Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

1 • AeK C> ORR-G-RRCfN/iJ : It, Ilo h !.lM' Jill ~ Harley-Davidson regai ned the glory it lost at Irwindal e Raceway just one week ago, by defeating all contenders including the five straight holder , Bob Braverman. M illard Disharoon rode the winning Sportster that turned a best elapsed time of 10.76 seconds . The day's best performance figures were posted on the board with the Sta-Lube Triumph ridden by Ebeling atl0.43 seconds and 137.19 miles per hour. B lI y Di ck II'ri ~hl Ph o to s by .J e ff Wr i ~hl HOLIDA Y, Cal., July 21 - Nineteenyear-old Steve Staats , 1195, won the com bined Ope n and 500 Ama te ur -Exper t Main Even t under tile hot deser t su n on a black-and-white 360 Bultaco, to top the day of European Scrambles last Sunday. There were three hundred an d nlnetyfive crazy riders who b ra v e d the hundred-degree temperature to r ide in tha t deser t dust, not to speak of the many spectators who watched the races. There is just nothing lik e a deser t hound for enth usiasm! The eve nings are ge tting to be very nic e for camping, and there wer e over a hundred ca mpers and trailers s et up Saturday nigh t , The first race got off at 8:00 a .m .; with 104 trail bike Novices. The cour se was five miles around, beginning with a flat starting area for a hundred yards, a nd opening up into fast , fourth-gear boondocks; A road crossing led into very tight turns in high, bush y territory, and then the course went around the side of the mountain, acros s r ough second-andthird-gear water runoff ruts . the first lap thr ough the pits, Bergquist ca me through with a half -mile lead . Kurt Luhm eyer, 1150x on a Bul taco, was second, an d Pa trick was now ru nning thir d. On the next lap, a man riding a s tree t bike an d wearing a straw hat cros s ed the co ur se in front of Bergquist, causing hi m to take to the boondocks . He hit a bush an d loaded his bike up, whic h put him out of conten tion . Patrick then took over the lead an d hel d it to the fini s h. Gary Cole , 115x, moved up to secon d on his Hus ky. Lee Zuber , 1141x on a Greeves , was third; Bill Ydean do, IIllx, was four th, and Tom Poteet, 1145x, was the top Ama teur , takin g fifth on a Bultaco, The big race of the day was up next: the combined Open and 500cc Amateur- Tight and Twisty A lIWe hill, a short sandwash, a twisty fire road, an d a winding trall led up to a fast downhill fire road, an d into a ver y tight mile-long sandwash with steep walls on each side, wide enough for onlY one bike. This brought us out onto a very fast fire r oad for a half-mile, then Into the boondocks and back to the pits . It was what co uld be described as a u ti ght " course, On the second lap of the Tr a tl Bike Novice, Jim Clancey, 11818 on a Bridgestone, took over the lead going out of the pits , but drifted too far right in passing over the road crossing and hit a ditch, which put him out of the race . Unfortuna tely, Clancey was only one of sever al r iders who hi t the di tch on the first race, r esulting in a lot of bent for ks, etc . After Clancey went out, Roge r Peter s, #909, took over the lead on a Hodaka and held It for the win . My check s heet s howed Allen Wurtzel, 11612 on a Zundapp In s eco nd, an d Don Rldmayer, #244 on a Honda, in third. When it came r ight down to elimination ti me, Disharoon did his job of sc r ubbing competitors by sheer low end acce ler a tio n. His Harley- Davidson Sports ter accelerated In a misfi r e condi tion that prevented exce s s powe r waste and was good unti l abou t the eighth- mile . At that point the Spor ts te r sounded like it was shooting ducks an d both Ebeling a nd Br aver man pulled up on him like he was mi r ed In the mud of a shooter 's blind. But mired or not he s tayed ahead by the necessary ma r gin to defea t his opponents an d win the top bike honors at 10.76 elapsed ti me an d 127.00 mil es pe r hour . .(' Lions It was a hard day for a gr ea t numbe r of the r a cer s pres ent at Lions Dra ge Strip as five ma chine s were broken and loaded onto their trallers before eliminations began. At this location Bob Braverman's Yamaha retained the top bike laurels with a best elapsed time of 11.02 a t 125.52 miles per hour . The closest contender was Bob Bogans twin eng ine Tri umph that cl ocked figures of 11.50 E.T. an d 122.00 mph. d Pit Briefs At a r ece nt meet In Alton, illinois, the top bike, a Harley Spor ts ter , turned an elapsed time of 9.20 s econds! One big " -1 8- inch" Triumph stopped the clocks at 9.72 s econds! A well-known two-stroke r epresentative will s oon be at the drags with a twinengine Kawasaki. Powered by 350cc Grand Prix racing engines yet!, a total of 700cc and only they know how much power . It won't be long now and Joe Smith's Har ley-Davidson will be bac k In action and Boris Mur r ay' S not far from the pits and attached quarter -mile drag action. (Results on page 16) - was 11232m. Christian Czuzak paces lellow Novice #310. DeanGoldsmith through the sandy stull. Slidy Checker #13 AI Baker pUls on a show lor the folks at Jack Rabbits .M. C. Scrambles. Hal'·a-ml le out In the 500-ope n Amateur/Expert go, #39 John Gaetz (T riumph) leads 119 5 Steve Staats ( 360 Bult aco). Staat s wound up the overall wi nner, Gaetz took 3rd wi th sti cki ng throttle. LEFT: 10D-degree temperature didn't deter this Matchless enthusia st, Tom Sanborn Jr. BELOW: Amateur #74. Ross T ermln (Bultaco) leads eager pack. ~ t.J Harley-Davids on was the leader In both the s toc k and modified street divisions . ::... Richards on was the man who rode a U s toc ker ah ead of the four division class winners, with fig ur es of 12.56 and 105.75. With a little "pol is h on the rockers , high compr ess ion, big cam s and cons er vative weight, Speedy High led the modified racer s at 13. 17 - 100. 55. Hm-m-m, that' s a half second slower than Richardson' s stock mach ine ! Morgan Makes It The Trail Bike Amateur- Expert go was next, an d Jack Mor gan , III on a Hodaka, took the le ad a t the s tart, with every one else fighting for the second . spot as they came through the tight bushes two miles out. Eric Jensen, In , didn' t .get a good s tart, but was moving up on his Hodaka, tuned by Competition Motors. By the last lap, he had pulled up to second and was trying to overha ul Mor gan; they dueled for the last two miles , right up to the fini sh li ne, wher e Mor gan took it by only a btke' s le ngth and Jensen seWed for second. Jack Fr oeli ch, #2 on a Bultaco, was thi r d;. Frank Morgan 116, was fourth, an d Terry Clark, 11395, was fif th and fir st Ama te ur . Rod Robbs, 1134, was sixth. , There were a large number of 250cc Novices on the line for the next race and it was ge tting hotter , so they flagged the m of! quickly. On the second lap, Stan Staats, 11992x (Steve 's older br other ) took over the lead on a Yamaha and held it to the fini sh lin e . Gary Westergaard, l164lx, was second, and Bobby Steffan Jr ., 1I122x, who got off the line almos t last, worked his way up to thi r d, which is not bad for a seventeen- year- old hlgh school kid. The combined Open and 500Cc Novi ces stormed off next, an d did they make a cloud of dust for the poor r iders in the r ear . Stan Barrett, 11129, took the win on a Husky. Steve Penn , 1147R (also on a Hus ky) was second, and Tom Martin, 11274, was thi rd on a Rickman . Eve r yone got to a good vantage poin t on the course as the 250Cc Amateur Experts were up next. At the r oad cross Ing, it was Larry Ber gquis t, 11888x on his red Bultaco by ten feet, and r eally making It . Mike Patrick, 11421x on a in about sixth position. On Yamaha, ~ t.J Expert go. At a good van tag e spot behind a large bush a half- mile out, we watch ed as s moke- bomb J ohn Gaetz, 1139 on a big Triumph, nosed out Steve Staats, 1195 on the 360 Bulta co, for the lead. When they came around' on the fi r st lap , Larry Bergquist, 114, had taken over the lead, this ti me on his 360 Bultaco. Gae tz was s eco nd and Staats was thir d. By this time the cours e was really chopped up and It was hotter than a fi ve- doll ar pistol; as the r iders cam e through the pits, their friends threw water down their neck s to give them tha t liWe " kick" they needed to go one more Iap, Bad Luck For Bergquist Bergquist was s till leading as they headed out for the last lap, but when the fi r s t r ider came into view, it was Steve Staats for the overall win. John Gae tz came in s econd with a sti cking throWe, taking fi rst Open class on a Triumph . Bergquist pulled in third, after r unning Into s ome trouble; It was a bad day for him, af ter buildi ng a good lea d in both Expert r aces , only to be deni ed the wins. Tough luck for the cham p. Ron Fry , 116 on a Husky, took four th, and Jack Byers, 113, worked his way up from the back of the pac k to finish fifth on his Rickm an . Tom Simpson, 1176, was the first Ama teur In, on a Triumph. After a long, hot day, eve r yone was ti r ed, but all the gang wll! be out for the next race day to turn on tha t throWe and " s oc k it to 'em ." Every rider believes that he can beat them al l next ti me, so we jus t keep comi ng backeve ry week. But that' s a motorcycle enthusiast for you! (Results on page 16)

• Cover