Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

IC OLAS PEas 0 GE C TV " . Photos by Denni s Gr e ene S to ry by John A . Gro u t o '" - - ~ ~ CE HI LS 0: ~ "" if, -, ~ ¢ As easy as peeling an orange, the orange and black has flown again . Wheelchal king his Navy jet for the weekend, Jody Nicholas too k ove r the conir ol s of two othe r pretty s wif t mac hi ne s •••and doing a litile low lev el fl ying, once mor e set a bo ut showing th e fans jus t what this r oad raci ng game is all about. But if you weren' t down at Orange County International Raceway on Mothers' LUy, May 12, you m is s ed th e whole scheme. After a leather- s c uff ing, 50-ya rd slide in his 250cc heat race, Jody s a id " nuts" and climbed aboard hi s two mounts (Ya ma ha an d BSA) for the Main Eve nts . It ma y hav e been a brutal chore, but de sptte a set of badl y s ki nned knuckles , e tc., Jo dy did some superlative r idin g to take fi r s t place honor s In both e vents . Now, thi s Is no t meant to take an yth in g away from the other comp e ti tor s . Ron Grant, the AFM 's number one rider, was prese nt. And so was trackwise veteran Don Ves co . Th e n the r e was a n ea ger 17year- old lad , Mike Lane, to co ntend with . And each of th e m r ode as if he wanted to take ho me ali th e marbles . It Jus t wasn' t in th e cards , though. Mr . Nicholas again ha d the whole r aceway wired for sound . '" -.. But, let 's take a r undown from the top, Th e 50- 100 cc P roduction and Grand Prix wer e r un as a s ingle ev e nt , an d the res ults between the heat race a nd the maln event ha d a synonymous rlng.LUv e Scott, atop his Yamaha 100, was 'fi r st••• all the way l J eff Paste r nac k, on a 100cc Angel ( wha teve r that Is ) was s econd . And, in for third was Mike Lane, r idi a 90 Hoda ka . Reg Pridmore grabbe d four th s po t on a bUZZing litile Kawasaki 100, but in the Main Ev en t, Re g go t nosed out by Val Howard on a Yamaha 100. Moving ne xt to the 125-1 75 Grand P r ix class , Dave All ee won bo th he at r ace and main ev e nt, really ge tti ng up a full head of steam on his Honda 175. Second In bo th r aces, and e mploying a mi ghty hard p us h, was Pete Giordan e ngo on a potent 125cc Honda. But the s witch er in this event came when Mike Val esc o, third In his heat on a 175 Bridge s tone got unsea ted in th e Main Eve nt by Ric h Stuelke ( 175 Honda) . St epp ing up to the heavy we ight p r oducti on class , it was Dave Allee on a 350 Honda in for the heat race win . AFM #6, Dick Kilgroe, fi nish ed a s trong second. And, on a 650 Triumph, Ro land ::> '" Col "*' :c: t.t;j ..J t.: ;:... (.., the Yamaha. #111 Don Vesco leads #66 Jody Nicholas at =... ..~ Running third as the pack comes down the back stra ightaway next to the Ireeway Is AFM L.A. Chapter President Tom Finlay. He..' s the man - Jolly Nicholas - on his way to another road race victory, this time at Oran County International Raceway. - Leading Don Vesco (111) by a goodly ell stance around the tower tum Is Ron Granl (1). ~ _. "e Ron Grant (1) rode both 250 event and the 350·0pen races, got a second and a third for hIs efforts. " Honda·mounted Dave Allee won both 125·17 GP and heavyweight Pro~ctlon classes" Here's his 350cc. NEW ACA PRODUCTION RACE RULES Gen eral rule change s made in the Produc ti on classes of ACA e ve nts will be in effect a t their next road r a ce e vent a t Rive r side on Ma y 19, and should be of Interest to many co mpe ti tors: PRODUCTION RUL E CHANGES 1. All produ ction machine s must have e xac t stock ca r bure tor which comes with tha t model, includin g carbu re tor hom or extensi ons and ai r cl eaner s. 2. All p rndu cti on machine s mus t be eq uippe d wi th a s tock e xha ust s ystem and all e xha us t systems mus t be standa rd with that model a nd have no a lterations. All murn e r systems mus t pa ss Cal i fornia State Motor Vehicle law for s ound. No optiona l e xha us t systems will be all o wed. 3 . Th er e will be no fend er, sea t or ta nk a lteratio ns . 4. Li ghts must be in workin g orde r, buth fron t and rea r. 5. If a model chan ge is pu t o ut b}' the fa ctory, the rid er may brin g h is machi ne up to tho s e al te ra tions , pro vid in g the home offi ce is notifi ed and proof of the up-datin g is furnished and is a pproved by theACA. . 6 . No tarin gs 0 1 an y type " i U be allowed. Reg Pridmore (12) Is here shown ahead 01 #6 Dick Kllgroe. 7. All number plate s will be !in " xll " a nd will be flat. 8 . No wind screen s will be attach ed. 9. Rims and tires may be cha nged for safety purpo s es. 10. Any machine which i s produ c e by a manufacturer as a 50c c ma chine wil be legal as lon g as it does not e xcee 53cc' s . 11. All produ ction mach in es will runn in g und er a clai mi ng rul e. T hi s wi U el imi nate a ny excess expendi ture 0 money on produc tion machines. An, ' ride } co mpe ting in the e vent ma ~' claim anothe rid er' s machine a t the s uggeste d manu fa cturer' s retail pri c e , plus tax and license . If a machine is trul y s toc k a nd produc tion machine. no rid er ' o uld w unwilli n g to s ell a us ed ma chine for th s uggested manufacturer' s retai l pri c e plus tax a nd li cense. GENER,\ L RUL E CIH NGE If a man is found to be ill e gal an d pro te st is valtd, he will lo se all acc um lated points for that season. If he i found ill e gal twi ce, th ere will be a n a u malic s us pensio n for a peri od of time be determined by the E xec utive Commi • tee 0 1 the ACA. Pagan seemed to have the pr ope r com b ina ti on working for third place . Th e n, in the Main Event, Kllgr oe 's transm ission blew. So, the final r ead: Allee, Velasco, Pagan, and Ke n Edm ons on in for a fourth. Next up was the 250 Grand P rix he at. This wa s the race that foun d J ody Ni chola s havi ng s uc h a s t rong sc uffle with Suzu ki -mounted Ron Grant that he co m ple te ly fo r got to s hut down a r ou nd the ti ght co r ne r a t the offi ci al towe r . It was he r e , after th e long , aforementioned sU de , that Jody r ecovered his bike , fired it up, a nd started after th e fi el d a gain. But th is time, he ran out of laps . The race went to Ron Grant, Art Ba umann , Don Ve s co , a nd Dave Scott , in that order . Then the Main Eve nt, 250 Gr an d Pr ix s tyle . And it was a n entirely diffe rent story . J ody was back in the saddle of that fast, fa st Yamaha . He left the starting gr id in fron t, was he aded a couple of times by Ron Grant, pushe d back to the front , a nd won the whole affai r by a bo ut a wheel - length . Second was Gr a nt, th ird, afte r a r eal ding-da nge r wi th Mike Lane on the Yamaha, was Don Ves co . And If th is Mike Lane ge ts an y better, he' ll be a r eal world beat er! Fin ally came the 350- 0 pen races. And here it was J ody Nicholas •••all the way on a BSA. Th e Ma in Eve nt was a ca r bon copy of th e heat r a ce : J ody, the winner. Don Vesco on a 350 Br idgestone did a re markable job of s ta yi ng in front of Ron Grant 's 500 Suzuki , th e same machine that Ron rode to a high finis hin g position a t Daytona , It's eno ugh to m ake you wonder wha t Bridgestone ha s bee n wai ting for all the s e yea rs . Finis hi ng fourth was one of th e las t of those big go- fast dudes ••.a Nor ton Manx with Reg P r idmore r i dlng it. So, the r e you are , race fans . And I've got two r eflec tions : J ody Nicho las is super tough to bea t...Mike Lane is a young rider who' s defi nitely on the way to the top , This Sunday, Ma y 19 ou t at RIve r s ide Ra ce way , the ACA will be hol din g a r oa d race . Nex t road race at the Or ange County Int erna tional circ uit is s la ted for J une 2. (I wish they' d hold a Na tio nal AMA race he r e) .) And , as a last item , the San F r ancisco Chapter of the AFM has s c heduled th eIr National P r oduc ti on Champ ions hip race at Vacaville on the fou r th of J ul y. ( Res ults on page 16) ..

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