Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

~ to about to pass for the lead , he ran out of gas _ a miscalculation that might have been costly, \ Bell was looking around for a plee to land the plan e In the danger ous ter r ain when suddenly an old Mexican appeared In a pick -up truck. He sip honed offs ome gas for Bergquist and gave him apush to start. About 10 miles south of EI Rosario Bergquist passed Malcolm Smith's dune buggy and Larry Minor's Bronco• From here on he built up his lead . One of the three helicopters from the Wide World of Sport had to follow Bergquist exclusively, he was so far In front. The footage will be televised early In January. At 3:37 p.m. he reached EI Arco, the halfway mark. and handed the undamaged Honda over to Gary Preston. The pit stop was six minutes long. They lubricated the chain and added the otl , Preston made It Into La Paz at 2:44 a. m., almost a 45 mph average for the Ensenada to La Paz trip. Next year It'll be hard to beat the Ber gquis t/ Pr es ton r e cor d because NORRA, the National Off Road Racing Association, Is r e- r outing to slow down the times , This Is because of the gr eater number of accidents In this year's fas t r un, es pecially fr om car driver s, as compared with 1967's more delibe rate pace over ro ugher roads. This will benefit the motor cycles. Bell sa ys he Is almos t cer tain a cycle will win again next year. La'az lac~ (fro. page 6) It r equir ed only half a quart of oU at the ~ ~ ~ ...; _ ~ .Q ~ eu o ~ '-l :i!:: tr:l ...;J ~ U halfway mark. Fr om the r ider's seat It was mor e unnerv ing. Ber gquist said the closes t he came to crashing was hitting a sandwash at 75 mph and riding on his front tire for 200 yards . Froelich on the 250cc Honda spent over two hours In Santa Ynez repairing the rear fender br ace that broke under the weight of a tool box and spare chain . It got tangled In the wheel. Both Hondas wer e equipped with Kenl rear shocks. Bell sai d they were In as good shape at the end of the race as at the start. The team drivers rode together and• although strictly speaking they weren't supposed to, swi tched whenever they got tired." Maybe this s tarted out as every four hours ," Bell said, "but It turned out to every 20 minute s at the end." Most of the motorcyclists looked In r ough shape when they fln1shect their grind, especially If they' d been riding behind a fas t car for 75 mUes or so. "Some of them had to eat tons of dirt, " Bell said. "They looked drugged , other than tired." Bergquist/Preston Win Bergquis t s tarted sixth off the line a t 6:06 a.m, Tuesday. He passed ever ything except a Br onco and a dune buggybefor e reaching the dirt. Then, about s ix mUes from the lirst chec k-point, Just as he was . " Protest Max SwitzIII' rod, a laclllry H D Sprint to an Impre ul ve 91h overall. ' EUROPE'S LEADING MOTO CROSS RIDERS AND WORLD CHAMPIONS CHALLENGING AMERICA'S BEST AT SADDLEBACK PARK DECEMBER 8TH, 1968. SPONSORED BY CYCLE WORLD e -8m JOEL ROBERI n R 8T 8L MOIO-CROSS SCHOOL 8me IC n m CRO s OT seRies JOII 111M! will ceMact lI. 1aIII......enll lell,.1 •• Friday, Dec. T, aclsted ~ IIIpr DeCalllr. Clallllllllta. " 1110 ....~ lee Sll. Schedule of Events Friday Joel Robert M oto-Cross School Saturday sr., 125cc Jr., 125cc 250cc Jr. 25Dcc INTERNATIONAL Su nday 5DDcc Jr, Open Jr. 5DDcc INTERNATIONAL SEE: TORSTEN HALLMAN, ROGER DE COSTER, JOEL ROBERT, DAVE BICKERS, ALAN CLOUGH, V LASTIMIL VALEK JE TEUW , F ISSEN, TORLIEF H N N, A SE C HRISTER HAMMARGR B EN, RYAN WADE, KAR K NECNY, EL O PIE R KAR AKER R E SM Saddleback Park, Orange County, California. The Finest Mota Cross Course InThe West. " Orenat.·CDw!ty'.s:MllllJr.P.!aygroUV1l. Take Challl1l,n Av.aue .East Off Newport Freeway To-S••tia Calli, me7; phone 71418311-583 2 Turn Ri t To Enll.nee,Approximately ~Y: Miles. Bo. 2455, O,onge, 0 Ca nyo. ·~,it. At least one accident was apparently caused by the rivalry between cars and motorcycles. An offlclal protest was la unched by the Montesa team at ter John DeSoto claimed he was run off the r oad by Parnel11 Jones, driving for the Ford Bronco team. or One report has It that one Wide W ld of Sport helicopter filmed the efforts of DeSoto to pass Jones who shlfted back and forth on the narrow track to prevent It. After three or four attempts to pass, DeSoto made one last effor t and; having been left no room on the road, crashed hard. He was still shaken up whenhe arrived In El Arco two hours later. The front peg was br oken off and he'd los t the ru bber 'Pad from underneath the tank. He was soaked with gas . His r ear wheel was al most completely collapsed. Unfortunately the Kimball Motors Montesa crews had sent their spare wheel out on their plane when it was reported that DeSoto was tmtahed, His corider, Ron Nelson, left EI Arco on the wobbly wheel atter the alrplane had been contacted to make an alr drop at flrst light. Jones had been making good time. He had an 95 mph average to the first check . But shorU y atter the Incident with De Soto his engine blew. An unconfirmed report says NORRA ruled that the fllm couldn't be used to support the Montesa protest. John Barnes took over another Kimball Montesa from Dick Hansen at El Ar co, After passing check point six , San lngacio, the r ear tir e went flat. Barnes decided to go back to his support crew at San Ignacio. On the return tr ip at about five mph he crashed and broke his collar bone. Last year this team was secon d bike and third overall. Fourth In the 250 class and twentieth overall was a Husky r idden by Tom Muto and Bruce Dunford. B1ll Sunderland, San Francisco owner of the Husky Commando. asked them the Friday night before the race If they'd like to ride. They agreed, and got the completely stock machine Sunday morning. Redondo Beach Husqvarna dealer Ralph Brittain put his shop at their disposal and the bike was prepared by noon. But dur ing the 832-mile run they sprang a leak In the air box, causing some plug fouling and a delay of over two hours. Mary McGee becam e the flrst women to flnish In the money when she picked up fourth In production utility vehicles with a Datsun pick -up truck. helped by codriver John Tlmanu s. Mrs . McGeeraces moto- cr oss In the 250 Junior class on a Husqvarna. Beca use of her motorcycle background s he didn't get as tired as the rest of the car drivers . Last year's winner J .N, Roberts onan eight- speed 420Cc Husky falled tofinlsh. The other Edison Dye entry of Swedish stars Gunnar LlndstromandAke Johnson also dropped out. The Cycle World-ZOO Motors Norton Pll suffered a shredded rear tube outside of check point three. Ride Jerry Platt hiked back to the check pointtogeta new tube. By the time he returned the bike was gone. It still hasn't been heard of and Is probably bobbing along right now, under the fastest bandito In Baja. . . . . .. . '\. ,~

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