Roeder Wins Sacramento 20-Miler

ROEDER WINS SACRAMENTO 20-MILER

CAROL SIMS

TAKING OVER on lap 13 from Joe Leonard, George Roeder went on to win his third National Championship race of the season, the 20-miler at Sacramento, California’s one-mile dirt track, and wound up the season only one point behind new Grand National Champion Dick Mann in final standings.

Leonard, who had ridden flawlessly all day, first winning his heat race and then building up a tremendous lead in the final, fell victim to mechanical failure when his 29th National Championship victory appeared assured. An oil return line on the potent Tim Witham-tuned Triumph worked loose and began leaking, finally bringing the machine to a grinding halt on the 13th time around.

One hundred and thirty riders were on hand for qualifications at noon, and Matchless-mounted Dick Mann’s clocking of 40.97 demolished Carroll Resweber’s old mark of 41.77 set in 1961. Mann led the way in his heat race as well, until a blown rear tire pitched him off the bike, ending his hopes for further competition that day. Dick Hammer went on to take the heat ahead of Mert Lawwill; both were Harley mounted.

Second preliminary event was all Sammy Tanner. He pushed his C. R. Axtelltuned BSA to a new track record for 10 laps as Roeder moved up from 7th to finish second. Leonard took over from Lou Chandler on lap two of the next heat, touring the mile oval in an astonishing 40.59 as he gained the advantage, going on to win by a huge margin over Ralph White (H-D).

The twenty fastest riders lined up, ten to a row, for the final championship race of 1963, and Leonard immediately shot off the line and into the lead. Tanner and Hammer were battling it out for second until Tanner roared by Leonard on the second lap; then Hammer moved into runnerup position on the fourth time around and took the lead shortly thereafter. Tanner had resumed his front-running spot by the end of lap 4, but Leonard was not to be denied. On lap 6 he charged by Tanner and began to stretch it out, clocking seemingly impossible laps at 40.60 and 40.46 in the process, with Hammer and Tanner running side by side behind him. Sid Payne moved into third spot on the 8th lap when Hammer slid wide in the turn, dropping back to 8th place.

Meanwhile Roeder, winner of the 5 and 50-Mile Nationals in August, had gotten off to a rather slow start on the Ralph Berndt-tuned Harley-Davidson, but worked up to fifth place by lap 8 and then began to apply the pressure. He took over third on the 10th, second on the 12th. Tanner re-passed him briefly but could not hold off the steady advance. With Leonard's retirement the following time around after building up a 5-second lead, the Monroeville, Ohio farmer was never again threatened.

Hammer fought his way back into third on lap 15 ahead of Darrel Dovel, but ran out of laps in his bid for second. Time for the 20 miles was 13 minutes, 45.72 seconds, a new track record, and following Roeder across the line were Tanner, Hammer, Dovel, Payne, Ralph White, Elliott Schultz, Neil Keen, Roger Reinl and Wes Drennan.

In the Amateur Division, the first heat race was won in record-shattering time by Dick Newell (H-D) after a 10-lap leadswapping fight with Bob Bailey (Triumph). 8-Mile Amateur National winner Bob Emde (H-D) took the second heat over Dale Parks and Cal Rayborn, and in the third preliminary, Paul Bostrom (Triumph) nosed out Bruce Holland and Bud Waugh.

Bailey roared to the fore at the start of the 10-Mile Amateur final, but after one lap Newell caught and passed him, going on to his first win on a big bike ahead of Bailey, Bruce Holland (H-D) and Bud Waugh (BSA). Newell also knocked five seconds off the record set in 1962 by Clyde Litch; his time for 10 laps was 7:03.60. •