. The start of the first hour-long race (Open and250cc Expert!Amateur), blasted the stillness of the pastoral settlng at 10:30 a.m., a halt-hour later. Don Mc Carley established a good lead on his Montesa during the tlrst IS-minute leg and his Husqvarna-mountedpartner, Bill SUverthorn, retalned it despite continuous pressure from the team of John Kenyon and Larry Larson, cbarglng off on a Husky. Don and Bill survived several "Pony Express"-type exhcnages to win the sixty-minute grind, traveling a total 01 35 laps before being flagged down. Teen Time Perhaps the most exciting r iding of the day was displayed In the 2S0cc novice race (also one hour) by two teenage pUots. Flfteen-year-old Tim L e que overcame heart breaking misfortune on the first lap, when he lost his chain. By displaying magnitlcent handling of his Bulta.co, he passed bike atter bike unill at the end of the hour he and his teammate, Montesa-mounted Mickey Chiara, were In third position and still pressing. Tim's taU-back, low I n the saddle r iding style which is mucb favored by U .S. scrambles r iders , served beautifully. Another teenager, Ray Vanderpool who forsook his highly successful Yamaha to team up wi th Gary Hann and his new Husqvarna, favors the European style, forward and high on the saddle (mosUy stand-up) and he reminded one more of Joel Robert than any contestant of the day and if he continues at his pr esent rate of Improvement, be should be of cbamplonshlp calibre by the time he can vote. 'MIen you consider that the Yamalla that he generally uses bas a lett side shift and the Husky opposite (he had to Inqulre about the ditterent shift pattern), it makes Vanderpool's winning ride even more Impressive. His teammate and owner of the Husky, Gary Hann, kept his end of the team contract by r idlng a rapid although not as spectacular a race. Art Brookman and AlAlexander teamed up on a Triumph to win the Open NovIce class closely followed by the Wayne Buttertleld and Don Tendleton team on a Honda and Triumph respectively. Repeat For Vanderpool In the 100Cc division, all c lasses ran in the same hour-long race to wind up the dusty afternoon. Ray Vanderpool, this time on a Yamaha, gave a repeat performance of his 250Cc win and ~th team mate, R. Gooding on a Hodaka , fini shed 34 laps In the allotted 60 minute s. A father and son team of Bud Wi llis on a Loblto and son Jef f on a sachs captured second honors. Hodaka-rnounted Claude Henderson team ed up with HaroldStrong who rode a Benelli which boasted, of all things, a go-kart engine, to nall down third spot. Novice Kawasaki pUot C. Claydon, who should have enough points shortly to advance his rating, headed the lOOCc Novice parade with teammate C. Smith, while another pair of riders who wUl bear future watching, Gerry Mathel on a sachs and Jim Chitwood on a Yamaha, calimed a close second. Who's Where? Although In this type of race it's difficult, if not impossible, for the spectators and even the riders to know what's going on, II does otter the riders the opportunity to display their riding skill. The experienced watcher wUl find an advantageous spot, preferably under a sbade tree, and watcb his favorites hurl themselves by every few seconds or so. It Is Interesting to note how close the various divisions tInlshed In the allotted hour. For Instance, the Open and 250Cc Experts completed 35 laps and the NovIces ran through 34, while in the 100cc class, Ray Vanderpool & Co. equalled the 34 laps that he was responsible for in the 250Cc class. (Results on page 20) He,e'l spectacullr yaunl Ray Vanderpaollalllnillonila 500cc Novice Ylclal}' an his Ylmlha, Ind lIIe Ieenale, _ by almosl hall·a·llp. Old he recave,? YIS, Indully. W. Rlnl (4) appelrs to be blacklnl Dick MIIII (2) with hll laat, buIll m.ely carrecllnll mistake Ind wenl an to win lIIe 250cc Expert rice 0".' W. Hallkl (3) ud H. Hayes (16). BUMPER CROP GROWING AT DEHESA Sto ry and Photos by Bill Hanner The HI-Boots M .C . hosted a large number of entrants at their Dehesa , Call!. TT scr am bl es course on March 10. After torrential rains all day the preceding F r iday, the club Is to be com mended on hav i ng their track In such beautif ul condition for the Sunday program . Falthful fans of Don Matthews wer e disappoi nt ed that he was unable to appear. Still suttering from injuries sustaIned in a nas ty spill at Mesa Speedway on February 25, he was not up to defending his lead In the three-way Open Expert fracas with A l Finan and Myron Carter. Teenager Surprises Young, freckle-faced teenager .JIm Harmon, on Mi ke Garretl' s Norton Manxman, pr omised to uphol d the r eputation of Wke' s speed tuning in Matthew's absence, but he was not taken too seriously as he has not yet worn the shine off his new white number plate, having ridden only one previous Expert class race. Imagine the surprise of the old hands when they all had to eat his dust f or the !lrst two laps of two out of the three motos . In tim e, however, vete rans Al F inan and IIlyron Carter recov ered from the shoc k l ong enough to overtake young Ji m and put on a thrilli ng show of thei r own to win fir st and sec ond positions in the Open Exper t class . It this yo ungster continues to show I mpr ov ement at his present ra te we can soon expe ct a weekiy four- way fight for poi nts I n this class. Young Jim also figur ed as a part of the closest and most exc iting race of the program when he and defending point champion Jim McGuire dueled hub to hub fo r the entire first moto with Harmon squeeZing his Yamaha just a freckle out In f ront of M cGulr e' s Hodaka at th e finish. Needless to say, wi th his supremacy besmirched, Mc Gui r e r eturned to th e final two motos girded fo r battle, and showed all hands how a r ace should be won, while E . Barker garnered enough points for a seco nd place finish. Vanderpool Presses On Perhaps one of the m ost exc iting of the present cr op of young r iders Is 17- year-old Ray Vanderpool, whowhileslUl working for his Amateur badge, manages to look like a pro. His sponsor has supplied him with one of the new Yamaha DT -1 250Cc singles, in strictly stock condition (No Gyt-K1t avallable yet), which was good enough to win all heats and the MaIn in the 250Cc Novice class, by at least a third of a lap. W. Clark on a Kawasaki and D. Roll on a Bultaco finished sec ond and thir d. Dashing back to the pits , Vanderpool exc hanged his 250Cc f or his usual 350Cc Yamaha twin and re turned to the track to win the 500cc Novice mo to wi th the same apparent ly carefree abandon that he displayed in the lightwei ghts. D. Molitor and D. Strothers cap tured sec ond and third. In spite of a spectacular near-spill and recovery on the fir st turn In the sweeper, W. Ring tooled his Benelli across the !lnish line fir st to capture the 250Cc Expert Main event humhllng W. Hosaka on his Bultaco Pur8ang and H. Haye s on a Harley Sprint who had to be sattsned wi th second and third. The Open Novice moto-cross was domi nated by the masterful r i ding of Triumph mo unted G. Pendleton who was closely pr ess ed by E. Barker, secon d and J . Hoy, third hoth on Triumphs. Claydon Cheered Chuck Claydon's fans cheered him loudly while he continued his talented r iding to acquire mor e points toward his yellow number plate, by winning the 100cc Novice main, although he had to display his best to remaln out in front of hard pressing riders, R . SUverthorn, who placed and D. Stauffer who looked Impressive in his third position finish. Fifteen-year-old Tim Leque looked like a man " f ull growed" In his contllct with D. Silverthorn, I n the 200cc Mota, who narrowly squeezed him out of first place poi nts I n the event wi th E . Murle breathing heavily on their heel s to gain third place in the standings. A ll three were Bultaco mounte d. The HI-Boots club showed thatexperience i n putting on a scrambles program really tells. The trac k: was i n perfect condition, ampl e pr ac tice time was allowed but the program started on time and with a minimum of delay between events, the participants had their rnacblnes loaded in the ir trucks and wer e on th eir way horne before 4 p .m, Even the r esults were In your cor r espondent ' s hand 10 minutes after the last race. The next event In th e san Die go area will be a Mesa Speedway (see Cycl e News National Calendar of Events) which I s a fast, beau tifully surfaced, dirt track south of Chula Vista off of Interstate #5. F irst race will be started at noon on March 25th. Angelenos, hoth riders and spectators, are very welcome to corne down and share I n the afternoon of f un. ( Results on page 20) • •

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