Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I'..... • ,," ---.. ------ 71 ·1 : ; . .; ~> STARS INVADE CALIFORNIA! ~ r.:l ~ crash and were out of the running. Greeves factory rider" EngllshmanArthur Browning, broke a chain and also. went the pit route. ' By this time, the super hot temperature was beginning to take its toll, and fewer and fewer riders were appearing at the Une. Gatorade and snow cones were at a premium, and spectators anxiously awaited the appearance of the water truck, following behind aM getting a very refreshing, clothes-on-shower. In some of the best racing of the day, the Maico's of John Rice and John Maynard dueled for supremacy in the third moto of the 500cc Sr. Division. Rice grabbed the initial lead, but Maynard shot by on lap two. Somehow, Rice repassed and Maynard was in hot pursuit for the next five laps. On the yellow flag lap, Maynard and his wonder bike, the new 490cc Maleo, got by and stretched out his lead f0f: a wave of the checkers. Maynard finished first overall, with Rice second and another Malco, ridden by Bob Maynard, third. As per usual, Mikkola ripped off another victory in the third Internatioual molo and final race of the day. For the second, time Grossi was bestAmerican, finishing sixth behind the EUI;Opeans. So ended the first event in the Viking series. All and all, lit was a pleasant day of racing over a neat course, marred only by the almost unbearable heat, and the fact that whoever was responsible for this sort of thing--"not me,gotalktohim"-. cut financial corners to the point of only having one ambulance to handle the seven spectator and rider injuries that occurred. The super bikes were loaded in vans and the super stars were loaded in planes for the next day of racing at WhiteRock. Unfortunately, dust was the name of the game at White Rock. If you got behind, forget it. This was the first race held at the track, and owner, Al Dahmqu1st admitted that he doesn't have, •'all the bngs ironed out, yet," including dust. But he r.:l ...:l ~ U The European invasion takes all too real aspects as this start picture depicts. .-undoubtedly will, and the track will undOUbtedly be one of the better ones in California. It looked like a clean sweep for Mikkola, as he was Virtually untouchable during the first two motos. But on the third go, Torlief Hansen, who is still recuperating from broken leg and seven months spent in a hospital, swept into the lead and held it for the checkered flag. So after an awfnllong weekend of racing, heat and dust, the mnlti-language group picked up their Edison Dye checks and returned to the lounge at Cordova lodge to bench race in sign language and think about the big one next weekend, near Tacoma, Washington. (Results on page 22) -'". ... $:'f>'

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