1960 Everett Brashear / Sacramento 25-Mile - 1-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1960 Everett Brashear / Sacramento 25-Mile - 1-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article.
Page Size: Approx 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm)
Condition: Good
The line-up and start of the 25-mile National Championship. From left to right; #40R, Johnny
Rich; #64, Dick Mann; #24, Jack O’Brien; #83, John Muckenthaler; #18, Troy Lee; #53, Don
Smith; #98, Joe Leonard; #8X, Stuart Morley; #7, Sammy Tanner; #12X, Bob Sir Kegian;
#25, Everett Brashear; #6, Don Hawley.
First, second and third places in the 10-mile
amateur final were taken by Rosswurm, (right),
Hammer (center) and Bruce (left). The ma-
chine is Hammer’s BSA.
Coming off the starting line into the first turn
is this group of competitors led by Carroll Res-
weber, #1. The almost perfect formation was
soon broken as Resweber pulled ahead, only
to drop out later with a flat tire. Don Hawley
#6, went on to win the heat.
Brashear approaches the finish line and gets the checkered flag as he wins the 25«mile National
Championship for the fourth time since 1955. Note that the front wheel appears to be barely on
the ground.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Everett Brash-
ear, tooling his low-flying Harley-Davidson
flawlessly around the one-mile oval at Sacra-
mento, decisively cinched his fourth 25-mile
title since 1955. Breaking away at the start
Brashear led twelve of the nation’s top ex-
perts into the first turn; then stretched his
lead to an eighth of a mile, and maintained
it throughout. Although Brashear’s time of
18:19.62 was six seconds slower than Carroll
Resweber’s mark last year on the Sacramento
track, he was never pressed.
In solid second place for 22 laps was Don
Hawley, BSA, but misfortune caught up in
the form of a warped valve and forced his
retirement just at the moment when a hand-
ful of green second-place money was in
sight.
The real competition developed among Joe
Leonard, Dick Mann, Stuart Morley, Sammy
Tanner and Bob Sir Kegian for third spot.
A small tarpaulin could have covered this
group as they dove into the corners and
came out battling down the stretches. Mann.
Leonard and Tanner changed positions so
often that an accurate tally was not possible.
Leonard went wide in the 13th lap, and
dropped below fifth place. On the 17th he
was running fifth, fourth on laps 18 and 19,
third on 20 to 23, and second to the finish.
Troy Lee, a newcomer to expert ranks
this year, running out of the first five for
20 laps, made his bid in the 21st, moved
up to fourth in the 23rd, and finished third.
The checkered flag saw Leonard second.
Lee, third, Sir Kegian, fourth, and Morley,
fifth. Tanner dropped out at the 17th lap,
Mann developed engine trouble in the 18th.
and, as mentioned earlier. Hawley blew up
in the 22nd. Smith, who was never a chal-
lenger. also pulled to the pits before the
finish.
An unfortunate incident eliminated first-
ranking Carroll Resweber from the 25-mile
national when a flat rear tire forced him out
in his qualifying heat. Resweber was lead-
ing his heal by a substantial margin, and
had established a new track record, in the
Sunday morning time trials. So go the for-
tunes of those who follow the racing game.
The old single-lap record of 43.28 estab-
lished in 1959 by Leonard was first broken
by Brashear, 42.99 seconds, and capped by
Resweber, 42.58 seconds.
The 10-mile amateur event developed into
a ding-dong battle between California’s ama-
teur champion, Dick Hammer. BSA, and
Ohio’s Richard Rosswurm, H-D. The near
photo-finish was won by Rosswurm in a new
track record time of 7:24.47 which topped
last year’s mark of 7:28.00 set by Troy Lee.
Amateur heats were won by Blackie Bruce
of Norwalk, California, on a Harley-David-
son; Hammer, Lakewood. California, BSA:
and Rosswurm, Monroeville. Ohio, H-D. Jan
Opperman. Castro Valley, California, riding
a Triumph came in first in his heat, but
was disqualified because of illegal action
which forced another rider to fall in the
south turn.
Expert heals were won by Brashear, Beau-
mont, Texas, H-D: Sir Kegian, West Covina,
California, H-D, and Hawley, Inglewood.
California, BSA.
The 5-mile consolation event saw Jack
Simmons of Long Beach, California, bring
home the bacon in 3:47.54.
The sensational Dick Dorresteyn of
Orange, California, fell while accelerating
out of the south turn in his time trial, and
was taken to the hospital for observation.
He will be sidelined for a few weeks with
an arm fracture.
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