Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

THE NATIONAL SCENE Laconia Reflections They love their road rac1ng in New England. Somewhere between 25 and 35,000 people turned out to see the professlooal rac1ng stars of the AMA at Loudon, New Hampshire, which Is not even on most maps. The track Is a twisty 1.6 mlles per lap and there reallyarenostratghtaways to get up steam. It Is a rider's course up and down hU1s with tight and sweep1ng turns. Compare It to California's Carlsbad or Wash1ngton's Kent and you have somewhat of an Idea of what Briar Motorsport Park Is all about. The CalIforDlaD's took: their second straight licldDg. The record now standS at eight wl11f! for the westez:o'ers, one for the Canadlans and one for the rest , of the good USA. Mark Brelsford might have won excllPt for engine troubles, Yvon Duhamel should have won except for his usual over-eagerness and a spW, JodY Nichollls may have won e.xcept for a broken fuel llne and fire, Art Baumann again went on his head and destroyed his chances-. Cal Rayborn becamj! so eager to win a road race, even a heat race, that he crashed and eliminated himself for perhaps the rest of the year - leading the heat and a sure win. Cal Rayborn "After nine Natloaal' eventa, DO wins' and very few POints, Gary Nixon was w11llng to settle for tblrd behind Dehamel and Brelsford. When they both shot their chances Gary found himself in the lead the easy way and not really trying too hard. Chalk up a NatIonal win for Nbron who becomes the first to win a big one on a Triumph three. The Harley team minus Rayborn had Brelsford and Lawwlll and again Walt Fulton on the old H-D sidevalve 750 that has been ruled "Ohsolete", not by the riders but by the factory. Lawwlll cruised his way to a much overlooked 12th place whlle Fulton again led the Mllwaukee Brigade with a well deserved fifth place which came on the f1na1 lap. Once again the Mel D1nesen Yamaha team proved that privateers can challenge, make money and score pOints. Don Emde grabbed a tblrd in both the lightweight and big bike events. It Is obvious that Mel does not read certain monthly publications' that contlnue to cry about the non-factory backed racers not havlng a chance. Both Emde and Tom Rockwood have scored well between them in each of the four nationai road races that have been run. Dave Aldana settled down after-nearly destroy1ng himself in practice. Common sense took over on race day with Dave !U1d his BSA f1n1shlng in the top ten and ga1n1ng many more National POints. A lot of the Experts were glvlngtbanks IN STOCKTON * PENTON - CZ HUSQVARNA Coleman's. 1545 E. Miner Stockton. Ca. 95205 ph. (209) 466-5872 that the road races are nowa tb1ngof the past for the season. Now they can get on the dirt where an all out every lap effort can hr1ng victory. Not so in road races where luck and many laps are stU1 the most Important product. They say It was the largest crowd ever for the Loudon/Laconta races. The Ne¥{ England Dealers Association Is headed up by new blood and a new group whlcb turned in a fine job. The old group was beard more than once qutpp1ng thaUt was not like the old days. Once again the .. Bad Boys" came early, llned the sboulder of the highway, and stared at the good guys. Few had the price of admission so once again the real race fans were spared the agony of bav1ng to set with, or smell, the eastern version which make the western versloo look like clean cut guys. The duel of the weekend came in the llghtwelgbt race between Duhamel and Ntxoo 00 their Yamaha250's.Hopelessly Duhamel and Ni xon out-borsed was Rayborn and his larger H-D 350 that had worked so well at Seattle. Cal was ready to settle for tblrd unW Nixon stopped With less than five laps to go. ThIs should retire the Mllwaukee 350 from lightweight racing once and for all since It cannot raIn in Seattle every year. The most confldent guys go1ng into the Sunday National were the three Suzuki team riders. Two crashes and afire took care of their hopes well before the race was one/tblrd over. Nobody was really glvlng the bigger Triumph and BSA "threes" much of a chance, but once again all but one was around at the finIsh. Don Castro crashed bard for the only Birm1ngham fall-out. Another "First" was scored at Loudon when Amateur Bob GW was blackflagged••Not for go1ng too slow, not for over rld1ng - but because his leather pants were falllng The offlctals tried to stop Bob and exp1a1n but be rode off into a sand pUe, got off the bike, pulled b1s brltcbes up - and walked away. Rus1;y Bradley blew in from Texas to pick up his monthly win and check from the AMA and Kawasaki. He now has netted ten grand from Kawasakl~ It sUll remains a shame that the fastest .. K" Is regulated to the Amateur clllss. However, much of the speed may just be the college kid from Texas who wID join the Expert ranks next year. Arnazlng tblngs have happened over the years in New Hampsblre.One of the most smazlng Is bow old the riders in the Novice class really are. Year after year they far out-distance the average age of the Experts. Gray balr, not balr and green number plates appear to be the "In ThIng" in the northeast. Bakersfield lad, Mike Lane, rld1ng his first professional race; lapped the entire field and broke the track record by 51 secondsl The same day he obtalned his AMA professlooal 'license he was also admitted into the Boy Scouts - so they say around Bakersfield. Anyway, he made shambles out of the best the East had to offer In both the heat race and the F1na1. The guy that worr om the other beat race was afraId be was going to lose his llcense, not the AMA kind, but the Medicare kind. The AMA offlctals wisely Umlted only 40 riders to the Novice F1na1. Gary Nixon voiced op1n1oo against thls but then he never has had mucb respect for his elders. Those eliminated were later seen p1ay1ng checkers under a tree or havlng a fast game of cbess in the back of a Surrey. The national riders really got an eyeful as the new fad in the east Is for au the girls to walk around with bra'S. Most d1dn't really need one to begin with but It belPs to dream a little. Most of the riders are cbomp1ngatthe btt to bead west for the five Natlonals on the coast dur1ng July and the first part of August. Away ouf there where the women are women and proud of what they got. Out where the burns do not invade, out where the Novice riders stlU do not shave, let alone turn gray before they become Amateurs. StlU, the mountains of NewHampshlre are a sight tp see. The more than $15,000 prize money spends anywhere and the weather and rac1ng was all anybody could ask for. Nixon followers are happy too. TrIW!1ph, Yamaha and Kawasaki are also happy. The AMA has been happy for over a month. Is everybodY happy?? ~ S~ The AMA professional riders and the glory and money events head west for the entire month of July, plus Augustlst. No less than five national point paying events are slated with four of the five sanctioned in California. The rema1n1ng eve,nt Is slated for Washington. The schedule calls for two half mUes, two TT's and a rnUe irack race. The first event wID be the annual half mlle at Santa ciara county fairgrounds in San Jose on Sunday afternooo, July 5th. JIm Rice and his BSA twin -was the '69 winner. Rice has already two national half mlles and a TT win thls year and wID again rank as an early favorite. The next stop Is the stxtb annual runnlng of the TT at Castie Rock, Wash., where National Number l,MertLawwlll, and his Harley have been the combination to beat the Illst three years. Mert has won two of the last three. Lawwtll has bagged Ii sbort rack and a half mUe win to date. The Castle Rock event Is actua1ly a two night affair with time trlals be1ng beld on F.rlday night, July 10th for the Experts and Amatsur entries and then all of the actual rac1ng taking place 00 Saturday nigbt, July Uth. The following weekend finds the national circult swlnglng south to Ascot Park In Gardena, Calif. Saturday nigbt, July 18th wID find the 9th annual runnlng of the 50 lap national TT with 24 Experts again in the f1na1. Mark Brelsford" the '69 winner, Is stlU looldDg for another national win since w1nn1ng his first and only title at Ascot a year ago. To date the Harley factory backed rider from San Bruno has been unbeatable in regular season Ascot TT's and ranks as the pre-race favorite. The Ascot weekend of July 17 and 18 may well be one of the biggest two night affairs of the season as Ascot has also slated a half mUe race for Friday night. The guaranteed $2100.00 purse has already been grately increased due to the fact It wID be known as "YamahaNlght" ~ ORANGEVALE DISTRIBUTORS NYLON ANTI-FRICTION CABLES 9198 Greeftback LaDe OnmgenJe, California 95662 Phone: 916-988-4725 Cow Trai' Your Cl 12 TOOTH CZ COUNTER SPROc;KETS $9.25 Cal. res. add 5% sales tax. C&M SPECIALTIES - P.O. BOX 717 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CAUF. 94040 1$ from US.A, West C('Jst Distributors (O.a'ers Writ. For Info. and Prlc.') with many bundreds of dollars already .be1ng added to the Novice and Expert f1na1s by the people with" The Better Machine". The two nights of rac1ng Is expected to draw riders and fans from far and wide due to the two large purses and the outstand1ng cast of riders that wID be in town. The fourth west coast national wID again be on the ODe mlle track at Santa Rosa. The first western mUe of the year should be an outstand1ng event with •69 winner Chuck Palmgren back to try for two in a row. The Santa Rosa race wID takeplaceon Sunday, July 26th with an entry llst that wID push the 200 mark In the Expert and Amateur divisions. The mUe oval has long been the choice of the majority of the riders as their favorite type of track. Return1ng to the national clrcult after a few ye~s absence Is the half mUe at Tulare, Calif. The previous national was won by Bart Markel who once agaIn Is expected to be the man to beat on Saturday night. August 1st. ~ 'FlIIIICABll' IEPLACE YOUI OlD fAS.,OIfD CAlifS WIT. THE fiNEST IJlOI AITl-flleTlO. UIITS Mark Brelsford ~UL.T~C= at F';:~o':t~ RACERS HEADQUARTERS FOR THE NEW FLEXEltCABLE Important to the riders who go for the overall title and a f1na1 spot In the top ten in the yearly national stand1ngs. The flve-in-a-row in July are ranked as the toughest to win and place in dur1ng the season. Many local favorites lurk in the background at both Castle Rock and Ascot. Riders that are excellent racers who seldom stray to other national events. The national circult riders are often surprised and regulated to posltioos down the ladder by the so called "Locals" that call Castle Rock and Ascot their "Home" tracks. California riders have won all five or the Castle Rock nationals and all of the previous eight Ascot TT events. On the other hand, the mlle ovals at Santa Rosa and Sacramento have found the out of state riders fairing as well, or better, than the bard cbarglng Callfornlans who liave won just about all of the nationals so far tbls year. July wID be interesting as Dick Mann, Dave Aldana, Jim Rice, Gene Romero and Mert Lawwlll are all in contentioo for the Grand National title. July can well again be the decld1ng month. of FREMONT ~ In - S.rvlc. - Acc.s• • 37311 Fr.mont Blvd. (415) 192.1949 bydewllllhuet! West Coast Nationals ~U~T=C= of FREMONT ..... ... 7927949 31311 fr•••• t .,,~ •• MOTO BETA AT PIIALTA • fllMOIT CI) ~ ... =t lo:l d :>- U

• Cover