Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

O'BRIEN AND NICHOLSON TOP SPEEDW AY THREATS By Mike Capalite " , PACOIMA, Cal., July 27 - As the speedway races at WhIteman Stadium moved Into their sixth week, It seems that the r iding styles get mor e fantastic every Saturday with more top Southern CallforD1a riders jolnlng the ranks of the tulllock sliders. A couple of new names on the roster are Elliott Schultz and Chuck "Feets" Miner., both giving It their all as the evening wore on with the threat of rain In the air, but old Mother Nature was kind enougb to hold ott long enough to complete the program. Records rall RIlII.,lre heat rac.. pllled zealoul speedway rlderl In 40lap Ilzzl.,.. Elliott Schultz (on pole) made flrlt Clul A appearance, won heat owr John Carter. Stew But and Rick Woodl are clole behind. The tlrst beat race started the D1ght ott right with Jon Thomas (Eso) breaJdng the tour-lap -r ecor d set last week by Sammy Tanner at 59.06. The Ironic thing about It was that Sammy was supposed to be In the tlrst heat, but couldn't get his machine to the line on time and was lett at the post. As Sammy pointed out, the number seven written on the beat board looked like a number one, and by the time he was Wormed that Itwashtsheat it was too late to get ready. The o!t1clals agreed to put him In the second heat race, wblcb was a man sbort due to an entry being scratched, but handicapped him tltteen yards as a late entry wblcb Sammy readily agreed to. The second beat was all Jim Nicbolson's (Eso), who looked even better than he did last week, and last week he looked terrltic. John Hate1ey (JAP) t1D1shed second, and Tanner (JAP) powered his way to a third place transfer position on his h1gb outside groove. The third heat was a battle between Stu Morley (JAP) and Lee Stumpenhaus Dash To Nicholson "B" Main Event winner Stuart Morley Ihows wlnnln& Ilyle U he deten eflorls 01 lint-time Whiteman participant (Feels ) M lnert (1) and Paul Connrr lere. Conn"lere wound up second, Mlnert unloaded. DENNIS BURKMAN BLANKS THE POINT LEADERS Suspenseful Two-Fifty The 250cc class started off to look like another Lee Stumpenhaus sweep as be took bls beat and the Trophy I».sh, but the second heat went to Carroll Skov (Bultaco) and In the third beat,- was DenD1s Burkman (Honda) who had asked to be put In a later beat because be bad bls ma.chlni! dismantled in the pits trying to repair ' It. DenD1s won bls beat, but didn't ma.ke mucb of an impression In the dash. 10 the Main event, however ; Stumpenhaus took the lead with Skovright beblnd blm, DenD1s worked bls way around Skov, and then in a fantastic display of riding, got around Lee, and as he did, Carroll took advantage of the opportuD1ty and got Lee also. So they f1D1sbed Burkman (Honda), Skov (Bultaco), Stumpenha us (Bultaco), and Eddie Walker (Triumph). (Results on page 16) The excitement rippling througb the cr owd as the Trop hy Dash lined up did not go to waste as Jim Nichols on and Jack 0 ' Br ie n had the fans on their fee t as they fougbt it out r lgbt down to the wire with Jim taIc1ng the well-d ese rved win and the kis s from the lovely trophy girl. From previous performanc es, It was expected that the C Main wouldbe a tossup between J im Doron (JA P) and Ron Miller (JAP), wblch It started out to be, but s uddenly fr om out of nowhere came Mike Bas t (JAP ), passing both .of them and going on to victory with Miller second, Doron third, and Homer Knapp (E so) fourth. The B Main was a win for Stu Mor ley, but It was not an easy one as Paul Conserriere and John Carter were r lgbt on bls r ear wbeel all the way, thougb unable to find a way around him, Paul flnlsbed second with Carter and Cbuck Minert In third and four th. O'Brien Takes A Main By Mike Capalite SOUTH GATE, cai., July 10- The short track races at Trojan Raceway are bringing out some new riders who are startlDg to deal the top boys fits. 10 the l00cc class, Chris Smith (Kawasakl) was second to Jimmy Raymond (SUZuki) in the tlrst heat, and looking real good. He might be one to watcb as the weeks go by. 10 the second 100Cc heat, one of the top TT riders, OIle Hopkins, out on a Suzuki sponsored by DlIle Brown Motors for the first time In sbort track competition, won his heat with II wide margin. 10 the 100CC Trophy DlSh, It was DlIle Hopkins jumping to the lead ta1dng the win over Raymond; butJlmmycameback in the Main -event to make up for it, as OIle cbarged ott the line In the lead, it looked like be was going to be the man to take ft all the WIlY, when suddenly as he was accelerating out of the north corner, be slid out nice and smooth, leaving the win to Raymond (Suzuki) with Dan Hazel (Yamaha) second and Joe Ambrose (Suzuki) in third. out of point leader Steve Scott (JAP), wbo retired with engine problems. As the first semi got under way atter a r es tart, Jon Thomas again took the win with Stu Mor ley (JAP) tlnlshlng second and Ron Miller third. The second se mi was undoubtedly the most exciting race of the evening as It was a no-holdsbarred duel between Jim Nlcbolson (Eso) and Sammy Tanner (JAP) with Jim on the pole and Sam on the blgh side. They came down the s traights side by side, then blasted through the cor ner s and out the same way. Tanner finallY used bls high dr ive to take the lead with one lap left, but Nlcbolson pulled outside blm on the back stretcb, slightly grazing the wall as be grabbed first spot. Then there was a gr oan from the cr owd as sammy's rear axle broke and he lost bls chain with only one turn to go. Chuck Minert (JAP) passed blm for second and Jim Doron (JAP) wound up third. Sam was given a huge ovation as be pushed his machine to the pits; the crowd reallzed he had tried bls hardest. The third semi showed that 0 ' Brien is still the man to beat as he came from bls last row handicap position to take the win with Paul Conserriere (JAP) finishing second. 10 the fourth semi, Schultz again had to do battle with John Carter, but was again able to top blm for a chance at the A Main and they provided the fastes t sem i of the night at 1.00.88. The first Match Race was a win for Stu Mor ley (JAP) over PaulConserriere (JAP) while the second matcb race set a new two-lap flying start record of 29.12 as Bruce Baserot (Jawa) topped Sammy Tanner r iding a borrowed machine. Wlnnlnplt racerl at latelt speedway meet were Eso-mounted Jack O'Brien and J im Nlchollon. Both won heats and lemll, Jim took Trophy Dalh over Jack. aA" Main went to O'Brlen, Nlcholo san lilt 3rd Ifter IlIdln& out. (Eso) to the wire with Stu getting there Elliott Schultz (Eso) and John Carter had first. Another new face who w1ll bear the crowd on Its feet and cbeering as some watching was Ron Miller (JAP) who they were side by side for the entire race as a late entry had to start on the handiwith Scbultz looking like he had been on a cap llne, but proved that It was no handispeedway mach1ne all bls life as he finalcap at all, passing riders four and five ly pulled away for the win. The last beat to f1D1sh In the third place position. Greg was a hearthr eaker for the many fans In Haserot, brother of Bruce who has althe grandstands cheering on Bruce Hasready shown bls ability at speedway racerot (Jawa) as be took an endo and aling, has decided to make It a family though uD1njured, failed to qualify for a affair, and was getting around in fairly transfer position. The heat was won by good shape on bls Eso before be took a Ron Bonner (Eso) with Tim Harris (JAP) nasty spill. He was uninjured, and alsecond. Another disappointment to the though be didn't make the pr ogram, he fans In the 'same race was the dro pping has been bitten by the " sli din' bug," and says he will be back next week. Fast and Furious Jack 0' Brien had his work cut out for blm in the four th heat as be was pi tted against Paul Conserriere (JAP ), Chuck Minert (JAP) and last week's C Main winner, Jim Doron. Paul Is a wblz at getting off the line, and be took the lead with Mlnert right behind blm, but Jack O'Brien (Eso) was keeping bls macb1ne in a full power slide even down the straights and managed to get around Chuck; then as Paul slid wide on one corner, Jack and Chuck both got under blm to finish in that order. The fifth heat was the s urprise race of the evening. The A Main was r eally spiced with action and spllls as Jon Thomas (Es o) grabbed the lead with Nlcbolson In second and 0 ' Br ien third, Elliott Scbultz , having had the fas test semi was on the last handicap line, and was running In four th. As Nlcbols on went -wide, O'Brien dove under blm, but Jim was rlgbt back and just as be made a blgb-groove bid to regain bls position, be slid out In the cor ner and Scbultz was too close beb1nd him to mis s as be went down also. Elliott qu i ckly r lgbted bls machine, wblch fortunately was sUll running, but as be tried to remount the moving bike, be lost control again due to being pulled along by the handlebars , and atter going lock-to-lock a couple ot times, the bike t ell down again with Scbultz landing on top of It. His pain, although temporary, was severe enougb to keep blm trom continuing. Jim was a l1~e luckier and jumped back on to t1D1sh third, as 0' Brien aced Thomas out for the win. It seems that the races are better every week, and now that this Sunday w1ll see the start of Class A Speedway racing at Trojan Raceway in South Gate , wblcb w1ll probably equal saturday's purse of $1000.00, coupled with Ascot on Fridays, will give the r iders approximately $4,000 a week to race for. If this keeps up, motorcycle racing may yet become as financiallY lucrative as auto racing. (Res ults on page 16) ::: It> ~ c.. ~ Q) -: ~ _ [g ~ ~ ~ r..:l O!:; r..:l c3 ;:... U

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