Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

TORRID TIJUANA T TTOURNEY the best date for the majority of riders. Carl os announc ed that at the next race, there would be, in addition to the fr ee beer , a Mexican barbecue compliments of the Autodromo A ssoci ation, Sr . Iribe promised that he will have an adequate crew to r un the next event and exp lained that this is only the second race that his group has sponsor ed and that they are still learning. He thanks Cycle News (or blames us) f or spreading the word around resulting in a crowd greater than their highest expectations. Many of the riders were heard to say that with no point battle goi ng on, they were ahle to relax and j ust race for the fun of i t and we tend to agree with this theory. Fo r an afternoon of f un where the weltare of the r i ders i s the t1rst conce rn, come on down Mexico way . Adios . (Results on page 20) Story and Photos by Bill Harmer r • ~ , . ) r-; C\1 Il.> 01) '" 0... 00 ;.~ - se 0> 0; ... Il.> .Q E Il.> e, Il.> ") ") ~ r.:J =<: r.:J -.J - ! C,) I >.. i C,) Bertha Castro, Mexi can TV personality and fashion m odel. was trophy gi rl. Happy winner of 3 troph i es. ll· year- old Earl Roloff Jr. thinks, · Aw, shucks, I' mhere to rac e,notk lss," Norton ri der Dick Rlb ley (83) here leads Tom Simp son (Tri umph) In combined 500cc/Open Novice cl ass. Two fastest bikes. both were forced to withdraw before IIn lsh. TIJUANA, B .C., Me"., Aug . 18 ..:'TheTT races here had a definite interstate, as well as an i nter national f lavor as motorcycle r iders f r om at least two states and Mexico converged on the A utodromo de Ti j uana in unexpected num bers 'to pit their skills and machines against each other in torrid combat. It was evident at an early hour that Carlos Iribe's staff of bi -lingual Mexican wor kers, although more than willing, were inadequate for the job of handling the more than 150 aspi rants who came to race. The Autodromo Association owes a big vote of thanks to Earl Roloff of the Experts M .C. of San Di ego, who took over utter chaos and whipped the program into an only slightly confusi ng afternoon. Most of the difficulties wer e caused by lack of com m unication between the Mexicans and Americans . No one became angry, j ust f r ustrated. Earl , who has but one arm , was doi ng more, one handed , than any average two peopl e could do, using both hands. He sat in the blazing sun, scoring every heat, until his forehead took on the color of a baboon'S back side, besides keeping his son 's and step-son's 3 cycles operative. Between the two boys they won four trophies. He is really an exceptional man and the Experts M .C. should feel secure with Earl r unning the show on the forthcoming 100 cc Gran Prix. Since the 50cc race is a very popular class in Mexico we were l ooking f orward to a good contest between the pride of M exicali, Oscar L ujan, and the Dehesa dynamo, Earl Roloil Jr. As the bikes lined up for the s tar t i t was noticed that young L ujan was not in the group. A t that time a distinguished Mexican gentleman approached us and told us in pleasan tly acc ented English that his son, Oscar Jr., had been hit by an automobile while ridi ng on the street i n M exica11 and had received a broken leg and severe facial cuts and woul d be unable to race for some time. He gav e me his card which indicated tha t he i s the M exica11 Honda dealer . Roloff Rolls L i ttle Earl Rol off captured the 50Cc races easily on his Yamaha. The 2nd place was cap tured by #17 whom we were unable to identify and third place was sec ured by a boy nam ed Ortega from M exicali. (At this time it might be well to mention that the r egistration cards wi th full nam es and make of bi kes were l ocked i n one car , and the sco r ing sheets,in anoth er, and the only car, that the owner was there, contained only the sc oring sheets . Because of thi s the results are necessarily ske tchy with a great deal left to memory,) Th e 500cc and Open Novice classes wer e c ombi ned and di vided into heats, sem is and Maln Even ts . Tim L eque racing hi s new 360 Bultaco for th e f irst time won his heat race and Di ck Ribl ey on Mike Garrett's Norton too k his heat r ace and things began to l ook like a bang-up Maln Event. Dick Ribl ey of Spring Valley took the l ead off the l in e and held it in f r ont of hard- r i ding Tri umph rider from Culver City Tom Simpson for three la ps when he went out wi th mechan1cal failure allowing Si rnpson to go out in front to Alth ough Ray Vanderp ool did a wheelle for 137 yards standing on the seat, John Sp rague beat him by 3 yards to wi n contest. what appeared to be an easy victory. He rode commandingly unttl he saw the lap indicator register lap five. He retired to the pits, not knowing that the Main Event was scheduled for live mo re laps. Wayne Clarke then fo r ged his Kawasaki into the lead and finished ahead of L arsen on a Triump h and 15- year-ol d Leque riding his new Bultaco. Sprague Soars The Open t;xper t class was completely dem oralized by Triumph-mounted John Sprague of Culver City. He was so contident of vi ctory that he put on a spec tac ular wheelie display for the full length of the grandstan d s traightaway much to the dell g h t of the scream ing Mexican f ans . The fac t that Kawasaki pilot Vic Hannan and Norton-mounte d Jim Harm on finished 2nd and 3rd makes us wonder it perhaps Sprague might hav e had a mo re diffi cult time it the leading San Diego hotshoes, Al Finan. Don Finan, Myr on Carter and Wayne Hosaka had been present. Hosaka showed up but slid into the crash rail during pr actic e, wrecking Garrett' s Gold Star f or the third race in a row. Garrett was not cheered by the remark of a pit crewman who said, .. Well Mike, It you di dn' t have bad l uck, you wouldn't have any luck at all", Th e 250cc Exper t motos wer e a threeway tussle f r om start to finish as Ray Vanderpool and Ward Ri ng battled i t out f or firs t honors with Yam aha-mounted Vanderpool coming out on top and Husqvarna pilot Ri ng, still havi ng traction USED PARTS ALL MAKES 40% TO 60% OFF " YAMAHA DEALER '" SCRAMBLER MOTORCYCLES 1801 W Burbank Bl vd. Burbank, Calif. . 849- 5907 or 845-<1738 Ext. • 7 problems, taking second. John Sprague on a Bultaco gave Vanderpool a good contest i n the thir d m oto but finished third overall. It was lamented by everyone tha t Roy Spi ker of Yuma was not able to return for this event because of ilin ess especially since the l ocal boys are still smarting f rom his last appearance. His sponso r, John Beltran of Yuma Yamaha br ought 5 bikes and 5 riders from Arizona however . L ucky for Ray Vanderpool that he did, too .. Ray 's San Diego sponsor would not permit his mount to be tak en out of the country so Mr. Bel tran loaned him a new DT-I En duro to win wi th . The lOOcc Exper t class was dominated by Ray Vanderpool on his Van Tech Yam aha but he was hotly pressed by Wayne Hosaka on Doug Maloney's Hoda ka, Ji m Harmon captured third on his Yamaha. Eleven-year old Earl Roloff Jr. easily captured t1rst honors in the 100Cc Novice races riding his Yamaha to victory in all three motos, Sal Peluso, on a Yamaha, captured second and Hodaka- mounted Doug Maloney looked good taking third. The 200cc event was won by a boy named Little and Peluso captured second in point s while Roloff rode his 100cc Yamah a to third. During in termission a wheelie contest was held much to the delight of the Mexican fans . John Sprague had the front wheel of his Tri umph off the gr ound for 140 yards and received $15.00 for his eXhibition. Ray Vanderpool. whi l e stan ding on the seat of his Yamaha, kept his front wheel in the air for 137 yar ds r eceived $100 for hi s cr owd pleasin g antics. I I ORANGE CO. CYCLE 205 N. Harbor Blv d, Santa Ana (714) 531-9984 ntentesa MEN WHO Krm WMOTORCYCLE RIDE MONTESA I .1 I ! I I _. I I Bill Nichols of Nichols Honda in Wichita, Kansas, likes Montesa because it i s the best race r and dirt play bike to come across the water yeti Post-Race Beer Bust At the pre -race riders' m eeting Carlos Ir lbe announced that the Mexica11 Brewery had a keg of beer on ice beneath the grandstand for all riders and pit crews which would be tapped alter the last race and a meeting would be held at that time . Needless to say , the meeting was well attended. Th e only business brought up was the date of the next race in T i j uana. It was decided that September 8 would bP I I Y~!~at'sA I , VIV A MO N TESA M O TOR S , IN C . THEEXPERTS S al e U .S . Dis tribut or 3657 Beverly Boulevard Los Angeles. Cabtorma 90004 M .e. 1st ANNUAL SAN DI EG CTY. O 100cc· UTT" GRAND PRIX SEPT. 21/22 1968 POWDER PUFF • NOV. • AM. • EXPERT GALS 25 LAPS NOVICE 45 LAPS AMATEUR 50 LAPS EXPERTS TO LAPS FINALS "rr. ON GRADED & SU RFACED 8/10 MILE COURSE CLASS "C· TRACTION ONLY MESA SPEEDWA Y 100cc ONLY $1.50 MAIL ENTRY PRACTICE 11 A.M. TO 4 P.M. ON SAT. PLENTY OF RIDING $100.00 @TROPHIES THIS IS UtE BIGGEST EVENT EVER FOR THE L1TILE ONES. SIGN UPS DETERMINE STARTING POSITION. ENTRIES CLOSE 9/15/68. M Entries to: EXPERTS M 215 Paden D Spring Valley, Calif. ail .C. r•• :- • j J .' . OJ. .~ ·-1 .1 , .1 J

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