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/125590
It By Tom Finlay P hotos by Dennis Greene ORANGE COUNTY, cai., Nov. 24 _ J ust three years ago the Dir t Diggers decided to add some inter national tlavor to their annual Hopetown ba s h by inviting the world 250Cc mote-cross cham pion to have a go at the local scrambles " shoes" • Now the " Inter - Am" moto-cross series is drawing spectators in droves to see the European champions do battle with our best talent. Ron P ierce leads J oe Hamllllln, Mike L.ne, D. ... Allee . nd Tom Rockwood, .11 Californians on V.m.ha 246's , In the 2S0cc Intern. tlonal. Lane won IL Well, it looked li ke s omething like this would wor k in road racing, so the Califor nia Internati onal Grand Prix was born. This event was perhaps the bes t road race the west coast has seen since '6 1 when S.M.B. Hallwood came to this country. This wasn't only because of the out- of- s tate talent but also beca use of the great ·race run by the locals who more than held their own. Per haps road racing is the only for m of inter national motorc ycle competition where American talent is on a par with the best fr om Europe. Take, for example, Dave Simmonds of Middlesex, England . Simmonds r ecently won a British Na tional Rac e in the 350 class at the to tch clr- .x" cult, Over here - al ted, he £ rt was r iding other than s reglllai' Kawa- ,e. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _IiII_ . . . · ' 0' Dn, qu 1"2 saJd - his best was a s econd in the 350, behind Mike Duff, after Ron Pi er ce br oke down while leading. The thr ee Inter nati onal classes-25OCc , 350cc and up to 1000cc - were r un separateI:Y from the r egular AFM classes . Mos t of the $1750 purse went to these three class es ,twith a sm all payoff going to the 125-175 solo and 0- 1300cc Sidecar events. 'tu sq 0.9 .h!J n ~ . EUROPE'S LEADING MOm CROSS RIDERS AND WORLD CHAMPIONS CHALLENGING A RIC BEST AT SADDLEBACK PARK ME A'S DC E EMBE R8TH, 1968. SPONSORED BY.CYCLE WORLD InTeR-am InTeRnaT aL am ICA mOTO CROSS seRies JOEL R BER MOTO-CROSS ; C O L SH O Jeel Iltlllrl 11111 _ I ~I I ,... _lHnll . -1.. Fria" Doc. ;, 11 1i1lH ~ Iltpr DoCII"'. Clnl l. .... to 181 - I I ; III $15. Schedule of Events Friday Joel R.rt Mote-cross School Saturday 125ee Jr., U5ee sr., 250ee Jr. 250ee INTERNATIONAL )() The only uprlebt sld.car tum runnlne. D.ve Roe sch and M Goodnlte , nnlshed second. ike To start the action , three-lap heats were r un for position in eac h Inter national clas s . in the 250 class two runs were needed due to the numbers. Tim Coopey of Vancouver. B.C. won the first on a Yamaha . Mike Lane grabbed the secon d, as well as the 250Cc three-tap r ecord (4 min. 37.7 sec.), Ron Pierce won the 350 hea t for Yamaha. The looOcc three-tapper was taken by Simmons on a 745cc Norton. Fir st main event was the combined 50 and 100Cc GP and lightweight production eight- tapper (25.6 mUes ). Slipping home first was Jack Harney, winning the 200Cc class on a Br idgeslone{ l77cc) . First 175 production went to KawasaJd- mounted Ray DeLong, firs t 100 to Yamaha-rider Pat Evans. In GP. the 100 was grabbed by Rudy Galindo . The 50 honors were shared by Pete G1ordanengo (Honda Class 1) and Don Wicks (Ital - Jet Class 11). cz ¥ * Triumph 11(0. Suzuki Jawa 1tf ar WaIt AXl hel m Triumph-Su zuki su. SI. , Pomona, Calif. (714) 629-8642. Molors. 1049 W. Sunda.y mOee Jr., Open Jr. 5lIOcc INTERNATIONAL SEE: TORSTEN H LLMAN, ROGER DE COSTER, A ICKERS, ALAN C G , LOU H JOEL ROBERT, DAVE B VlASTIMILV ALEK, JE TEUW N TORLIEF H F ISSE , ANSEN, CHRISTER HAM A G , BR A W M R REN Y N ADE, K AREL KONECN , Y SMAK ER PIERRE KAR Saddleback Park, Orange County, California. The finest Moto Cross Course In The W est. Box 2455, Orange. Call r, 92667 ; phone 714 '639-5832 Or.nge County's M otor P1ayg.ound. Take Ch.pman Avenue E.st Olf Newport freewa, To Santi.go Canyon R oad, Turn Right To Entr.nce, Approximately 1If, Miles. See our 1968 catalog for the latest custom and racing parts, including a full line of speed equipment for Hodaka and Yamaha. Cata log $1.00. BURBANK 317 N. Victory Blvd.· Burbank, Calif. 91502 Telephone (213) 849·4921 • 842-4847