Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125556
.... "" .., co GET MORf SHCA S wrrH ll> c, SACHS THE BOONDOCKER 00 <0 .... '" oi e-, co :=; It's Pare Saclts Now llYallable at McLAUGHLIN MOTORS I 2422 Eo Huntln&lDn Dr Dum . Ph_ (213\ 359-4541 ' ~1Il.. en :I: [,J :c: [,J ..J CJ :... CJ SUPPORT YOUR CALIFORNIA lEGISLATIVE lOBBY IST .l OI N U .M .E. United Motorcycll' EnlhusiasL~ Box 498. Long Beach, Ca li I. TELL THE", YOU SAWIT IN CYCLE NEWS WHITEINTERNATIONAL CORP. lI.nul.clll••• of Quality lIotorcycl• • SAVE on UE SD TEXAS ROAD RACING CIRCUIT ROUND TWO Story and Photos I1Y J ohn Blanton The Texas road r aclng circuit moved Into the s econd round of the season with the running of the annual spring meet at San Angelo, Texas, March 31 . Riders, fresh from the season opener a t Austin, came from all over the state looking for Texas Championship points, being tabulated for the first time this year by the Southwest Motorcycle Racing Assn. As practice got underway on Sunday morning , it was apparent tha t the producti on classes , also new for the Texas district this year, were stirring UP some Interest. The only produc tion race that co uld not muster the required fi eld of s ix was the Open Class , an d no wonder the big Triumphs, BSAs, Nor tons , and Harleys were being eclipsed by the Japanese 500cc an d 350cc machinery. F or example, Jim Gardner had taken a lesson from his Austin debacle , substiluting road racing rubber for the dirt variety, an d was turnlng the two-mUe course at 2 minutes UP on his 305cc Honda. Even better were Bentley Hardwicke on a 500Cc Suzuki and Winston Steller on a 350cc Yamaha. All of the bigger production bikes were taking over 2 minutes .per lap! (By way of comparison, the good road raclng 100cc Yamahas were turning slightly under 2 minutes, the best 175cc was taking a minute and 50 seconds, and the TD I-C was taking a minute and 50 seconds, an d the TDl- C Yamahas were lapping at one minute, 45 seconds.) A5ter the usual San Angelo race prelimmaries, which this year incl uded bike drags, a wheelie contes t, andanatrplane landing on the course and taxiing through the crowded pits, the show got underway with the production races . Jet Thorpe an d J im Schwartz on the ir 180ce Yamahas teamed up to make Bill Stigln's 200cc Suz uki look ba d in the 5lap 200Cc production race, and, as expeeted in the 5- Jap 500cc production go, Hardwicke's Suzuki ran away from Stelter's Yamaha, an d both ran away fro m Jim Gardner's 305cc Honda. Shortly before the f1rst race , someo ne asked Mike K1d if he wanted to r ide a d IOOcc Yamaha, an d he said yes. F r iends hurriedly helped him put the cast back on his recentl!-broken left forear m, an dhe took the bike around for a few unsanctioned feeling-out laps. During the 100cc heat race, he showed everyone what -he had learned. Don Crook soon los t sight of Mike, and while looking for him in the vicinity of turn 6, Don slipped off his IOOcc Yamaha, lettin g Darryl Hurst's Yamaha by briefly. But at the end of the five- lap race, it was K1dd, Crook, and Hurst. HONDA PARTS T~~~:58 Wi Imington Di scount Cycle Center 1505 Avalon. W ilmington, Calif. RorUUE HALL FLI ES ON A BENElLi FOR DEALER INFORMATION SELECTED AREAS IN Write: Jesse C. Levine National Sales Manager CO~OPOLIT AN t,()TOR5, INC. Depl A., 5521 W ayne Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19144 In the 5-lap 200cc heat, K1dd was on his own l 75cc Bullaco - fresh from his third place ride at Daytona - and after the flag dropped nobody else got even a smell of him. Until the opposition loses some weight, pi cks up some more hp, or finds some more nerve, Mike Kidd Will have to get used to riding alone . The AMA notwithstanding, the 250Cc and Ope n Class heats were run together, and on the fi r s t lap, Ronnie Doyle came around in front on his 650cc Triumph, followed s h o r tl Y by Norman Stovall (25 Occ Yamaha), J .C. Klusmeyer (25Occ MontesaL, Bill Canf ie ld (250cc Suzuki) and Rusty Bradley (2 50cc Yamaha). About halfway through the te n-lap race , however, Doyle went a little wide on turn 6, an d Stovall whistled by with Bradley In hot pursuit. Then Doyle' s woes multipli ed as a broken fitting let his engine 011 escape, but he still managed to finish fir s t in the 650cc class , trashing his engine in the pr oc ess . After a race-long chase, Bradley finally caught Stovall at the line by leaving the music on until the ver y last with the result that he piled UP his eX-Jimmy Anderson Yam aha on the rockpile located, cur ious ly, a scant 100 yards past the finish li ne located , curiously, at the end of a very long straight (how are things done where you come fro m?) . In the meantime, Klusmeyer and Canfield dropped out, and Hardwicke and Robert Lee brought their Yamahas in ahead of Doyle's Triumph. In the I O la p 200cc final , Kidd con tinued to make himself about as popular as H. Rap Brown at a Klan rally, Hardwicke, trytng to add to his points after his 200cc class Austin win, out-did himself, and after a lap in the pits, spent the remainder of the race wading through traffic _ to no avail. Amazingly, Don Cr ook and Allan Jackson placed their I OOcc Yamahas ahead of Butch Stubb lefield's 175cc streamlined, rotary valve Br ldgestone twin. The combined 250cc! Open race for points was a walk-through co mpared to the heat. Rusty Bradley was a nonstarter , an d Nor man Stovall stretched his lead over everyone else, including Leroy F erry (55-Inch H-D), who took Open Class honors after Ronnie Doyle's Triumph s ickened and di ed, despite a ge ne r ous helping of fresh oU between races, With seven mor e races scheduled for this season by the South wes t Motorcycle Racing Association , things are looking UP for Texas racers, who have had as few as three races in s ea sons past. The present s chedule is: April 21-San Antonio; May !'>-Austin; May 19--Green Valley (r t. Worth); June 16-San Angelo; Juiy 7-Aus tin; Aug . 19-0 de ssa; Spt. 29Green Valley . According to Jim Hall of Southwes t Motorcycle R a c i n g Association, the course a t San Antonio ts r eally the airport course at Seguin, a long, fast circuit resembling the airport course at sebring, Florida. We shall s ee. 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