Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

~ '" - e.; , II., H.lYyw.l",t producllon com.. tIIroup tum ....110 D. Lon.. 156, on Klwlllki 11IIJld lhold of 216, Alln Gin.. ~ ~ '.!.' rourtll, 350cc CIIII' _ _ dI ;;.;;.;".. RIVERSIDE, Cal., Dec. 15-The weatber in December this year baS been most unpr edictable. The Amer ican Cycle Associa tion has been runn ing' at Rivers ide now for so me ttve years and has never had a rain-out, but this December It almost occurred. Most of the Soutbern Ca1ltorn1a area had some rain, butluckIIy Rtverslde r eceived very little. It was a loss-up until about 8:30 a.m. when word came trom March AFB weather tower that the raInS would be light and intermittent dur1nC the early morntne and would completely blow away by 1:00 p.m. Believe It or not, tb1s tlmetbe weatherman was correct. Until the ttrst event, except tor early in the morn1nc, there was no rain on the cour se. Practice sessions tor the 169 entrants went off smoothly. But, sure enough, when the 50cc and lOOCc grand prix blkes came 00 the course tor the tlrst event, a slow driZZle started. By the seventh lap there was a regular 00..11I- pour. When six machines went tearinC into turn six, all ended upside dow , but lucidly no ODe was burt. Poor n Sid Chambers limPed into the pitarea.1t was almost ' comical, be looked like a clown pusblng a bike w:tth eft-shaped wbeels. lUke Lane had been leadlnc the event on bls Hodaka until the tourth lap just before the mishap, but developed mechanical problems and dropped out , movInr Roy xakamoto on a Yamabalntotlrst place. Xakamoto flnlsbed first overall. Out of the big pile-uP came Rudy GalIndo on a Yamaha w:tth a badly damaged frame. That cost blm a lot in lost time. He was forced to stop and remove the faring. Ken Greene, riding one of those PR Specials fr om the Power Researcb people pulled way out ahead and tInIsbedtirstin th 50Cc Class - two easily. F1n1sh1Dg tlrst In the 50Cc Class - one (the plusfive transmiss ion bikes) was Dave Simmonds on a Suzuki. Le Mans The second event was lightweigh t production. Of course, the Le laos start ls al ways thrllllng for both the riders and spectators . The riders dasbed across the course to their macblnes and got off as best they could. Oat in front from the start was last year's champiop In the 200cc production Tbls II tIlo IlIrt IlIIIIlI 250cc GP ric. won II)' Mlk. Lin. on I YINbs. Line, la, Is b.blnd Don Emd. on Suzuki b.... Tb... blck II Bud.., P'P' rJolt, 1, wIIo fln lllled neond. • " class, Dave Damron, on his Suzuki. Right beb1nd was Steve Galbraith from the Power Research crew. Galbraith took aver on the fourth lap and led tor four additional laps. On the eighth, Damron recaptured the lead and t1n1sbed first overall and tlrst in class. Back In the pack aoo in hot pursuit of that second place position came a flock of 2oo's, led by Roger Wood, Dan Ginrerel11, Lawrence Wakatsuld and Bob Lend. Flnlsblng way up and riding a small bore machine was Pat Evans on a Yamaha. Evans finished tlrst In class and was only one lap behind the leader. He flnIsbed ahead of all the other small macblnes between 50Cc and20OCc.Aprotest was lodged against blm, neces s itating a complete tear-down. To everyone's surprise, the Yamaha was stock and Evans was proud to collect bls $10 protest fee. Right beb1nd Evans and tlrst in class in 125cc was Leonard Fallscheer, also Yamaha-mounted. In the 175cc class, t1n1 bing fourth overall and first in class was Jer ry Zernlkow. The tb1rd event of the day was 125cc and 175cc grand prix. To the shame of the 175cc class, tlrst and second overall went to two 125cc macblnes as Cblef Galbraith led the pack from start to finISh, followed by Hurley Wilvert Jr. HoldinC 175cc colors blgh was Ron Pbllllps on bls Ossa. DIY' Dl m,on, 3, won "''Y " lna ln bll Cllli tIIll dly for Suzuki. Followlna hlln II Jim Ch.n, hll cloll complllion throupout til. ri C, boro.. be unlold.d. Tony NlcOIII, 7, on I Hondl ludl • lIahtw.lpl prodllcdon crow lround th. lowor .nd of lum ..... Tlllna the outlld. line 1111, Glry Kyl. on I KlwlSlkl.

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