Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-I S~ICKERS! ~ I t Souther. CaJlfor.I.·Arl.o......ther. Nev.... Souther. CaJlfor.I.·Ari.o.a-Souther. Ne Western hotline <" Eric Graves was the Pro winner at CRC's Santa Claus GP. Queen's iron gather at Rose Bowl By Alan Paulsen PASADENA,CA,DEC.7 Although British bikes comprise only one percent of the American motorcycle market, nearly 300 faithful Anglophiles showed up Send .50- tor Ndl aticket ~ Of S14. tor .. 32. Get our new caIIklg: of OYe!' 1 200 .tic. . . p6ua S_ ~ '1"'" chOIce} '''' only 53. Send your money Ind I6e1 of whit you ...., to: sawr ~ SENSITIVE STlOtEA6 • -':51 QU&UTV DEPARTMENT K Seasons Greetings -9Husqvarna INSTOCKI New M. Robert Rear Number Plate Fender CLOSE OUT ON 79 39O's We have onil of the most complete lines of Husky perta end acc:eaaoriea in Northern end Centrel Celifomie. We ship UPS Coleman's 1546 &at Miner Stockton. CA 9li2ll6 48 2014.15172 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl for the start of the second British MotOrcycle Road Run to bear testimony that the English spirit lives on. English bike aficionados mounted on everything from side-valve BSA singles to immaculately maintained Vince~ts (five, count 'em), gathered in a Spl;1t of coma.raderie to ogle the function and desIgn of machinery as only a purist with an eye for esthetics could. Even former AMA National #1 Gene R;omero, perhaps feeling a touch nostalgiC, was present on a Triumph Bonneville supplied by old nemesis Ed Kretz, Jr., who was also along for the ride. The world's fastest burritO seemed to slow down for once and enjoy himself, commenting, "This is the slowest 140 miles I've ever ridden." . Motorcycling's grand patriarch, Freddie Ellsworth. on his weatherbeaten Triumph Thunderbird with flexi sidecar, sans trailer which gave him such a hard time on the last run, ended up with a flat this time around. "And we made it all the way to Colorado and back without trouble," lamented daughter Susan. By the time Freddie limped in to the finish to claim his oldest rider award, he found it had b~n usurped by a younger man, 55year-old Ed See riding a '67 BSA Shooting Star. Is there no justice? There was no question as to the youngest rider, Ann Marie Shenk astride her cafe Trident. Actually. Ann Marie is only 2J,02 and rides in the sidecar belonging to her parents, Ton and Valree, who won the trophy for best cafe style sidecar, a custOm Bingham Mk-I1. The Shenks may have had the best cafe sidecar, but Delia Vinetz and Rusty Kay won recognition for best dressed couple, who looked like striped peppermint aboard their candy apple Bonneville. The number of trophies for sidehacks more than made up for an oversight last time when the chairs were inadvertently overlooked. With plenty of Sidecars represented this time, best Watsonian was found to belong to Stan Sherwood and his original Ariel Square Four. Oldest all-British outfit went to John Munoz with a Swallow attached to a '47 Velocette. Munoz also took home the gold for best over· all sidecar. Best Globe sidehack awards went to Clyde Earl and Bob Baker, both Triumph mounted. Doug Bingham of Side StTlder made the presentations. Chris Mitchell from San Luis Obispo "as just hanging around the area on his '78 750 Triumph and dropped by to cop the long distance award. Gary Gerfen on an 850 John Player Commando won cafe racer kudos. while Rich Sidebotham took custom street legal recognition with the '52 Triumph he restored with help from British Cycles of Torrance. Most authentic restoration went to Bill Bell and his '65 Bonneville. Smallest displacement machine to finish was the BSA B40 Star ridden by Carl Weise and with 24 members of the Southern California BSA Owners Club present, they were bound to win something. Ah, yes, those original olive green side-valve BSA singles belonging to Al Baker won the plaque for oldest machines to finish. Organizers of the event were Gene Cox, Western Regional Sales Repres~ntative for Triumph Motor Corporation of AmeTlca In Placentia CA' Wayne Moulton, presiden; of American Triumph; and Pat Owens, f0':Iler National Service Manager for TTlumph, Gene Romero's former wrench. and currently the advanced semester instructor of motorcycle mechanics at Los Angeles Trade-Technica I College. The run was made possible by donations from Cycle News East and West, Van Leeuwen Enterprises, Inc., Ed Kretz & Son, Harry D. Foster Motorcycles, Symonds Cycles,JRC Engineering. Side Strider, Inc., British Motorcycles, Ltd .. and L.A. Trade-Tech College. The next run wiJl be April 19, so pack a Barbour suit, grab a porridge bowl and cafe hop with the Anglophiles. Graves great at CRC Santa Claus GP By Terry Rezek VALENCIA, CA, DEC. 7 The many hundred riders who dared the frosty morning found conditions almost foreign to southern California motorcycling; clear, still air and a perfectly dampened track which didn't dry Out as the day wore on. The Dunes troops with Walt and Gary riding hard had done their usual job of grooming the course and continued doing it throughout the races, the California Racing Club's Santa Claus GP. It had rained earnestly on Thursday and the ground was wet everywhere; perhaps a little too wet for some riders. The course was routed from the sandwash through the canebrake and back and forth across the Santa Clarita river, through the International MX course and back to the sandwash. Of all the race that I watched, the Minis and the Pros had the least trouble with the ramp jump. Those few Minis that tried it knew full well that they could make it. The rest prudently took the bridge. Of those who jumped, Rick Hemme was first over after one-half lap and followed that pattern to first overall 45 minutes later, almost a full lap ahead of everyone else. With Hemme out of reach, the major battle involved second through fifth places. The early part of the race found Jeff Barbacovi and Bill Surratt, both Intermediates, elbowing it out for second with Michael Knapp and Richard Fleming working on fourth. A few laps later, Barbacovi wa in second and Knapp had moved up to third. Surratl was still in there, right on Knapp·s back. They generally held those positions to close to the end when Knapp and Surratt both slipped by Barbacovi who was now accosted by his buddy Don Feeley. Feeley also g"t by to pUl Barbacovi at fifth overall. It was impossible to keep close watch on the Mini-Minis but it was easy to see that Marty Ri kard was clearly the fastest in that 60cc bunch and he took first with little fanfare. When the 125·s hit the jump on the first lap, r had just enough time to see Jack Greenberg go by in first before I and the other spectators had to start scrambling for our lives. There were bodies and bikes flying everywhere: the effect was like an explosion in a swimming pool full of billiard balls. By lap three. Doug Gentry had taken over first, just ahead of Greenberg. Soon, Eddie Guardo got by Greenberg and Gentry and Bob Laughlin started t.o work his way up through the pack. By the final lap. Laughlin was in first with Guardo and Gentry second and third, as Greenberg having D F. Bob Crosta took an early lead in the 250cc race with Randy Morales and Larry Thompson immediately behind. Two laps later. Morales was in first and pulling away 0 rapidly most of the other riders must have thought they had run into the Pro race by mistake. The chaos aused by the unlucky riders who made the wrong choice at the crossing must have fogged my perceptions because r was convinced that Morales continued on for the win. However. when the scorers finished counting laps. first was awarded to Dave Harris and Morales got second. Eric Graves has been the consistent winner and points leader throughout the entire CRC Grand Prix series. With the Number One plate for 1981 in his pocket, he elected to ride the Pro class today. It was a wise choice. In the face of some heavy competition, he led from the first lap and rode cool but hard to a well-deserved win. Graves' new 465 Yamaha was far from alone; in the first few laps it was followed closely by similar bikes piloted by Steve Hutchens and Jim Weinert. Yup, the Jammer was out to sample some of SoCaI's finest sand. . Lap three saw Mark White move into second and a multi-lap battle with Weinert. That position-swapping battle proved costly, however, since White eventually broke and Weinert ran out of gas. Hutchens had been grimly hanging onto fourth and his determination paid off as fourth became second. Random notes on the Senior's ' Junior'S, Women's and 500's races: Larry "Grampa" Shoemaker ran away with the combined Junior-Senior classes - as usual. Mary Kay Aufrance was so far ahead in the women's classes that some of the other riders actually thought she was a lap down. Mary usually rides in the men's classes but chose the women's today because that race was closer in time to her husband's. Romantic but unlucky for those who had to ride against her. Bob Crosta tried again and got a second this time around. (Continued to page '0)

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