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/141005
~ The Storyof u. Ul ;: w Z W ..J ·u >o by Bill Spencer MarkBrelsford and his Assault onThePlate Morning comes cool, crisp and quite early for newspaper boys. In the early '60's , Mark did his du tv as a carrier fo r the San Mateo Times. "I used to have to get up early and climb on my bicycle and pedal up those hills to deliver my route. One day, this buddy with the route next to mine went by on this Mo-Ped. Well, that got me to thinking, 'if I had one of those things, I could really get my work done with a lot less strain' ." :'vIark paid 545 for h is first motorcycle, an Allstate Mo-Ped. He reminisced about his first trials with this strange instrument of transportation. "I'd never rid d en a motorcycle before and didn't know how to shift or start it except to watch what this guy had done and so when I couldn't kick start it, I p ushed it down the h ill and jammed it into gear. Boy , did that scare me." Wh ile it took some time fo r Mark t o get aro und to shifting due to a broken clutch cable , the first time p ro ved to be an eye-opener. "I was going along one day and finally got up the nerve to t ry second gear. I moved t he gear sh ift on the handlebar a nd got it into second an d boy , was I flying! Like about 25 m iles per hour, but for me t hat was the greatest. It was scary, that fast." In those early d ay s, riding in t he hills was easy with much constructio n close by and every day brough t ou t a little more until the bug of rac ing caught young Brelsford. _ "I had bought a Ho nda 50 for S200 and spent most of my money just buying parts for it up at Missio n Boat & Cycle which was owned by Haro ld Emmick, the father of Gary and Ron, the racers. Well , one day I was in buying so me stuff an d the salesman got ':0 Com ing into th e year 1972 , American Motorcycle Association National circuit racing has many heroes. O ne such individual is Ma rk Brelsf o rd , 22 , a fact o ry Har ley-David so n ri der wh o is star t ing his fourth year a nd is ranked seventh in the na ti o n . He rides in sub u rb an Los A ltos , California, in a comfortably large h ouse with friend Andy Ahl gren and someti me-g ues t and fell ow fa ct or y rid er , y o ung b rot her Sco tt. Th e o u twa rd appeara nce of t his young speedster is o ne of ca lm b rash nes s, The seven years of raci ng ha ve n 't shown as ye t but t he idea of setting o neself u p fina ncia lly is b ecoming m or e prom ine nt. While t he past has had its hi gh points , it h asn 't bee n easy or glo riou s bu t the future looks brigh t. In a se ries of seven h ou rs of tap e reco rd ings, in man y visits and races, the foll ow in g story un f olds but has ye t t o h ave a n en d ing: Mark's night: TT National at Ascot , 1971. tal king to me b ecau se I spent so m time in there . He was T ommy Clar wasn 't to o m uch longer t ha t he too k in to t he fo ld and got me a job . I sweeping the p lace o ut and polis motors for a $ 1.25 an h ou r. A t time, Champion (Speed way) was th e p lace and I used to h ave to get mo tors read y for the Friday night ra They we re the shiniest things you saw." In 1964-65 . Mark Brelsford snuck into the pits to watch the lik e Dick Mann, Mert La wwiIl and Haaby on the half-mile, as w ell as Tom Clark. "The thing that re struck me first was Haaby. He had or something on his steel shoe an used to ligh t the place up with sp when he would slide into the co r Well, I went back to school t he week and to ld this to my buddies first thing you know, there was a b of us sneaking in every week to w: th ese guys do th ose unbelievable thi "I finally went with Tom Clar race at \Vaodrow Reservoir I Modesto and I was really surprise how litt le the kids were and t hat weren't really very fas t ." Th ha ppened fas t fo r th e yo ung racer his next b ike was a 16 0 H onda th a raced at Hayward Sp eed way. "Me my b uddy, Vern T ranberg, sen t in o ur cards and started go ing to th e r We were scared to start but beca had so many frien ds at th e rae final ly got going. I tucked in thr the first turn to see h o w everybody doing .and I thought they we re goi slow that in the back t urn , I we n pass the guy in front of me an d 10 it. Boy, did I feel bad. I was read quit b u t the next day we w en Richmond and I won the 200 class. race had a bunch of Amateurs ar beat all but one. "I was so amazed when peop le up and congratulated me and wa me to go to the races. Wh a t could I So saving face , I wen t and I