Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Cycle News 1968 09 12

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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THE MOTORCYCLE ENTHUgAST'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FEATURING: 25-Lap TT National Championship Coachella Valley European Scrambles Au stin Road VOLUME V NUMBER 33 Slptember 12, 19&8 R ST 25C aceWE Saddleback Mota-Cro ss Two Cl ass A Speedway Events Carlsbad Mow-Cro ss Scramblin ' Around The Country .. LINCOLN , Nebraska, Aug. 11 California riders dom inated the first National TT ever to be held at Lincoln in an event that saw the west coast riders win everything from fast time honors to fast heat honors before running away in both -the Expert National final and the Amateur feature. Gene " T i ger" Romero won his first National race and Skip Van L eeuwen l ost his first National TT of the year . Romero, th e third-year Exper t who missed mo st of last seas on, held off repeate d late lap bids by Dusty Coppage to gr ab top National honors fo r the firsI time. All wer e on Tri umphs . Romero's First National Win it was one of the closest National finIshes thi s year wi th Dusty l es s than two bike l ength s back at the finish of the 25lap r ace on th e Short, bumpy course that was built In and around a third- mlle oval. Vari r Leeuwen took top time trial honors but fi ni shed fo urth In the heat race and had to wor k his way to the final via th e semi where he ran second behind Gary N ixon. The semi was an all National Number ed lineup, save fo r Ron Hoppe from Washingto n state. Jimmy Odom , who has been plagued wi th mec hanical troubles all season, got going l ong enough to win his heat wi th the fastest eight laps of th e day, topping heat win times turned In by Dick Mann and Chuc k Palmgren. . Odom again ran In to hi s usual luck In the final. He r an a close third the earl y laps but then th e engi ne soured and Ji mmy made two pi t stops befo re the race was concluded . ABOVE RIGHT: Triumph-mounted Mark Brelsford (47y) looks slidy as he powers to third place finish in the 15-lap Amateur final at Lincoln behind winner Jim Rice and mnnemp Bruce Anderson. ABOVE LEFT: CalifomiaTriumph aces Dusty Coppage (32) and Gene Romero (20) battled it out for thirteen laps of the Lincoln, Nebraska 25-Lap AMA National Championship TT race before Romero managed to get by and go for his first-ever National win, in front of packed gra ndstands. BELOW RIGHT: First non-Triumph finisher in the Expert final was San Diego's Cal Rayborn, Harley-Davidson ace who is better known forhis prowess on the pavement butis prOVing his all-around abilities BELOW LEFT: Californians swept and still maintains second place in National point standings behind the field in Amateur as well as ExGary Nixon. Nixon took fourth at Lincoln, Rayborn fifth. pert events. Here's #80y Jim Rice (BSA) chalking up his third-in-a-row TT win in National competition. Coppage Early Leader Coppage Jumped In to th e l ead at the start of th e f i nal wi th Di ck Mann r i ght behind. Mann th en dropped out of the event on lap five and Rome r o, who was fifth In th e early laps, moved In to second. Dusty held th e Tiger for thir teen laps before giving way, Van L eeuwen climbed to third from the back r ow at the end of ni ne laps and the three way scr ap was on. Skip was never quite close enough to r eall y be a threat and It was a seesaw duel between Romero and Coppage r i ght down to the che ckered flag. Gary Nixon (Triumph) and Cal Ray born (Harley-Davidson) waged thei r own pri vate battle f or a hi gh . finish and the National poi nt l ead. Th e two ran together f r om start to fini sh wi th Rayborn always l ooking fo r th e mi stake that never ca me. (Continued on page 8) S0806 '!!UJDJ!I!:J 'q:l!ag 2UD, pJ!UlnDg q:lug 2UD, qlJDN LU 9 SM)N )lJ!J

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