Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Cycle News 1968 09 26

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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SKINNING THE SPEEDWAY TIGERS San Fernando Valley Red Devils took the hanor s t.hl s time out over the L os Ange'es T i gers. Dev,l Don Hawle y showed top-notch team tacti cs, here hol d back Paul Conse" lere while lelli ng teammate John Hatel ey make up ti me. By John A. Grout PACOIMA, Cal., Aug. 31 - The big, brutal and fearsome Los Angeles Tigers got de-pelted at the Whlternan Speedway jungle las t Saturday night, as team r ae Ing entered Its second week of whip, sli de and snap compe tition. The San Fernando Valley Red Riding Devils , aft er having been thoroughiy humilated at the paws of this same beast the week before, did a complete turnabout, and actually collected not one - but eight plump tige r skins! And, here's how they did It. The firs t hea t ,of the evening rolled out under the bright lights , and we s aw the L,A. team ' of Ja ck 0' Br ien and Steve Scott who were being oppos ed by the San Fer nando twosome of sliding Jim my Nicholson and Elliott " The Snake" Schultz. Now obviousl y, this could have been a Main Event at any track In this country; and the crowd of 3500 fans wer e cheer ing from the Ini tial gong r lngl Taki ng the lead off the first tur n, 0' Brien was really pour ing the coals to his very swift Es o- Jawa, and It looked for all the world like the point leader was on his way to another repetitious win streak. However, after getting off the line a little on the " slow slide," Nicholson got the traction for which' he had been looking. And, In a wow- Induci ng, spark-scraping drive through the east turn, we had a new leader: Nicholsonl And here Is where the spectators really sat up and began to take notice of the whole situation. The L.A. Tigers wer e beatable. And In that opening heat, they were beaten by Jimmy Nicholson. The time - Nicholson's slowes t win of the evening - 1:00.201 Nicholson Record-Buster You mean he got faster? Yeah, he didl Because all the rest of his heats were run In 59 seconds or faster. Take, for Instance, the fifth event of the night. On the line, were Paul Conserriere and Chuck Jones tor the L,A. team, while opposing thes e two r iders, for the Valley Red Devils , wer e, once again, Schultz and Nicholson. While going Into the fir s t turn, Jones got all tangled up and sideways at just about the wrong moment, going down In a tremendous cloud of r ider , machine and dus t. But, emerging from that tur n - here comes Nichols on••. again! Wowee, and did he come! Jimmy took the lead, proceeding to br eak both the one- lap and four- lap records, while turn ing back Conserrlere In the astounding time of 57.84! J im Nichol son ( Eso) won all l our Red Devil team races he was In, broke both the on..lap and l our-lap W eman track records. hit And L.A. made a comeback with five big points . While,In the six th event, DeW ayne " Skeeter " Keeter and Br uce Haserot scored a sweep for the Valley team once again . When we got to the 7th r ace of the night, 0' Brien got a hold of the field composed of Hateley, Hawley and Steve Scott; and altho ugh It was a narrow win, 0 ' Brien bopped young Hateley r lghl out of the win. Conser rlere beat the r apidly Improving Rick Woods In the 8th heat of the night, and Nicholson coll ec ted his third win of the evening In turning back his tea mmate, Elliott Schultz, in the ninth event, after this race had to be r estarted when the two L.A. members, Carter an d Morley, took a spectacular dump In the first turn! Hawley's Team Technique In the 11th team race of this last Saturday, we witnes sed what will undoubtedly be one of the fines t r aces of this or any other year. Ready for the start wer e Hawley, Hateley, Conserrlere and Chuck " The Pr ofes sor" Jones . Getting Into the first turn, first, was Don Hawley , while directly s craping his rear tire was the L,A, team of Conser rlere andJones. Young Hateley was trailing at this point. But here It came again - real team raeIng! Because Hawley started to drop back, attempting to slow the L,A. r iders so that Hateley could begi n closing the gap, The crowd was on their feet, wildly cheering, as Hawley blocked the drive of Conserrlere, allowing Hateley to sne ak Into a second at the finish . The 12th race was won by Sonny Nutter , racing for the Valley Team. And, In the 13th heat, Hawley turned the tables on Nutter, getti ng a good win In the time of 1:03.61. In the 14th go-around, the nightcap for the teams , It was N1cbols on - sweeping every r ace that he was in as he beat Morl ey and Scott In the time of 59:81. The final team s cor es: San Fe r nando Valley Red Devils, 48; L.A. Tigers, 36. In the Mai n Event, for non- team member s , It was Eddie Mulder turning back Ron Mill er and Dave Aldana, who was making his first start on a speedway bike. Final result for outstanding r ider of the evenin g: " And here comes Nicholson•••!" And I'm certain that this writer ' s voice will never be quite the same again. Oh well, that's the end result of a hell of a night of raclngl (Results on page 16) Exuberant trophy gi rl rewards winning Valley team members at evening's end. Bruce Haserot collects his kiss, J im Nicholson sips a coke.DeWayne Keeter smil ingly waltshls turn. But' walt. We may have gotten a little premature. Because the t hl r d heat brought to the starting line John Hateley and Don Hawley for the Valley Team. On the opposite side of the fence , for the L.A. Tigers, were Johnny " Wheelie" Car ter and, from this night on, Stu " Wheelie" Mor'ley. Hey, how come two " wheelies" in one race ?? Well , It probably wasn't too easy, 1 would Imagine Stu would tell you; but, It seems like he socked his clutch home when he should have been still burping his bike. The result: A fast twenty-yard dash of the man behind his machine I Cons equently, Johnny Carter having puile d this same stunt down the back chute a few weeks back, we do now have two " wheelies" at the same track. But, on with the r ac e. Young John Hatel ey took the win fr om his team mate, Don Hawley. And In this r ace, you pr obably would have had your first oppor tunity to see jus t what team racing Is all about as Hawley continually blocked the la te-lap dr ives of Carter. Result: the Red Devils placed five big points on the S.T.P , scoring board. In the 4th event, 0' Brien took the win away from his tea mmate , Steve Bast. L.A. riders John Carter and Stu Morley crashed spectacularly In one race, were both able make It back to the line lor the restart. lumpin' at E ugene Oregon EUGENE, o r e., Aug. 12 - Thirty-Two spo r ts man riders tur ned out for Sunday's races and put on one of the best shows to date . In the 100cc class the firs t heat was won by Jerry DeWitt of Junction City ahead of Tony Nova, and the second heat went to Perry Quiring with Tom Gilkison in for second. The Trophy Dash was taken by Tony Nova with Gilkison second. The B-Maln found Bob Kutz besting Bud Har ris and Dale Tucker. TheA -MaIn was all Tom Gilkison" with Jerry DeWitt second and Bob Kutz third . The first 200cc class heat went to Tommy Francisco with Forest Hiner second and John Watkins beat Ron Watkins In the second. Watk'ns took the Trophy Dash with Francisco second . The B-Maln was won by Bruce Reeves; Don Hamblin finished second, Skip Worthington third. Ron Watkins came back to win the A-MaIn ahead of Tom Francisco and John Watkins third. to went to Doug Hamblin. The Open Class machines also ran as a moto-cross with Ron Wyman taking first, Don McShane second and Robert Leac h third. The Trophy Dash was won by Wyman. The Wheel Walking contest went to Bob Leach, who has nowwon three weeks In a r ow. In the Sweepstakes race, Randy Scott bested Do1.l$ Hamblin by about half a lap , The Powder Puff Moto-Cross went to Kay Brys on with Ellen Denny In for s econd and Sue Kutz In thi r d. Motorc ycle racing conti nues every Sunday at Balboa Park where the gates open at 4 p.m, and r actng starts at 7:00 p.m, Mota-Cross Style The 250 bikes were run as a motocr oss with Randy Scott winding up in first place, Doug Hamblin In second and Don McShane In third. The Trophy Dash "CANr YOU /lUSTL£ 111' h" £'!T LI S ? A B IT; I 'YE GOT TO GET /MC< 7tJ 7?V' ,PA£J R:iR -1/1 APOLtD S'ltt7r./~

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