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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125575
PEORIA rr (Continued from page 1) _ _ .. .-.~ 1 the points race, showed considerable TT Impr ovement. Cal has been developing his latent flattrack skills lately, too, in an ettort to match Gary on the dirt. Rayborn won the short track featur e at nearby Spr1Dg11eld the night before the TT, against highly experienced competition. So It appears that Nixon will have to call upon all his expertise In the half -a -oozen Na tionals left in the season If he Is to keep his er ectile Number One out fr ont. Tremendous Turnout Amaleur #57 m Danny Ware from La wton, Okla . won hi s hea t, ran second 10 Ca lifo rnia' s Mark Bre lsford In Ihe 10·lap fin al. Alter the rain-out of Santa Fe Speedway' s Short Track Na tional the Friday before, every body was race-hungry for Peoria. We es timated 15 to 20,000 spectators sweltering around the course, which one r acer described as " a halfmile with a bump in it." True, ther e was an absence of right- hand turns in the Peoria cours e , but It was a tric ky test of T T tal ent nevertheless . The jump had to be taken while turning left, and the 4th corner threw more than one TT-er for a loop. California's spectacular Amateur Jim Rice got off there in the final without s erious damage, but had to be helped to the pi ts, Mark Brelsford ran away with the Amateur show on his Triumph from San Br uno, Calif. Another heat winner .besides Brelsford was J im Jones, part of a 4- man racing contlngentfrom Washington state wholooked very good on his BSA. Wow Dan Huby , looke d ,ood trav ersln, lhe ! Peoria cours e by lea ps and boun ds, but failed to lather any poin ts. tightly and then there was a long gap to the leaders. in 20 laps it was history. Bart Markel had won another National Championship, his 23rd, very clos e to Joe Leonard's alltime win record of 27 for the sport. Nixon widened the points gap and the Peor ia M.C. closed the book on another wonderful chapte r of racing. Crossed f1a,s,and #4 Bart Markel has reached th e ha lfway point to 23rd National Champion· s hip vldory. The last word, however, belonged to The Almighty. As 'soon as the checkered flag flew , the cloudS echoed with lightning and the heavenly water wagon dump. ed about a m1lllon gallons on the fleeing r a cefans, ending the weekend In soggy confus ion. (Results on page 20) Markel, Mann Mix n Up A soli d fourlh place finish In the 20-lap TT Nati onal wenllo illinois Expert #43 J 1m Corpe. Bart Markel, Dick Mann, Sonny Burres and .Jim Corpe were the super-rapid stars of the weekend's 22nd annual Peoria National Championship TT , held In hot, muggy weather In the heart of Illinois. But Nixon's sixth place f1n1sh was viewed with almost as much excitem ent by knowledgeable members of the crowd as the thrilllng Mann-Markel duel. Gary gained a few more points than his road race rival Cal Rayborn who came in 8th, and both men, currently 1st and 2nd in It was the remarkable Mr. Markel who astonished the fans by setting fast ti me in qualifying on a 90OCcHarley- I:avldson. Dick Mann looked likely to repeat his previous year's win for thefirstfewlaps of the final . Mann leaped to the forefront and conducted the race his way until his BSA started missing and Bar t took It away from him. Despite the sour engine, ' Mann made a race out of It and the fans cheered eagerly for their favorite as the BSA and the Har ley s eldom r an more than a length apart for the rest of the . chase . Meanwhile , back In the pac k, Nixon, who started out 9th in a field of 10 was starting to move. He picked off Skip Van Leeuwen. then Fred Nix and Rayborn. But he couldn't catch Dallas BaKer, and It was a long way from I:allas to 4th place Cor pe. Corpe and Burres dueled Suzuki makes -t' I • T BY! Klcklnl up the heat race dust, rap tly Intenl Amaleu rs roar Into the fl rs l t urn: Inclu de d here are ev enlual featu re win ner Ma rk Bre lsford (47y), Emerson McCa ll (8lh), Don McClunl (1 2h), Georle Stlrber (50r) and Bil ly Ke nne dy (231). 250 - OP EN PROD UCTIO N 1st T. KELLOWS - SUZUKI TR250 2nd M. NEI BEL - SUZUKI TR250 3rd DON 'EM DE - SUZUKI X6 TT SCRAMBLES - PERRI S, -CAL IF . - AUGUST 25, 1968 100c c EXPERT CLASS 1st DAVID ALDANA - SUZUKI 100cc AMATEU R CLASS 1st DALE HOPKINS - SUZUKI ORANGE CO. SP EE DW AY - AUGUST 21, 1968 100 cc TT MA IN 1st DAVID ALDANA - SUZUKI O UZU KI 2ndJIM RAYM ND ~ S 100 c c TROPHY DASH 1st DAVID ALDANA - SUZU KI U. S. Suzuki Motor Corp. SUZUKI ., 13767 Freeway Drive Santa Fe Sp rings, Calif. ADELANTO TT SCRAMBLES - AUGUST 18, 1968 . 100 c c NOVICE CLASS 1st BILL HARDON - SUZUKI 100cc AMATEU R CLASS 1st DAL.E HOPKINS- S UZU KI