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VOLUME V NUMBER 42 THE MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIAST'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FEATURING: Hill cl i mbs Will ow Spri ngs USGP Pacifi c Coast MolO-C ross Champi onshi p Fou rth Annual I ndi o T our A scot Short T rack P erri s TT 16th Annual Trout Fry Dehesa TT Speedway November 14, 1968 WEST USGP Championship WILLOW SPRINGS .~ _. <~ Ph otos by Den nis Greene ROSAMOND, eu., Oct. 20 - The 5th Annual AC A USG got underway with P ideal conditions at Will ow S prings In ternational Raceway, barring a little wind that came up during the afternoon. In the 50cc and I O Occ Main, Dave Scott (Yamaha), was leadIng In the fl rst lap but developed engIne trouble and V.T . Howard (Yamaha) rIding for Wor ld Cycles took ove r for the r emain Ing 31 miles, winnIng fIr st overall, first in class . In s econd p la c e was Sian SmI th (Bridges tone) , Third overall and thi r d In class was Coli n Jones (Honda) . Behind Jones came Alan Spears fr om San Ber nardino (Honda), sponsored by Honda of Redlands . Next was Chief Gal braith on a PR Spac ial r iding for Power Research Team . Sixth ove r all and first In class was Dan Os bor ne (Ital) out of Chamber s Ente rprIses. The little 50cc and lOOcc ma chines ge t around the z.s-mne course in an average of 2.5 min . Thi s class Is getting more an d more compe titive . In the Light weIght Production event the 200cc mac hines dominated, taking firs t, s e cond and third places . Dave Damron (Suzuki) had an easy win. He was challenged In the first five laps by Roger Wood (Brldgestone) and then again by Chr'Is Moore, al s o Bridgestone mounted. The only machine under 200cc 10 give front running rIders any trouble was # 11 Ray DeLong's Kawasaki, finishing fifth and first In class . In HeavyweI ght Production the 25Occ, 350cc, 500cc and Open machines were r un together for 65 miles . Flrstoverall, first In class was Jerry Greene (Honda) out of Long Beach Honda . But Jerry didn' t have It easy . Roland Pagan led for the fIrst s ix laps on his Trtumph; then Jerry took over and led for two la ps. On the 9th lap, Roland was able to get by him and led for the next three . But on the 12th, Roland unloaded hard and Jer r y moved, unchallenged, to the win. Honda mounled Jerry Green l eads the pack through turn one and on 10 first In the 350cc Producti on and flrsl overal l In the combined 250, 350, 500, and Open Producti on race. 3 5tarl of combined 125cc, 175cc, and 200cc GP race with eventual 200cc wi nner Dave Damron and his Suzuki parti ally obscured by Ihe starter ~~"T • . i;!::'!~~ri!t.ll~=~=== ; MIke Lane on his 350cc Yamaha was second. Right behI nd, finishing first in class and third overall, was Dave Dam ron on his 250c c Suzuki. Then came George Kerker (Norton), finishing firs t In the Open class . The 250cc Grand P rix 25 lap Main, sa w the pack chase young MIke Lane all 65 miles . For the first two laps MIke (on Yamaha) was followed hotly by road racing star Art Bauman n, al s o Yamahamount ed . When Art developed difficultie s, an other Yamaha rider moved into s ec ond, Ron Pierce. He was never quite able to get by. In third place was J ohn Buckner, al s o Yam aha. All three lapped the other riders . < - - LEFT: Dic k Kil groe (Hon.) takes his li ne Ihrough lurn f our with Open Producl ion wi nner George Kerker (90) and hi s tru sty Norlon Commando In the background. The 125cc, 175cc an d 200cc Grand Prix event was tightl y con tes ted for its 52 m iles . Dave Damron (Suzuki) won It. RIght behind came Ken Greene (PR Special ) , finishing second overall and fi rst In the 175c c class . Thi rd was an old champion returnIng to road racing, Ralph Le Cle rcq(Ducati). One lap back In second place 200cc clas s, was Jeff Mazon. FIrs t In the 125cc class was Tony NIcos Ia on his new 125cc Grand Pr ix Honda . < -L E FT: _ Chris Moore and hi s Brl dgestone lead through turn six with Pal Evens (l OS Yam.) right behind and Len Falls cheer (15 Yam.) foll owing up andon 10 125ccProductlon flrsl place gold. In the final event of the day , Baumann (350cc Yam aha) broke into the lea d. Rig ht up there a t first was the even t ual 500cc winner , Reg Pridmore. But Reg dropped hack and Ron Gr an t moved In. Ron developed troubles and dropped back with MIke Duff (Ya maha) who is a past Ca nadian Cham pion movIng Into s econd. CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 90806 ! !UJO'!I!:) 'lI:J u g :lUI' pJUilnog q:Jug :luo, qlJON LU! SMJN mo