Sacramento 25-Mile National
SACRAMENTO 25-MILE NATIONAL
Nix Wins His Fourth Mile Dirt Track Race In A Row
DAN HUNT
LITTLE FREDDIE’S been so sick, he just wasn’t eating anything last week,” crooned the elder Mrs. Nix. “But we took real good care of him. I’m so proud.”
She must have taken good care of him, indeed, for Little Freddie put the quadruple whammy on the troops at the Sacramento 25-Mile National. That makes four miles won out of four miles run in 1968—Portland, Santa Rosa, Sedaba and Sacramento. In winning Sacto, the amiable, square-jawed, crewcut Harley-Davidson rider from Lawton, Okla., set a new qualifying record, 39.87 sec., set a new race record, 16 min., 42.98 sec., and became the only rider to win this dirt track classic twice. Nobody will ever beat the record, because dear old Sacto is giving way to the new California State Fair Grounds.
Stomach butterflies were the least of Nix’s problems. He blew his No. 1 engine in practice. It’s a factory flathead H-D adjudged by many to be the most powerful Class C engine running. In AMA circles, one refers to an individual Harley-Davidson engine with the same reverence a Frenchman devotes to his wine. So the news echoed through the pits with that peculiar Midwestern flavor: “Whall, Freddy jest blew the finest engine Harley ever built.”
But, at Sacto—the longest and richest one-mile since the demise of the Springfield 50-expense is no object. It seemed that all of Milwaukee was there. A crew of H-D racing mechs swooped down on Fred’s bike and soon had him running again for qualifying.
The track surface was beautiful, rock hard and dust free. The only fault was a subsidence at the south turn which prompted H-D teammate Cal Rayborn to say: “It makes my spring frame go y-o-o-ing.” H-D privat Eddie Mulder retorted: “It gives my rigid the St. Vitus dance.” A heavy backwind down the front straight caused spectacular spills but no serious injuries. The new rule allowing gearshifting proved advantageous for some riders. They could gear for the front straight in fourth, and handily use third against the wind on the back.
Yamaha made an extremely strong show with Experts Neil Keen and Canadian champion Yvon du Hamel on 350-cc Twins. They were factory “unbacked.” Keen’s rig was his own from Decatur, 111., du Hamel’s from Fred Deeley Ltd. of Canada, the same engine he used for his fine performance at Daytona.
Skip Van Leeuwen played guinea pig for Johnson Motors on a swinging arm Triumph, none other than the ex-Dick Hammer road racer for Daytona, with twin oil tanks, overhead oil cooler and high-low megaphones. Practice revealed that his racing performance ' would be less than startling, as the bike acted like
a pogo stick coming out of the turns. Post race diagnosis: wheelbase too short, damping not quite right and a touch of top hamper because of all the high hardware. Dick Mann eschewed his own Gold Star for another more powerful—the rigid Tom Sifton rig that Everett Brashear used to ride. Also in search of horsepower, Dewayne Keeter and Shorty Seabourne put aside their Gold Stars, Keeter to ride Eddie Wirth’s beautiful BSA Twin, Seabourne to ride
an H-D rigid. Sammy Tanner, who has been somewhat cast adrift for rides this year, started practice on the Shell Motors Royal Enfield Single, and later switched to one of Gary Nixon’s spares. Another switch to Triumph was made by Gold Star regular Ralph White,
The first Expert heat was a shoo-in for Fred Nix, although 2nd place Cal Rayborn rode remarkably well, aided by his road racer’s feeling for high speeds. H-D rider Roger Reiman took 3rd ahead of Dick Mann, who was riding the only competitive Gold Star in the Expert part of the program. Regardless of who would win the final, Mann’s smooth, calculating style and faultless line marks him as the finest mile rider in the country.
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Heat two was a cliff hanger between Mert Lawwill (H-D) and Gene Romero (Triumph). First came Gene, then Mert, followed by Leonard Earl. Then Mert took the lead. Earl dropped back, leaving 3rd and 4th to Chuck Jones and Ron Kruseman. Romero once again moved in front, but was again passed by Lawwill for the finish.
Bart Markel was squared off against his points race rival, Gary Nixon, for the third heat. Two laps found Markel leading Nixon. This was interrupted when Ron Lacher took a spectacular full throttle flyer over the south turn fence, a scant few yards from where his brother, Mel, had wrecked his H-D in practice. After a suspenseful pause, Ron waved to the crowd and the race restarted. Markel again headed Nixon, the two of them followed by Chuck Palmgren and Clyde Litch. Ralph White moved into the top four and at the finish it was Markel, Nixon, White and Palmgren in the transfer spots.
Heat four was the shocker that everybody was hoping for. Everything sorted out on his twin-carburetored spring frame H-D after a terrible first half season, Dan Haaby took the lead. Way back in last place was that diminutive terror from Canada, Yvon du Hamel, on his equally tiny 350 Yamaha. Yvon quickly picked his way through the field, ultimately passing Dusty Coppage in 4th place, Eddie Mulder in 3rd and Paul Conserriere in 2nd. Haaby’s lead was too much to be threatened. At the finish, Haaby still was in front, du Hamel in 2nd and Walt Fulton Jr. had worked his way into 3rd ahead of Gary Boyce.
The Expert semi was won by Sid Carlson. Also taking advantage of a second chance to make the main event were Conserriere, Dallas Baker and Coppage.
In the Expert 25-Mile National, Mert Lawwill got his usual excellent start ahead of a flying wedge of H-D teammates, Haaby, Markel, Reiman, Nix and Rayborn, with lone Triumph man Nixon poking his wheel into the middle.
After the field shook itself out, Mert still led, pressed hard by Markel, then Nix, Haaby and fantastically, du Hamel’s 350 in 5th place! Behind this group were Nixon, Reiman, Rayborn, Mann, Palmgren, Carlson, Fulton, Boyce, Kruseman, etc.
Nix began his move to the front, first past Markel, then past Lawwill. Both men got near Nix on the next lap, but failed to get in front again. Haaby, in 4th, still was shadowed by du Hamel’s Yamaha, which had less than half the engine displacement. The 6th and 7th places changed several times as Rayborn engaged Nixon in a stirring duel.
Apparently the near-90 mph pace of the leaders was a bit too much for du Hamel, and he dropped places to Nixon and Rayborn. Du Hamel’s Yamaha had only a set of bird catchers for air cleaners, so it may have been that his engine was losing its initial fine tune. However, his incredible windblown rush into the south turn also seemed to have lost a bit of vigor by mid-race. By way of contrast, leader Nix seemed to be storming off the front straight even harder, as he opened up his invincible lead.
Lap 15 marked a turning point in the career of Bart Markel, when his H-D blew a piston, and his chances to regain the championship points lead from Nixon. Behind Nix and Lawwill, Haaby took over 3rd, Nixon moved past Rayborn into 4th, and then came du Hamel, Reiman, Mann, Carlson, Palmgren, Kruseman, Conserriere, Jones and Coppage. Before Markel’s bike blew, Gene Romero and Dallas Baker, running near the rear, had also retired, along with Walt Fulton, who doubtlessly will be kicking himself for a long time for using heat vulnerable neophrene oil lines near the cylinders of his H-D.
At the finish, Nix led by about half a lap. Following were Lawwill, Haaby, Nixon, Rayborn, du Hamel, Reiman, Mann, Carlson, Conserriere, Kruseman, Jones, Coppage, White, Palmgren and Boyce. Nix’s fine day of work was worth about $3000 to him.
The results had considerable effect on the national points standings. Nixon led at 588, Nix popped up from 4th to 2nd at 552, Rayborn held third at 533 and Markel plummeted from 2nd to 4th at 519, somewhat out of reach of the top with only two races to go.
THE AMATEURS
In the Amateur ranks, it became a foregone conclusion that Mark Brelsford, national points leader, would win the 12-mile main when Mert Lawwill lent him his spare H-D rigid. He qualified fastest and then easily won the first heat ahead of Don Harms’ H-D. Tom Rockwood won the second heat on a Triumph. Third heat went to that potent Honda 450 ridden by Jack Wilkinson. The 4th place, by way of mechanical interest, was Daytona winner Bill Lyons, who rode an H-D with swinging arm frame built by Mert Lawwill’s tuner, Jim Belland.
In the Amateur main, Brelsford quickly established his lead, and was tailed by Tom Rockwood and Don Harms to the checkered flag. [o]
