Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

- second; Ken Greene Jr. s tayed with It ~ for third and Benedict took an easy fourth. llJ The noise and acti on r eached its peak ec C\l in the 250-0pen clas s . In the 250-0pen a, Novice Rex Lewis , Greeves-mounted, did a terrific job and rode off with fir s t co place trophy. Tom Miles stayed with him to ~ all the way for second pla ce honors . In the 250 Open Amateur, Jack Monger did a beautiful job on his Bultaco and showed e-, the rest of the riders the short route :; around the cour se , edging out DonHonser ( Hus qvar na) to get top honors. Don CI; s tayed there for s econd, while Hank ::0 C>.1 Wes sel pla ced third on his BSA. ~ Gar y Conr ad astride his Husky Viking C>.1 took the fir s t moto. Then Ron Nels on ",J (Montesa), took the s econd and thir d o moto to get first pla ce over all . Gar y r e- :.. l) ceived second and Lon Peter son (Mal co) grabbed thir d. After the r esults were posted the top thr ee winner s of eac h clas s wer e staggered out in a two- la p handicap r ace for an Impres si ve Sweeps takes trophy. Bultac o r ider Eugene Cannady s la mmed his way fro m the back of the stagger ed s tart to the fron t to cop this trophy. .... SLO • POKES · MEMORIAL DAY MOTO-CROSS Story and Photos by Ben Coleman Memor ial Day, Thursday May 30, was celebrated in an exciting fashi on by 144 riders from all across the country, at the Santa Maria Speed way in santa Ma ria , Calif. The scene was the third moto- cross presented by the Lompoc sio- Pokes M,C., this one AMA-sanctioned and held under a cloudless sky . with weather in the low 70's. Practice started at 10 a.m , sharp and the first hour was filled with plenty of acti on for the fans. On hand for the moto were Ron Nelson on his Montesa Capr a 360 GP; Lon Peterson (Maico) and Gary Conrad Husqvarna-mounted. They put on a good show In their clas s, the 250- 0pen Expert, with Ron taking the second and third moto while Gar y copped the first. Lon Peter s on pulled in third . Ron Nelson had a li ttle trouble during his second moto when he los t his brakes befor e he had completed the first lap but, as Ron sald, "It gives you a funny feel ing to lay down on the brakes only to find there is nothing there. But i used my faithful compr es s ion r elea se and kept going." And go he did•••to fir st place trophy. The first race of the day was the 0-12 6 Novice. There were 49 entries in this class s o they were divided up into " A" and " B" heats. Then the top ten in each heat were off for the trophies in a third moto. The start-ftnish line was placed In the middle of the big oval for the benefit of the fans In the grandstand. The big jump had been the maln attr action in the past races . but this time the action was In the center ring around the fir st turn , far enough away from the starting line to give the riders a chance to bunch UP. Competition was hot and heavy with every rider trying to be first out of the turn. The 0-125 Novices were the most exciting gr oup to watch going around the pole. Jockeying for pos ition here was out of the question; just getti ng around the turn was the biggest concern of most of the riders. When the dust settled somewhat- It didn't setUe very longata time all.day - it was Dennis McCay and brother B,W, McCay, both on Hodakas, s wapping back and forth through all their motos to finally wind up with Dennis first and B.W. second overall. The 0- 125 Amateur class was a fas t race for s mall bikes. Noone was wasting any time. Warren Sanders (MB), took the only trophy for that class. .... ... .., Good Go Dusty uphill section of course eme rged Into eucalyp tus tr ees at top of hill to the brief enjoy. ment of rid ers. , .;;;, -..' .{J' . , ' . ~' ,'~. .Q.f- ... ~ Lar ry Fess enden, President of the Lompoc Slo- Pokes , spea king for the cl ub, s tated they had hoped for but not expected s uch a turnout in the quality of r ider s. They were happy with the r es ults and were s ure everyone had a good r un. Larry infor med me that In futur e races , they ar e making ar r angements to have the water truck wet down the hill west of the gr a ndstand . This should hold down the dus t quite a bit . In the la st few weeks war m weather and very high winds have dried out the track to near- dese rt condi nons , The Slo- Pokes hope to have this pro ble m licked in the fulure . There were no serious a ccidents or spills dur ing the entire day. All dangerous spots were well cover ed with flagmen and old tires . I would li ke to thank both r iders and offic ial s for their cooper ation in this , my first venture as photo- repor ter for this pape r . In par ticular, many thanks to Lar ry Br ooks for the complete r ace results and to Bob Dobbs, s tar ter . (Res ults on page 16) • Novi ce 100cc pil ots get away for their second moto with Denni s McCay taking number one brass, SEE YOUR Mighty Montesa mounted Ron Nel son at speed. Ron snat ched fi r st 500 Expert. DEALER Mal co mount ed L on Peterson di splay ing his l umpi ng sty le. Benedict Bears Watching The 126-250 Novice was also broken up Into A and B heats . An l8-year-old, Steve Benedic t (Bultaco), out for his second tiMe, put on a beautiful job of leading the rest around the course to l come In first In il s heat and take a four th place over all. He's one boy to watch. In the 126- 250 Novice final moto, the first turn around the center pole was a traffic jam . Everyone hit this turn at the same time, but they had al l been this ro ute before and took it a li ttle slower. So much In fact, It was slow -motion actio n here until Howard Howell slammed . his Yamaha through the pack and led the rest off to a good race. Howell and Steve Benedict (Bultaco), s wapped back and forth for first place with Ken Greene Jr . (Kawasaki) , In the end, though, it was Howell firsfwith Orvis Stacy(Kawasakl) ..,. SCRAMBL ER' .. SUNNY VAL L EY SPEE DW AY TT SCRAMBL ES May 26 , 196 8 TROPHY DASH I st PETER SIMMONSON M /B 100 No vi c e Class 1st P ETER SIMMONSON M /B IJi stnbUfed by M/B Sporfscycles 311 E. Alexander, Tacoma, Wash., 98421 .-

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