Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

FIRST PRO RACE AT PLACERVILLE SURF'S UP AT BON EVILLE Two hundred and nine pre-entries for the Bonneville National Speed Trials, hung five and were wiped out. Early arrivals trailered into Wendover, Utah·Nevada on Augus t 17, with little expectation of the disaster that was fleeting about in the form of grey wi spy clouds. For the majori ty of previous days in the month of August, storms of wind, hail an d r ai n had called on Wendover as frequen tly as the Gr eyhound bus, But, enthus iasm's exuberent warmth dim inished nature's calling card Into a saturated cloud cover of nothingness . Racers were sure all systems would be go, beginning tomorrow , It was a s oon-known fact that !he S.C.T .A. had been prevented from laying down cables, the long black line, eic., and on Sunday !he 18th of August, pr os pects for drying out and preparing the surfac e looked good. As a result ma chines were Inspecte d by the A.M.A. of!1ciais in a local Wendover parking lot 10 expedite the necessities tha t prelude a week' s r unning for wor ld's speed records . What an eager group, these racers! J us t a short dis tance out on the west side of town Is an old s tretch of h1gbway that "'"3.5 condem ned when the new h1gbway was comple ted . Ah, but the highway engineers didn 't appreclate the gusto and need of tranquility in men with a seed of speed in thei r body. Unusable HELLI A perfect spot of straight line travel that would suffice In what the salt had not provided, a place for tuning a t speed. A migration took place from Wendover's city proper, le d by one of the outstanding single-engine s treamli ner s . I must here state tha t the owners wer e not aware of their role as the Pied Piper , but soon a Bonnev11le national program was being run on asphalt. All s ee med well, until one twin-engine Kawasaki wiped out at a speed in excess of one hundred miles per hour, the rider was dumped ungraciously on his ka zoo an d the mac hine was crudely s treamlin ed on one side by r emoving the protruding carburetors , Afte r that dis play of ingenuity, the mass es moved back 10 Wendover In an ticipation of be tter sense and condi tions on the salt fla ts for tomo rrow. Alas, nature showed her calm temperament of Sunday as nothing but a ruse, an d let loose with the full fury of a low pr essure area Monday nigh t an d morning. Not a chan ce for r acing today, maybe tomorrow and as the days progressed, lomor row- - -lomorro- - -lom- - -to- - - - -. The only speed r ec orded in five days of waiting, was the dra1n1ng of cocktail glasses and the galloping of cards, dice an d one-armed bandits, with many hours of bench r acing and socializing thro!" in . timing associati on are total vol unteers ; there are absolutely no wages involved. Use of the Bonneville Salt Flat fac lllti es are free of cost, even you or I can obtain the use by filing for a reservation. The only stipulation Is that you pr ovide an am bulance service. So what co uld justify the money r etained by the S.C.T A.? With just a mere s craping of the surface it was easy to find wher e the cos t to S.C.T.A. had developed . Re me mber, this ts a non- profit or ganiza tion an d s ubs equently non-profit. Did you see the beautlful 4O- page program for 1968 that could be use d only this once and ye t must be paid for ? I saw it, but neve r for a moment considered the cos t. Howabou t advance publicity, paper work an d those li ttle blue and white decals dated with the year 1968 an d now pasted on many windshields? The re must be some pretty Involved statistics on the cos t Involved In that little bit of paper an d glue alone! As I said, " Just a mere s craping of the surface." The entry that pai d a f ee did so because he was not capable of setting up the facll1t1es, InclUding adver tisement, and even though no actual r ecor d • runs took place, he mus t help foot the bll1. Now relax, there Is more news hum ming on the wir e . One Individual , long associated with the S.C. T.A., is making eve ry pos s ible effort to reschedule Bonnev11le 1968 for early October of this year . l! Mr . Flanders an d 'some of our motorcycle dislrlbutors wlll coope r ate, we may yet witness the ac tual running of Bonneville' s 20th Annual Speed Trials . It. may .be a long way 10 Wendover , but It' s a lot further In time an d space, 10 1969. Bonneville Machines Many ot the en tries were re- runs of 1967 and some of the first-timers had provided advance notice so that we knew what 10 expect. Some real surprises were ye t in store, though, such as Dennis Manning's and Don Blessing's 500cc streamlined Suzuki which made Its tralle red debut. Beautiful, and would you believe 25 total pounds ot framework? Streamliners are runnIng otf the garage fl oor s li ke production work . Scott Laurence of Detroit, Michigan entered a 650cc Kawasaki fue l-burning streamliner . Richard Vesco put full coverage on a 98cc Brtdgestona and we had the r egulars like Monroe, Ric hards and Leppan, Over Before It Starts One entry really goIng for broke (or Thursday, ' August 23 'the S.C .TA. hr eak) was Gary Blesslngham ofMinneacalled a' meeting a t 10 a .m ;.to 'dec lde i f polls, Minn. Gary , was ,r unning for an furTher ' WaIting for Improved salt condi open r ecord on a s upercharged an d t uel tlons ' would be wor thwhil e, an d finally burning 1394cc Harley- Davidso n. Gary 'voted 10 call it quits for 1968. Many of also could take pride In having the only the entrie s had already left for home on blown ma chine . pre-entered for 1968. Now that there are s eparate classes - previous days and the S.C.T .A. decis Ion came as no surpris e , but w:isconsldered - for -thos e buriling tuel and the' tiinid gas - a mere formality. By Thursday p .m.; consumers, It Was possible to count the most of the racers an d mach1nes had entrtes and find 24 on alcohol or better , spread towards home 11ke mer cury spllland the r e mai ning 33 running pump gas. ed on a glass table top, Inter esting to note that only one b1kebeWell and.igood, but the return trips '" low 450cc was a fuel-bur~er, and I] was were not travel ed in sullen sil ence as the Dean and Jack Lowe 97cc Honda. ~ tha t which us ually accompanies defeated The Jim Enz MemC!rlal Trophy,.proracers, but rather with ver y .vehemen t . - vlded by Cycle News an d Lions Drag complaints that are uswilly produced by Strip was lett on disp lay at the State s omeone fl eeCed by a gypo artist. Line . Hotel and wlll be awarded a t , the F ifty- seven motorcycle pre-entrtes next Bonneville Speed Trials, be It _ and a few post-entries had paid a set - 1968 or 1969. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -thi rty-dollar e ntry fee for s ix days of r ecor d attempts and receIved nothing in ·THE PART I LIKE BEST IS return . By all appearances someonewas pocke ting the 1,700 dollars pl us , and WHERE I GET CYCLE NEWS fleeing for parts unknown. EVERY WEEK." Notice I said, .. By all app earances." Even 1 drew a hasty concl usion based on known facts of the evil weather and the prevention of S.C.T.A. to take anyaction OCEANSIDE CYCLERY in providing a race pr ogram , I only 216 VIA DEL MONTE looked at the surface, where timing OCEANSIDE , CALIFORN IA s tan ds , cables, the black line and grading (714) 722-0836 had not been set up, and decided tha t there was no cos t Involved 10 the governPENTON - BRIDGESTONE Ing association. All wor ker s for the HUSQVARNA 00 se 0> .... By Pattie P restic!l;~_ ., PLACERVILLE, Cal., Aug•. 17,- "Good evening and welcome to El Dorado County Fairgrounds.. ... The announcer went on 10 tell the crowd what they could expec t, but no one could bave said what fast acti on we were in store for. This was the- firs t professional race hel d at the 1/ 4 mile P lacervllle fai r gro unds track, made of a clay composi ti on that s tarted to break up by· the first heat race , ;; -:-Action was the key word In pr actice, sending one r ider, #41:'.'Ga r y Wlllls, to the hospi tal with posslble ·inj urles. Fastest qualifier to the pole in the fi r s t heat was H190z Phi l Hinld r Stockton r iding a Cycle Haven Suzuki. I He got off the groove an d went down, the Win going 10 H101y Harry Dring of Oakland r iding a Yamaha. The second heat brought back a fa miliar fac e, #88z Ralph Waldman r eturning from the armed forces . Ralph r ode a Suzuki, taking the lead on lap one an d winning it after 6 circuits. The r eal shocker was H152z Rober t Morgan of San Leandro on a Bultaeo, mixing It up with Waldman and H46z M1ke Yar n (who wa s Mr . Indoor of ' 67). Coming in for lap one Robe r t was in s ec ond place with Yarn on his fender. As the y r ounded corner #4 for lap 3 Robe r t went high and Yar n got thr ough. It's grea t 10 see a Novice s tand up to an Exper t. Qj ••• fr o m $49.95 I U· 8 u i' d' u m K,t l 5. . .,.., Model. - Ho" e S J 89.501 Se ttd 2~ latest itrfor· ma rio " a "d free Deco l. r3 0 - pog. Catal09 - SJ , lit ~ ~F1 ';/ ;;' 1 . imichrome Slmlchrom. Is I hon'J Clea ns quick as a bunnJ ( OMPETITION CHEMICALS 704 Washinclon Av••, Iowa FIlls lowl /l uI/aka \ l ll l llr< ·~"(" I .. ", Greeves K awa sak i MUlllesa W estrninis ter Sport Cycle GIlY R. L uuis (71 4) 893-7057 757 4 Westm inister Ave. Westm inster, Cal. SUZUKI MAKES IT ... SO MAKE IT SUZUKI " ....••..••..•....••....... : Shell Thuer • : SHELL MOTORS: : HODAKA : • • • 3365 Cenlurv Blvd. - Lvn wood - NE 8·4864. ••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••• Check er Crash! As they took the checkered flag the dashers were ,s tlll turned on and H!Jlkle went down with Ralph Waldman and :i'lck Theroux joining him. When the riders stood up there were only two macnines visIble. Ralph Waldman's had gone over the wall! .Hinkle received the trop hy fro m the Maid of El Dor ado County . • Steve Bales on a Suzuki took the lead In the B Main Event only 10 have Rus s Powell 00 a Ducati ta ke It on the back "chute, with Lucky Threaway on a Bultaco In 3rd. They took the checkered flag aft er 6 laps . Fi nally, the "A", Main Even t . On la p CAR 'MOUNTEO " one Ha rry Dring took the lead , the 18year~ola Novice ctom Oakland; In 2nd CARRIER'; was Bob Self, 3rd Pa ul Bos trom an d in WRITE: GarNoCo , ,fou r th It was F ayne LiVingston . Self got by Dring but finally in the 6th lap Dring Box 243, Novato, Calif. powered his 250cc DT1 back Into fi r s t _ • place. And·taking - the checkered flag It . .. ', .. was a win 10 Harry Dring. Harry' s bike, CULVER CITY CYCLE CENTER the Yamaha DT1, Is sponsored by Doug 10248 CULVER BLVD. J39-9Ooo Sche rwmer of Cycle Service In HayBUL T ACO- M/ B - MAl CO - R.E. ward. This young man really rues, so look out, 1\1r. Mashbu rn . SPEED (Results a ppeared la st week) TUNINGIS OU R SP ECIALTY Y~MAHA Bllt Maynar's ORANGE CO. CYCLE 205 N. Harbor Blvd. 5anta Ana (714) 53106984 ~ GUy Louis : • NOW! DUNE BUGGY KITS & ACCESSORIES ~ go ~ 1 @UlUONJ I!.' " ." 1101 2276 alhambra 55. callfoml a 91103 """M Shines Suddenly "---"_ Hansen/Kawasaki Combo The announc er had said to watch H124z Davey Hansen on a Cancilla Kawasaki . Off the lin e Into first corner Davey took the le ad and his maste rful Kawasald hel d the lead to win an d al so taking the fastest of the heats so far. Taking the lead in hea t 5 was #22y Bobby Self r iding a Lankins Suzuki . Pa ul Bos trom got in and Bobby took a second with H156y Frank Glllesple in 3rd. As the program progressed from heats to semis, the first was really something else! Two lop Novice r acers were really battling, Davey Hansen with Harry Dring on a Yamaha In second just working 10 take the lead. As they came down the back chu te on lap 5, Davey's bike seized and he pulled into the pi ts . Semi 3 brought another mishap . Expert #2Oy Lloyd Houchins r iding his Kanemolo Sonic Suzuki took the lead until lap 6 when H104y Nick Theroux on a Honda managed 10 get his machine pitched low enough coming out of the corner to take the lead. On lap 7 Houchin s pulled into the pits and parked his bike. That was all she wrote. A ne w bike had been pushed too hard. With the announcer calling for the Trophy Dash, Davey Hansen was pretty upset that his bike wasn 't running, as he'd qualified for the Dash. But when Phil Hinkle came off the line you could tell there was no stopping the fastest timer . '0# 0.,., ..Q

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