Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

..... .... N S WEST BAY AFM VACAVILLE ROAD RACE: By Anthony Herbold The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Federation of Motorcyclists ran its second National Points road race of the season on Sunday, March 31 at Vaca Valley Raceway in Vacaville, Calif. ,-he practice sessions and the heats ran on schedule, and the mains went quickly and smoothly. In the atternoon's fir s t flnal, for the streamlined machines up to l75 cc, Reg Pridmore blew his water- cooled Bultaco 125, leavi ng his runn ing mate , Erni e Caesar, to dominate the race on his aircooled Bultaco 175. The r emai nder of the 175 class tended to straggle. Not so the l25s. Pete Giordanengo ro de Rick Schell 's old Honda well, and Eldon Parker came Into his own, and into good money, on his ownwater-cooled Bultaco. The Ultra-Lightweights put on a show not often seen, really looked like the International class it is. Hondas, Ducatis, and Yamabas all took out atter Dr. F .X. Bulto's fantasticos , and the CR Honda flnally did the job. The 50s also sped along, what there was of them , but the loos were definitely out to lunch again. Al Fergoda's 6- speed twin was crippled with a blown crank, and Georganne Muhlberg's own twin was , as her tunerhusband said, diseased. In the 250cc Grand Prix, what promised to be a solid bid by Yamaha collapsed: Mike Lane never showed up from Bakersfleld, and the TDl-Cs of Herbold and SCott came limping into the pits during practice and the heat. It therefore proved Impossible to .. keep Grant honest." Ron loafed home on his s-speed 6th place Daytona Suzuki. Nor was the second place X-6 of Ellls Bole ever threatened by the flrst Yamaha home. The Junior was again dominated by a tuned stocker, Jerry Greene's Bridgestone, and an 0 the r stocker, Nick Theroux' Kawasaki, came into the fourth spot. Both of these machines once more proved how fast they are, and they were ridden keenly and competently , so It the streamliners cannot beat them , less power to them. Still, some of the spectators found it less exciting than disappointing to see stockers walk ot! with a Grand PriX.The class has improved somewhat si nce its collapse in the middle of the last season, but stands improvement s tlll . It is hoped that mor e GP-ers will turn up next time , preferably production racers or , at least, back-yard specials. Surely an intelligently and skiUully executed!Iberglassed 325 Honda, complete with c er tan1, a Precision Machining cam, a Fontana, and the good Keihins , will appear one of these Sundays, perhaps one of the Daytona Yamabas as well. Reg Pridmore and Ernie Caesar turned the Sidecar Grand Prix into another of their wide-margin victories , though this one was far more invigorating than most, thanks to the Sidehack Associa tion, which turned out flve rigs , thanks also to Bob Johnson and Mike van Laar who pushed their way into second ahead of Fanara and Calleri. Also to be thanked was the start money put up for the class. The Senior was by unanimous consent the race of the day, a dice between Ron Grant on Suzuki's filth place Daytona 5speed and Blll Lyons on Precision Machining's Daytona Amateur winner, the 4-speed Honda 450. Bill dominated the seesaw in the heat, Ron in the final, but Lyons was first over the line in both. Lyons and the Honda were slower down the last hal! of the straight and all through the turn one sweeper, but faster in the tight lett-bander at turn two, more torqued between turns threeand!lve ,and coming out of seven into the straight. The Suzuki was overgeared somewhat, but Lyons' Honda can hardiy be said to handle any better than the Suzuki, so both r iders are to be ad m ire d for their smoothness. They distanced the Open Clas s winner by a country mUe at least. This duel may well develop into a steady rivalry. Few riders can beat Grant, and Lyons will be leaning hard, hard to repeat his success. The overall winner of the Production race was again David Burchards, again the Monroe Motors 500 Suzuki. David held off Jerry Greene's strong challenge on the 350 Bridgestone, had in fact to regain the lead from the smaller machine. Spectators should look for a fast 450 Honda next time, especially since the $100 bonus that stan Madlll of San Francisco Honda put uP was not collected this time, and will be increased to $200 at the next race: the money will be taken by any production winner on a Honda, and It more than once class is taken by a Honda, the winners wll1 divide the $200. WIJ!! a PM cam , legal brake, suspension, and motor modification, a 450 could well take it; for although the Suzuki is fast, it shakes and shivers almost as much as the big Honda, and is far from meteoric. Either way, it will be a race. And perhaps we shall also seea serious bid from a Honda in the 350 or 175 clas s es too. The 350 production class continues to impr ove, and it is hoped that the under - At AFIII Vaca Valley road race, LeMans start IInds ri ders off and running (literally) toward tIlelr awaiting production machines. populated 100 and 175 classes wUleither come to lie or qUietly fold their tents and pad off into the night. One can be optimistic about the 250 and Open production class es , for although both have slipped a bit from what they were a year or two back, nothingstands stlllin racing. Reflections It Is , alas, all too easy for a reporter to yield to the pressures of Public Relations and Publicity, and turn every race report into a boost or a puff. But reporting should be candid and critical, It necessary censorious, if it is to encourage improvement. This is especially the case in a column such as this, where the reporter - as President of the San Francisco AFM - is far fr om a consistently disinterested bystander. So let us add up the debits and the credits ingenuously: the AFM can take it , for their ftrst two National races were so solid and successful, that criticism should do nothing but help. Now many things about this grand prix were right, far "righter" than they have been before. John Renesch, who again promoted the meeting, got three television cameras out on the track to fUm the running, he arranged for andpiadout of the gross a $1000 purse, he had the track cleared by a mechanical sweeper the day before practice, he got the sidehackers to come north (and tried to nab Rayborn as well), and he improved the spectator areas and faclllties and concessions. Furthermore, theAFMworked almost everything smoothly, and did work everything fairly, from a very businesslike pre-entry system, through registration, the starts, turn control, and announcing, to crowd control and payoff. The AFM has now analyzed the bugs out of the $coring, it placed good photographers at strategic places (including the pits), and has now reduced practice fees for the next race radically and has eliminated riders' admissions charges to professional races entirely. The riders themselves exhibited both excellent morale and gener ous cooper ation, among themselves, with the o!!icials, and before the spec tator s . They also made the 125, 500, and Sidecar Grands Prix, as well as the 350 and 500 production classes, very professional indeed. And the crowd was big, big and fr iendly. Photo s by Len FaUscheer On the other side of the ledger remain the needed Improvements, Pre-race publicity now deserves more energy and skill and money than it has merited or received to date, and the number of entries should be incr eased. There are s£1II too many classes for the machines that actually start, too many weak, sparse classes. Perhaps the FIM afflllates will have to move towards the AMA policy of sanctioning fewer classes; It Is not inconceivable that we shall soon see a Grand Prix In these parts which offers only the solid , consistent classes, say the 125, 250, and 500-0pen. Finally, it appears, at times at least, that although Call!ornla is the mos t populous state in the Union, and the best for road racing, it is neither intlnltely big nor best. (Only Texas is that.) A tacit Nor th- South spIlt seems to be developing in racing, for too few ACA and Los Angeles AFM or AMA riders come north, and too few northerners can see their way clear to trekking south anymore. Are there now more road races in Califor nia than the spectators wll1 bear? WIll we have to shilt our energies from running good races to creating good crowds? Or will the races have to be reduced in one way or another? So at least it seems from East BI1y, West Bay. (Results on page 16) Triumph II decar team of dri v.. Doug Bingham and passenpr Ed Wade dl dn't count on any grass-track racing, but here tIley are In tile booni IS. Wlmers 01 tile sidecar division we.. tile Reg Pridmore/Ernie Caesar duo, whlsUlng along on their #711 Triumph thr_wheeled rig. Baltle 01 lI1e day was between U RDn Grant (SuZUki) and #12 Bill Lyons (Honda) In the 500cc Senior GP. Lyons ' wound up vlctOrlDUS.

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