Mann Takes Ascot T.T. & National Title

MANN TAKES ASCOT T.T. & NATIONAL TITLE

CAROL SIMS

IN A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE RECOVERY from serious injuries sustained several weeks before at Freeport, Illinois, Dick Mann and his Matchless G-50 reigned supreme at the 50-Lap T.T. National held at Ascot Park in Gardena, California. Not only did Mann break the track record and lap all but second and third place finishers in the first-ever T.T. win by a 500cc single-cylinder machine at Ascot, he clinched the Grand National Championship for 1963 by one point over George Roeder and will sport the coveted Number One plate for 1964.

Twelve riders lined up for the first of three 5-lap expert heat races, including Roeder, who knew he must finish 8th or better to transfer to the final and score much-needed points toward the championship. Skip Van Leeuwen took the win ahead of Dave Palmer and Jack Simmons, setting up a new one-lap record of 47.01 over the 8-turn, 5/8ths mile course enroute. Roeder unfortunately finished 9th, and failed to make the final.

When the bikes were fired up for the next preliminary heat, Clark White’s machine blew a piston, a shining example of racing luck at its most exasperating. Jack O’Brien went on to victory in front of Arnold Castelhano and Dave Bostrom. Sid Payne and Dick Mann dueled in a manner reminiscent of their Peoria T.T. battle through the next heat race with Payne coming out on top after a spectacular pass over the jump. Dick Hammer wound up third.

Twenty-four riders, six to a row, roared off at the start of the 50-Lap National with Van Leeuwen leading Payne, Palmer and Mann, though Dick moved into third through the dog-leg turn and into second in the half-mile turn before the straightaway. Skip still led in the early laps as Mann, Payne, Hammer, Palmer and O’Brien nipped at each other. With Mann pressing hard, Skip was wild as a March hare, oversliding almost every turn. Payne appeared to be biding his time.

Van Leeuwen’s Triumph started to smoke early in the race; an oil breather line had worked loose and oil was leaking on the engine. He also lost his throttle rubber and wore a couple of raw spots trying to hold full throttle with a slick handle. Palmer passed O’Brien coming across the jump and took over third, while Harlan Bast and Mert Lawwill were having a good go farther back in the pack. O’Brien went into an overslide in the lefthander after the straight, but recovered after losing only one position and that was to Simmons, who then started to work on Hammer.

Payne closed in on Van Leeuwen and sailed past him on the jump, pulling into the pits shortly thereafter with a broken oil line. All the while, Mann was moving farther away from the pack and beginning to lap the tailenders. Hammer and O’Brien went out on laps 30 and 31; Van Leeuwen’s bike was still smoking like a brush fire, causing much speculation as to when he, too, would retire.

Palmer got around Van Leeuwen for second but slid out soon after, quickly remounting and continuing, once more overtaking the Flying Dutchman and staying there. At the finish, Mann was lapping steadily; his hand-built and self-sponsored “Big M” seemed to run stronger at the end of 50 laps than it did at the start, if that is possible. A more deserving victor would be hard to imagine, and CYCLE WORLD wishes to add its most sincere congratulations to a man who overcame almost insurmountable obstacles in his climb to the Grand National Championship.

Amateur action was fast and closelycontested. 5-lap heat races went to Rick Scardigli, Wayne Bowen and Eddie Mulder, with Mulder later leading the 15-man Amateur final field through the first turn ahead of Travis Petton. Dick Newell lost it and fell in heavy traffic as he charged out of the turn before the jump on lap one; his machine was hit by Scardigli, who also unloaded. Neither man was injured and both rejoined the chase, Newell taking a moment to straighten his handlebars before remounting.

Bob Bailey snatched second place from Petton on lap 3 and began to move up on Mulder but, soon after, a gascock vibrated shut, causing his machine to function on only one cylinder. Undismayed, he stuck it out the entire 1'5-lap distance, placing a sound but distant second to Mulder, ahead of Petton, Bowen, Russ Robinson and Rick Scardigli. Time for the race, Mulder’s last National as an Amateur, was 12:03.59, a full 43 seconds faster than the old mark! •