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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O AfMROAD IR'DGESTOIIE A SUZU CITY KI RACERS CHR'STEII 175 RACEI · $599. 1125 50. LA BREA, INGLEWOOD (213) 674-1431 . ~ . ~~E IIEW ORAIIGE CO. • FOR FAST SERVICE WHEN ANSWERING WANT ADS . .·SAY YOU SAW IT IN CYCLE NEWS S '" o '"T'L RACEWA Y COURSE ~ ~***************~ ~ { THE TWO-WHEELER ~ ~ :5 t SUZUKI ~ (0 ~,,~ Ready for l/IIl1ediate D ivery! i el U (086 7 W. Co llon Avo. San Bernardino. Ca ll1.t (0 i (714) 885-3445 ~****************** SALES SERVICE HOCKIES MOTORCYCLES HODAKA YAoNs~IE GREEVES Complele Ml chlne Shop Flcil ities 22025 So. Fig ueroa To rrance, Cal ifornia . (213) 328-1242 By Tom F inlay Photos by Len Fallscheer ORANGE CO., cai., Sept. l -AhotLabor Day weekend sun greeted the largest road r ace In terms of participants that the AFM has had In 1968, wbilearatherdisappointi ng crowd of just over 1,000 watched all of the action. And action there was, The re were 176 entries , so each race provided a full trac k of action. U you are a r oad r acing fan, and would . like to see some really close racing between s ome of the nation's best pavement r ider s , then don't fall to attend the next outing at ocm on October 6. Opener The flrst event was the usual 50cc and Lightwe ight Production combined race, P ro Events · and a class battle shaped up between the defending 50cc champ, To m CLeghorn. an d challenger Don DIerking. DIerking and Cleghorn, both r iding elght- speed Hondas, had a battle In the opening laps, with Dierking pulllng out a slight lead. Dierking got tangled up with a slower r ide r he was lapping, much like what happened to Bart Markel at Indy last month, and there was nowhere to go but down . Cleghorn's win puts him at the top of the points table with 40. followed by DIerking with 32. The next few events (ther e are four AFM National Point ROBd Rac es lett tbls season) s hould spell the d1tterence. The 100 production race was cla1med by Mike Velasco (Brldgestone), followed by the Yamaha of Kelly Evans. The 200 went to perennial winner Rodger Wood ( Brldge s tone) . Next off was the Heavywelgbt Production race, with quite a full Firs t dollar event to li ght ott was the 100-125-175. and the 100 went, as expected, to Dave Scott (Yamaha) followed by the Hodaka of Mike Lane. The 125 class was captured by Pete Glordanengo. who stretched bis lead In this class to 72 points . Reg Pridmore was leading the class, and overall on the PR Bultaeo, when a mechanical fallure (Itke a stuck piston) put Reg on bis ear . This let John Grubb Into second followed by the new Yamaha 125 of Steve Froschauer . First overall and 175 went to Ken Greene on a Brldgestone powered Tohatsu (Bridgesu? Tohatstone?). This Is also a Power Research macb1n e so tbls saved the day for them. In second. and making a serious bid to capture the class, was 1966 175 champ Ral LeClercq (Ducati). The 250 GP was a real crowdthr1lier. as 32 15-1nchers llned up for the MaIn . Heat winner Jody Nicholas lit off and nalled down an early lead. The expected baWe between Jody and Art Baumann tl zzled when Art's r ide seiZed In practice. Holding down second, and gaining a measure of revenge on Mike Lane, was David Scott. Lane, in third, was on a Yamaha. as were Scott and Nicholas. Fourth went to Don Emde, after a racelong scrap with Steve McLaughlIn (Yamaha). Emde's Suzuki was the only brand other than Yamaha in the top six. Round Ing out the point w1rmers was Joe Hamilton (Yamaha) . NEW I CAR MOUN TED CA RRIER WRITE: GaIHoCt Box 243, N ovato, Calif. SALES·SERVia PARTS. IN"-"') BSAW Sidecar Scrap RONIIIE HALL FLIES ON A BENELLI FOR DEALER IN FORMATION SELECTED AREAS field . Assuming the lead was Triumph rider Roland Pagan, who held on to the overall win as well as wlnnlng Open Production, Second In this class was tlrst timer Manny Garcia, also Trfumphmounted. First 500 honors went to Honda and DIck KUgroe. followed by that Velo fellow Frank Ambrosi. Jerry Greene surprised no one by bagging the 350 class with bis Brldgestone, giving the Japanese make a win in three of the six production classes . Following Greene were the two Hondas of Jimmy Chen and Dave Allee . Down from San Francisco to capture fourth was Jim Keys. First 250 honor s went to Reg P r idmor e and the same Kawasald that captured the AFM Na tional Production Champlon sbip class honors a t Vacaville on July 4. Fo llowing Pridmore came Walt Garnett (Suzuki) and Ji m Rand olph (Suzuki) . P rodllc tlon winner Rola nd P.,. lid the 1000cc ri ce unll ho re tl re d with on&lno WDeL IN Write: Jesse C Levine National Sales . Manager COSMOPOLITANI.IJTORS, INC •. OepL A., 5521Wayne Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 1 9144 I F ollowing the 250 was an elght-lapper (16 miles) for Sidecars. The lead was grab bed by the team of Reg· P ridmor e and Ernle Caesar, hotly chased by Doug Bingham and Ed Wade. Pridmor e de.veloped gremlins and Bingham developed a desire to win . and so It went. In second was the 350 Yamaha powered outfit of Oswald Auer and Bob Cummings. The final saw the Daytonarunnerupand near indy winner 350 Yamaha an the pole ridden by Art Baumann. His reputation preceded bim but nothing else did as he led the entire 30 mUes for an unhurried win. Holding a strong second for a wblle was Jack Simmons (Norton), but his chances died with an engine problem. Second overall and secODd 350 was the BridgestoDe of Don Vesco. A real scrap for flrs t 500 honors too k place between Reg Pridmore and Tooy Murphy, boIhon Manx Nortooa, and Murphy mJ5ca1culated the Grandstand corner in try1.og to pUS Pridmore and unlOBded. Murphy's Norton became tile unwllllng target of Ed Ford, wbo catIpulted across tile track specta cularly. This m1sbap mOYlld Dave Allee and his Honda into secood. followed by Dick KUgroe, also Honda mounted. A big surpr1ae came wben product1oo w1Jmer Roland Papn snuck his 650 Trlumpb Into tile lead 11 tile 1000cc Class, but be too suffered somesortcifmeeban1caltallure. allowing George Kerker to take over. This reversed tile form of the production event when Kerker was closing on Pagan only to lose It coming out of turn 6. Buzz Buzzelli broug ht bis BSA Into second. Coming Events R'DE IROIICCO THE MIGHTY BIKE BRONCCO MINI-CYCLES &ACCESSORIES CULVER CITY CYCLE CENTER 10248 CULVER BLVD. 839·9000 BULTACO- MIS - MAICO - R.E. ENGINE SPEC IALT IES, INC. P.O. Box 600 BELMO NT, CAL. 94007 TTENTION DEP T. LS IIIJI~-ESI - ElS t P.O. Boit 260 . Cornwells He l,hts, P I, 19020 DEAL ERS·WANTED· ALSO GARELLI CYCLES& PARTS NOWAVA IL· ABLE FROM ENGINE SPECIAL TI ES, INC. ~PEED TlJN ING IS OUR SPECIA LTV Sidecar tOlm 01 Dou, 8In ....1II (dr lvor'lnd Ed WI. ( p"Mn,er) IIIlde olf willi 11I0 COld In lIIe sldoclr division alter a hot blttle willi Re , Pridmore Ind Ernie C....r. U511:1J PARTS ALL MAKES 40~ TO 60% OFF I DUNE BUGGY KITS & ACCESSORIES , Y YAMAH A DEALE R SCRA BLE R MOTORCYCLES M ORAIIGE CO. CYC LE 180 1 W Burbank Blvd. Burbank , Calli. . 849' 5907 or 845-11738 Ell. • 7 205 N. Hlrbor Blvd. Santa Ana (71 4) 53109984 0) NOW! NeJd AFM _·point rOBd races on the calendar are Sept. 15 at Carlsbad, Sept. 22 at Vaeav11le, Oct. 6 at Orange County and the season t1nale on October 20 at Cotati Raceway. Thes e events wl1l close the AFM's ROBd Race s eason as to poin ts races . Ther e wl1l be two morenon-polnt but pro races a t Orange County on Nov. 3 and a yet to be announced. big event in late Nove mbe r or early December. (Res ults on page 20) 0) B!aynat's A ~