Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Crashes, ~ ~ General Misery "" at Salinas ~ :c: Q" t.:I By Donald J. Ivan ..::J U ;>., The s!art of the loocc expert race, won by Ken Roberts on Suzuki. Confused, But Stockton Action Heavy Story and Photos by Dale Ivan MANTECA, Cal., Jan. 5 - Today, the Stockton M.C, Club hosted its first winter race of the New Year. The event was held on lbe neatest track in District #36, located some six miles east of Manteca. There was a large turnout of winter enlbusiasts, but a few spectators turned out to watch. Practice started around 9a.m. and lasted until the expected 11 a.m. The Stockton Club really came through as expected when they finally got lbe heats underway at 1: 15 p.m. The wealber was a typical valley day, foggy, with the temperature at 40 degrees, making the wait uncomfortable. The heats were somewhat confused with the running of all the novices first, lOO's to 650'S; but this error was changed to the normal procedure for the main events. The 100Cc amateur and expert main was won in fine style by expert Ken Roberts on his Suzuki. Ken took to the outside of lbe straight, making uP the positions he had lost during his bad start. Roberts went on to win the event easily. Amateur Alex Jorgensen was involved in a wild crash in the early laps of the race, that left his bike hurting for the worse. In the first lap of the 200 novice main, Mark Musclo, jumped off to an early lead followed by Bill Cavanaugh (Bul) and Tim Navarro. cavanaugh, riding for Coast Cycles of Santa Cruz, put on a fine show of riding while trying to beat Muscio. However, as the laps progressed, the gap widened between lbe first and second place rider and Muscio pulled off the big win. Unloaded The 200 amateur main event was won by Carl Yerby riding his Bultaco. Joe Boll took over lbe second spot when the rider (in the second at the time) unloaded at the end of lbe straight. His bike IDpped r1f the track and on to it's bars, leaving it's rider somewhat shaken. Expert Jim Foley riding a Bultaco Metisse from S& T Sportcycles, bonzaied the 250 class winning both his heat and the 250 Ex Main. He was closely followed by Milan Vickers who was riding a new KawasaId green streak. Today's event saw the use of a newlyformed class, activated for the first time this year, the 375cc class. This class' was created so the 350 Honda monopoly could be elln1lnated and to provide some rellef on the over crowded 250 class. 'Ibis 375 class should become extremely popular; many bikes are in the 251375cc range. The 375 novice main got underway with Lance Anderson leads John Frazer in the 65ke expert raee, woo by Eric Jar.enson. Bob Christan taking over the lead. Bob pulled away from everyone except Husky rider Doug Teeter. Teeter tried each lap to bomb around Christan on the outside at the end of the straight. Teeter was unsuccessful in his bid and Christan won the event on his Honda. Action was hot and heavy in the 375 expert class between Bobby Grossi and local favorite Merril Beidleman. The heat race had been a full scale war with Grossi leading, while doing handstands on his bars due to the bumpy track. Beidleman was really on the gas when he stormed past Bob for the heat race win. HoWever, the main ~s the exact opposite of the heat with Beidleman leading and Grossi two inches behind. Bob finally got revenge by passing Merrill on the next to the last lap and pulling a way. The last race of the day was the 650 expert event. Early leader #65 unloaded, losing the lead to Lance Anderson. Lance in turn lost his lead when he Was passed by Eric Jorgenson of the Stockton Club. Jorgenson won the event, followed closely by Anderson and John Frazer in tbird. (Results on page 16) r--EXliAUSTNOTES--' -1 1.. 8y Rill Pettigrew .. Bill Ivy, the former l25cc world champion, has purchased an ex-works Brabham Form ula 2 racing car. Bill changed his mind about opening a boutique and feels that the car will prove more interesting. Reiterating his decision to quit motorcycle racing, Bill stated that Yamaha's withdrawal from big-time racing had not influenced his stand. He had decided to quit months before he received a letter from Yamaha advising him of their official withdrawal, the factory told Ivy that the value of grand prix racing no longer balances th~ enormous cost. Yamaha thanked Bill for his services during which he won the l25cc world championship in 1967 on a Japanese fourcylinder bike. Yamaha also mentioned that they would not allow use of old works bikes In competition but offered him a choice of gifts. Now at 26, the little dynamo has gone a long way on two wheels, perhaps he'll do as well on four. Torsten Hallman, who has won more world moto-cross championships than anyone else, may skip the opening round of the 250Cc moto-cross championship in Barcelona Spain because he is super':' stitious. Hallman, who won the 250 world title in 1962-63-66-67 regards lbe Spanish GP as a jinx. Hallman has just left America for home with his Czech wife Jarmila. The thirty-year-old Husky ace said: "As you know, the winner of the Spanish GP never wins the championship. I won in Barcelona in '64 and '68. Joel Robert was the world champion both years." Torsten, along with Vic Eastwood of England and Hoeken Anderson of Sweden, will return to the U,S, in July for a series of three events that will start with the Firecracker Grand Prix on July 4th, followed by the San Francisco Motocross on July 6th, and the Seattle International Moto-cross on July l2.Allinterested riders should contaclInternational Moto-Cross, 4790 Palm Avenue, La Mesa, California 92041. Rumor has it that Torsten Hallman has suggested that one or two top FIM men come to the USA and study the American molo-cross layout before they make uP their minds about having World Championship events here in 1970. Torsten obviously believes we need improvement. But lben, that's what we're best at••• improving. SALINAS, Cal., Dec. 22 - The Salinas U Ramblers held the first of four scheduled winter scrambles at their popular, fast 5/8 mile sand track. Despite the presence of threatening skies and near freezing temperatures, over 300 riders made it, an average turnout. The rains came with the beginning of the heat races, and by intermission had claimed nearlY half the entrants thru mechanical fallures, crashes, and general misery, while the track all but washed away. For the enduring grouP of suffering riders who remained for the main events, the downpour continued even harder. The lower section of the track was a flooded sand bog, the downhill rivers of mudand sand, and the usually flat-out uphill back straight felt like plowing into a snowbank at 50 mph. But Salinas trophles hold much prestige, and some very nne races were turned in by severai of the winter specialists. Expert Bart McMurray was the first out to plow thru the slush, doing a flne job of holding back the hard riding, versatile Jim Rice, who took second on his BSA in probably his last appearance on the sportsman scene before competing as a professional expert. The 500 expert class saw the talented moto-cross spec1aiist Bob Grossi shadowed by local favorite Ray Clausen aboard a 360 Matco. Clausen astounded everyone with an exceedingly fast ride as he seemed to ignore the adverse cooditioos and glide over the battered track for lbe win. In the Amateur division, Don Cowles looked like expert material on his 360 Montesa, as he rapidly stretched out an amazing lead from the first lap to the checker. Mter unloading on the first lap, fellow Ridge Runner, Don Chisolm put in the day's best performance as he worked his 360 Greeves from a distant last Into a hard-earned second. The 250 expert race was a close duel between local star Scotty Diffenbaugh and Bultaco ace, Allen Kenyon. On the last lap, second place Kenyon came bombing out of one of the downhill ruts and passed Diffenbaugh, who had slowed in the qulcksand just before the finish line. But seeing Kenyon, Scott just kicked in the afterburners on his T,M, Suzuki and wheelstanded out of the bog the remaining 15 yards to take the win, barely a wheel ahead of Kenyon's PurSang. The amateur event was another success story for last year's novice sensation Jan Mireault. Mireault, improving after his half a year retirement, easily outdistanced fellow amateurs backing his heat race win with a big lead over second place man, Don Ivan, as Bultaco took the first five places in the main event. (Results on page 16)

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