Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

• • Rather haphazard start of the 100cc Novice event on the San Gabriel M.C. course. It's n~t a bad Idea to hike around the starting area before the race to see where the dltchesare. The first race of the day on the San Gabriel Valley M.C. cour se was the 100cc Novice; can you beli eve that ther e were one hundr ed-thirty eage r r iders on that li ne! At the drop of the banner they Photos by Dick and Jeer Wright wer e off thr ough the tooll es and into The first point ron of the year single file r eal quick because there wer e s ome r ough bumps off the mai n cour se. on January7 was a complete suc- Brian Klock, #77 on a Hodaka, gr abbed cess in all departments; a big the lead and held It all the way to take entry of over 400 riders on each first pla ce; real good for a flft een- yearold In his fourth r ace. Dan Etheridge, course. Both courses had a good #86, pulle d in second, Warren Burrell, variety of jumps, steep hills and #P62, was third, and Case y Lane , #P 14, looked real good y se sandwashes, and no rocks; the taking four th. Jeffon the hill#76 ction, Wr ight, on an weather was good and the sand Eddie Crowell-tuned Hodaka, moved up was still damp from recent rains, fr om tenth on the first lap to take fifth spot. which kept the dust down. The 100cc Amateur-Expert was up next, and young Dean Goldsmith, an Amateur with som e s crambles backgr ound, took the win on a Hodaka, with Jack Morgan #1, taking second on a Hodaka, Dave Ekins led this race for some time on his Zundapp, but ran Into some mecbanical troubles. The 250cc Novice went off next, with Bob Winegardner, #166, as the winner, and Al Hellan, #161, In second. The 250cc Amateur- Expert go was on the line r ight after the Novices, and Gar y Conrad, #P 132, made it look easy, winning this event on his new Suzuki. Gary Cole , #5x on a Husky, was second. Ron Bishop, #25x, pulled In fifth and took first Amateur on a Greeves. There were a lot of open and 500cc Novice riders ready to go at one O'clock SAN GABRIEL AND SO. CAL. AL VANDERPOOL BENEFIT DUAL EUROPEAN SCRAMBLES } • Mounled on a SOOcc Triumph Metlsse. Jack Byers had the right combination to do the Job on the other Experts and take the overall win over the rough. fast So. Cal. course. He also wound up third In the San Gabriel go. and by this time the course was r eally chopped up. Allen Gibson, #P60, manbandied his Husky around the course in fast style to take the win. John Dorins, #P75, picked off second spot and took first 21- inch class . Carl Spahr , #P149, pulled In third on a 650 machine to take the fir s t open class. The last race of the day on this course was the combined Open and 500 Amateur - Expert ' race. Steve Hurd, the new #1 rider on a Nor ton Twin, grabbed the lead on the first lap, with Ron Ne1-' so n, #P 13 on a Montesa, In a distant second. Gar y Preston, #12 on a Triumph, was third. Nelson began to make his move early and was clos ing fast; the two Experts dueled It out until Hurd ran Into mechanical trouble and pulled into the pits, leaving Nelson holding a solid lead. In the meantime, wild Howard Beach , #20 on a Triumph, who got a bad start ,and r an twelfth in the first laP, was charging through the pack and axing the field. He had moved up to second on ' the sixth lap and set his sights on Nelson. On the third from the last lap, , Beach did a complete endo on the roller coaster-type hills In the back of the course and when he got up, his bars were below his tank, which slowed him down cons iderably. Ron Nels on roared in for -the W with Gar y Pr eston second, in, taking first Open Class . Our laP sheet shows Jack Byers on a 500cc Rickman third, with Howard Beach limping in for fourth, and B111 Bogner, #170 on a 500cc Matchless fifth overall and the first Amateur in. Badeer Maynard (91) on a Molo·Beta coming 0_ the crest of the hili that many of the 100cc rld.s had trouble with. l I, ,. Ronnie Nelson, Montesa-mounted winner , of the Open Expert class on ~h e San Gabriel course, makes It look easy. He experienced mechanical woes while leading the other rae.. Over the San Gabriel course Bill Bo§1er rode his 500cc Matchless to fifth overall and first Amateur In. On the So. Cal. Circuit he wound up third overall and again first Amateur. ( Continued on page 6 )

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