Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

: (See front page) i Q., BEAN ~ CANYON ~ CLEANEDUp ... THEN POSTED! :0:= u By Eric Raits ,A new border-to-border record of 23 hours, 35 minutes, has been established by Darrell Triber of Spokane, Washington. riding the BSA Rocket 3, 750cc motorcycle which, in its short existence, has already knocked several A.M.A. records out of the books. Triber blasted his way out of Blaine, Washington (on the Canadian border) at 12.19 p.m. Sunday, May 4th, with his departure time certified by th-e Mayor of Blaine, and he hit Tijuana. Mexico, at n:4,4 a.m. Monday, May 5th. in time to help tbe city celebrate its national holiday, Cinco De Mayo - with a California Highway Patrol officer at the border to attest to his arrival and the time. The 38-year old Triber prepared the Darrell stopped once for breakfast BSA for the 1.394.5 mile run with a "when I got a little sleepy" and spaced thorougb tune-up; checking timing, gas stops 100 miles apart. He only polnls. plugs etc., and by replacing the stopped, in his words, " •••just long standard plugs and main jets. He used enough to gas and go." colder plugs than the originals and In1,394.5 Miles in Less Tban a Day stalled #150 main jels. The bike carried a Wixom fairing with a cut down Physically. he got an ache betweenhis windScreen. Triber took along an extra shoulder blades that is famUlar toevery set of plugs and several chain links as long distance rider that only stopping and his only spare parts. After he was well getting off can chase away. Triber found on his way out of Washington, he realized he could relax most of his tight, tired he had forgotten a spare throttle cable. muscles by crouching on the pegs with As it turned out, none of the extras were his body a few Inches off the seat. needed. The only mechanical difficulty His biggest hindrance was heavy trafencountered along the way was a necesflc the length of the run. A Washington sity to adjUSt the rear chain four times. driver passing two cars in front of him Trlber blamed a mis-aligned rear wheel blew a tire and "threw rubber all over for that. the road," but Trlber was able to avoid Personal preparation consisted of him. "lots of rest during the week prIor to the When we talked to Triber the first run." Triber managed only five hours of question he asked was. "Is It still ralnsleep the night before departing because Ing down there?" He was blessed with of last minute checks and transporting gond weather until he reached Los Angeles. "It poured cats and dogs from the bike north to the Canadian Border. L.A, to San Diego." he said. Asked if he would repeat the run. Triber replied. "Yes, I'd do It again. It was fun and the mach1De is really a pleasure to ride." Triber said he'd probably wait until someone broke his record. "I now know another, faster route. I don'twanttodisclose It though." He followed Interstate 5 to HIghway 99 and then back to 5. Triber expressed surprise at the absence of oil leaks at the end of the run and praised the smoothness of the big three-cylinder machine. Gas mileage was rather loW; Trlber said he figured roughly 28 miles per galloo was the best figure he got. He may have traveled slightly above normal touring speeds at times... The new Three-Flag Record erases the 28 hours. 7 minutes. set by Fred Ham on a Harley-Davidson on September I, 1963. The first Three-Flag record was established by Cannonball Baker, August 24-27. 1915, who made the journey in 81 hours. 15 minutes. A "record" of 32 hours flat was attributed to Doug Woodward riding a Honda on May 12, 1960; however, according to the record books, h1s elapsed time falls tour hours short of Fred Ham's former record of 28 hours, 7 minutes. The Safari Trail Riders and others turned' out In full force SUDdaY. May 4 to police UP Bean Canyon near Lancaster. Caiif. In an effort to keep It open for off-road riders. The club. assisted by a dozen non-members. picked QPlUldbauled out numerous truck loads oftrashlUld circulated among the campers In the canyon, asking them to cooperate In keeping the area clean. Everything went well until the last truck was pulling away. A sheep herder drove up. looked around, IUldbeganposting the area. Cycle News inquired and found out he does In fact own part d the property. leases the rest from private landowners, acting within his rights to close Bean Canyon. We talked to the Bakersfield sheePman and his oPinion was that there Is no way bikes and sheep can co-exist. He claims to have seen riders blast through a herd of his animals. scattering them and running pounds of mutton off their fat little bod1es. This seems to be a common tale (no pun Intended) among sheep ranchers. We think It highly unlikely a motorcycllsi would charge into a herd of sheep. Wool offers poor tractloo and the Intelligent sheep running every-whlchway would be more of a hazard to the bike and rider than to themselves.Qn the rancher's side. if anincldentsuchastbls happened. we could hardly blame the man. His livelihood may be threatened. He says cutting doughnuts on spring grass deprives his animals d food. That's where it stands. Bean Canyon is closed. Determining who was at fault is almost impossible. Was It justanimosIty toward motorcycles that closed it, or the act of an irrespoosible rider? .,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • 25th VICTORY NOTCHED BY MIIRKEL liT TERRE HIIUTE 20 LIIP NIITIONIIL .... -~ By Ben Hall TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA May ll-Bart Markel took the high road and Mert Lawwill took the low road and Bart got to the checkered before him. The scene was the 2Q-1aP half mile National Championship promoted by BetzelSmlthonanearperfect track In weather that alternately drizzled and shone. Markel had set fast time. leading off the expert quallfying laps and Gene Romero held 2nd fastest time. But the shocker of the afternoon was Amateur David Aldana. who set 3rd fastest time on his BSAI Aldana baCked it UP in his heat race after tussling with Ken Pressgrovefrom Topeka, Kansas. Pressgrove gave Aldana a good battle, ooly to lose his skidshoe and then had to work hard to hang onto 4th place and a transfer Into the main.. Aldana'S fellow Caiiforntan Don Castro won the second Amateur heatand MIke Mathews snatched the third. Come flnal time. Pressgrove leaped out to a big lead while Aldana got a rotten start. But Ken soon played GolIath to yOUDg David as Aldana worked UP. got UDder him; they bumped oocelUldPressgrove was down_ and out. Castro earned 2nd place. followed by Robin Martin from orchard Lake, Mich.. Danny Ware from Lawton, Okla. and Des Moines' Mike Mathews. Markel'S luck nearly left him In the first expert heat. The timing slipped on his Harley-Davidson and he barely held on to 3rd behind caJ. Rayborn, who was hunched low over the handlebars and Gary Nixon, sitting bolt upright in 2nd place. Eddie Wirth gathered 4th place and a ride in the semi. The second expert heat was a Mert Lawwi11-Diclc Mann battle with Lawwlll wInnlng that time. Mann the runner-up. the Chuck Palmgren and Freddie Nix. nursing a badly misfiring factory H-D. Heat number three was Gene Romero's, after he tailed Larry Palmgren most of the way, then horsepowered around him for the victory. Dan Haaby held down 3rd place with Jim Rice earning 4th and a Semi start. Nix had the semi all under control while Wirth and Rice clung to the other two transfer spots. Then the Big One leaped off the line. Lawwlll took a command1ng lead and as they came around completing lap one it was Lawwlll, Rayborn. Romero. Mann, Nixon, Markel, Larry Palmgren, Chuck Palmgren. WIrth, Rice and Nix. N1xon and Markel zapped Mann together on laP 2 and Markel took NWJn on the third lap. moving to 2nd spot on lap 6. Bart's Harley had been modified by tuner Eddie Warren, brother d #82 Jack Warren, so that It fired di1!erently. The motor sounded like It was running under water. It made a "bloop-blOoP" sound every time It fired, similar to the sound a motor makes wben the exhaust pipes are removed. Whatever Warren had ooce. it was working. Bart rndehigh while Mert stuck to the wide groove and on lap 10 Markel jets past Lawwillllke nobody's biJsiness. The crowd loved It. Nix had droPped out, p .0' d. on laP 9 with a misfire and Rayborn, a solid 3rd In lap 11, went out on the '16th circuit with engine trouble. Chuck Palmgren had passed Nixon once, but dropped baCkbehind his teammate again. And Markel sped to his 25th national win, ahead by a straightaway. Only two more such victories and Bart will have equalled Joe Leonard'S ali-time record of 27 national wins. The 20 lapper puts MertLawwlIl solidly in the lead' with 171 Grand National Championship points, followed by Markel, 2nd with 133. Cal Rayborn moved back to 3rd with 105 points. RonGrantis 4th with 91 and Gene Romero Is tied with Mike Duff for .sth place with 82 markers each. Results are as follows: TERRE HAUTE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSIDP H-D 1. Bart Markel H-D 2. Mert Lawwl1l BSA 3. Dick Mann Tri 4. Gene Romero Tri 5. Gary Nixon Ttl 6. Chuck Palmgren Tri 7. Larry Palmgren H-D 8. Dan Haaby BSA 9. Jim Rice BSA 10. Eddie Wirth AMA TEUR FINAL BSA 1. David Aldana Ttl Trl 2. Don Castro Trl Trl 3. Robin Martin BSA 4. Danny Ware Tri Trl 5. Mike Mathews Bart Ma,kel n"d. only two mo,. NatloQl vlc",I•• to .qual Jo. Leonard'. ail-time mark of 11 wins. ROLUNG MOSS GATHERS NO STONE IN LONDON TO N.Y. RACE MOSS RlDESNORTONCYCLEONFINAL MiLE OF LONDON-NEW YORK RACE. Stirling Moss, former world auto racchampion, in his attempt to beat over 400 contestants In the Loodoo-New York air race. used a 750Cc KLG-Kool equ1Wed Norton motorcycle from the West 30th street He1lport In New York to the finish d the race, the Empire state BuIJdlng. Moss'S sponsor was Grosse & Blackwell who b8d chartered a VC-I0 as well as a helicoPter. Another contestant, also using a Norton motorcycle. was "GlIDe" Potter of Esso international's Loudon dfice. The "Great Air Race". organIzed by a London newspaper. commemorates the 50th annlversay of the BrownAlcock transatlantic of 1919. Cash prizes in 21 different categories amount to $144,000. i>lg

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