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/125608
Start of the Novice championship road race finds Robert (55) Sharp, of North Carolina, Floridian Jon (134) ROberts, New Yorkers Ralph (117) Garcia and Clarence (150) Neilson and Leon (21) L_ ma of Wisconsin streak out 01 the Infield starllne erld and onto the ble course. ;? .~~~~~~~ Anthony (32) Coccaro leads Tall Sisson as eventual 9th place flnlsller Joe Brewer ptl let to zap them both In the Amatllur 100 mller. Wlftner of the 250cc Am/Ex 100 mile championship for the second slra1eht year, Canadian ace Yvon Duhamel, Yamaha mountlld. Above: Tucked In on the 32% banklne. Below: Amateur 100 mile champion, Ron Muir (Yamaha). Above: Duhamel leads the snarllne pack. Below: sportsmen bunch Into the bend. RA'N SHORTENED 250(( CLASS'C TO DU HAMEL DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - March 10-16. The annual AMA motorcycle classics arrived here with a roar and departed in a drizzle, with the biggest road race of them all - the Amateu~Expert 200 Miler put off for a week to await dry weather. (see story in this issue,) Photos by Dennis Greene Like a rerun of last year's 250Cc Classic, the combined Amateur-El(llert 100 mlle 250cc show was cut short just past the halfway mark because of a downpour havocing safety on the course. Yvon Duhamel was leading, just like in 1968, when the checkered flag came out at 59.4 miles. Duhamel's Yamaha was aftraemg 98.348 mph despite· ttIe rain. The lightweight classic smoked under way with four Yamahas and a Kawasaki in the f!'ont row. Dick Mann added another link to his chain of misfortune this season, getting off last. He was back In the plis by lap 4. Ron Pierce was first to tbe infield turn, closely pressed by Duhamel, who rides for Trevor Deeley, the Canadlan Yamaha Distributor. Duhamel passed Pierce quickly, turning 102.62 mph on the nexl'lap. . While the Canadian lengthened his commanding lead to 200r 30bikelengths, the battle raged for third place with Ron Gould and Mike Duff dicing back and forth behind Pierce. Meanwhile Ralph White, haVing started badly, had already passed six riders going into lap 5. Light rain begain splattering the fairing windshields, but It soon stopped, only to resume more heavily a few laps later. In lap 9 Duhamel, averaging well over 100 mph, had 10 seconds lead on Pierce and Cal Rayborn slipped his Ka wasaid ahead of Gould for 3rd. Dave Stmmonds fell back with a flat tire. Rayborn and Pierce passed, then repassed on laps 11, 12 and 13. Rayborn getting Pierce on the turns and Pierce taking It back on the flat-out oval. By lap 15 the rain was increasing and on the 16th lap the checkered flew. It was Yamaha's 5th win in a row, and Duhamel's second. The top 10 placers split $350 contingency money from Nisonger Corp. as well as the hefty purse. Near the end of the foreshortened race, Art Baumann and Thomas Sisson tangled with Sisson earning a free trip to the hospl tal. Duhamel said he had to slow down the last two laps as the course became very slippery. Gould says be will campaign his Yamaha in the European Grand Prix this season.