Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

CARLSBAD CLASH FOR CS AH Story and Photo s by Joh n Shedd CA RLSBAD, Call!., June 30 - A s usual, the California Mo te-Cross Cl ub' S monthl y m oto- cross was a jam up good one, with pl enty of tough co mpetition providi ng good racing. It was the ir second eve nt which paid cas h prizes to the senior r iders, and as time goes on, they hope to have bi gger purses, and more of ten. Three-Way Tussle Cycle News columnist Bil l Pett lerew bound· Ine alo ne In £God spirits. . Preston Petty taklne mid-course Jump In £God 10"" abaard the new Mai co 100cc moto-cross outne l! ther e was anythi ng unus ual about the day ' s r acing, it would hav e to be the defe at of Gary Bailey in the 125cc class by L ars L arson, who was r i ding a new Penton Six - Day. In th e fir st moto , Bailey too k over on the first Iap, Lar son got a bad start, and was nev er able to get close enough to be a threat. In the second mo to, the tables were tu rned, with Larson ta king the win. Eve ryone had the third moto figured to be a fight between Bailey on his Hodaka and Larson on the Penton . Such was not the case . Eric Jensen wheeled his Hodaka into the l ead with Larson gi ving chase. Larson stayed on Je nsen' s r ear, but was never able to get by , and he f inally crashed in a cor ner while tryi ng to pass . Balley was hit and knoc ked down on the j ump just past the star t, after moving f rom last place to third behind Larson. He was really flyingl Bailey pulled into second place wben Larson crashed, and a finish her e would have give n him the class win. It just wasn't Gary ' s day , as he sailed over a" jump, the engine l oaded UP, and Larson zoomed hy to finish seco nd behind Jense n and take the class win. The 250Cc Junior class was Umited this tim e to 40 r i ders. OVer 20 entri es were malled back. 'Ib1s raised gripes from th e ri ders who dido't get to r ide, but the CMC has had complaints on each and ev ery way they have tri ed to run this unusually large class, so If you hav e some good I deas , make them known . Kawasaki -mounted W. Clarke, emerged winner of the popular class with B . Kel ek on a Husky taking second . Uehhhh._as J. Choner and his trusty Gree ves · plop· Into the deep, soupy mudhole at the now Infamous Carlsbad course. Top notch 500cc Expert rl ders , J.N. Roberts (19), Ron Nelson (98), Jeff WIllis (13), and Lars Larsen (15) take mld-course turn. Darnell Does It • Hu*y pilot J.N. Roberts dlsplaylne form that helped him · copp third place 500cc Expert. Russ Lar'nell was the man to beat in th e 250cc senior class, but no one could ma tch his pace. Montesa' s John DeSoto was Darnell's stiffest competitor, but betwee n Lar'nell's SUPer- smooth r iding and DeSoto' s m udhole problems, 0Irne1l came out on top, In the first mobo, Russ led all th e way with a big battle behind hi m be twe en DeSoto and Suzuki-mounted Gary Conrad. Conrad f inally got past DeSoto , but was never able to catch Lar'nell on his Hus ky. Darnell shot i nto the lead in the secon d m oto, DeSoto again second, and Walt Axthelm (CZ) third. Preston Petty, who was the victim of a starting Une m ix UP, and bad to start after the fir st moto was underway, was running fourth . DeSoto again lost his second place, but this time to A xthel m • Darnell sailed in for the win. In the final go , DeSoto snatched the lead, with Lar'nell pushing and Axthelm third. After following for a while, · Darnell was able to ov er take DeSoto and pull into the lead. DeSoto had problems, andAxthelmpassed him to take over second only to lose his chain and fall way back. In the end it was Lar'nell taking the win with Axthelm second and DeSoto th1rd. The Big Daddy of Montesa, Kim Kimball, mov ed to the lead on the first lap of the 500c c Juni or class. It was his best r i de sinc e colliding with a deer at Co r riganville. Husky-mounted B. Hedriclc, pas sed Kimball to take over the lead, and Ron Wilson followed him by to grab second. Hedri ck and Wilson both bad trouble in the mudhole and Kimball passed the m to take bac k the lead. They were both up quickly and r ecovered their posi tions before the moto ended. In the second moto, Hedrick took the lead, but WIlson pus hed by fo r the win with Kimball finishing thir d. Wilson grabbed the win i n the final moto to take the class gold, and Hedrick finished second and Kimball thir d. MUdholes, three in all, were a erea t crowd pleaser as well as an advesary for the rider.. Larson Leaps To Win The 500cc senior class had at least a half dozen r iders capable of taking the win . It was the Swedish swl!ty, Lars Larson, who eme rged victorious on his Hus ky. Larson took the lead at the !lag with J,N. Roberts (Husky), John DeSobo ( M onte sa) , Ron Nelson (Montesa) and Gary Balley (Greeve s) foUowlng. Nelson passed his teamma te to take the third slot, and Bailey also managed to sUp pass DeSoto and m ove his new Greeves Into fourth. The big battle was f or first an d second betw een Larson and Roberts. Roberts stole the l ead but l ost It in the mudho Ie and Larson won the m oto . Nelson moved out in front in the second moto followed by Larson, Bailey and Ro berts . 'Ib1s tim e the fight f or first and second was between Larson and Nelson, and again Larson came out on bop. Larson got a bad start in the last moto, and Malco- mounted Pr eston Petty led Balley and J. N, around fo r the fir stfew minutes. Larson was running four th, and one by one, he pi cked off three of the best r iders around to take the win. Th e track was a little different from last month's race, and there was a big i mpr ovem ent due In part to a sprlnkllng system that had been i nstalled around part of the course . The CMC hopes to extend th e spri nkler s so they will cover th e entire track before their July 28 mee t . Th ere i s also the possibility that the course might be run in the opposite dir ection at this even t . Every race presen ted by the CMC has bee n bi gger and better than the one before, and the June race was DO exception with the number of r iders higher than ever. It was unfortunate that there was also a moto-cr oss the same day at Saddieback. The interest in mote-cross is growing by l eaps and bounds, but it would be better to have races scheduled fo r two weekends a month instead of three open weekends and then two on the same day . A U ttle cooperation between clubs could easi ly avoid this, regardless of differenc es between,sanctioolng bodies. (Results on page 20)

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