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/125631
'" Ti. 'n T'e Hart Of Texas. De'gado's Honda Road Race Winner. T'o.as Tops At Drags. Story and Photos by Tom Beesley FORT WORTH, TEXAS July 27, 19"69 Wh1le the motocrossers were t1n1shThe word is gett1ng aroWld tllat when the ing UP the Christmas tree bad been Southwest Motorcycle Racing AssocIapositioned on the drag strip and the boys tion down in Texas puts on one of its were golni the quarter-mile route hard International Grand Prix motorcycle and furiously. race meets, tllat's where tile action is, Bob Thomas from San Antonio on his The SMRA held anotller bJg, action ferocious Harley powered dragster packed triple header meet July 27t11 in smoked the tire to take Top EUrntnator. tile Dallas Ft. Wortll area at Green As soon as the dragsters t1n1shed, the Valley Raceway. Christmas tree was scooted out of the Green Valley is one of the local big way and the road racers hit the track. drag strips and road racing plant. The The lOOCc GP racers ran t1rst and road course is 1.8 miles long and is Houston's Darryl Hurst came home a winner on h1s Van Tech/Yamaha 100 short and narrow tor automobiles but is just about rtght tor tile two-wheelers. twin. JohnnY 'Bryant was second on anThe start-tIn1sh llne tor tile bikes is other 100 twin Yamaha and Edward Green on a Suzuld was tII1rd. the starting 11ne of the drag strip. The mach1nes rWl through tile 1/4 mile tIIen Jim LUtz, rider for Terry's Honda of Ft. Worth, came straight into the pits UP the h11l to tile hairpin tirst turn. Then after a fourth place tIn1sh In the l00cc I».ck down tile dragsters return road and into a hard right bander. After a bumpy race, jumped on his 200cc Bultacoracer and went right I».ck out to win tile 200cc ride down tile short I».ck chute, tile riders go into a sweeping lett bander tIIat GP event. Mike Ktdd, another Bultaco 250Cc Gund Prix WI..- Jimmy Anderson Ie.ns his K.was.kl tbroueh Green V.lley R.cew.y's crosses a concrete sided bridge (no hay rider, was second; George Johnson, turn two lust .....d of second pl.ce finisher Bennie C.mpbell on • 250 Suzuki. (Photo by Tom bales, eitller) before empt;y1ng out onto Yamaha, third; and Danny Forks, Honda, Beesley.) the straight. It gets really interesting fourth. F1nallY, the race tllat the crowd bad Mexico was having his tirst ride on a watching tile 'M' l;ype bikes lm'rel through in the 250 GP race Dallas' Jimmy been waiting for was due. The bJg bikes stock production Trident. Universal Anderson (KawasaJd) and Jet Tharp(Yatile sweeper witll tile tront wheel cocked took to the grid and everybodY was Motors in Dallas furnished the r1de and maha) renewed their bJg duel for SMRA sideways and tile riders elbows about anxious to see the new and mystertous the Mexican 650Cc National Champ100 POints. Tbis time Benn1eCampbe1lpoked chin level. Honda 4 rWl. Dan Ant11ley and his Honda said that he really 11ke the bike but that Around noon on tile 27t11, while tile road his 250 Suzuld racer in between the two of San Antonio crew bad brought the mathere were some Uttle th1ngs tllat be racers were sWl practicing, the motato take second. would c:hange 1t he had one of h1s own. chine aDd rider Jody Delgado UP to Green crossers were getting after it in tile Anderson rode his KawasaJdtovictory Valley to try to take the prize from One thing was that the elChaust pipes woods across tile creek trom tile road in what was probsbly h1s smoothest ride Virgil Davenport and the BIg D Cycle were too low and Felipe thoroughq race pits. tII1s season. Anderson fell at a hWldred Trident team. mangled them 111 tile course of the day's The European style motocross races per In A ust1n a cOllPle of months ago at Davenport aDd Delgado bad one heck of racing. Ternquez would 11ke to have a were run witll two 15 m1nute heat races an SMRA meet and in May at Green a race. The Honda didn't have all tIIose Trident in Mexico but because of some In 125, 250 and open classes. Valley bad a brand new machine to sort bugs in it that lots of people expected quirk in Customs "Red 1'ape", be can't The 125s ran tirst and BUly Kasson, and it was fast. Oh, was It fast! out. It looks Uke he's done it beCause get one imported Into Mexico. Penton; Ole J. Finstad, Sachs; AlLocke, Davenport was riding the same Trident he's taster than greased Ughtn1ng. CampRusty Bradley, the Dallas hot-shot Bultaco and Richard Rose, Yamaha bell dogged Anderson for the tirst halt that he and teammate Rusty Bradley rode road racer, couldn't get h1s Trldent (First through tourtll in tllat orde;~ racer rWlD1ng rtght and In the second or so of the race but Anderson "let it to victory In the recent Willow Springs emerged trom tile swarm to gatller turn of the Gra.nd> F1Ila1e race, he dumped 12-hour Endurance race. Theirs is a out a Uttle" and stretched h1s lead to trophies and merchandise awards. about twenty lengths or so. It should be very fast Trident. it trying to catch Jim Lutz's Honda 4, Mark Moore trom Plano, Texas on his rememberlld tllat Anderson and Tharp Untortunately Davenport had troubles J.C. lQusmeyer!s Norton and all the CZ took a step UP In SMRA points standTridents. He said he was just trying a both r1de factory built road racers aDd with his Trident and it was lett to such ings witll a two-In-a-row victory In little too hard and gassed it too much In Campbell's SuzuId was pretty much riders as Bob Lane, Trident, Felipe tile 250 race o' the middle of the turn. homemade. Suzuld turn1shed the eng1lle Terriquez, Trident, aDd John Campbell, Moore did tile same tII1ng last May at Several thoUsand tans turned out to and frame but it was lett UP to Campbell Norton, to chase Delgado. Green Valley only be did it In unbe11evGreen Valley to.watch the races and the to make it go. Felipe Terriquez, UP trom Monterrey, able mud last time. Now tile mud bad pits were tu1l of bikes as usual. The turned to choking dUSt, but tllat didn't usual variety Of Uttle people and blg slow Moore down any. people al1ke we blazing their respecSecond In tile 250 race was Ed Terrell, tive trails thesarh tile pits at about a Husky, and tII1rd and tourtll were taken thousand miles an hour and some of tile by Alan Dye, Ossa, and RonnteHutch1ns, worst tal1s or the day were when two (or Bultaco. more) of the "Pit racers" came togetller The Open class race was tile bJg show trying to occupy the same plot of ground of the day as far as the motocross was at the same f.lstant. concerned. The SlomA (that's Soutllwest MotorMeotesa team rider Tim Hart bad cycle RaclIIFAssoclation, remember?) come all the way tram Torrance, Caltreally puts on some outstanding races. tomla to "put it on" the locals and lib The Stock Production races are popular did just tIIat. Second place tIn1sber Gayle and very coinpetitive•. Even racers tllat Bradley r1d1ng .a CZ tor Competition have exotic Grand Prix mach1nery ride Cycle Sales 111 Fort Worth chased Hart the stock production bikes. Of course, tor all be was worth but Man, tiler&. just the dealers notice tIIese races because &In't DO way. AnybodY tIIat rides 11ke tIIat tllere's no disputing the sales value at is elther crazy or bad E.S.P. with his stock production racing. mach1ne. Hart started tile race with a Next slop on tile SMRA Circuit w11l be big red Meotesa ba1looIl tailed to his at Green Valley aga1n on Sept. 7th. helmet. Although Hart tIn1shed the race Many out-of-state riders are COm1ng to way ahead of everybodY else, the b&1l00n these races and several of the top West was a D.N.F. about three-quarters of the Cclast racers have vowed to make it to way through. How would you fee11t you the Valley 111 September. The SMRA ctves bad to r1dealoogwith Tim Hart? Wouldn't some of the most impressive trophies you burst too? around and they are very liberal with the James Maxwell, Matco, from Semmerchandise awards. And 1tanybodY Just inole, Oklahoma was tII1rd beh1nd Hart wants to race or thinks that road racing ::..J~. ~",..... and Bradley and Ph1l OUver, Triumph is not popular In Texas, just let them Monlt.. te.m rider Tim H.rt from Torr.nce, C.IIf. Journeyed to TellS to rully put down the was fourth. show their faces at Green Valley on loc.ls. Tile b.llon went .Ione for tile ride but soon e've It up .s too hairy .nd burst. (Photo by Tom Beesley.) September 7th.