"That was the last or next to last lap of the 1970 AFM "4th of July 250 Mile Production Race".  What was so interesting and fun about that is that your brother's Bultaco and I really "got into it" for a number of laps towards the end of the race. 

Scoring was pretty "iffy" at those races...so many bikes and 4 classes all racing at the same time, etc.  So we did our own "unofficial" scoring to have some semblance of an idea as to "where" we were in the overall scheme of things.  Actually we only really cared about where we were in class as we were racing for that position instead of an overall win!

Towards this end my team (the owner, Eric Leighton and I and "the crew") determined that we might be behind the other Metralla...in any case, no sense taking any "chances"...we HAD to get ahead of that machine as far as we knew.

My co-rider, Eric Leighton, was at that time an AFM "Junior" rider (something they experimented with for 1 season, as I recall), and not really as quick as the more experienced riders.  But, he had this really good Metralla, that I'd been invited to co-ride, so it was decided that he would ride about 1/3 of the laps and I would ride about 2/3rds of the race if we were to have any chance of scoring high up.

I rode almost the entire last half of the race, having ridden 1 gas stop's worth earlier in the event.  Towards the end there I got on that other Bultaco's tail and he looked back and saw me behind him and wicked things up pretty well...  Knowing that the race was close to being done (we really DIDN'T know until the last lap flag, because the race's finish was being determined by some 750's placing to complete 250 miles!), I knew I had to do something pretty quickly.  I ended up following Tip for almost 5 laps and could get right up on his rear wheel, but couldn't get around him...we were that CLOSE on speed and performance. 

Finally, somewhere on one of the turns, I decided "this has got to be it", and either outbraked him or ran through the corner faster and passed exiting (don't remember!) and I was ahead!  Then it was just a matter of holding him off, as he had been doing me, for 1 or 2 more laps!  Tip tried to overtake me I think, but I just kept things screwed WFO as much as I could and ended up 1st at the flag. 

Later, scoring ended up showing that the 2nd place Bultaco was actually 1 Lap and 1 Place down on us.  In any case that was a race I'll never forget, and I won't forget the McPartland Bultaco and I'm sure they won't forget me!