Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

With the advanlage 01 a IIsh-eye lens, photographer Dennis Greene captures the action around W illow Springs' turns 6, 7 and 8. WINDLESS WIL LOW SPRINGS RO.AD RACE B~' Mike Capallte With a lot of co-operation from the weather man, the ACA road race at Willow Springs on March 24 was a compl ete success as 157 entries enjoyed the comfortable WINDLESS day's racing. In the 20-mlle com blned 125-17S-200cc bash, Dav Allee won the 175cc class, mounted on e aB 11i Krause Honda. After a few hours practice In the mor ning', held In alternating half- hour sessions for lightweights and heavy weights, the 3-lap heat r a ces wer e run to give the r iders a last minute checkove r an d to determine grid pos itions for the Main Events . The !lrst event was the 15- mll e combined 50cc Class I and Class II and 100Cc G.P . Roger Baeder ( Kawasaki) took off In the lead, but on the second lap he lost it to Mike Lane on a Mel Dlne son -tuned Hodaka an d had to s ettle for a second In the 100Cc Class with third going to Sparkle Edmo ns ton (Yam aha). Finishing .fourth overall but fi r s t In Class I 50Cc (50cc mac hines with more than 4 sp eeds) was Don mer king on a CR- 110 Honda , while Tony Nicosia pus hed his Suzuki across for a second after suffering from gr em lins In the engi ne . Paul Wil de was fifth on the r oa ds at the che cker an d seemed a su re winner In the Class II 50cc clas s but a pr otes t was fil ed and af ter measur ing his engi ne , It was found to be over the li mi t an d hence dlsquallfled. This left the win to Daniel Os born on a Mondlal, while Sid Chambers on a Cha mbe r s Ente r pr ises Vampire finis hed second. ThI rd and fourth went to Mike Capallte ( Toha tsu) an d Bill Ellis (Ya maha) . The 15- mll e MaIn for lightweight produc tl on machines found Steve Gal br aith on a Bultaco an d Bill Gil es on a Suzuki ••••••••••••••••••• ,. Fillmn Air Fillers, J uds on P rods . ,. .. F ra ncisco Castoro fl , Dri -sli dc , Fi- .. ,. ala ss ta nks & sea ts , Jo hn Cooper &: ,. ,. 1Ii ~ .lo hn lloo ts . All Available From ,. ,. ,. ,. ~ SIMPSON M OTORS ,. 4210 San Fernando Rei. Gl endale, Calli. 91204 ,. ,. (213' 247-3068 ,. •••••••••••• ••••••• fighting for the lead In the r a ce as well as the lead In the 200 class, as Bill led for the fi rst four laps with Steve ta king ove r for the las t two after Bill dropped out of the r ace . ThIs left Steve fi rs t overall and first in the 200c c class; second fini sher and !lrst In the 275cc class was J ohn Pl naglla on a Honda . Bob Goldsmith, third overall on his Bultaco !lnlshed se c 0 n d in the 200c c Class . Fourth and fifth place finis hes also determined the winner s in the 100cc an d 125cc classes as Alan Spears on his Honda was follow ed a cross the line by Paul Wilde on his 100cc ' Yamaha, The big ups e t of the day was in the third r ace whi ch was the 350cc G.P . 25mile Main Eve nt in which Jerry Greene entered his production 350c c Brldgestone and walked off with the win from the first lap to the last. ThIs will mak e s ome tuners s it up an d tak e notice as J erry would s tretch his lead ever y lap an d come by the s tart- finish li ne whlsp er quiet as he didn' t evern bothe r to r emove his muffler s or baffles for the G.P. event, and he was also one of the two unfalred machines in the r ace , so this goes to sh ow that ma ybe it does n' t have to look lik e a racer to be a racer. There are a lot of 350cc r iders and t uners takIng a se cond look a t the pot ential of the new 350cc two-strokes , mor e so now af ter the Imp r es sive s howing a t Daytona , The 20 Mile combined 125cc- 175cc 200cc bash found Steve Galb r ai th out 'duk tng' for the lead again. ThIs time his goal was th e win In the 175c c class aboard a Power Res earch s pecial, an d his adversary and even tual winner of the race and the 175cc class was Dave Allee aboard a Honda . Ste ve gave it all It had and It was an exciting r a ce from start to finish but Steve had to s ettle for a second place ' in class. 125cc winner Chief Galbral th was s ixth on the roads while the 200cc winner Bob King on a Suzuki ftnIs hed tenth ove r all. The 25-mile 250cc G.P . Main Event could be called " The Exciter" as It al ways seems to be domi nated by Yamaha; they took eight out of the fi r s t nine places. Ron Pi erce on a Yam a ha took the lead on the fi r s t lap, and was getting around in the s mooth s tyle of his that makes it look so easy when out of the pa ck came John Buckner, ha ck from the wars to tea ch the se young whippersnapper s a thi ng or two, and It looked like he had never been away as he wor ked his way up and took ove r the lead In the fourth lap and held It to the ch eckered fla g. It was n' t as ea sy as all that, though. J ohn had to pus h every mi nute of the r a ce as Ron was r ight on his r ear wheel waiting for one little mistake to be made, and this made It one of the most exciting races of the day. GET MORE SHeAS wrrH SACHS THE BOONDOCKER II's Pure sachs Now a vailable a t McLAUGHLIN MOTORS 2422 E. Hunllngton Dr Durt., CaUL . Phone (213) 359-4541 As us ual, this event, having the most entries, Is also plagued with the most s pills, and one of the most s pectacular ones In a long ti me was pe rfor med by the lad from Bakersfield, Mike Lane. In the fi rst la p, Mike ha d worked his way up to fourth, and was setti ng his sights on that third place position held by Ken Gardner on a Yamaha. On the second lap he ha d gotten around Ken, but he ~ still In fourth place as J oe Hamilton on a Yamaha ha d passed both Ken and Mike . They s creamed by the s tart- finish line, Mike hanging Joe' s draft, a nd as they headed for turn one, Mike made his bid and swung out to pass Joe on the Ins ide. With the co r ne r rapidly approa ching, they were side by side when s uddenly Mike 's rear wheel started to smoke . His engine had locke d up and before Mike could do an ythi ng to coun ter- act tt, the machine went lock- to- Iock a coup le of times an d then decided to unload Mike oft the high side, which is Just what It did. Luc kily the seizure had slowed Mike ' s machi ne eno ugh tha t Joe made it around the first corner before Mike unloaded so a collision was av oided. Afte r r ol1lng a nd bumping for ab out 100 to 150 feet, both Mike and the mac hine ca me to a halt. The ambulance was dis pa tched to the corner before Mike had even s topped r olli ng, and after checking him over at the cor ne r an d bac k In the pit area, the extent of his Injur ies were found to be a scratched elbow ; ah, to be young agai n. The Heavyweight Production race was a 20- mile go that had eve n more people talking to themselves as Jerry Gr e ene with his Bridgestone, on which he had alrea dy won the 350Cc G.P. class in s t r ee t trim, came back again to do In not only the 250cc an d 350cc production en tries, but al so the entries In the 500cc and Open production class es . Jer ry finIs hed first on the road and fi rst In the 350Cc class, with his neares t threat In second plac e ano ther 350c c two-stroke, Nick The r oux on a Kawas aki. Thir d on the r oad and fi r st in the 500cc class was Dick Kllg r oe on a Honda. Finishing four th over all and third In the 350Cc class was Dave All ee on a Honda. Fifth across the fini sh li ne was 250cc class winner David Damron (Suz uki). Right SUZUKI MAKES IT ... SO MAKE IT SUZUKI behind Damron came the Open Class winner , Trl umph- mounted Roland Pagan. The Sidecars put on a thrilling dis play of handlin g abill ty as the winning team of driver Reg Pridmor e and pass enger Ernie Ca esar proved once again the co mbination to beat took the flag In the I O-mll e sidecar go. Dave Fanara and L"Il.ve Calle rl finished second. The 25- mil e 500Cc and Open race went pretty muc h as expected with Jody Nic holas on his stormIn' BSA taking the lead and keeping It for the full 25 mil es to take the win not only in the r ace, but In the Open Class . He was challenged repea ted ly after the second la p by eventual 500cc class winner Reg Pridmore on a Powe r Research Special, but even though the BSA was puffing a little smoke towards the end of the race , J ody cut hi s lap ti mes from the first laps about 2 s econds In the later la ps , and came across the li ne In fi ne style to bring home the glory for BSA. Third place finisher and second In the Ope n class was J .D. Will iams on a Nor ton Atlas . So another Willow Spri ngs road r ace is his tory, but It was a bea utiful day for r a cing, and let' s hope the wea ther Is as good for the ne xt event at Willow _ The Cha ll enger . Thi s is the once - a - year race In whi ch the course Is run in the r everse direc tio n. See you ther e . (Results on page 16) MOlltesa - Hodaka - Kawasaki WESTMINSTE R SPORT CYCLE Moto rcyc l es G Y R. Louis U Cll4) 893-1051 7574 W estminster Ave. W estminster, Cal. 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