Salinas Tv Scrambles
SALINAS TV SCRAMBLES
BRYAN KENNEY
IF YOU LIKE traction unlimited, lots of competitors, and the chance to see what you look like on TV, you should have been among the 218 sportsman riders who scrambled at Salinas, California.
One of the best organized clubs going, the Salinas Ramblers ushered riders and spectators into separate, chalk-lined parking areas with a brigade of arm-waving, finger-pointing specialists. Then with the same precision, they reeled off the morning practice sessions in double-time fashion; the heavyweights and lightweights taking turns every four minutes. Three practice tickets were allotted to each rider in order to give everyone an equal number of four-minute cracks at the track before the afternoon races got underway.
The track itself, located in a natural dugout called Crazy Horse Canyon, is an indestructible combination of mud and sand. Despite heavy rains that morning and the night before, the surface of the winding half-mile course was fast and tractable in all sections but the turn below the straightaway. And this turn, which kept ducking underwater from one heat to the next, added a taste of scrambles "a 1'european" to the afternoon's excitement.
By noon, practice was over and the riders were divided up into 20-odd heats. The heats sizzled down to 11 main events, which were scheduled to be run, somewhat unusually, in reverse order, starting first with the 650cc Experts and finishing up with the 200cc Novices. Perhaps the main reason for switching the order was to give both ends of the lineup a freshly graded track, as there wasn't time with over 30 races in the afternoon to have the bull dozer speeding around the track every few minutes.
During the intermission, while the bigbore experts were cooling off from the heat and gassing up for the final, the Salinas Ramblers staged their traditional "Rear Wheel Riding Contest" on the straightaway. Novice rider Bob Young of San Leandro, kept his front wheel aloft the longest, and consequently carried off the wheelie trophy.
The 650cc Experts started off the main program with hot contention between Bruce Anderson, Ron Wisler, John Fraser, and Lucky Tretheway. Anderson was holding the number one spot before the TV cameramen when the checkered flag appeared. John Lamano, who allegedly has never been beaten on the Salinas track, was not there to defend himself. In the 500cc class, BSA Victor-mounted Ray Clausen was on hand to carry home the top honors. The big trophy in the 250cc division went to Rojer Goldwater after he piloted first over the finish-line in front of fellow-experts Mark Brelsford and Bob Hager.
With a minimum of spills, the tightlypacked program offered a healthy, thrilling afternoon of scrambling for both the spectators who were crowding the sidelines, and the people who were sitting before their color televisions a few weeks hence, watching the coverage taken by KNTV. ■
