Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

TT T-TOW TLJUANA, Mexico, July 28- '!be hardy motorcyclists wbo braved . ~ SUllday morning r:Un to drive to the Autodromo de Ttjuana In our neigbborlng Republic were overwhelmed by the sparldng new racing plant tha t bas been prepared there. They have used the basic quartermile oval but have hauled In tons of earth, and with blades and rollers have c:areftl1ly manicured as fine a course as can be f ound anywhere. Taking of! into the Infield at the start of the backstretch the TT course curves and recurves, coming Into a spectacular six-foot-111gb jump which ts located right in front of the new 3,ooo-seat grandstand. It continues , parallel to the oval and r e- enters the main track at about the bal!- way mark in the hack stretch. Ther e are no really flat curves as all are car e f u 11Y banked to engineering specifications. Some riders went out onto the track In the rain and f ound it beautiftl1ly pr epared but a Uttle sUck because of the downpour. After 15 minutes the rain stopped, however, and l. volunteer crew wi th shovels scampered out and tossed dry sol1 on the Infiel d part of the course. Then the 10- wheeled roller was put back In to use for anothe r 10 or 15 min utes r esulting In a perfect track f or the first rac e. There were riders from as far away as Arizona and Santa Barbara, Call!. as the first ser ies of motos were flagged off. The track bas no official starter , so Lave Cl emo vol unteered to do the job. The riders f ound him an experienced hand and the races were flagged expertly. GU Story and P!IoCo by BIB Harmer rode for the !un of I t. Imagine his emcustom of touring groups and awarded barraSsment when he sUpped at! his a .. Hard Luck" trophy, It would unsaddle while doing a wheelle down the doubtedly go to Eddie 'J'a C2 dena who back stretch and skidded along 011 his trucked hi s 350 Bultaco down from Santa posterior while his Honda rolled ml1XTf]y Barbara expecting to enter the 5OOc:c 00. The two thousand tans r eceived the Novice cJass, only to find that there were stunt enthustastically, ho we' er, and gave not enough entries and was put In the him a big hand. Ward waved good naturedOpen Novice cJass, run In Conjunct1011 ly to the tans as he mounted his bike for with the Open Expert event. He got of! to the ride back to the pi ts . a good start and led everyone f or two Richard Henry of San Dlego, riding a laps when his engine began to !alter Spiker Upsets Ring San Diego tans f elt confident that Husqvarna pilot R. W. RIng, who ts the l eading point scorer In Distri ct 38' s 250Cc Expert cJass, woul d easilY win his class over a country boy from Yuma . His name? Roy Spiker. And although he was wearing a Kawasaki jacket and was called " Th e Bridgestone Kid" be was astride a showroom-new Yamaha Enduro. As cot fans wtllalsoremember him as one of Mel D1neson's " Enfi eld Kids" when he Uved in Bakersfield. The first moto was not yet a bal!-lap old when the watchers were sure of the outcome. This boy from the desert, who cJatms that lately he just gets together with friends on weekends and races out over the cactus-covered flatlands around Yuma , took Ring's measure and gave him three sound shellacldngs. Bultaco-mounted Larry Btshop from Lemon Grove, Calif., who arrived too late to have any practice laps, nevertheless looked impressive as he finished third. Brian Stanners of Los Angeles won the 250Cc Novice cJass with comparative ease, r iding his Bultaco to wins In the f irst two motos and taking it easy In the third. '!be contest for second place between Bultaco-mounted Gary G11more of San Diego and Carlos !ribe of Tijuana on a Kawasaki, was a real " barnburner." It was found that they both bad an equal number of points but lrtbe had finished htgber In their out-of -the- money races so would have been awarded the trophy, but because he was the promoter of the races and wanted to give everyone the best chance possible he volunteered to have a run-off match race which Gilmore agreed to. It was a close contest with !ribe pulllng away slowly as they crossed the f1n1sh llne, and then, with the race over and won the only spill of the program happened. !ribe came back over the jump and as he landed on his rear wheel, his r ight f oot sUpped of! the peg and he accidently twisted the throttle whi ch threw his mount back on the rear fend er. Carlos unloaded and his bi ke did five complete !Ups In the air. !ribe got of! with a skinned elbow butttsure didn 't do the motorcycle any good. The bike had been loaned him by Angel Rojas of Kawasaki Mextcall so Carlos passed on his trophy to him. Banker Impressive Per haps ~e most prof essional - looktng r ide of the day was di splayed by diminutive Don Banker on his r eed- Induction Hodaka i n the 100Cc Expert class. Don i s late of Idaho but now makes San Diego his home where he Is empl oyed by Jim McGuire In the manufacture of reed induction sy stems f or two -stroke raci ng machines . He admitted that he got most of his riding experience on ei ther rainsoaked or snow-covered potato fields and said the local TT courses were like paved highways In comparison. Ward Ring' S Honda j ust couldn' t keep UP with the hot -tuned two-stroke so Ring just Roy Spiker (Y amaha) but San DIIgo f avorlll R.W. Ring (Husky) In 2S0cc Expert. causing him. to lose ground and f1n1sh Mote- Beta , showed his exhausts to the second behind Dick WtllJams of Yuma, rest of the 100cc Novice f ield but was Ariz . r iding a BSA. hard-pressed by a determined Bultaco pilot, Pancho Rodriguez of Mextcall. Ben Clemo Captures Open Stephens of Yuma, whose name gave the Mexican P.A. announcer fits, looked i m !)lve Clemo of San Diego riding a big pressive r iding his M-B to third. K-Harley did a masterful job of riding to When the entries are Ught the Mexicapture the Open Expert division. He bas cans fill UP a race by permitting the been r iding the machine for only a short time and i s showing marked I mprovewinner of a class to enter the next class bigger. ( You also pay another entryfee.) ment. It was a happy way to celebrate Thus we found little Don Banker winning what may be his last day of racing f or a the 175cc Expert motos on his 100cc spell. He reported for milltary IndUCtiOll Hodaka. Yamaha-mounted Novice Paul the next morning. Joe Ph1ll1pson, whose Hedges of Yuma came In second In the Bultaco blew during practice, borrowed same series of motos, receiving the first a 250Cc Yamaha and rode it i mpressiv ely place Novice trophy. !)lve Burton of San to second place Open Expert. We wonder Diego came In third 011 his Montesa for what his employer Floyd Emde , SAn the second place Novice award. Diego Bultaco and Suzuki dealer. wtll say U the racing fraternity followed the when he ttnds out about this? Jim Smith L ----. of San Dlego displayed r eal rid1ngabWt:Y In piloting his BSA to third place. The 50Cc class, which bas almost beeIl abandoned on the U.s. side of the line, draws a hig entry in Mexico and Oscar Lujan of Mexlcall, riding a bright new Honda far outdistanced the rest of the f i el d to win first postt1on.Pedro Praceda gave Lujan a prettY good battle In one moto but fell hack In the other two. Juan V .edIna captured third In the e':"ent. AU three boys came over f r om Mexl call and all were Honda-mounted. Trophies were presented In front of the grandstand where Senor lrtbe asked all to meet In Rosi tis Restaurant fo r a short meeting. To Insure good atten dance, he announced that the cervezas would be on him. Needless to say the cafe was packed. lrtbe conveyed his thanks to all who came and asked for a vote on the date they woul d like to return. A quick check revealed that there would be no TT races In Di strict 38 on August 18 so that wtll be th e date of the next race on the finest motor cycle cour se In the Southwest . Plans were Inaugurated to estabUsh a point standing program f or the Tijuana track whi ch wtll terminate near the end of the year, at which time the rider with the highest number of points wtll be pr esented with a pair of air tickets , r ound tri p, to the beautiful r esort city of La Paz, as well as 3 days accommodations In a l uxury hotel. other valuable awards wtll be awarded to runn ers- up. Motorcy cle racing ts a very popular spectator sport In Mexico and promoterracer !ribe expects adequate returns f rom admissi ons to r epay the more than $20,000 which bas been Inve sted In the fine new plant which Includes modern r est r ooms and shower s for riders who wish to clean UP after a dusty afternoon on the track. Beer, tacos and sof tdrinks are sold In concessions under the grandstand but no alcoholic beverage may be carried Into the pit area nor will a cyclist be permitted on the track without f tl1l helmet protection. Clubs Invited Senor !ribe Invites motorcycle clubs f r om anywhere, who would like to make arrangements for their club to sponsor a meet, to contact him for further dts.cusston, He can be reached at: Carlos lribe, P .O. Box 2579, San Ysidro, Calif. Write to him i n English as he is compl etel y bi-llngual. In this writer'soplnton the Autodromo de Ti juana bas expended every effort to build a racing plant with pr of essionaltype tacllities that wtll attract a multitude of fans, and where every effort i s made to please the riders and cater to their whims. Without exception, everyone who partic1pated In the open!nlr of the speedway, plans on returning for the next event. '!be feeling was unanimous that the r iders never had it so goodl (Results on page 16) -L NG BEACH O HO OA fll.N SALES SERVICE AND SPORTS RACING HAVE YOUR MACHINE TUNED BY JOHN RICE #1 in Distri ct :37 Sc r amb l e " HONDA BSA HODAKA 4 convenient loc ati ons 5105 AUanli c Lon g Beaell 423-1433 11747 Eo Carson Lakewood 860-1354 1760 Lon g Beach L ong Beach 591-1301 4328 Eo Anahei m L ong Beach 439·0943 SAGE HOPPERS MOTO.CR05S AUGUST «11 100cc NOVIC E #2 NATI ONAL RACEWAY S HORT T RACK AUGUST ·2nd 100 NOVICE 1 st TERRY HENRY - MIS t st MIK E RUNYARD - MI S 3rd T IM CULVE R MIB (WI NNER OF 2 MOTOS) 100cc NOVICE #3 CYCL ELAND SHORT TRACK AUGUST 3rd :O Occ MAIN 1s t W L TON BURRIS MI B A 1 s t KEN RUNY ARD - MI B (WI NNER OF 3 MOTOS ) 2nd BlLL STRANGE MIS MB SPORTCYCLES ·311 E. AL EXANDER AVE.• TACOMA. WASHINGTON 98421 ~ ~ a> "" :u 'il Cl> j -, ~ !oJ Z !oJ ,.J ~ U

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