Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

<:) Mf/rysvi(le Drf/ws Cf/pf/city CrDwd (I) = 2: looJ ~ >.. c;,.) By Ed and Joan Powers MAB:!SVILLE, CALIF. August 9, 1969 'l1Ie l00cc NoY1ces were ftred \Cl as tile drlJIlIIed at ~ . Golar Into tile ftrst turn, three riders missed goInc IDeo tile wall by a ha1r. The ftrst four r1dIIrs set tile pace for tile tropb1es, with Nell MaeNamara In tront,folJowedbythe ndtt Br1clpstone of Cbarles Giese. 'ndrd was Jack EddInp on a Hodakaand tJI'o8Ier Randy also on a Hodaka for foar1b. ~ had b1a problems on tile fourth lip wilen b1a b1Jce sputtered. Nell pulled otf the track letting seYeral bibs pus, ~ b1a me ftred 110 ille and Nell 81IlIlPt the field apIn to lake back lila ftrst place. Tbe 125's were In a duel rlgbt fron: tile UDe, ' * - Ken Synder ofSber1dan 011 a Yama1Ia and Jolm suman of OroYWe also on a Yamaha. Synder took the J-.l 011 tile atra1gIIts aDd suman mO'ied ID close 011 tile turns pulling a wIleel ~ ~ tile checkered, SJIIder IIIONd abead for ODe aDd SumaL cut two. Terry Flsh wasn't tar beb1Dd _ tor tIdrd. For tile 200 Nonce event throttles were open and spirits blgh enough 110 be seen by our capacity crowd. These riders were otf and flying as Ed (Great PumJdn) Brown on his ftre belching Bultaco 1elIped out froot and Into tile ftrst fast turn. His stiffest competition, Kel Morrison of Wette, was rlgbt on his fender. Morrison didn't let lIP and nosed Ed out on tile fourth lap. Edimmed1ate17 shot abead apIn oyer tile SeY8D foot Jump and took tile checkered. Bultaco rider Jlm Adams of Benicia never lost slgbt of the lead and made ita t1gbt tblrd. All 87es were on the 200 Amateur race, because cODStant Nonce w1DDers Randy Gent1le now compete In tblsAmateur race. Dunn'S Bul and WUl.1s' Suzuki were eYeD otf the i1ne with Gent1le c:1oIIe behind. Gotnc InIlO tile second lap, on the long fast turn WlWs bobbled lettInc Dunn lake the lead to tile ftn1sb, with Gent1le comlnc In for the cbeckered Ibout 15 feet bebInd. Randy Dunn rides his Bultaco Valley Sport C)'ele In Dam and does tbem prond, takInc a trophy at enry race at TriPle M ~. I>urIng tile 250 NO'I1ce ride ~ se1f- Put yow ur to the pound at lIa'l'lYllle and you can hear Ill. aldohacks a c_la,! assured cocldness of the Green leathered Cbarles Faircb11d on bis Kawald, bas all riders ~ to go, just to wipe the smUe from the eYer wtnn1nr Faircb11d. Darrell White 18 now rettlnc In stride with his new Eagle aDdpveFaircb11d bot pursuit lIP 110 tile fourth lap wilen White lost his mount wIlUe trying to duck under Faircb11d. Two Yama1Ia motocross riders mO'ied lIP fast 110 make their bid. They were Dave Styles of MarysvUle and RandY Pean of Marysville. TakIng a strong fourth was newcomer BW Corday of Auburn on a Montes&' The 250 Amateur riders are trlgger bappy. The starter bad his bands full trying 110 get off a good start. Three times riders were sent back before tIIey were gone. Doug (P8PPY) Sizemore on bis ever-go Bultaco put it lIP frOllt aDd kept it there, 80 the action took place for the second spot. Figbtlng John Fite and BW KrW d1d their tblng. Tblngs looked nip and tuck untU the fourth 1ap, when Fite scrambled &bead with vigor leavlng KrW for a non-paying third place. Tbe timing clock was in use for the super fast 250 Expert r1ders. After the dust cleared, the clock showed a 21 second 1ap time, 56 mph average and straight away speeds lIP 110 70 mpb. Tbe two r1ders responsible for the fast times were Ken Roberts, Suzuki and John Green, Kawasaki. It's nothing less than full throttle for Roberts as be sways, slides aDd fUes 110 too brass. Back from Reno this week were Dick Bass and Ted Bickerstaff sporting a brand new -350 Suzuki back. Honda of MarysvUle also entered a new 160 Honda back. Tbe little bikes held their own for _rat 18P&, at wb1cb time the bAc bikes d Klrby-ForellllUl, KeD7Clll-KrlD aDd Bus-Blckerstatf set tile pace In frCIIIt for SeYera1 laps, but tile _ of the b1Jce band1caPPed tIIem as they took tile long sweeper too wide, lettlnc Ken7CIIIKrlD team moye lIP frOllt for tile win. Handlcsl)ll was the name of tile pme In tile Open NO'I1ce as Tom KeoDed7, wtd1e f1sbIng for b1a sb1tt rod, lost his bot shoe about the s1.Xtb lap aDd had 110 fIn1sh the race with a dangl1Dc sboe. With a sore ankle and worred mJnd KennedY III&IIIIPd 110 put his borrowed Triumpb InIlO tile wInDer's circle. Steve Byers on a Montesa didn't give Kenned7 mucb time to worry as be was rlgbt In tIIere for second, followed by Mike Sandrla of San Francis on a Triumph for third. In the Open Expert Russ Powell of San Rafael moyed his BSA df tile line In a burry, putting tile d1stance between bim and the pack and with eacb 1ap increased that lead 110 the f1n1sb. WUd WlWe Battaglia from Sheridan took second on a Triumph. NEW MONTESA 5 SPEED Montesa MollOrs announces that tIIey bave just received the ftrst sblpments of the Cappra 250 five speed motocross 1l1ke. John DeSoto won the Inter-Am Series in 1968 on the prototype of this current production model. Tbey also won tour out of four races at the GraflIOn Tenth Annual East Coast Championsb1P races. This is the newest addition in their line of dirt mollOrcycles. Tbe color is brigbt orange. Wendt Wins National Hi"c'imb By Paul Cosner JEFFERSON, PA o Aug. 3-Near178,OOO , hlllclimb tans got a double thrW hez:e today as they viewed the once-yearly spectacle of the National HUlcllmb Championsb1ps. Cause for all tile excitement was the tie breaking sudden-death rlJll off between York, Pa.'s Beeze Wendt and the re1gn1ng champ, Earl Bowlby of Logan, Obio. Tbe site for this year's event was the WoE. Bankert Memorlal HUl, a 280 foot b1gb structure owned by the sponsoring White Rose Moe. Tbe incline bas a single bench midway and otfers a 60 to 65 degree grade. Threatening sides cut attendance, wIl1cb was ant1c1peted to be in the range of 12 to 15,000. Luck1l7 the storm ar- . rived just as the last run was completed, leavlng the poor bikers with tile equally odious cbo1ce d aquaplaning through the night or sku1ldDg around under turnpike oyerpasses. Most skulked. Tbe Class B Cbampionsblp (30 Cu. In.. fuel, un11m1ted) became an anti-cl1max after tile ftrst rlJll when Columbus, Obio's Doyle Dlsbennett tmllmbered bis 500cc BSA for a new record of 6.72 sec. He was a little tardY In bitting the Id11 butllOn, however, and flew oyer the summit, dropping his mach1ne and sp~ bis wrist. Dlsbennett ended lIP drivlng 350 mues only 110 make a single run since none of the other 17 riders could equal bis time with 3 tries llPiece.SecondPlaceftn1sber Jim 'I'bompson 15 also a Beezer rider from Columbus. Then came the big boys; the reallY super hot equj,pment. Class A professional b111cllmbers are allowed 80 cubic inches, fuel and un11m1ted engine and frame mod1f1cations. All year these rlders bave been competing In points events in order to make the top fifteen. This year, though, the I.BoM. lost 1ts mind and accidentally 1nv1ted 17 Class A and 18 Class B riders. To avoid bard feelingS all were allowed 110 compete. First rider up was Earl Bowlby. Riding an extreme17 stock appearing BSA Earl vaulted 110 the top In a quick 5,98 and retired 110 await a cbanenge.Itdidn't lake long. Beeze Wendt, a local boy from York, Pa. straddled bis fantastic glrderforked Vincent aDd let fly with another 5.98. This was the ftrst time In National HUlcllmb history that there was a tie within 1/100tb of a second. Tbe rest of tile day was spent trying 110 beat 5.98. Tbe riders knew it was quite possible, since tile b111 record was down In the 5.15'5. Stars such as Joe Hemmis, Larry Huber, Lou Gerencer aDd Gordon Mltzell all tried thrice with little success. And of course Wendt and Bowlby strived mtgbtuy 110 break their tie. But alas, it was not to be. As darkness began to fall along with the first drops of rain, Wendt went 110 the line for his 4th and tIDal run. uP and OYer be went with a 6.45. Now tile pres- sure was pn owlby. All be had to do was make a moderatel7 fast cl1mb 110 retain tile title. And be went lIP with a 6.57,

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