Santa Fe Short Track National

SANTA FE SHORT TRACK NATIONAL

DAVID A. EVANS

NOT a brief shower, but a near-tornado made muck of Chicago's Santa Fe short track on its regularly-scheduled Class A championship night, which caused a cancellation of the first date. The week's postponement forced several of the finest riders to cancel out, as well as many potential spectators who had planned their vacations around a Springfield-Santa Fe-Peoria jaunt.

Even with that, the thin field of riders and stands of loyal spectators had a fairly exciting night of it, and the shrill scream of Darrell Dovel’s 250 Honda made a nice counter-tenor to the blat-blat of the little BSA’s, Triumphs and Harley Sprints. Practice brought a few unhappy mechanical suprises. Bart Markel was constantly at work, attempting to remedy the mysterious source of missing in his engine. Digger Helm had also developed problems in the power plant of his Sprint ... in fact, he claimed to be going into the apex of the corner before having to shut off, his “dig” was so poor.

Heat #1 proved little else but that Carroll Resweber is well acquainted with the Santa Fe track, as he won by almost threequarters of a lap. Paul Pfeifer (36s) spilled in this one, but walked away from it. Pat McHenry, No. 41, had his hands full grabbing second place from J. C. Robertson.

Heats 2 and 3 were relatively strungout, although the scream of Dovel’s Honda made everyone sit up and listen. Heat 4 was a little more like regular Wednesday nights (red and green plates are out there then, and things get pretty wicked!). Chuck Landers (44s) rode his finest to hold off Jeff (Mighty Mouse) Sperry, whose real showmanship goes to the hearts of regular Santa Fe fans. George Roeder got a bad start off the line and Digger Helm held him to a fourth place.

Heat 5 was a heartbreaker, as Bart Markel spilled in a tangle of legs and handlebars on the opening laps. He got up quickly and continued on, though, with his Sprint sounding extremely rough. No. 82. Bill Petri, was pitched over the handlebars, but managed to remount and finish in front of the faltering Bart. Jim Koplinski and Ed Clifford, friendly rivals from Milwaukee, made it one-two across the line in this one.

In the first Semi, Resweber again put on a nice demonstration of how-to-rideSanta Fe, with Babe De May and Art Barda trailing. The second Semi was a real thriller, with Dovel pushing his Honda to the front, George Roeder coming up fast from behind. Roeder tried vainly to pass until the last turn when he ducked inside and outdragged the Honda by a scant two feet to the wire!

Koplinski and McHenry had a nice little go in the third Semi, but attention centered on the spirited riding of Digger Helm, who was still making the most of a bad thing with his ailing Harley. Gary Nixon and Digger were fighting all over the place (and there isn’t a heck of a lot of “all over the place” on a track as short as Santa Fe). It looked like Digger was going to be out-dug, but Gary’s machine went sour just before entering the last turn, and both Digger and Larry Martin poured it on to beat him across the wire.

Twelve riders brought their machines to the line for the championship event. After diving through two turns in close formation, things strung themselves out pretty quickly, with the talented Mr. Resweber drawing away. It didn’t look like he was going to stay there though, as twice he was forced to bring the bike up from its handlebars (not a usual position even for Number One).

George Roeder and Pat McHenry had a nice little dice for second spot, which was eventually assumed by George, and further back in the pack, Koplinski and Clifford were having at it again! Soon enough, the flag dropped, and Resweber again picked up the short track crown with Roeder and McHenry following. •

CLASS A SHORT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS: Heat #1 - Time: 1:40.13 Carroll Resweber, H-D Heat 2 - Time: 1:42.16 Babe DeMay, H-D Heat #3 - Time: 1:40.35 Darrell Dovel, Honda Heat #4 - Time: 1:42.89 Chuck Landers, Triumph Heat #5 - Time: 1:42.53 Jim Koplinski, Triumph Consolation - Time: 1:41.63 Jeff Sperry, Matchless Semi #1 - Time: 1:38.97 Carroll Resweber, H-D Semi #2 - Time: 1:40.86 George Roeder, H-D Semi #3 - Time: 1:42.18 Jim Koplinski, Triumph

CLASS A CHAMPIONSHIP - Time: 2:44.02 1. Carroll Resweber, No. 1, Cedarburg, Wisc. H.D 2. George Roeder, No. 94, Monroeville, Ohio H.D 3. Pat McHenry, No. 41, Harvey, Ill. NSU 4. Darrell Dovel, No. 45, Beaumont, Texas Honda 5. Ed Clifford, No. 88, Milwaukee, Wisc. Triumph 6. Babe DeMay, No. 51, Moline, Ill. H.D 7. Jim Koplinski, No. 30, Milwaukee, Wisc. H.D 8. Art Barda, No. 96, Chicago, Ill. Triumph 9. Don Beasley, No. 99h, Evansville, md. BSA 10. John Tibben, No. 60, Chicago, Ill. H.D 11. Larry Martin, No. 45g, Kenosha, Wisc. H.D 12. Digger Helm, No. 37y, Bakersfield, Calif. H.D