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FIRECRACKER INT'L MOTO-CROSS n. Hart (Guzzoal) cets In trouble ahead of Gary Ball., (Eireaws). _ Photos Story by Maureen Lee by John Shedd, Maureen Lee and Dennis Greene Above: First turn al lIIe IlIp ~ lIIe III II. Below: The flac has dropped and off lIIey ea. CORONA, Callf., July 4 - Torsten Hallman remained undefeated In CallfOl'll!lL as he rode 1968' s first Internatlon~ moto-cross at Saddleback Park. However, HallmaD was to find out that the competition Is getting stiUer bere now with some at the local riders putting In a lot at time on improving their efforts In events such as these. Promoted by Edison Dye, the HusqvarIlll distributor, and using some at the AcA workers, the day . ran ott ta1rly smoothly with only some minor d1ttIculties regarding some at the FlM licenses (mandatory to compete In an International) although we know for sure that one at the Senior riders doesn'thave one but managed to get by the dtlctals. After r iders meeting, the rounds began with the 0-125 Juniors who also received their share ,of 'prize monies at the end of the day. The win went to Ken Greene on a Power Research Kawasald and it was a win well earned. This was a harder fought tussle than the Senior division with Bruce Baron (Hodaka), Dean Goldsmith on one of the new little Barleys, Jeft Creager (Guazzont) and Bruce Johnson (Hodaka) all out after their share of the glory. Money was paid back to fourth position so Creager was last man to get some of the gold. Tarsi. Hallman and his Husqv.na . .,. maslers of all lhey surwyed al Saddleback. One of the best races of the day was the first round of the 250 Junior. Three riders carrying colors of local motorcycle clubs were scrapping. san Gabriel Valley's Kurt Lohmeyer (Bultaco), Stumpjumper Bob Maynard (Husky) and Checker LytlII Fortner (Husky) were really m1Jdng it up, but charging along a little ways back was eventual winner, Ken Greene again on a Kawasald. Maynard went Into the lead at about the 1~ minute mark of the 25-mlnute round and then- Fortner had the bad luck to throw his chain by the towell, putting him out. Greene was now .tn third but soon took over first only to be re-passed by Lohmeyer at the very top of the course. We 'heard more cheering during this race than any otherl it Was good onel a, Torsten Tops' Em There were cr owds of spectators all around on the hills, the parldng lots were jammed, and ftnally.the men they had all come to see were on the line. Torsten Hallman and two-time 250cc World Champion Btll Nllsson, along with the cream of the local mota-cross riders; Gary Conrad, Ray McCarty, John DeSoto. Russ Darnell and J.N. Roberts, just to mention a few. Hallman had no trouble with that class riding as be always does with supreme coolness and concentration and proving again why he is World Champion. On the second round and at about the second lap his rear wbeel began to fail and from where we were standing you could see It shuddering about as he .pulled out of the turn and headed for the jump. It no doubt affected the Husky's handling co,!sld~rably but it didn't shake HallmaDl Gary Conrad on a Husky did a beautiful job and got second with Russ ' Darnell (Husky) third. B11I NUsson ended fourth and John Kenyon fifth. As we said before, our Callfornta riders have been doing some homeworkl "Glamour" class is of course the 500 Senior. The start of the first round gave local supporters a near heart attack. First up the uph11l starting area and pulling away was Team Montesa's Ron Nelson and Eddie Mulder just tlattlytng. BY the time they reached the very top of the course Hallman was st1l1caught In the gaggle behind and then unhappily, Mulder got into a spot of trouble and In leaving the course just nicked one of the steel posts erected to hold the course marker Larson Leaps In A new (to us) machine won the 0-125 Senior division and it's a real little beauty. Lars Larson on a Penton Sachs did the job with Gary Batley (Hodakr.) ending second. Batley was way back fir~t round but on the second he and Larsen really had It and BlI.Iley tried hard but Just couldn't outdo the Swedish rider. David AldaDa (Suzuki) got away deadlast on the ' first round but by the end of the 20 minutes had worked b1s way up to seventh. Eric 'Jensen (Hodaka) tookthtrd and Bud WU1Is (Bultaco) fourth. To complete a variety of maChinery In the top finishers, Tim Hart (Guazzoni) ended tttth. WEBCO EOUIPPED H D K OA A IELD 90 SWEEPS F G ENECANNA DY ••• 1st JOO" fI,e,t A II-S~.te ~'• • ';OIS';p .t Hop.tow. 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