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/125625
( AFM Leads The Way G.orl' Kirker's new Norton enlln. In an old rell.ble F••therb.d fr..... Art Baumann, Ron Grant, and Don Emd•• Photos by Dennis Greene & Donna Lucas By Chuck Clayton EL TORO, CALIF. July 13 - Production and grand prix motorcycles and sidecars made the trattic on the nearby freeway look slow by comparison, rocketing around the exactly two-mlle Orange County International Raceway road course Sunday. A tull con~nt of riders (140 entries) and a sprink11ng of spectators enjoyed a near-perfect day of pavement speeding, carefully supervised by the Los Angeles CbaPterof the American Federation of Motorcyclists. Action started shortly after noon on the smooth, flat, U-turn course alongside the Santa Ana Freeway. Alan Spears purred to an easy 50Cc Jr. Grand Prix win on his Honda, while in the same race, 'Pat Evans was motoring his Hodak:a to first place 100cc and Gary Kyle on a Kawasaki Van Tech took the 125 trophy. Pat Evans outdistanced Stan Smith's Brldgestone to win the 100Cc production race on his Yamaha. Production class racing seems to be the coming thing here in California. It is inexpensive to participate, and often riders can find dealers and distributors willing to help with the SolO. 01 the 60 .ssl st.nt olllcl.1s who m.n the turns .nd the scorlnl st.nd and h.lp make road r.clnl posslbl. lin. up lor th.lr share of III. IlolY. From I.lt to rllht, front row: P'm Tel., 1I0rrl. 1I111.r, Lex Blscholl, B.cky Gordon, Irish Hicks, Laura Johnson, Su. Carrol, John Prlt· chard. Row 2: Richard Rup., Bob Beck, Don Churchw.II, Lynne Forbes, John IIcLauch"n, Tex Jon.s, Ed lI..han, Chuck Crltt.nden. Row 3: Rlch.rd Simmons, Don IIcKlrdy, Dave Dunn, Bill Grillen, Lorett. Jones, Gordon Wilson, lin. John IIcLaulhlln, Rex Thoml.y, Benny IIcAv.a, Ronald Doll. Row 4: Rob CI."" 1I0k. lion rD., Hensley H. H.nl.y III, G.", PI.lller, IIlk. Bolton, lllke Gordon. Row 5: Chuck Thoman, St.va lIallon••, Dick Tel., AI.n Gapes, Bob Forrest and Jack Frobes. ~ r- . Hummer's closest competition came Irom Au.,' s Kawa lIach III until It retired. GltbranUll stretChes to aid Humm.,'s pllotln.. Th. aid was enouch lor a wi•• This Is what you do when you're K.lth lIashbum and relUlatlon w....tles I.t to b. a draco Gu.ss this Is a ·stoppl •. " expenses in exchange for the advertising they get from a winning campaigner. The spectators enjoY the stockers, too. You can root for your favorite brand and really identIfY with the competitors. The stockers don't give a thing to the GP bUtes on speed, either. One open class production bUte was clocked at 133 mph on the short O.C.I.R. stra.lgbt Sundayl Probably the most exciting contest of the day (not counting the ever-exciting sidecars) was the 201cc to Open production class. Rolin Pagan and George Kerker, piloting Triumph Trident and Norton Commaodo respectively, waged a running battle unW Kerker took over. "My engine started missing," Kerker said after the race, "and I was looking back to see it Roland was gaining on me••• and he wasn't anywhere in sight/" Pagan bad :-etlred to the pits with problems of an unspec1t1ed nature. Records exploded in the 350cc and 1000cc Grand Prix main events and the 175, 350 and 1000cc heat races. Just to give readers an Idea of the average speeds these hot dogs are turning, Don Vesco averaged 74.74 mph winning the 250 GP on his Yamaha, and this was not even a new recordl The record Is held by Roo Pierce at 76 mph. Rudy Galindo crashed and remowited while winning the 101-175cc 16-mUer, yet averaged 66.26 mph at that. Don Emde flew to a new record of 78.25 mph winning the 20-mile 350Cc Senior G.p. and Art Baumann bombed to a record average of 77 .68 mph in the 1000Cc Senior G.P. On a course as twisty as O.C.I,R., that's flatmotlvatin'. Dean Hummer, pilot of the winning sidecar, was pushed in the early stages d the main by the newKawasakiMachIU outt1t of O.Auer. The Three fell back with teething problems halfway through the 16-mUe chase, yet Hummer'S Hog hummed to an average speed of 63.06 mph, practically coasting. It was not a record. Orange County seems to be the only road race course in the Los Angeles area capable of hosting a really big crowd of spectators. They patrol the course carefully with the help of the International Raceway Radio Crew, but even so, it is an immense undertaking and new help is always welcome. It anyone would like to serve as a course captain, flagman or turn marshall, contact AFM President John McLaughlin at McLaughlin Motors, Duarte, Calif. for information. They'll get you Into the races tree, you can watch from UP close, and you even get a tree lunch. U's a great way to enjoy the races. (Results on page 20)