Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

WHITEMAN CLASS ·A: ·TIG R TA~ RED-DEVILS ES By John A. Gro ut PACOIMA, Cal ., Aug. 24 - Once upon a time - actually, Just last Saturday night at Whiteman Stadium - all of the riding Red Devils, conte mplating a happyevenIng of tossing rooster-tails Into the evening air and lock-sliding through the corners of their very own speedway sandbox, got rudely gobbled by the stalking beast! A beast? Yes, and It was a tiger- The L.A. Tiger-and there wasn't Jus t one of them ; there were eight! What happened to create this monster? Well, It was decided to initiate Class A speedway team racing for the first time this week at VVhlteman. Invented by the British a few years In the past the teamtype competition Is compos ed of eight of the quickest throttle jammers that you'll ever find assembled In one loca- The " second event brou ght out Paul Conserrlere and Chuck Jones, riding for the Los Angeles Team. On the Valley Team It was Bruce Haserotand DeWayne Keeter. And, after a restart (both Conserrlere and Keeter going down on the first lap) Jones gained the second win in a row for the L.A. Team . Conserrlere was a strong finishing second, and Keeter got a third after Haserot had slid out on the west turn as they,neared the finish. 'tl Just about the time things were looking 5" very gloomy for the Valley Red Devils, [ Sonny Nutter rolled onto the track;' pro- ~ ceeding to scronch " the devU" out ofthe L.A . Team of John Carter and Stu Morley. The other man in this event, young John Hateley, r iding for the Red Devils, managed a fast closing third. So, S.F .V. picked up four big points. Tony Drake flagged the field into activity , and Morley jumped into the first lap lead - Schultz, Nicholson and Carter so close that they weren't even troubled by his slipstreamI At the end of. the second circuit, It was still the same. But then, the fireworks started. Morley'S bike just stopped cold, and into the lead charged Schultz, with Nicholson scraping the rubber molds of Elliott's rear tire with his for k braces. Then, while diving Into the west turn on the last lap, Nicholson got angry (or whatever the hell It is that he does ) and, with the near muzzleveloct ty of a cannon shot, went charging toward the checker at a fearsome gait! the west corner. But here, he got himselle» very wide for properly coming out of -. corner, and sneaking back on the inside, .. came Woodand Carter. A pleasant bash of a drag was then conducted all the way into the east turn 00 and, somehow, Nicholson got himse1tfree ~ of the other r iders, managing to hold the .... lead - by a narrow margin - all the way oi to the flnlsh line. The crowd was cheer- .... ing for almost a fuli two minutesl The 13th event was won by Nutter , and ~ the final team racing go-around went to s Stu Morley. :il' In the Handicap Final, for the riders '" who were not competing in the team rae- ci: :u ~ "0 U Two Ifaths through the tum: SonnyNutter leads John Carter. Paul Conserrlere takes the low ,roove, Bruce Haserot takes the hlp, as DeWayn. K••t.r looks for a plac. to 10. Thoroughly enjoying hImself , Eddie Mulder wins Handicap Final. Needless to say, Jimmy got the win in the time of 1:01.90, and the Valley Red Devils were proving that they were no " one' s pigeons. But L.A. staged ablgcomebackinwinntng the next two events-O'Brien (again) in the tenth heat, Conserriere in the eleventh. Then, we got to the race of the eveDingl Waiting for the !lag in this one were Carter, Woods, Nicholson and Tim Harris. Into the lead Rick Woods, seeking to repeat his eighth event victory. But, for the sake of the " Riding Red Devils ," don't for get Mr •. Nicholson ; Because, at the beginning of the second lap , ,J1mmy went salling Into the lead kicking at least five tons of rock dust off lng, Eddie Mulder, "The Steady One," returning to speedway sliding after a month -and a half away from this kind of racing, got the win over Ron Miller, Jim Ashmore, Mlke Bast, Harlan Bast, and, tn his first appearance, Geezer Emick. Some final reflections: Bruce Holland and Eddie Wirth both looking very good, but falling to transfer to the final as a result of a little bad luck. Gordie Wll-Itams,' again showing gigantic improvement. And now there are to be three places for the speed merchants to whow their wares - Ascot wlll start Class " A" racing this Friday, Whiteman on Saturday, and Trojan Speedway on Sunday. The sport is truly blossoming• . (Resu lts on page 20) T alSea Breeze -Cooled OOLEB CK P.ARK! ~ ~ - Rick W oods slides under Conserr lere; Haserot moves ulf. tion at one tim e - unless you happen to have two tea ms; then you'll have sixt een slidin' cycle whipper s I And that's what we had for the opening production of this series: eight Los Angeles Tigers against eight San Fe r nando Valley Red Devils. Team Time The team events were launched into orbit fr om the fir s t hea t. For the Tigers, there were Jack 0' Br ien and Steve Scott. The Red Devils sent out the team of Jim Nicholso n and Elliott Schultz. But the Tigers would really be roaring tonight! It was 0' Br ien getting the lead at the start, dici ng a lap or so with Nicholson, Scott and Schultz, flnally to take the win at the end of the whole affair. Finsh: O'Brien (3 points for a win ) Scott (2 points for a second) and saving some face tor the Valley team, Nichols on (1 point for third). The fourth event again saw O'Brien whipping the dust out of the DevUs. In this r ac e, Ja ck took the measure of DeWayne Keeter, Steve Bast and Ti m Harris, as L.A.' s lead began to appear Insurmountable . Then San Fernando Valley really hit the bottom of the well, taki ng a pr etty bad mauling from the Tiger claws -In the next four races. Tiger members scor ing the wins In thes e everits were conser r tere, Carter, O'Brien (again), and Rick Woods . Hot Heats But in the ninth heat, the Red Devils began to click again ••.and, boy, did they! Walting on the starting line for the flag , were Carter and Mor ley riding for L.A., on the other side of the line, r eady to race for "dear old S.F .V." wer e Nicholson and Schultz. Ride the' Twilight Special ...4 to 7:30' p.m. da ily, only S admission . 1. SADDLEBACI PARI is freeway-close: Take Newport Freeway to Chapman Ave., go East on Chapman 10 Santiago Canyon Road, tum right to Saddleback Park Road, opposite the fire station. open every day, 8 a.m. 10 1:30 p.m. SADDLEBACI PARI Special frents: september 8 - Mini-Bike Co~etilion (classes from 6 years of age up, also 1 h.p. and above) SADDLfBACK PARK OFFERS 100 acres of riding area and race excitement. (Watch thl s space for news of those good things that happen at Saddleback Park. Planning an event of your own? Hold i t at Saddleback Park. Wri t e V ic Wil son, Saddleback Park, Box 2455, Orange, Calif. 92667, for details.)

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