Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125683
At the start Jim has already jumped ahead with Larry,S, Palmgren, Tom, 38 ,Triumph hogged the top ten in qual1!ying with five spots, H-D two, BSA two and Yamaha one, However, in the heat races it was Rice who came up with by far the fastest win, Cal Rayborn, Chuck Palmgren and Tom Rockwood were close behind. Brelsford and Lar-ry Palmgren took the other two heat race victories. Time trials eliminated many of the top dirt track riders that were on hand to swell the total entry to nearly 150 riders. Dave SehI, the Canadian who has been on the western tour all month and having little luck finallY pu,t one together to win the five lap semi over Mert Laww1ll and Dave Aldana. SehI's luck again ran out in the final and he was forced out before the flnish, running in the back of the pack. During the morning practice Aldana destroyed his BSA. three. Dave took the hay bales and the fence in the first turn due to a stuck throttle but once again walked away for another day. None of the Triumph or BSA threes were raced as they were not fully sorted out as yet. Dusty Coppage nearly broke his Yamaha in half in practice, hitting the hay on the far turn. The bales prevented Dusty from going through the fence and he, too, walked back to the pits but later failed to time fast enough to make the program. John Hateley scored his second straight amateur win at a National, winning both the heat race and the final with again a smooth mistake-free ride. While it was Hateley and his Triumph all the way in the final the story for second place was far different. Three riders took turns the entire ten mile d1stance trying to decide who would finish second. Rick Holly put on a sliding show for -.,-------------- Rockwood, Mark, 87 Brelsford, and Dick,. 2, Mann in hot pursuit. seven laps that has never been rivaled by an amateur on a mile. Always more of! the groove than on, the San Diego rider was sliding from second to fourth all the way until the eighth lap when the machine finally called it quits. Denny Palmgren, younger brother of Larry and Chuck, set fast amateur time in the trials but pulled a third behind Portland's Ed Herrman and Oklahoma's Dave Rupe in the heat race. In the final he challenged Hateley in the early laps before becoming involved in the w1Id scramble for second in the later rounds. Denny was hold1ng second in the final at the start of the last laP. Then came Chuck Joyner who had started in last place as the last rider to make the final. Chuck nailed Palmgren on the final round to take second with Palmgren just barely holding third over Herrman. Gene, 3, Romero tries to get under Chuck, 6, Palmgren while both are traveling close to 100 mph. The race played to the largest crowd in the three year history of the race. The grandstand was completely sold out long before race time with the entire show being run under ideal weather cond1tions. The National Circuit now swings down to Tulare for a National half-mile this Saturday night. Rice leads the National stand1ngs by only two points over Dick Mann who spent most of the Santa Rosa afternoon of! and on the narrow groove. Dick was a d1stant fifth on the mile track. (The above calculation is unoffical). The Tulare track is just the opposite of Santa Rosa. There really is no groove with the riders able to full-bore slide the turns, down the pole or up by the fence. Mann has won here before. (Results on page 22) Canadian Yvon Duhamel showed up at Santa Rosa on a Yamaha.