Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~700 0': CI) ~ t.:I ~ t.:I d ~ U RIDE POLICE MEMORIA By Jeffrey K. Frost LOS ANGELES, CALIF. Marrh 15, 1970 _ More than 700 riders gathered earlY this morning at Warren WUson Motors in Sepulveda, to register and begin the Pollce Memorial Poker Run. Sponsored by 'the Honda LTD. M.C., the Irde was billed as a means of raising money for the proposed Los Angeles City Pollce Department Memorial - a structure dedlcated to the city's law enforcement officers k111ed in the line of duty. After registration, riders started toward Newhall, via the Old Ridge Route. At check points along the way, participants were given cards, and their poker hands started to build, The first riders began to arrive at Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles shortlY after noon. This was the final check point, and the site for the festivities that followed later in the afternoon. As the earlY f1nlshers walted for the other riders to arrive, the SCMA Carburetors volunteered to provide music for dancing. Promptly at 3:00 p.m, the scream of many sirens filled the air and the Los Angeles Pollce Department Motorcycle Drill Team rode down Temple Street in perfect formation. Twisting and turning, crossing and re-crossing, the men in blue maneuvered their heavy Harley Davidson'S down through the crowd. - Then, with a roar of engines and blasting sirens, the team sped toward the drUl leader. And with one hair-raising display of complete control, they spilt the raU. The team then lined UP in formation for finalinspectlon, and Sgt. Earl Daper, Drill Commander, was presented with a trophy. It was announced at tbls tlme that each member of the team would be presented with honorary membershiP in the South'er n California Motorcycle Assn. No sooner -iUid-the Po!Ice Drill Team left the staging area than all heads turned toward the roar of the American Motorcycle Assn. Drill Team, The Ace Of Clubs, as they rolled linto Temple Street to perform their part of the display. The club wheeled their big bikes around and across, touching , first one side to the pavement with a scrape, then fllpping over in a turn and touching the other. For their final stunt, The Ace of Clubs announced that they would perform a Double Suicide Spllt, The team raced towards drUl master WallY Gllman, passing so close, that one of the bikes lost a footpeg. Dick Schandoney, President of Honda LTD., presented a trophy to Gllman, and the team left the field amid rousing applause. Next to perform was the Victor Mc Laglen DrUl Team, representing the So. Cal. Motorc¥cle 'Ass n. As they lined UP For eomplete "ille information at VaJerian's; just eall OKERRUN for final inspection and trophy presentation, their Drill Master, Col. Herb Harker, handed Schandoney an additional contribution of $50.00 for the Pollce Memorial Fund. Upon completion of the drill team per. formances, the P .A. cracked with the start of the trophy presentations. Twenty nine trophies were donated for the run by merchants throughout Southern Callfornia. Just a few of the trophy winner included three year old Kenny Gamble, The Youngest Entrant, the Simi Drifters for Best Dressed Couple, and Jim Hampton of Sun Valley, who captured the 1st place poker hand trophy with four fours. A 1938 BSA won the Oldest Motorcycle trophy, and the couple from Modesto, Calif. won three trophies, one of which was for Longest Distance traveled to make the run. Following the trophy presentation, 43 prizes and gift certificates were raffled, including ' a Wixom fairing, cases of 011, helmets, and a jacket, all donated by motorcycle shops and merchants throughout the Los Angeles area. Some earlY figures released by Bob Davis, treasurer of Honda LTD. indicate there will be close to $1,400 presented to the Pollce Memorial Fund. By Marueen Lee We suggested last week that all Grands Prix be no point runs, and after some of the phone calls we've had this week we'll repeat that statement again. In just about every class there seems to be some sort of discrepancy, and a couple of times the results seemed to credlt riders, who were actuallY being lapped by the leaders right at the end of the race, as ending Up in the tOP ten. -ro-U-g-n..... iJ scramlD~n~'" a- O One rider told me that wice he had passed another in the same class, but the results put the other man ahead, when in reallty he'd actuallY missed two full laps. The traU bike class was murder. Journalists have a reasonably good idea as to who Is leading, who misses a lap, or so on and so forth. And most of us came Up with the same rough "guestimates" of who was where among the Experts. There was a chap on a "Piglet" - a real champion and wouldn't comp1a1n if he was being shot through the head- who should have fln1shed way ahead of where he's llsted. NowI'll probablY get shot through the head for writing this, if he sees itl We won't even get into the thing about Malcolm Smith and Gary Bailey but all of you who watched Smith ride know what Torsten Hallman meant when he said "He's the fastest American." So what to do. You can't blame the Gripsters, as scoring a race like that is horrendous. We've had a few suggestions, other than making all Grands Prix no point runs. One, is that other District clubs contribute a helPing hand, with extra scoring teams on other sections of the course. This, of course, would provide an extra set of lap charts. If you are a rider with a legitimate gripe about where you finlshed. here's what you do: (and this means any race, desert, motocross, scrambles, the whole bit) Call the referee of the club and ask for a re-count. If you get no action from him then call the steward for your bike division and expla1n the situation to him. The problem will then go to the Competition Committee who will straighten things out. That's what they are there for, and it doesn't matter if you belong to a club or not. They are in office to benefit the sport for everyone, and most of them won't even start posting your points for a ' Grand Prix On your card until a week or two later. They know there's going to be some shuffllng around. At one fairly recent GP, one rider was moved from lirst back to fourteenth, and then back to first again. But it took some checking to get it all straightened out. Meanwhile, the rider had two nervous breakdowns and a heart attack and the club had fits. But while points still mean so much to some people we've got to figure this thing out. Course, if we go to trophies only, then there will be arguments over that. But that's a horse of a different color, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to itl For any club planning to throw scrambles, don'Uorget we've got those scrambles checkjrsts, A couple of people put a lot of effort into them, and they'll give you a guide line if you're a bit shaky on some of the requirements regarding a scrambles. If you need any I have quite a bundle of them, and 1'm sure the scrambles stewards do as well. So don't be backward in asking for them. They were put together from the suggestions of scramble club's referees and belleve me, a lot of earnest discussion went into them I Jim Hunter, ole " Mr. Goldstar" himself, has done so wel1in his own business . that he's expanding his quarters. And while on the subject of so called " veter an" riders, our tiP of the helmet goes this week to Dick Mann's Daytona win. Motorcycle racing still has a place for someone who has a few years of experience behind him, whether scrambllng or road racing, for money or fun. 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