Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Rayborn And ixon Favored At Daytona Distributors Battle With Sam.e Make AMA road racing at Daytona international Speedway begtns with Sportsmen road racing on Wednesday, March 12th and concludes on Sunday March 16th with the annual 200 mUe national. Between Wednesday and SlIDday the famed Speedway also plays host to the 76 mUe novice race, the 100 mile Amateur big bike event and the combined Amateur/Expert 1.Igbtweigbt 250Cc 100 mller. The official Yamaha team for tile 100 mile 250Cc race will be Gary Nlxon, Dick Mann and Ron Pierce. Mann and Pierce will then pair up on the 350Cc Yamabas for the Sunday 200, with N1lIOIl switcb1Dg to the Triumpb. canedlen Yamaha distributor, TreY Deeley, fields a four' man team for both Triumph Returns The East and Western Triumpb distributors are going to Daytona loaded for battle against the sidevalves of HarleyDavidson and the 2-strokes of Yamaha., Kawasaki, Bridgestone, etc. As in 1967 and 1968, Gary Nixon will again lead the Triumph contenders. Both Number One Nixon and Chuclt Palmgren will be crouched low on Triumpb 500's from Baltimore, Md. From out of the western headquarters in Duarte Calif. Gene Romero will venture forth to do battle in all the 1969 National ChamplonsbipS. He'll be on a 500 tuned by Pat Owens, with wrenchmen Bill & Richard Love turning the screws on the Chaffipionsbip Trall. Triumph dealers are in on the fun as well. SkiP Van Leeuwen will tackle Daytona aboard a factory job prepared by Woody Leone's sbop in Beaumont, Texas. Leone will also field expert Dennis Scbonfleld on a factory 500. Another Texasn, Rusty Bradley will be Triumph mOllDted at Daytona for Jaclt Wilson of Big D Motors in Dallas. Don Raymer, an Omaha, Nebr. will sponsor expert Al Urich and Norm Lee of Long Beach, Cal. will prepare factory jobs for Dusty Coppage and another rider not yet named. the 250 and ?OO m lie races with Yvon Duhamel, Mike Dutr, Tim Coopey and Pete Kelland. Depth is the key word tbls year for Yamaha and their dealers. Last year more than 60 of the 80 f1nal1sts were aboard the Yamaha TD 250 twins that have won the 100 mller tbe last four years in a row. Two years ago Yamaha introduced the 350 to big bike competition with a two macblne entry. Last year with three 350's on the scene, two f1n1shed second and tblrd. Third time around will find approximately twenty 350' s in the amateur and expert races and dozens of 250' s in all three 1969 class events. In the expert class, on privately entered Yamabas will be, RalPh Wblte for K&N in Riverside, Calif., Tom Rockwood for Bill Krause in Inglewood, Cal. Don Vesco rides from bis own shop in San Diego, Dick Newell for a shoP in Florida, Dave Scott for AI Fergoda's in San Francisco, Larry Schafer, from a shop in Maryland and Al Gaskill will ride for a sbop in Mich1gan, to name juSt a few. Yamaha will enter 350' s in the amateur 100 mller for the first time with well known tuner, Mel Den1sen from Bakersfield backing dirt track ace, Keith Mashburn. From the east veteran amateur Frank Camill1eri is baclted by Boston Yamaha and John Jacobson. Former Daytona novice winner, Howard Utsey, will also ride one of the new 350's. Depth in the novice class comes from Dave Allee, Bill Krause in Inglewood, Don Emde, Mel Denisen in Bakersfield and Freddie Edwards for K&N in Riverside. Britisher Rides Latest privateer to join the Yamaha list is England'S Rod Gould who will ride both 250 & 350. Rod f1n1shed in the top five in tile world standings in '68and rode at Daytona last year • The Daytona Speedway opensforpractlce on MondaY, March 10th. By Betzel Smith With the first two nationals providing little bearing on the predicted Grand National Championsbip race, Daytona will loom as the big point getter and as usual could have a big impact on who w1ll carry the number one plate next year. Of last years toP ten blgh point riders, five scored points at the Astrodome double header, but none of them earned enough to take on any real advantage. A second place by Bart Markel in the short track gives bim 19, wblle Gene Romerochalked up 13, Chuck Palmgren e1gbt, and both Gary Nixon and Mert Lawwill salvaged a single point. As usual, Daytona should leave its mark. Since the AMA started the Grand National Championsbip series back in 1954, the Daytona winner has emerged as the number one rider three times, but more Important is the etlect the race has left on the top ten places In the final standings. Last years winner Cal Rayborn, Buddy Elmore 7th, and Gene Romero 10th, all ended up the season among the "Best Ten". Since the current scoring system was installed in 1964, the first ten Daytona finishers have finished among the top ten f1nal1sts 24 times. With Springfield now removed from tile schedule, the Florida classic carries more prestige than any other race. Eighteen ditferent winners have made their way to the victory circle during the 37 annual events wblch dates back to 1937, with three riders sharing the honors as three time winners and four others having scored double wins. Roger Reiman, the last of the triple winners has scored all of bis wins on the Speedway course wblle Brad Andres and Dick Klamforth acbieved their victories on tile old beach layout. Harley-Davidson leads the manufacturers series with 16 of tile 27 wins. NorlioD has won five times, including four in a row in the early fifties. Trlumpb has bit three times, including two of the last three, while lndlan has two tropbies and BSA a single win. Of the current crop of riders, Reiman has been the most successful.lnaddltion to b1s three winS, he has come up with a 4th, 12th and 17th. Despite Roger'S success here, Rayborn and Nixon will have to loom as the pre-race favorites as they have all but completely dominated tile roadrace scene the last three years. Only Walt Fulton and Buddy Elmore have been able to break the string held by Rayborn and Nixon, who have won all but 2 of the last 11 non-dirt track events. Cal won three of four last year and Gary was second three times, with Rayborn running third bebind Walt Fulton and Nixon, who were 1-2 at Heidelberg. Shared Wins In 1967 Gary won three asphalt events including Daytona, With Rayborn taking the remaining event. The previous year Gary and Cal shared wins with Buddy Elmore, who emerged the Daytona toP dog. Gary's overall road racing record, in wbich he has recorded six national wins, has seen b1m finish first or second in 8 of the last 11 road races and below 9th only three times in the last 20 races. Rayborn, who is starting b1s fifth year as an Expert, has won !tve road nationals and has finished in the top three in 7 of the last 11 races. Elmore has only ODe big win, the '66 200, but has been among the top nine in all 11 races the last three years. Reiman has scored in the top nine 17 times in the last seven years. Dick Mann is the top overall winner among the present forces with eight road race Nationals, dating back to his initial encounter at Laconia in 1960. He has finished second at Daytona three times, but is still seeking bis first win. Dick has come home eighth or better in 18 of the last 32 road race Nationals with bis best et/ort of the last year being a fourth at Loudon. Mert Lawwlll has been picking away at a top spot very consistently the last few years, but is still looking for bis first win. He was second at both Daytona and Meadowdale in 1962 and bis f1n1shed among the top five nine times in the last 17 races. RalPh Wblte had a string going for b1m between 1962 and '65, but has slacked off. He finished In the top five in nine of the 13 races during this period including the 1963 Daytona win. Dirt Track Abilities Bart Markel has not had too much success in this particular brand of racing and has to depend 011 bis dirt track ab1lltles for bis bigh finishes and three Grand National Chaffipionsbips. His best showing in Florida was a fifth in 1961, but since then he bas not had any Daytona" points to carry bim into the summer season. He was 4th at Loudon last year but hadn't scored any roadrace points since the 110-miler at Des Moines in 1966. In 1965 be scored in 5 of the 7 road runs and needs only a victory in this type of racing to become the first rider to win a race in every category of racing offered on the AMA circuit. Walt Fulton, Jr. broke into the Expert ranks very recently and immediately won the Heidelberg Mini Roadrace thus becoming the first rookie to win a road race National since Brad Andres turned the trick back in 1955 at Daytona. Walt won the Novice Daytona race in 1966 and followed up with the Amateur race the next year. He was forced out last year after spUllng in the 10th lap, spolling b1s bid to become the first rider to win the Novice-Amateur Expert races in succession. Gene Romero was lOth last year and 8th tile previous year, but holds only these two positions among b1s road race credits the last two years. Fred Nix has been a late comer to roadracing but has been improving rapidly and any added success here could help b1m succeed Nixon as the number one rider. He was 4th at Indianapolis and 6th at Heidelberg last year and had a pair of 6th places and a 3rd the previous year. He has been unable, however, to hit the scoring column at Daytona, despite being the fastest qualifier two years ago. Numerous other riders could possibly be listed as top contenders for the race and a trip to the winners circle wouldn't be ton big a surprise. Among these, Yvon DuHamel, 2nd last year, Art Baumann 3rd, Ron Grant 4th, Phil Read, 11th and Bob Winters 12th, are serious threats. Wayne Cook has finished in the top 10 twice. Larry Schafer and George Montgomery had a third and an 11th respectively. Bob Sholly has been a steady performer, a Ion g with the Palmgren brothers (Chuclt and Larry), and the Heil combination (Ted and Tom). Dick Hammer has bis ups and downs, but has two Daytona lightweight wins to bis credit and could be added to the list of possible winners. Looking over the lay-out, however, Rayborn and Nlxon will sWI have to be the best bets with Elmore and DuHamel pusblng. All but one of the winners since 1961 will be on hand March 16th to try and disprove this statement.

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