Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Formulated for dilution ratios up to 80:1 (Above, above left and below) Two days of thrills, spills, gravity defiance and good hillclimbing made up the DeAnza World Championship, where Clyde Peterson went away the big winner. Clyde Peterson and Yamaha win top money in Championship Hillclimb By Ann A. Powell Cu stom high qu al ity ny lon rac e jer sey s . wi t h padd ed el bo ws . for deal er s . clu bs . teams. etc . Any co lors in any quanti ty. Send drawing & SUNNYMEAD, CA ,jUNE4-5 It was billed as a two day event, but although more than 120 had entered the Saturday sportsman climb , the primary event was set for Sun -day. This was the third-Annual World cham- quantity for quote ~ . o ~~ 0 ' B I LL WALTERS LEATHERS . 7359 Va rnaAvenue INC. NooOollvwoo(L CA 91 605,.;213)982-3738 HARD TO GET ~ ~&~A ~YAMAHA PARTS AND ACCESSORIES Large st stock in U.S. 24 Hour Man Order Servic e Deale .. We lcome DONELSON 3141427·1204 3328 Woodson Road St . louis. Mo. 63114 CYCLES, INC. S 16 U Z U K I S GS-750 with Turbo at Southland Cycle 8141 Garden Grove Blvd . Garden Grove 714-893-5091 U Z U K I pionship Hillclimb , and a lth ough th e riders hadn't come from around th e world , they had come long distances to try their luck at DeAnza's " new" hil l. Fifty-six members (incl udi ng wives) of the Bees Mot orcycle Club of Salt Lake City, Utah , wer e on hand for thi s weekend. In fact , 16 of th em wer e entered in the Saturday event , th ree in the Sunday climb. Other riders had jou rn eyed from all over Cal ifornia , from Airzona , and throughout the West. The big d rawing card was the $4,OOO·plus purse waiting at th e top of the hill , Excitement ran high on Saturday;. with promoter Doug Hall promising that no one wou ld make it over th e to p , or at least , very few would . "And ," he added, "the Su nday run is even rougherl " Pen nzoil was on hand , p romising a half case of oil to each of the 17 class winners on Saturday and $100 cash.for the fastest time over the hill on Sunday. T he Pen nzoil reps began to feel tha t they cou ld use that $100 for their own purposes when Saturday's even t ended without seeing a single rider crest the hill . Sunday dawned with heavy overcast and early morning sprinkles. The ra in was light , just en oug h to assure spec tators and com pe titors of a coo ler day, and enough to keep th e dust fa irly well settled. Spectators a rri ved early , and found that th e hills su rrounding the big run were perfect for ca tc hi ng a ll the action. Sunday was held to th ree classes : 250cc; 251 ·50Icc; and Open. The Sunday hill was even rougher than the one used on Saturday, Not only was it well covered with brush , but was off-camber, bordered by erosion ru ts, steep , slick, dusty, and j ust p lain mea n . Elden Peterson did a masterfu l job of riding when he took his 250 Bu ltaco up to the 284 foot mark and the cla ss win . That ru n rooks its toll on bike a nd rider, but Peterson went hom e $600 richer. (He had a lso collected two seco nd pla ce trophies on Saturday.) T o everyone's shoc k , Clyde Peterson , the second rider in the 251 · 501 class , took his super Yam aha rig ht over the top of the hill in a mere 7.25 seconds. that made Clyd e the first rider in two days to see the cres t of that h ill , What's more , it p ut an im med iate $85 in h is po cket .Tha t was th e pot the spectators ha d built up for th e first m a n over the top . W he n the class was finished, Peterson was still the on ly m an over the top, good for a win and $600 to add to the $200 he won by pla cing third in the sm aller class . An d , although it wasn't known at t he time, h e was to pick u p another $25 spectator pot for fast time of the day, and $100 fro m Pen nzoil for the same fast time, His total for the two d ays was $1010 in cash , a first place tro phy for his win in the 250 Modified class, second pla ce trophy in the 500 Modified class , a half a case Of Pennzoil and on e badly sprained foot. Not a bad weekend for this young man from Yorba Linda , California. al But, spectators come to see the Open class , T hey like the big bikes, a n d this class had some of tire biggest. .. and most exotic, It a lso is the class with some of the biggest names , names that don't show up in the smaller bike classes . Na mes like jim True , winner of the Open class last year, and the only m an to ever to p the fa mous Widowmaker in Uta h. Names like Ron True , the win ner of this yearls Wi dowma ker H illcli mb . Na mes like Bill Harrison, 1975 Worl d Champio n Arm W restler and one big bikerl t hey com e out to see these riders , as well as th e local Southern California experts. Neal Mackel , Bill Correll a nd Craig Mock. They wa nt to see the rid ers fro m out -of-state , like Mel Kimball of Uta h . This is the class wh ere the bikes are as big as trucks and about as pow erful as Sherman tanks . T hese are the bikes that run on exotic fuel mi xtures, th e ' formulas of wh ich a re closely guarded secrets. If you have a cold and stand behind on e of these super bikes , it 'is guaranteed to clear your head at once l These big bikes hav e on e drawback - they are hea vy. All that pow~r does no good unless th e rider ca n manage to keep both tires on the ground a nd mainta in forward motion . That's where power can sometimes backfire. There wer e plenty of backfires today. So many of the bikes flew into the air that the crowd began to wonder if some wou ldn't actually sp rou t wings, "Sta n a pot for the best crash ," yelled an exci ted onlooker. "Anyone willing to try as ha rd as these guys deserves som e hel p in p ut ting a b rok en bike back together. " That was another begin ning, and the pot quickly gre w to VI more than $50 . As it turned out , t he hottest race of the day seemed to be for that $50 cr ash fund . It finally narrowed down to t..J riders , Big john Bjorkm an and his su per T rium ph, and Cli ff La mb witb a 1,200cc Harley. Lamb went a mere o

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