Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

SUNNY VALLEY SPEEDWAY TT SCRAMBLES B )" B o b ~ 6l> ~ CI'l S ~ to:I ..::J CJ G It Is DOW By Virginia Copeland Photos by Leonard Tatum Ebe li n~ five successive wins for the twin engine Yamaha of Bob Braverman at Irwindale Raceway . Yamaba In te r national i s enthusiastic beyond excep tion as they pr esented a 100cc machine to a lucky spectator as the result of drawing a lucky number at the trim fingertips of Miss Yamaba 1968• On th is special Saturday event where proceeds were in benefit fo r the EpUeptic Society, Yamaba flew Miss Yamaba directly to Ir windale via helicopter and placed her in f r ont of thousands of fence crushing spectators that were eager for a glance at thi s strange symbol of black leather jackets that was arr iving from a st r ange metal bird. It Is not surprising that they were pleased with thi s modern version packed In pl easantly f m ed pink sk i n rather than dull black l eather, and the recipient of the 100cc Yamaba was so shocked with his twist of luck that a kiss from Miss Yamaba, fair did him i nl Racing Six contenders for top bike at Irwindale, three ten second sprints and a remaining three tha t wer e draggln' the quarter mUe at times of el even and twelve seco nd In te rvais. At the end of qualifying trials , top elapsed time bike green and an automatic win went to Braverman. The twin Yamaba was coasted through the lights f or no recorded ti me and Ebeling's futil e sprint was f inished In 10.69 sec onds. It would have been a cl ose one and maybe next week the winning string of Yamaba wins w1ll be broken at Irwindale Ra ceway . ~~ Lions · Again the ground i s being opened to expose the vault doors of Lions Drag Strip money bins. On the first weekend in Aug ust, tw enty-five dol lars w1ll be put up for top bike to a field of eight qualifier s. It' s not much m oney, but once yo u commit the fi rst robbery the rest co mes easy . This weeks' Sunday raci ng r eally provided an upset in the usual winn ers' honor role, as Brooks rode a bi g i nch Harley Davidson through eliminations that shut down Speedy High's Harley that i s usually fir st to the lights in AA Modified class. Brooks turned a best elapsed tim e of 14.26 seconds and 90.09 mUes per hour. Those performanc e figures were not good enough to secure a top modified victory as the real top bike was the 55 i nch Sportster r i dden by Pun ton. Hi s Leadlnl the Kid's "A" Main Inlo Ihe Ilrsl comer a Yamaha, who also won the T rophy Dash. GRA NTS PASS, o re ., June 30'- With 77 r i ders signed up and a good crowd of spectato r s, Sunny Valley Speedway got their show on the road at 1:00 p .m . , and the r aces provided all the thrills and ex ci te ment th e c r owd had com e to see. First Dave Russ ell, r i ding a Kawasaki sponsored by Wally's Kawasaki sales, started another wlnnlng streak by taking his heat and th en the Trophy Dash. But Gene Schneider, mounted on a Bultaco for Pollock' s Marina put a stop to Dave 's winning streak in the 100cc " A" Main in the 100cc class. In fact Dave nev er stood a chance at first place. Gene cam e off the line first and held it all the way with Dave secon d and Perry Layman (Honda) taking third. The 200 class was a ve ry cl ose r ace between John Soy ( Bultaco) and Dennis Kroi s on a Yamaba sponsored by Yam aba Sports Center. In the TroPhy Dash they went i nto the fir s t corner r i ght togethe r but John came out of i t in the lead and try as he might Dennis just couldn' t get around so John ended up taking hom e the trophy . Is #871 Rick Zieller 01 Crescenl City, Ore. on then Dwane got around him and starts stretcb1ng the lead. ~Uke had his hands full trying to anticipate Jerry's moves and keep second spot. Jerry rode his best but Mike crossed the line in f r ont . Clean Sweep For Vaughn Soy Sails Plenty of Harley,DaYldsons are on hand lor the Lions' eyenls. Here two of the bil lobs l ot off the line for a speedy Irlp down Ihe quarter-mlle dral str ip. was Bob Ebeling' S " Sta - L ube" Triumph that clocked a brief 10. 59 second r un. Hot on the same track was Braver man ' s Yamaba i n the 10. 60 secon d r ealm and Millard Disharoon 's Sportster with sprints in the 10 .70 second bracket. The three r emaining conten der s were Ni cosia and Murphy ' s twin engine Suzuki, Bruce Miller' s Harley Sportster and Bruce Shively 'S Harley Davidson. Round One Bruce Miller's Harley Davidson was matched with Nicosi a and Murphy's twin Suzuki, for what ended in embarrassment for all Harley fan club members. Braverman and his Yamaba didashort battle with Shively's " Pineappl e picking" Harley for another sad Harley mom ent and in f urther embarrassment , Dishar oon's charging Sportster was put down in a wheel to wheel dice wi th EbelIng' S Tri umph. Round two gav e Ebeling th e priv ilege of standing by wi th bes t E .T. of the day and wat ching Braverman and Ni cosia fight out the quarter mile duel. In this race Braverman missed a shift but held enough lead to defea t the Suzuki wi th a final trap time of 11 seconds flat. Final race for top bi ke placed Brav erman's win streak in jeopardy as he was matched with t he Sta-Lube Triumph that held a leadi ng edge in elapsed time. W'h en th e race was staged and th e light sequence began i ts countdown, everyone was surprised as Ebeling l eft the line on the last yellow i nstead of waiting for th e Ted machine clocked a great 13.36 seco nds and 95. 64 miles per hour. Stock " The race for top stock bike honors is drawi ng closer to a dead head each week and y et try as he may , Somm er s and his 500cc Suzuki can't seem to quite reach the plateau of performance that 55 i nch Spo rts ters turn out. A gain this time, Richardson and his Sportster tallied the top honors in 12.87 sec onds as Somm er s drafted in a trailing 12.96 seconds. Top Gas T op gas was an easy sc ene for Braverman's twin engine Yamaba as he ran the quarter in 10.90 secon ds, a full second and one quarter ahead of the closest contender Clarence Balley, whose Harley ran th e distan ce in 12 .19 seconds. Am eri can Speed Cycle'S Tri umph was th e B class winner i n 12. 36 seconds at 107. 00 miles per hour and Dan Zeman ' s little teac up Suzuki took F class trophy in 16. 58 sec onds at 73 miles per hour. Th ere was only fuel bike on the premises and it was the Vincen t of Ken Kolalac . Ken and Braverman we re closely matched and stag ed fo r a r ace to determine Lions top bi ke man and machIne. A t the fatef ul moments of lnlt1al acceleration Kolalac slipped and slithered a snaky path on the asphalt and Br averman held to the straight and narrow for a win in 10. 90 seconds at 130.2 4 miles per hour as the Vincent r eached the end in 10.95 seconds at 124.28 mph. Evans Motorcycles Triumph - Bultaco - Yamaha SALES & SERVICE QUALITY PARTS & ACCESSORIES RACING EQUIPMENT We Accept (213 ) 390-3406 Bank amerl car d Mas ter Charte r ~,~~:.::. '~-;:~i ~ 13347 W. WASHINGTON BLVD. (L. A. 66) 3 Blks. East of Lincoln Blvd. The " A" maln was even more exciting as we wat ched Dale Hall Jr. (Bultaco) , Dennis Krois and John Soy all came off ine side by side and i nto th e fir st corner bar to' bar. Out of the corner Dale had the edge on the other two. The boys rode hard and fas t, holdi ng th eir pos i tions for four laps, then in the fifth lap the changes started. First John went by Dennis f or sec ond, then before th e lap was co mpleted he got by Dale to take first . Th en Dennis passed Dale and began chas ing after John. "''hen the finish flag dropped John was still in fir st place, Dennis second and Dale third. Th e kids' Trophy Dash went to Rick Ziegl er on a Yamaba, f ollowed closely by Peter Si monsen (Mot o- Be ta) . Th e " A" Main again saw Rick out in fr ont , this time f ollowed by JohnRenfro (MotoBeta). Th ough John rode hard and well, Here's Rick Zieller collecllnl his Dash IOld and a kiss from trophy &1rl AM Lampro. but believe me they weren' t easy wins . The Dash saw Wes Word (Triumph) j ump to th e lead off the lIne and Bob had to do some m i ghty fast r iding to catch him. In th e " A " Main Bob got the lead r i ght off th e line with Fritz Espy on a Bultaco El Bandido sponsored by Pollock 's Marina, hot on his tail. John Ri dgeway (Triumph) and Wes Word were running a close third and fourth. Though F ritz was laying that Bul down so low in th e corner s the crowd held i ts breath waiting for him to fall, he always brought it back up, but couldn't catch Vaughn. W'hen the flag dropped it was Bob first f ollowed by Fritz and W(!s. Daye Russell and one of the Layman brothers Iangle; John YOUnl ayolds the pileup. Rick crossed the line in fir st place, but mark my words, a few more races and John i s going to give Rick some r eal competition. The 250 Trophy Dash saw a hattle between Mike Thompson ( Montesa) and Dwane Francisco. M ike led coming out of the first turn but by the next cor ner Dwane was r i ght beside him . Mike again got th e edge until the next lap when Dwane passed him and went on to take home the trophy . Dwane was mounted on a CZ owned by B11l Beck instead of the Kawasaki he usually r ides out of his own shop, Out Fr ont . The " A U Main again found Mike and DW3ne fighting fo r the l ead, only this time Jerry Bergquist on a Honda was right In there making his bid f or first. Mike led off the line, held i t f or two laps, On display at this race was a v ery pret ty 4-foot trophy sponsored by A - I Edwards Trophies of Portland to be giv en to the winner of th e Sweepstakes race at the Championship August25 . Th e sweepstakes event will consis t of all the " A" Main trophy winner s of the day . Sunny Valley Speedway is giving a high poi nt seaso n trophy i n each class. Th e r ace for 'it is ver y close In the Open Class with a mere 10 points separating Bob Vaughn and F r i tz Espy . As of this last race, F r itz has the edge on Bob. Dwane Fr anci sco holds the edge on Wes Wor d by 30 points i n the 250 class . In the kids' class Rick Ziegl er has 40 points on Peler Simon sen so we can expect the race to get even better and closer as the season progresses . ( Res ults appeared last week )

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