Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

PERRIS, CAL. Aug. 23, 1969 T The summer weather is really bringing the racers and fans out in numbers. In !act we were honored by two top-notch riders from Texas who lived uP to their billing and put on a good show. Hope they enjoyed Perris as much as we enjoyed having them. Come back soon. My husband, who probably feels like the forgotten man, deserves the biggest "Thank You" in the world. Never once has Tommie complained about having to wait around while I'm of! getting material for the column. He has been my chauffeur and the chief mechanic for my nephew and on several occasions helped other riders. He may not feel that he is doing anything but to me has done more than eough and hope this in some small way will let him know just how much John and I appreciate him. , The Perris Novices are about to become parents again as we are sweating out the arrival o! Lionel and Vicki Beard's !irst child which stood a good chance of arriving last night. The baby is due any day and Lionel had to go and wipe out which no wife needs to see pregnant or otherwise. It was a toss uP as to who looked the worse Lionel or Vicki. Lionel got into racing through his !ather-in-iaw and brother. They build bikes and the first time out he got a lirst and that was it. Although he has only been racing a month he has alreadybeen sponsored by Yamaha o! Montcialr and is riding a 650cc Triumph which has got to be a handful. Lionel, if you think that Triumph is a lot to handle just walt till the baby gets here. Mr. and Mrs. Stanford are the very proud parents of three racers and are real1y gung-ho for the sport. Toby who is fourteen and the YOWlgest of the three, rides the biggest bike, a 250cc while Terry and Tom ride 100's. Allbavebeen racing about a year and credlt ~Uchard Green with getting them started. All the boys saved their money and with a little helP from Dad got their first bikes but from then on they took over all other expenses and work hard for their money. Toby works in a hotel and Terry and Tom work construction. The Stanfords have one other son, Tim, but he isn't interested in the sport other than a cheering section for his brothers. He had his girlfriend Jerri with him and she helped make the spectators section a little brighter. Tina, the boys' sister, helps a lot too and with all the bike riders in her family she'll probably show uP one of these nights with her own bike. Indio has given us a good little grouP o! Novices. After hearing that he had recruited three riders to racing, I had to meet Richard Green and find out his sales pitch. Richard is seventeen years old and has been racing two and a hal! years. He rides a Hodaka and a 250cc Bultaco. He got started by watching flat track races in Indio and when he got his first bike, a Yamaha 80, he was of! and running. His foiks were a little skeptical at tirst but have since been brought 'round. As with most Novices he is shooting for Ascot. Phil McDonald has a name that should be familiar to most o! the Perris regulars as his father is the owner of K&N in Riverside. Phil has three bikes and of course all are Yamahas. The range is 50cc, 100cc and 125cc. Phil is thirteen and has been racing a year which shouid make him a hot competitor by the time he is ready for Ascot. He is aiming for Ascot but his real love is road racing. Here is one kid who had no problems convincing his parents of the merits of cycle racing. His mother offered her services as chauffeur when his dad had to go to Daytona. Phil has a lot of good riders to learn from as the K&N racing team has a COuPle o! riders that have been making big waves at several tracks and with his drive you can be sure he will be making some of his own before too long. I thought many would be interested in learning what the police think about the kids who race bikes. Tomas Pachaco has been with the Perris Police Department about a year and has been one o! the regulars to work the Perris races. He feels if more kids came out here there would be fewer accidents and injuries in the streets. He also has been impressed with the way the riders and spectators conduct themselves and said he has made only one arrest and then the charges were not serious. To further show how strongly he !eels he said that his son who is eleven and a hal! months old will hava a mini-bike as soon as he is old enough. The boy will be encouraged to track ride even though dad will stick to the desert as the racers go too fast! We saw Doug Mcintyre and found that he had a bit of bad luck at last Sunday's point-run as his bike froze uP. I'll tell you, Doug, your bike was the only thing that froze out there as the ice was having a hard time o! It. Dan Rhinehart suffered a broken shoulder Saturday night from what I could find out and hope he is going to be all right. Keep us posted on your progress Dan. Well troops I gotta rap at you a little blt and this is aimed at all riders whatever class you ride. l! you hold an AMA card you should know the ruies for setting your bike up to race. That means no knobbies, no kickstands and no riding out of class. We have had far too many disqualifications simply because riders refuse to obey the rules. Contrary to popular belie!, rules are not made to be broken and i! you refuse to play by them don't come to Perris. Bob Kline has ridden himsel! right out of the Novice class. He has had nine consecutive wins in the 250cc class and in the two weeks he has been riding the lOOcc ciiss has had two wins. At Perris nine straight wins makes you an Amateur for this track only. Good Luck with your new rating. A!ter reporting Bob would be on vacation he shows uP saying that he couldn't miss the races so they did it to me again. When !ll1ing out your entry blanks give the kid a break and write so that I bave some chance of tiguring it out. Dave Riggs, riding a Yamaha DT-l bullt by Granada Cycle Sales, became the Swedish lumberjack Bengt Aberg, is the new World's Motocross Champion in the 500 class. The Husqvarna factory rider clinched the championship with a win in the Swiss grand prix August 24th. BSA riding John Banks saw his hopes for a four stroke championship go down the tubes as he was forced to retire with a rear wheel puncture. 26,000 spectators braved the rain to watch Aberg win his fourth grand prix o! the year. Russiln Tops Speedway filiI While home on leave Pvt. Bruce Harmer of the United States Army Medical Corps, youngest son of Cycle News scribe, Bill Harmer, purchased a new Yamaha and took it with him to his duty station in Washington, D.C., "So he'd have something to play around with first Junior rider to win the 250 TT main in many weeks at Trojan Speedway Thursday night. Luck was on his side as the early race leader, Jimmy Raymond, took a spill on his Montesa going into the last laP. 250 Flat Track action saw Jimmy Raymond staying uP to win it, on his Montesa, with a smooth riding Larry Shaw a close second on his Speedway style Bultaco, and Irwin Moon third, also riding a Bultaco. The 125 TT was as usual, a battle of the Yamahas of Jimmy Raymond, Paul Wilde and Dave Riggs. Greg Cunningham squeaked his way in this week however and WUde dropped out. The 125 Flat Track saw '01 Jimmy do it to 'em again on his Yamaha. The 100 Flat Track Main event trophy went to Gary Scott on his Cimatti who really walked away from the pack. Trophy Dash action had Gary Scott the lOOcc winner on a Cimatti, Paul WUde won the 125 Dash on a Yamaha,and Larry Shaw took the 250' s on his Bultaco. Bob Hardison, a regular at the track, went down in the 250 heat and was hit by two bikes, which put him out of action for the rest of the night. We were happy to !!od that worst of the damage was to the seat of his leathers, which were torn to shreds in the mishap. (Results on page 20) START OF U.s. ARMY MX TEAM? Story by John Noffsinger By Margie Photo by Dave Butcher ABERG WINS CHAMPIONSHIP .By Peter White OLCHING, WEST GERMANY, Aug. 24, 1969 - Unknown Russian speedway rider, Vladimir Klementlev won the European Final at Olching, West Germany on Sunday, August 24. The meeting was the last qualifYing round before the World Final at Wembley, London on September 13. Ten of the sixteen riders at Olching went through to Wembley. There they will ,join the top six from the British Final which was held at West Ham early last month. Klementiev was the solo Russlan representative in the European Final and his win over the leading Swedish and Polish riders came as quite a shock. Five times world champion.Ove Fundin only just scra,pe - V) ~ C>l :<= ~ U :>.. U

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