Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125578
.. Q ... s .8 Q o SALES S£IIVlCE HOellES OTOICYoo HODAKA YA~~IE GREEYES eo.,.... Maelll... SIlo, facliltle. 22025 So. Figueroa Torrance, California 12 C2U) 321- 42 r· .;Jl.~\\()\ 90"t.\\ & devel.pm.t Clo U.S. Distributor G AIDIIEI (AIBUIETOI 2690ran Ave. Goleta. Calif. 9])17 Shell Thuet Sprague hogs show at Tijuana TT Story and Pbotos by Bill Harmer TIJUANA, MexiCO, Sept. 8 - The warm Mexican sun beat down on the 5/8- mile TT course of the Autodromo de Tijuana as a predominately American grouP of TT racers began , registering for !be Tijuana Motor cycl e As s ociati on' s TT races. Carlos Irlbe and bls hard-working Mexican club were ably assisted by Earl Roloff of the Experts M.C. and s eve ral members of the Imperial Valley M.C . who manned the grid. As a group of s ldehack racers beaded by J i m Moffitt of Sun Valley, vlcepresldent of the Side Hack As s oc ., were on hand with enougb macb1nes to make up a class, Jim Manning volunteered to act as starter In order to keep the pilots " hones t" . He did a very good job too, with the exception of the fi rst s ide car race In wblch he pena11zed bike No. 7 oave Roesch and Mike Goodnight ha ck to the 20-yard stripe for Jump ing the flag. While they were headed back to the penalty mark be dropped the flag for the rest of !be field to start. The last that we beard of Jim he was trying to find a ride ba ck to L.A. Seriously, thougb, the s ldehack boys sure put on a spectacular sh ow and bad the fans screaming to the ir feet many times during their three motes, They volunteer ed that the Ti juana track Is the fines t plant that they have performed on to date and wlll be bac k for the next race With a larger group. Team #9 on a BSA out of Casey's Cycle Repair of Pacoima, tuned by Bobble Wells, Ji m Moffi tt , drlv- Mick Chiara, wbo baa been doing very well In tile lOOCC Expert claH 00 !be SaD Diego tracks, fortook b1s claH and rode bls Hodab In the 200cc dlvts100 and gave a good account at blmself by taking second place beblnd bard-riding ButtKo pilot, Ed Murle. Chuc k Palmer on a Ka~ captured tblrd. John Sprague, tbls time on a 250cc ButtKo, monopolized the points In tile 250cc Expert fracas wbl1e b1s buddy, Jim West, guided bls BultKo to second place. Ward Ring has fi nally solved !be traction pr oblem on bl s Husqvarna. RidIng llke a pro, be captured tile first mot o and was leading In !be second when be developed trouble and bad to retire fr om the fray but still did well enough In the tblrd moto to capture tbl rd place. The 500c c race found young Wayne Clarke extending bls 250Cc Kawasaki to the lim1 ts to win the botly contes ted event over a couple of talented r iders , Buttaco-mounted Br ian Stanners who narrowly beat out Husqvarna pilot , Carlos Irlbe. Clarke also rode bls Kawasaki to victory In the 250Cc Novi ce main. RId1ng In a large r class Is allowed In Mexico as long as you pay another en try fee . Kawasaki pilot Jim Grace narrowly defeated hard ridin g William Bartlett and bls Harley Spr int for sec ond place. 16-year-old Tim Le que , who Is still getting acquainted with his new Bultaco Bandldo squeaked by H- D pilot Bill Bartlett to win tile Open Novice series. Ken Stafford looked Impressive taking tblrd on bls Yamaha. S.ptlmbor 15, 196.8 t st AM. - JEFF WRIGHT CROWEL L-TUNED HODAKA i5iiEieE i ~ == ~i INTEN SI FIED i i i i e i : :=:1 i B . HODAKAS byCRO WEL Order yoII' CUstOll1 set .. c:ompetition HODAKA NOW! Glrlln, sIIocks- 6' Extlnded Fronl Fork. l¥ f iont whl" - BollllyoJI Air Cle_. Choice 01 Tires - Cro.ell Port Job Numb.. Plate - Skid Plate Crowell Tuned Pipe - Fork Brace 24_ .. up Carburetor 10427 Prairie, Ill&lew..d Phone (213) 673-5562 Because of the Increasing popularity of the l OOCc motorcycle for TT racing , and because the allotted ti me on most club programs Is dominated by the bigger classes, The Exper ts Motorcycle Club of San Diego , Cal. decided to use their September r a c I n g da tes at Soulbbay Speed way (former ly Mesa) for the exclusive use of the little machines. As enthusiasm for the event, scheduled for September 21 and 22, mounts, the Experts M.C . have gone all out, purchasing huge tropbles and billing the eve nt as the " I O Occ Gran Prix." Novic e rider, 12- year-old Earl Roloff didn't have a moun t but he came along with bls father who bad pr omised to do the scoring for the Tijuana club. Wblle bls dad was busy regiStering r iders, little Earl talked Expert rider Jay Dunn Into letting blm r ide the Brldgestone In the l OOcc Novi ce event. Tbe boy didn 't quallty In bl s heat race and bad to run the semi In order to transfer wblch he barely did but with tbls many laps on the Pilot P lttlS and passenpr Iu d thl hacks to thl dell,ht 01 TJ tans, Ing and Keno Mesecher as passenger garnered the most points to win first. Team #7 Dave Roes ch, pilot and Mike Goodnig ht, passenger on a Harley-David son wer e se c 0 n d . Harley-Davidson mounted Team #42 made up of Steve Pettus at the controls and Barry Sorenson han ging on were tblrd. Sprague Storm s ANTELOPE RAMBLERS M.C. HARE" HOUND By Bill Harmer sr., SHELL MOTORS John Sprague of Culver City dominated the Open Expert hassle In a contest that was comple tely devoid of San Diego riders . It looks as thoug b the so-called hotshoes from Dis trict 38 are afraid to lock horns with Sprague and bls torrid Trlumpb In open combat. Tbls Is John's second clean sweep In a row at the Tijuana track and he wlll be dl!f1cult to unseat. The track Is profitabl e for blm too, as he won another $10 In the wheelle con test . Beblnd Sprague's blue Triumph, Tom Si mpson on a Tri umph and Jim West on a Bulta co battled It out for second with Si mps on showing to best advantage. The 100cc Expert . class was ea sily captured by Wayne Hosaka, who borrowed a Hodaka from Novic e r ider Doug Maloney and han dily won all three mo tes, The Dunn brothers, Ji m and Jay, both Br ldge s tone-mounted , put on a very unbrotherly duel for second honors with Ji m doing the better job . lUUcc Grand Prix coming up Roloff Overcomes GUy Louis YAMAHA 3355 Century Blvd. -Lynwood - NE8-4854 visited and they were unanimous In dec1ar1ng the finely manicured track tile finest anywbere. Tbe next day for more fun In the Mexican Sun , wlll be Sunday, Sept. 29 at wblch Sr. Irlbe promises to announce the point standings of the Tijuana TT riders s ince the beginning of the season. So get your gear ready and come 00 down to T-Town• (Re s ul ts on page 16) J ohnny (37x) $prarue shows the way. s trange mount, he was getting the feel s o with a s tart that found blm In sixth s pot fo r the first lap , he wor ked bls way thru traffic taking advantage of every mistake of the boys in tront until he was out In fr ont blmself then with vi ctory assured, he made a goof on the s witch ba ck and was passed by Bob Curtis, but In a " wheel to wheel" duel around the s weeper and Into the straigbt, Roloff was able to regain the lead and win the race by a slight margin. Hodaka mou nted Bob Curti s f1n1shed ahead of talented Yamaha pilot, Sal P el us o who threatened both r iders all during the r ace . M te r the bikes wer e all packed In their trucks and tra1lers and ready to go hom e, a big Mexican style barbecue was served fr ee to all the contestants and pit crews . The r e was ptotato salad, beans and hot tortl1las served with the delici ous " Barbacoa" and two barrels of Mexican cerveza were tapPed and all hands enjoyed a social time with lots of good natured kidding am ong the various rivals. Everyone with whom tbls writer talked agreed that !be T i juana Assoc1ation takes mor e care In looking out for the riders than an y other track that they have Debbie Greenlee hopu her boylrlllld will win a trophy lor her playroom. Class es wlll be divi ded Into four categories; Powder P uff, Novi ce, Amateur and Expert. With entries com ing In from all over the South wes t, the event Is r api dly talcing on the characteristics of a champlons blp affai r. Any r ider who can capture one of the elaborate, 4-foottaU tropbles can honestly lay claim to the championship of the 100Cc class In wblc h he excels . Races will NOT be the usual 3- to 5lap warm- ups ordinarily allotted to the little bikes, but real man-sized events that will separate the rider s from the ribbon clerks. The shortest race of the meet will be the 25-lap Powde r Puff hash wblcb on the 8/10-mlle Southbay TT course figures out to 20 miles. Can you hack It, girls? Novice s wlll go 36 miles (45 lap s ) and should draw the best of the fir s t-year riders s u c h as the " P r ide of Las Vegas," 13-year-old Mike Nor th and the " Dehes a Dynamo, " Earl Roloff Jr . Amateurs wlll be routed over 50 laps (4 0 miles) and the Experts wlll be pitted Ina rugged 56-miles (70 -laP) event. The track will be ope n fr om 11:00a.m. Saturday for the whole day of practice and races wlll start a t 11:00 a .m, Sunday, so no one wlll be able to say that they didn 't have any r idi ng ti me . To ge t to Southbay Spee dway, take Interstate 5 to the Main St. turnoff, south of Chula Vis ta. It will be limed fr om there . There are no facll1t1e s for food or drinks, so bring your own, but there Is ample space for overnight camping on Saturday night. The Expe r ts M.C. have put a lot of ti me and money Into this day for the littl e blkes, .and If It Is s ucce s sful It will be an annual affair, a kind of 100cc World Series of motorcycle racing. For further Information or application blanks wr ite to Experts M.C., 215 Paden Dr ., Spring Valley, canr, 92077. Since starti ng positions are dec ided by the time of receipt of entries , don' t watt any' l onger or you'll have tha t much more traffic to negotiate before you can get that bot little hundred of yours out In fr ont. It wlll be a da y of festive fun for everyone and whe the r you take home one of the cove ted Gran Prix tropbles or not, you can say that you competed In !be South west's only Champlonsblp race for motorcycles of 100Cc displacem ent . See you there.