King of Carlsbad

KING OF CARLSBAD

IVAN J. WAGAR

THERE CAN BE LITTLE DOUBT in anyone’s mind regarding the man to beat at Carlsbad after the AMA professional road race on May 15th. For the second time at Carlsbad, Cal Rayborn, riding Andres’ Harley-Davidsons, put in a superb display of high speed motoring to carry home both lightweight and heavyweight honors.

A star-studded entry included both of the Daytona champs, Buddy Elmore and Bobby Winters, Ralph White, Mert Lawwill, Dick Hammer and even Dick Mann, all the way from Hawaii. However, broken collarbones sidelined two of these gentlemen before the real racing even started; first Buddy Elmore, when he got off at the hairpin late in practice, then Dick Mann, who locked his Suzuki’s front wheel while braking for turn one and dropped it. The only other injury during the day’s racing turned out to be another collarbone belonging to Paul De La Torre.

Winner of the two 250 heats, and faster than most of the big bikes, Dick Hammer led the 250 final until something broke, at which point a waiting Rayborn nipped into the lead and was never challenged. Behind the winner was a race-long scrap going on between Ron Grant on the Orin Hall Parilia and Bobby Winters on one of the Yamaha International TDl-Bs. The amazing Parilia was clearly outclassed on the straights, but with his usual beautiful riding, Ron would close up or pass on the turns. Lap after lap, second place was in doubt until two laps from the end, when Grant out-foxed Winters braking for turn one and the Yamaha rider went wide, losing the two seconds Ron needed to secure number two spot. Highest placed amateur was recent road racing convert, Kenny Clark, on his shiny new Yamaha with sixth overall.

It is going to take a fine rider-machine combination to dethrone Rayborn in the heavyweight category. Still sore from his April crash at Ascot and limping quite badly, the San Diego rider seemed to be on rails as he got the job done with minimum effort and always in control of the situation. Dick Hammer was a comfortable second place on the Jerry Branch-tuned, Jerry Seguin Harley-Davidson; but in third place and gaining on Hammer at the end, was Mert Lawwill going like gang busters on yet another Milwaukee twin.

Fortunately, Don Vesco brought along his old reliable G50 Matchless, as the BSAs suffered Daytona-type problems and his machine went out of action in Saturday’s practice session. Bobby Winters’ BSA lasted though, finishing in fifth place behind Ralph White, riding the Czysz-tuned Norton twin, and followed home by Vesco in sixth spot.

Again the novice riders put on one of the best shows of the day with a five-way scrap that kept everyone on their toes until the finish. Daytona novice winner Walt Fulton, Suzuki, suffered oiling problems and finished second behind Doug Broiles, with Larry Pruett, third, and Ron Pierce, fourth, all on Yamahas. Fifth man in the big dice was Jim Deehan, who dropped out of the final, letting Art Bauman on the lone Honda into fifth place at the finish.