Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

* HORSEPOWER RUNS LOOSE IN TEXAS san Angelo, Texas, Sportsman Road Races Stoly and Ph otos by John Blanton Surprises were In store for the oldtimers who showed up for the season's second running at san Angelo, Texas (" Where Road Racing Began In the Southwest" ) on June 16. Although the previous day's rain left the racers to contend with steadlly-recedlng puddles of water (by now a tradition at san Angelo), eve nts soon moved off the beaten * track. First of all, after spending most of the 200cc Production race catching and passIng John Walker's 175cc Honda, Jim Schwartz ( 180 Yamaha) found that his clip-on bars were dis-allowed. Thus, John moved up to fi r s t, Richard Long (1 60 Honda) moved to second, and Wlllard Kelley (125 Yamaha), who spent the race making up for a first-lap crash, found himself In third place. Bennie CampbelJ seemed to have the Open Production race by the tall during the early laps, but Rusty Bradley's 350 Yamaha was pressing him hard, and when Bennie's Suzuki 500 over- s hot the numbe r six hairpin turn, Bradley snatched the lead and held It. Jet Tharp (350 Yamaha) was third. Don Gross stepped out of r elative obscurity to win the 100cc Heat race on his Yamaha 100. The eight-lap dash was marked by a four-way tussle for the lead, which lasted Wltll the closing laps when Willard Kelley (Yamaha 1oo)droPPedout to let DuTyI Hurst and Edward Green (both on Yamaha 1oo' s) Into second and third places, r espectively. For the first time this year the twostroke domination of the 200cc Class was broken, and the man doing the honors was Johnny Bryant on the Honda 175 sponsored by Honda Cycle Mart, a perennial racing benefactor, of Wichlta Falls, Texas. Also new up front were George Johnson and his Yamaha 180, wblch placed second, ahead of Bob Hamill (175 Bultaco). Flul place overall In Ihe 250ccjOpen class IIna' wenl 10 Texas road race polnlleader Mike Cone aboard hi s 250CC Ya ma ha. Southwesl Molorcycle Racing Ass n. promoles Ihe series 01 pave menI even ls. Cone Comes Through Bradley Barrels Rusty Bradley seemed to have no competition In the combined 25OCc/ Open Hea t, but It was hard to tell this by watching him. Even though he had put almost a mile between his 650cc Tr iumph and the next r ider , Norman Stovall (Ya maha 250) , by the halfway point, he still pressed on fiercely, sometimes losing traction at both wheels simultaneously. He won handily, sure engough, over Stovall and Bob Nagiller (500cc Trlumph), but his trail soon became marked by an ominous blue smoke. Johnny Bryant did not r ide the Cycle Mart Honda In the 200Cc Final (someone else did) , so George Johnson won over John Moyer (Bulta co 175) and David Watkins ( Bul taco 175). Mike Cone must have been sleeping dur ing the asoee/oeen Heat, for he did not put In an appearance at that time, but the start of the 250cc/Open Final found him In the full s wing of things as he and Rus ty Bradley r ushed through the very fas t and tight number four turn al most as one, already a hundred yards ahead of Stovall. The n, Inexor ably, the Triumph began to pull away from the Yamaha, and soon It ha d an unshakeable lead. But Bradley had not r id himself of the haunting, blue c urse, and In the seventh la p of the nine-lap event It ca ught up with hi m, and his engine stoppe d Jus t s hort of the number four turn. In the 20Q cc heal race al San Angelo, (19) Johnny Bryanl (Honda 175) here si ghts In on (17) George Johnson (Yamaha 180) al IIIrn sl.. As the ever-present Cycle Mart 175 Honda (wblch had been r unning out of class and dead last, anyway ) stopped to giv e Bradley a push back to civilization, the 250cc Yamahas of Cone, Stovall and Jet Tharp sped by to give Yamaha an other one- two-three sweep over the Open Class bikes of Bob Naglller, Bennie Cam pbell (Suzuki 500) an d John Rufenacht ( BSA 441) . J im Hall of the Southwest Motorcycle Racing Assn. has tabulated the 1968 Texas points standing through May 19, and they show Mike Cone tobethe1eader In the Modltled Classes , with 39 points, and Bennie Campbell, with 11 points, to be leading In the Production classes. The poI nts are awarded thus : flrsl place In a Grand Final, 5 po ints; fir s t In a heat, 3 points; second In a heat, 2 points; third In a beat, 1 polnt .(The 19thot ?wlay, date of the previously reported Green Valley race, was double points day. ) (Results on page 16) z a U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp. SUZUKI 13767 Freeway Drive Santa Fe SpriD8ll, Calif. 350 - 500 - Open Grand Pri x Class 1st OVERALL - 1st 500 Grand Prix Class RON GRANT - SUZUKI ... ... ~ ~ 00 ~ .... ~ -3' .., ~ t.J :i!: t.J ,.J ~ U

• Cover