Dorresteyn Does It To 'em

DORRESTEYN DOES IT TO 'EM

CAROL SIMS

DICK DORRESTEYN came down like a wolf on the fold, and won the annual 100-lap T.T. at Ascot Park for the third time. Matched against 32 top exponents of the California-style steeple-chase art, he showed the doubters (and there were a few) that layoffs mean little when the talent is there.

While some riders preferred to play a waiting game, pacing themselves conservatively for the long grind, Dorresteyn bored right in. By lap eight he had overtaken early leader Dallas Baker, stretching out a half-turn advantage soon after. Dick Hammer roared up from fifth to take over runner-up position, Sid Payne and Skip Van Leeuwen swapped third behind him.

The pace began to tell, and several favorites were sidelined by crashes and/or mechanical problems, among them Baker, Payne, Dave Palmer, Dickie Newell and Bob Bailey. But Dorresteyn, shy on brakes and forced to toss aside both mud-splattered face shields, had twice lapped slower riders by the halfway point. Hammer, still running second, stretched it out over Van Leeuwen, Ralph White, Dick Mann and Eddie Mulder.

As the race neared its conclusion, Hammer made a concerted effort to overtake the leader. Though hindered by traffic he steadily closed the gap, narrowing Dorresteyn’s advantage by 10 seconds in the last 15 laps. Only five seconds separated them at the finish.

Triumph mounted for Harman & Collins, Dorresteyn received $900 of the over-$4000 total purse, and knocked two full minutes off his own track record in the process.

Earlier, a seemingly endless stream of novice riders (130 in all) sorted themselves out in eight preliminary events. The quickest 20 transferred to the 15-lap main, and Ron Glasgow pushed his Bultaco past leader Dennis Gildehaus’ ailing Honda with 4 laps to go. Ted Yoder (Sprint) worked his way up to a strong second at the finish, Gildehaus managed to hang on for third.

With the coming of spring in Gardena, California, activity at Ascot accelerates — flattrack racing is scheduled every Friday night through November, with steeplechases T.T.s the first Saturday of each month.