Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

2nd ANNUAL SILVER STATE CLASSIC - LONG BEACH -. '" 00 ClJ 0() 0.. HONDA 00 <0 0> <:> eo, '" '"' ~ #1 IN SALES SERVICE AND SPORTS RACING CI) ~ t.:l ~ t.:l -J C,,) HAVE YOUR MACHINE TUNED BY :>.. C,,) JOHN RICE #1 in Distri ct 37 Sc ram b l es r HormA BSA HODAKA .. 4 conveni en! locations 5105 Atlantic Long Beach 423-1433 1760 Long Beach Long Beach 591·1301 11747 E. Carson Lakewood 860·1354 4328 E. Anaheim Long Beach 439·0943 ftEMEMBER, YOU ALWAYS READ IT FIRST IN CYCLE NEWS. THE TWO-WHERER ~~m ..\ ¥0;') 68 · ~-)~' ~l ~&,!"(2. ',.. .c _ Read) Fer Innediale Delinr,! 867 w. Colton Av.. San Ilemarllno, Cal. (714\ TU 5-3445 ntentesa MEN WHO KNOW MOTORCYCLES SELL MONTESA , I ~ KEN ROSS KNOWS, it's a fine machine of good quality and mi nute detail. It has proven to be a winner in dependabili ty and app earance as well as in competition. W proud to be part of the e're fast growing · MONTESA TEAM·, UNIVERSAL MOTORS 109 East Saner Sl Dallas, Texas VIVA ~. Randy Ellis (613) won the 250cc· and #715 Alex Armstrong. Sto ry and Photos by Ma u ree n L ee Distri ct 37 riders journ ey ed to ju st about the furth est lim its of their District for a point run April 28th; L as Vegas. Nevada. The Silver City Scramblers were the host club and a very good race they threw. The day almost got ot! to a dis mal start when the wat er truck broke down i n town. The Scramblers didn't want to l et practice start until the track was watered as it would have been ruined qui ckly and they had spenthours preparing i t . So the track owner hired two diesel mechanics at an exorbitant hourly wage to repalr the truck r i ght then and th ere gi ving the riders time to bench race, work on machines or as Gene F re w said at riders meeting, "for the Cal1for nians to nur se thei r hangovers in the clean alr and sunshine." Heavens Gene, didn't you know we only went to Las Vegas to race? How could you think such a thing of us! Lotsa Diggers Anyway, after a short time the truck appeared and after practice it was off to the wars. There were actually three contests going, those between the local r iders and the out-of-staters, the individual battles and those blitween the District clubs who made the trip. The Dirt Diggers by far fielded the biggest turnout; everywhere y ou looked all you could see were red and white stripes (some had eyes to match_J'm kidding f eller s!) and they had r iders i n every class but the 50cc. The ir biggest challenge came from the Gripsters who arr ived with bikes in a huge truck beari ng signs like " her e come de judge" etc., and riders and friends In a Greyhound bus. The Lightwei ghts had a nice gr oup and so did the Viewf i nder s but I t was comp l ete victory for the Dirt Diggers by the end of the day. - The 50cc class was dominated by the Light weights gr oup with Kurt Lewis winning, Jay Lewis second, Steve Herrera third (and first NO Vice) and Rick Parker fourth. Comin' round the mountain - #1 John Rice (Honda), #3 J im Hunter (BSA) and #33 Dave Linear (BSA). HUIlter won 500cc Expert mota, Linear wound up 4th. Rice ran off the rae. traCk, but neither man IlIIr machin. suffer.d damag•• Second plac. sl dehack finishers Steve SechI.r and Jo. Gar....r (BSA) were beaten out by Dave Roesch and Jim McNeil (H·D). In the 100cc classes the best racing was naturally In the Expert motos with steve Scott of the Dirt Diggers on a Bultaco Lobito and Fred Edwards (Yamaha) squaring off. These two really put on a show and the spectators went wild. Scott, who ·is master of the sliding technique, would pull up on Edwards on the sweeper by going high and throwing up a rooster tall all the way around and sometimes would pass him , but Flying Freddie would nail him back In the tight sections and coming out of the last "S", his Yamaha appeared to be just a shade faster •••but only a shade. It was wildI One time Steve didn't quite make it through one turn and headed for a hill where John Rice and your reporter were watching. We scrambled, believe me! Afterwards, Steve said happily , "1 knew it was you guys, just be there and walt when I get on the 250!" We declIned the offer! F r ed ended up the winner and Steve second with third going to Bob Tooley on another Yamaha, who had to work hard to get it as Steve Stricklin (Hodaka) and Jerry Willingham (Lobito) wer e all In there with him. Bob saunders on his hot little MotoBeta won the 100 Amateur but Richard Maigin on a Hodaka was always right behind. Winner of the Novice class was little Gaiy Wells on a Brtdgestone, This Las Vegas youngster really flew and it was a brand new bike that had been picked up at midnight the day of the race! Mike North, another local Bridgestone rider, started off the Main in the lead with Gary right after him but had the misfortune to go down hard and lose over a lap, but he got going again and finished the race. Another Moto-Beta took third with Dick Green r iding it and J .C. Lewis on a Honda ended fourth. If you wonder about all the Lewlses in the lightweight ·M O NTESA MOTORS, INC. S ole U.S . Distributor 3657 Beverl y Boulevard Los Angel es. C ~li forn j8 90004 ~'" Little Gary Wells-of Las Vegas ffew to the 100cc Novice Event win 011 a BrlcteslDne that was acquired the nlgltt before the race. classes, yup, they're all from the same family and are the backbone of the Lightweight M. C. Only four r iders signed up for the combined 200 class, one blew In the pi ts , one was disqualIfied, but the host club let the other two go ailead and ride anyway and Al exander Armstrong and Neil Winston had a ball with the whole track to the mselves. The theory at Vegas is that this i s for fun, which i s as It should be, and they let everyone ride and have fun even to the poi nt of letting so me r i ders com pete in two classes (but only in one officially) to give them more time on the track and the spectators more enjoym ent. Randy Ellis of the Lightwei ghts on a Bultaco won the 250 Novice class but we saw a really neat bit of riding on the checkered flag lap. There I s a tight little " S" bend on the track ending In a left bander onto the strai ght with a cliff going straight up on the right ( the track i s in the bottom of an old sand pit). Bill Williams and Ron Ri ngen (Kawasaki) were battling It out for second and third with Alex Armstrong in fo urth . William s and Ri ngen went into the first part of the "S" way too hard, forgetting the ol d adage that it's the last turn i n a seri es of bends that's the i mpo r tan t one and th ey went too wide leaving j ust enough r oom f or Armstrong who was really using his head to duck to the Insi de and gas It into the next Utile bend, Into .the last left hander and down to th e che ck ered flag for th e sec ond pl ace. Neat! The 250 A mateur s only had fo ur surviving by the end of the thi r d mo to wi th Ray Vand erpool ( Yam aha) wi nni ng and mve L i near ( BSA) seco nd . Russell Shull ( Bultaco) wrapped up thir d and Claude Long on his new Yamaha th e fo urth . Th ose new singles r eally l ook good. It was Edwards and Scott at it again in the Expert wi th Flying Fr eddi e again the wi nner . John DeSoto on a Mo nte sa and all th e way from Honolulu got the third and Kawa saki rider Chuck Hatcher the fo ur th . Big Bores Moving into the big bores things got a Uttle confusing to watch as these were the cl asses where some of the guy s rode twice but the racing sure was good. Chuck Boyle of the Dirt Diggers (otherwise known as Fast Charlie) on a Bultaco, returning to competition after a five y ear lay-ot!, won after passing John Rice (Honda) and pushing hard on Tony Denius (H-D) both of ·whom were «unofflctal" entries in the 350 AmateurExpert. Jim Hunter (BSA) won the 500 Expert class with Steve Scott (E1 l3andido) second. John DeSoto on a Honda took the third and really looked ·great. Tony Demus on that beautiful Uttle Harley ended fourth. John Rice was goi ng gr eat but the front end came up on him after the jump and he couldn't bring it down in time to make the start of the sweeper. The end result was that John went ot! the track and just couldn' t make It up the very steep bank. As an example of how he looked wat ch " Laugh In" and the kid on the tricycle! But we're happy to report that neither John or the Honda suffered damage. Ben Fakkeldy, wearing the colors of Bellflower Triumph, took the Open A mateur-Expert honors with his cus to mar y smooth style and by the time his last moto came up It was hard to look smooth on that trackl It really broke up. Bob Ward (Triumph) came In f or second and Ron Mallory (Triumph) fr om Kingman, Arizona got third. In the third moto Ron had his fans cheering wildiy as he really pulled up on Fakkeldy. A pat on the back this week goes to WilUams Motors who spons or four hacks out of their shop including the winning one Sunday with the team of Roesch and McNeil. mve Roesch told us that he has never lost a race or not finished one due to a mechanical fallure and we think that's something to be proud of. The hacks had fun but couldn't really go allout as the track just isn't wide enough for them to pass so the starts counted. Everyone had a good time; there were a few gripes but when do we have a race day without a few? The Silver City Scramblers worked hard and went out of their way to thank the out-of-state riders who had made the journey. We give them a pat on the back because of the neat riders me e tin g they had. Gene Drew didn't lay the law down, he sald that It was to be a f un day, I t wasn 't for mone y so look out for the other guy and the only thing he really watched for was going off the track. You had b e tte r r eturn wher e yo u l eft It or wait un til the very last r ider passed y ou or It woul d be a black flag. In fact tha t r i ders me eting was an inspiration f or a future column, so thanks GeneI ( Results on page 20)

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