~
""
~
'"
..."
FIFTH STRAIGHT W
INTO LACHER!
By Carol Sims
Photos by Dennis Greene
GARDENA, Calif., June 28 - Against a
hard-fighting field of Experts determined
~ to bring a halt to Mel Lacher's winning
~ ways at Ascot, the speedy San Dlegan
~
...:J and his Harley-Davidson once more ran
U away with first place MaIn Event money
:.. - making It five straight features on the
U half-mile!
But DeWayne Keeter ( BSA ) brought a
halt to Lacher's 13-in-a-row wi n streak
(Nell Keen set the record of 16 straight
in 1961) by taking a sensational Trophy
Dash victory and cagily working from
fifth to second in the final.
The Dash pitted Lacher (who cl ocked
th e fastest heat) against Keeter , Clyde
Lltch (Triumph) and Chuck Jones (BSA ) .
Lltch had earlier turned hack Jones I n
their heat after a tight, spray-throwing
battle. A way they fiew for three fast
laps , Lacher . nosing underneath, Litch
on the outside. So busily engaged was
Lacher with taking Lltch wide i n the first
turn that Keeter squared it off, squirted by on the inside and went on for the
win. A surprised Lacher wound up sec ond ahead of L ltch and Jones .
CI)
""
Lacher Leaps Out
Mel di dn't all ow time for any di strac t ions in th e Mai n. Choosing to start on
th e outside he immedi ately too k the lead
and maintained i t, gaini ng up to half-astraightaway l ead on the bustling bunch
behind him .
A strong second at the start was sammy T anner ( BSA) who held the spot until
L1tch roared by on lap fiv e. Then Keeter
r eplaced Litch as r unner up two laps
later , and Jones moved UP to third on the
l Oth time around. Clyde stayed firmly in
four th , but Tanner l ost fifth place to
BSA- mounted Phil T odd on lap 13 of the
15-lapper. Bruce H olland ( Tr i umph)
came f rom last to a closing 7th.
Keeter now l eads Lacher by only 42
points in A scot standings ( 898 to 856)
and for mer leader Dan Haaby returns
Friday night to take on the l ocal competition again. Haaby, traveling the Cham pi onshi p circuit aboard Gary Bray'S
haulin' Harley, is currently 4th In National standings behind Cal Rayborn,
Gary Nixon and Bart Markel.
Rockwood Repels Amateu r Rivals
Three different leaders and lots of
m id-field passing created an exci ting 10lap Amateur final. First off the line was
Don Harms (H - D), closely tailed by
Geezer Emick (BSA ) and Tom Rockwood
(Triumph) . Emick grabbed the lead on
lap 3, holding it until the 6th, when both
Harms and Rockwood stormed by. The
RockWOO
