Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

e • GARDENA, cat., Nov . 8- Mert Lawwill closed out the Asc ot hal! mile season by winning the annual State Champ ionship fi nal in the Expert class on a Harley. Mer t became one of a ver y few to win both the State ti tle and Eight-mile National in the same season. The season was the best ever for the Mil waukee brand whose r iders took both half-mile titles and won the Exper t and Amateur point races as well. H-D also took second in the fina l Novice standings for their best all around effort s ince the track was built in 1957. Lawwill turned in perhaps his fines t r ide ever aboard the Dud Perkins H-D in the heat race when he cam e from four th place in the last three laps to take the win. It was the fastest heat ti me of the night. lt was the same story in the Tropby Dash with La wwlll out- hor s ing Shorty Seabourne, Dan Haaby and Clyde Litch. The feature was s topped at the end of nine laps when Clyde Litch hit the wa ll on the back stretch and was r un over by another r ider . Latest reports fr om the Gardena hospi tal say Clyde has a fractured s kull and inter nal injuries. Phil Todd broke his leg in the same crash. Prior to the black flag, Gene Romero, who had flown in from the east to carry the Triumph colors , was cl os ing fast on Lawwill. On the r e-start for the final ele ven laps Gene was never able to con- .,. Lawwlll dies In on tlte way to tlte champ ionship. . tinue his pace and had to settle for second behind the flying Lawwill who scored his first sweep ever at Ascotinnon-national competition. Coupled with his two wins at the October nati onal the three-race streak gave Mert a five -in-a-row efiort at Ascot to close out his racing for •68. Dan Haaby, still bruised all over from his week-before TT flipper down the front straightaway, was on hand and trying hard. Romero passed Haaby for second both times off the line and the former champ had to settle for third. BSA 500cc colors were probably carried for the last time by Shorty Seabourne. Shorty rode as well as ever but the handwriting has been on the wall all year for the 500' s and Shorty was a nonconte nding fourth at the flag. Chuck Jones and DeWayne Keeter"are in far-off Australia racing in short track events. Many top-rated Ama te ur s took their last rides with the yell ow number plates. lt was Mark Brelsford winning on H-D . Earlier, Don Harms had defeated Mark in the heat race with Tom Rockwood and Dave Smith winning the other two heat races. Har ms held off Br elsfor d in the early laps of the final with Rockwood a close third. As Brelsford moved by to take the lead Rockwood fell off the pace after being hit by a flying rock. Then it was Geezer Emick saving his best race of the season for last. Geezer, who won the semi- main , really let it go in the final . He came fr om the back row and went all the way to second place before the end of the ten-lap race. .. HALf .'''UTE '''TERV'EW ~ III co 0.. By Mark Brelslord, 47Y, was lrophled lor the 20· lap Amateur champ ionsh ip. Don Harms, 21Y , pic k· ed up the hardwa re lor Amateu r hleh poin ts ove r tlte season. Keith Mashburn, 101, has two troph ie s , one lor his win In the Novice state cha mpions hip ev ent, the other lor hlih point Novice l or the year. ti tles as well. Ascot's first triple crown winner . Keith made it a runaway in the final. He was only pressur ed for two laps in the hea t r ace by Dave Aldana before moving into firs t place. The new rule change for hal!-miles next year allows all machines to use 750cc engines but Mashburn will r etur n as an Amateur aboard a Yamaha 350cc job to challenge the big boys . The Suzuki's of F ranks G1lllspie and Randy Smith chased Mashburn for the final tim e with Yamaha- mounted Rudy Galindo r unning fourth. Dave Stroman and his Harley took fifth . All current riders and all new riders for next season are urg ed to obtain the 1969 r ules regarding hal! mile racing before gettlng ready for the new season that will open the first Friday in April. There will be many r ule changes for all classes and Referee Ray " Chub" Kellam will have them all in the near future • Rear brakes and compression releases will be allowed on any and all machines on the oval next year • (Results on page 16) Bill Har mer A La Mesa, Calif. painting contractor , JI M McGUIRE loves m oto r cycles and motorcycling in the form of IT racing. He has been acti ve in the spo rt JIM McGUIRE for -only about 4 years hut as his specialty is the little 100cc machines he figures that at 32 years of age, he has many more seasons of racing left . J im, his wife and year-old son live in the San Diego subur b of Lemon Grove where he maintains a complete wor ks hop dedi ca ted exclusively to making a two- stroke go faste r . Jim is the "M" hal! of F & M Enterpr tses . He and his partner Mono Fox, a desert racer, manufac ture the F & M r eed induction sy s tem s for most two-stroke engines and when Jim begins to name off the r iders who are using their products, it sound liks he's r eading the results of the latest TT races . Jim is defending point champ in District 38 and In spite of being abs ent fro m several championship point races , is a top contender for the # 1 plate again this year . Jim is knowfor his good sportsmanship with never a lame excuse or a gripe when things get rough. He is always ready to help another r ider, even his closest competition. A gen tle man on and off the race course, Jim is a real credit to cycling. RICHARD and BEVERLY BILLS MURPHY, STOVER .TIE IN BIG FOOT ENDUROcai., WILLOW CREEK, Oct. 27 - The Trini ty Trallsters had 251 r iders outlor their Annual Bigfoot Enduro. But nobody caught Bigfoot, the man-like creature said to be roaming the wilds of Northern Califor nia . The Trailsters is one of the smallest clubs around, but the 17 who ran their event think big. The ride was well planned and well marked. The fi r st few miles were sheer delight, an old trail that had the wheeli e lovers s millng all the way. Logging roads, jeep trails, and non-existant trails made up the major ity of the run. U you're the type who r ides these for the s cenery, you ai n' t lived ' til you' ve seen Trinity County in early fall, especially two famous towns of Hayfork and Hyampom. For so me reason the drop- out rate By Tom Dllling was high al ong the first part of the course, only 90 r eac hed the early gas check. After the all day, U8-mil e ride, two ' r iders dead- hea ted for first overall. How about that! Paul Murphy, 200 A class winner, br ought his Hodaka in with 991 points, tying with 250 B class winner Mark Stover of Lodi, Bulta co-mounted . Last year's Bigfoot winner , Roger Smar t, was only four points behind the new cochampions , and second in the 200 A division. Pos t- race comments contained the us ual amount of bitching. Trailsters are up against the pr oblem that although the majority of the land they use Is U.S. Fores t Ser vice s ome is privately owned. Not everyo ne is agreeable to having 200 to 300 motorcycles run through their fron t yard . (Res ults on page 20) RICHARD and BEVERLY BILLS are the pr esi dent and secr etary of one of the best known motorcycle clubs in the Southwest, The Valley Vagabonds M.C. of Phoenix, Arizona, the host club of the famous Grand Canyon Tour. Rich has bee n a cycling enthusiast for 15 years and an AMA member for 8. They usually ride double but Bev is a very proficient solo r ider when the occasion requires. Although they have a few local club events yearly, their pr imary activity is the planning and execution of the Grand Cany on Tour which ta kes alm ost fullti me effort of thei r entire 30- member club. Everyone has s omet hing to do. Bev takes care of the reams of correspondence and Rich handcrafts all of the bea utiful trophies out of walnut. WINNERS GO WITH BEL[ WINNER DIRTDIGGERS M.C. 10th ANNUAL HOPETOWN GRAND PRIX - NOV. 9 & 10,1968 100 Am/EX. Class WINN ER 500 Ex. C lass Danny Hockie WI NN ER 101 -200 Preston Peny Comb. Class WINNER Open Gary Bailey Am/Ex. C lass Dusty Coppage Substi tute Earlier, in the heat race, Emick pulled into the pits with a dead engine. He was not listed as one of the four alternates to the semi but was there and ready when the event came up - and he took it. After the race Mike Spitzer was wandering around the pits muttering to himseU. He was listed as an alternate but was not up in the get -ready area -when the semi went to the e. - Keith Mashburn closed out a brilliant Novice career by scoring the sweep in the heat, dash and final for his last ride with a green number plate. Mashburn was by far the Novice hal!-mile champ and won the TT and short track point HUSQVARNA 01strlbuted by Med-International 4790 PalmAve., La M Calif. 92103 esa, ® HE METS Steve seen WINNER 350 Comb. Class Dave Aldana VAILABLE AT DEALERS EVERYWHERE-..... "" :it: ~ t.:I ..:J t.l G ,-

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