Castle Rock Tt
CASTLE ROCK TT
Lawwill Wins The First Of The Kidney Bean Nationals
BILL CHRISTOPHER
IT’S TOO EARLY TO TELL who is going to win the AMA’s Number One plate for 1967. But, if the present trend holds, he may be riding a Milwaukee machine. Har-ley’s good fortune continued as they pick-ed up their third National win of the sea-son — the 30-lap TT Championship at Castle Rock, Washington. It was a victory no one really expected, but the cool, con-sistent riding of Mert Lawwill was all that was needed.
Mounted on his Dud Perkins’ Harley, (National No. 18) Lawwill posted sixth fastest time in time trials the night before, finished second in his heat behind fellow H-D rider Chris Draayer and then played a third place waiting game behind Skip Van Leeuwen and Dan Haaby for 11 laps before taking over first spot in the final.
It was an evening of disappointment for many of the national numbers. Bart Markel, arriving at Castle Rock following his wins at Louisville and Tulare, quickly ended his chances of winning this meet when he looped on the line at the start of the second expert heat. For the second year in a row Roger Reiman, Jack Simmons and Dave Bostrom all lacked enough speed to make the final.
Fred Nix, Glen Adams, Rollie Hall and Sunny Burres all failed to transfer to the main. Burres, last year’s second place finisher at Castle Rock, missed the 30-lapper by the least as he was nudged out of the fourth transfer spot by Dusty Coppage. Triumph mounted Coppage finished seventh overall.
Of the 58 amateurs who qualified, 50 of them made it to the line for the heat races. Undisputed king was top qualifier, and Tulare winner, California Jim Odom. Odom won his heat over Triumph rider Alan Anderson, recording the fastest amateur heat in the process.
Thirteen of the original 58 lined up for the 15-lap final and it was third heat winner Larry Wilburn of Lancaster, California, leading for three laps before Odom’s Triumph moved into first. The young Fremont rider lit the wick and moved out to nearly half a lap lead before second heat winner Mark Williams chopped it down to less than a quarter. Williams, who got away near the end of the pack as he missed both second and third gear, turned in a fine ride moving from seventh spot on the third lap to fifth on the eighth, third on the ninth and into second ahead of Wilburn midway through the thirteenth. It’s riding like that that made the experts sit up and watch.
There were 16 experts on the line for the National, and seven of them had broken Dick Dorresteyn’s 1965 track record of 25.94. Sitting on the pole was fast man of the night Skip Van Leeuwen who had toured the six-turn, half mile course in 25.30 seconds.
With his usual quick work, Eddie Mulder was off the line and into the corner first, but he quickly faded to seventh as Van Leeuwen, Haaby, Lawwill, Mann and Palmer took over the first five positions. Mann’s ride was short lived as he went out on the fourth lap. Chris Draayer was down but managed to get back in the race in 10th spot. At the front it was still Van Leeuwen’s Triumph followed by Haaby’s BSA, Lawwill’s Harley and Palmer’s Norton. By the eighth lap, Dick Hammer had pulled his ailing Triumph out of mid pack and Draayer had moved into eighth.
Then it happened, as it so often does on a good tight course. Heading out of the second turn on the 11th lap, Van Leeuwen and Haaby momentarily rubbed shoulders with one another giving Lawwill the break he needed to squeeze into first. Haaby regained second but the Flying Dutchman dropped to fourth behind ’65 winner Palmer. At the halfway point Palmer had moved to second and Draayer had moved into fifth behind Van Leeuwen’s Number 59. Draayer continued to move and thundered by Van Leeuwen on the 20th and Haaby on the 24th.
The positions held for the final six with Lawwill continuing to lap riders as he brought his Harley over the line for his first national win of the season. Palmer finished second on a sour Norton, Draayer was third, Haaby was fourth, Van Leeuwen fifth and last year’s wire to wire winner, Eddie Mulder, was sixth.
Lawwill’s share of the $6,300 purse was $1,300 plus $190 in lap prizes. Had Draayer not dropped his machine, it probably would have been a 1-2 finish for the Milwaukee crew — with Draayer coming out on top.
The previous evening the novice race was won by Ike Reed of Salem, Oregon, as he pushed his Suzuki to victory over Kawasaki rider Thad Lawrence of Boise, Idaho.
Every year Castle Rock gets better and the professional pageantry continues to abound. This year, Seattle-Tacoma television was there to take in the pretty girls, marching bands and the escapades of stunt-
man Evel Knievel, in addition to the spirited championship competition.
