Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

- IX H Once a year the taxis, screamin_9 road racers By John Blanton ABOVE: According to the official scorers the eventual winner of the six hour grind was th is Bultaco, entered by the president of the local Club Laguna and h is co-rider. BELOW: The Mexican based Carabella factory fielded tour imma c ulat e ly prepared entries ridden by very continental look ing pi lots. The Carabellas (27 and 29) are shown here with one of the Stark's Cycle Center Honda entries (73) from EI Paso, Tex. The Carabellas were running well and the team was upset when they were scored no higher than ninth. TORREON, COAH. , MEX. May 3, 1970 - Each year at this time, this sleepy little Mexican town awakens to the sound of wh1n1ng and roaring two and four stroke engines, as the local M"C. - Moto-Club Lagunastages one of the most spectacular motorcycle events held on this continent, "Las Seis Horas de la Laguna . The six hour endurance road race is run entirely through the city's streets, and entries are limited to 175cc machines, with no restrictions lin design of frame or engine. Fuel, however, is restricted to gasoline, and supercharging is not permitted. As is customary in races of this sort, two riders are allowed for each bike. Prizes and trophies are quite .generous by Texas standards, as the Torreon promoters give new motorcycles through fourth place, cash (starting with $160) for fifth through eighth ($40) places and trophies for ninth and tenth places. Entry fee is now $12 for each motorcycle, and this seems to be the only revenue from the race, as there is no conceivable way to collect admission from the thousands of local townspeople who wander in from all directions to stand at curbside and watch the racers go by. However, there are traditionally more than seventy entries, and, since the motorcycle prizes are usually donated by the factories, there is something left over, even after the riders are feted bY the Club Laguna at the race night awards banquet. . But far and beyond everything else is the race. Action starts at three in the afternoon . on the Saturday before race Sunday, as streets are .' closed" for three hours of practice. . say " closed" because the streets are not closed for practice. The traffic on the streets is only regulated - with slight part1al1ty given to the motorcycles. There are still vivid memories of 1967, on the old course in a residential section of Torreon, passing a gasoline tanker down a straight, then cutting across his bow to follow the course up an adjoining street. As it stands now, there have been no disasterous encounters between bikes and autos, but it st1llrequires iron nerve to slip through the Laguna-Guadlana intersection, while several taxi-cabs sit waiting impatiently to cross, only a blurr in the afternoon sun. For those who survive the Saturday afternoon practice, there is the Le Mans start on the Av. de la "Laguna at half past noon on Sunday• Riders dash for their mounts and push-start them into the streetf1lled with spectators, who will not be driven out. Motorcycles are knocked down, and riders are run over in the confus ion. This year, . as the howling fie ld disappeared down the street, swallowed up by the throng of wellwishers, the course ambulance screamed hot after it, red light flashing. It is a thr1ll1ng sight for the- spectators but a ch1ll1ng nightmare for the riders, and goodfriendships are strained in deciding, between rider and co-rider, who must make the start. Beyond the start thousands of onlookers - hang ten at trackside to glimpse the first riders as they wind around the nearly three-mileslong course at ever increasing speed. American promoters would be aghast at the sight of a racing motorcycle drifting both wheels right up to a curb lined with spectators, but the Mexican fans merely jump back and shout with glee when one comes too close. Once, in another race at the old Torreon course, I watched in horror as some wild cowboy on a big Honda lifted his foot to clear the curb while eXiting the chicane. He tweaked the throttle too hard and skipped the bike across the street and into the crowd on sidewalk. With a lusty whoop they pushed him back onto the street and bade him continue. This devil-may-care attitude is not without Us consequences, however, and a tragic accident this year brought renewed sobriety to . the proceedings. A horse, being ridden by one of the spectators in the infield, panicked during the race and bolted onto -the course. A group of four riders had just topped outon the Piedras Negras straight when they encountered the animal on the track, and three of the four peeled off to the left and got safety bY •The fourth, on Bultaco number three from the , local Club Laguna, veered to the right and coll1ded with the horse. The rider was hospitalized in very poor condition with massive chest injuries, and his fate was still not known when we left Torreon. Racing fortunes were mixed this year. The Carpenter- Blanton Honda blew during Saturday practice, and in the wake of what catastrophe the hastily-formed Gardner-Carpenter (James Gardner and David Carpen- . ter) team went afoot after a few laps of Sunday's race, when Jim's Honda " parted a cam chain. At least three other American entries went this way - the Honda of Larry Beall and Danny Forke and two of the Team Honda bikes from Stark's Cycle Center in El ..P aso. Stark's other two Hondas f1n1shed well up, however, one of thein being a 125cc CR-93 with timing ' gears I

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