Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ '" 0- a en l"- N N E. " '" ~ w Z W ..J U > U ROCK FESTIVALS & MOTORCYCLE RAC1NG-~ With about half of the nation younger than 35 and into a group culture that includes music and motorcycles, the idea of tying them together in one spectacular attraction has occurred to various promoters. Rock music outdraws motorcycle racing by about a thousand to one, and the crowd that's attracted by amplified guitars might also be fascinated by howling stingers and the rest of the show that goes with motorcycle racing. . Ascot Park in Gardena, Calif. tried a night of racing and rock recently which turned out so badly it has not been repeated there since. The darkness was a cover for weird carrying·on hy the rock audience and the police helicopter which descended all ablaze with searchlights at the climax of the show like a, surrealistic messenger from above freaked out not only the audience, but the track owners as well. And now the Canadian Motorcycle Association, the maple leaf eq"i~ent of our AMA, is in a heap of trouble for sanctioning a road race August 7, 8 and 9 at Mosport. Ontario on behalf of a promotion called Strawberry Fields Rock Festival. The catch was Mosport is a racing facility prohibited by law from harboring music festivals or any other non·motorsport performances except in conjunction with a motor competition meet. First the promoters had gone to the Canadian Racing Driver Association with an offer of a $5,000 purse and were flatly refused. Then they turned to the CMA - a sort of family-run outfit presided over by Toron tonians Ron and Eve White. The Whites consented to sanction a $1,500 purse motorcycle road race and rescue the festival because, explained Ron White, "this event can enhance the (motorcycle racing) image." With visions of huge, Woodstock-size crowds to perform for, Canadian and U.S. road racers, including some AMA licensees, hauled up to Mosport only to hear Mrs. White announce over local radio that the sanction had been pulled owing to lack of insurance coverage and spectator control. About 50,000 people had paid their way in - a record crowd for motorcycle racing in this hemisphere whether they were there expressly for the bikes or not. The police were gathering force ready to move in and roust the new illegal gathering. So a group of racers got together and offered to put on a demonstration race to salvage what could be saved of the situation. A fee of $2,000 was agreed by the promoters and the exhibition took place without sanction or insurance. AFter dividing the 2 grand equally, each racer took home 40 Canadian dollars - more than he could have won in two days of racing, in most cases. Canadian racers show good business sense. Meantime the CMA had split the scene to ponder where it went wrong. Rock festivals are bad news to many people, including people in the rock music business. The utter hugeness of the audiences makes any semblance of crowd control impossible_ The bad bikers are often called on to act as renta cops, but since the murder on stage that closed down the former Altamont motorcycle raceway after a Rolling Stones appearance this year, the reliance on Hells Angels and other outlaw group.s has dwindled. A possibility of combining rock music and motorcycle racing still exists, but not the way that it has been tried so far. Daylight shows on improved, permanent facilities such as mile tracks would be the best way to go. Music and motorcycle racing have a lot in common, now more so than ever. It would be a setback for both kinds of entertainment if the two never meet in the open air again because of what appears to be a moilUmental goof on the part of the C.M.A. SACHS do~lnates ~otocross.r" From left, start riders Mert Lawwill, Sammy Tanner and Mel Lacher 118II8 By Dewitt Thuett The Ascot half mile national is on tap Saturday night, Sept. 19th. For Ascot it is the 12th annual running of the race that began way back in 1959. The event has long been one of the best known and most followed on the national circuit and has more things going for it than most of the other nationals. Only five different riders, all Californians, have ever won the event. All five of the past winners still are active in professional racing. Sammy Tanner has won the event four times and is th e only rider to win three in a row. Sammy has won it once on a Triumph and three times on a BSA. He did not qualify for the final last year, the first time he has ever missed the main even t since the races -came to Ascot. Sammy will probably ride an Enfield this time out. The rider that can make more racing history on Saturday night the 19th is Mert Lawwill the '68 amd '69 winner. Mert can become the second three-straight winner in Ascot history. But far more important is the fact that Mert has already won the Ascot national IT title. The Harley ace took the win back in July and will try to become tne. first rider iP Ascot history to win both the IT and the half mile national not only in the same season, but anytime. All of the previous winners were basically known as half mile specialists, except Lawwill. Ten Experts, an Ascot single season record, have won the main event at least once. Tom Rockwood and Mert LawwiJI have been the two biggest winners this season and get the pre-race favorites nod. Tanner won the event when he was 20 years old. Rockwood can become the first teenager to ever win as he will not be 20 until Sept. 29th. Lawwill has a difficult decision to make prior to race time. He has ridden to victory the past two years on his older 750cc sidevalve model, the same machine he has won all of his Ascot main events on this year. However, in previous national naIf miles this year he has always been on the newer 750cc overhead valve model that powered him to the win at Cumberland, Md. earlier tbis season. Perhaps the biggest single item going for the Ascot national is the fact that in eleven years no non-California racer has ever won the event. It is·a matter of pride with the locals that they continue to win them against the best from the rest of the nationa. Keep in mind that the national final only takes 12 riders and 10 locals. have already won the final this year. Many out of state riders have stated over the years they would rather win the Ascot national than any other. The challengers this year include; Gary Nixon, Dave Sehl, Larry Darr, Ken Pressgrove and the Palmgren brothers, Larry and Chuck, to name just a few. To make the national weekend a bigger show there will be a IT program on Friday night the 18th. Practice for the national half mile wiII take place in the late afternoon of the 19th with time trials in the early evening. Pre-race ceremonies get underway at 8:00 pm with racing going at 8:30 pm. H-D, BSA, Triumph, Yamaha or Norton - take your pick. " this little tube ~. ' of additiYe... MOTOCROSS - 9/5/70 Bay Mare 125 SENIOR 1st Gene Cannady - SACHS 125 JUNIOR No.3 1st Dan Sanchel- SACHS MOTOCROSS - 8/30/70 Phoenix, Arizona 125 JUNIOR 1st Bob Carufel - SACHS Imported by: HERCULES DISTRIBUTING. LTD. 1112 Color~do Avenue Santa Moaiea, Callf••la ~

• Cover