"Although I believe that the picture is me (Tip) because of the goggles, but it could be Tor-- that's Tor's bike and it was certainly Tor that finished the last laps of the race and with whom Bill was dicing with there at the end.  I was "subbed" in for some laps about 3/4 of the way through because my Bultaco had DNF'd and I badly wanted to be in on our team's first victory, if it were to occur!  Tor was generous enough to allow me the privilege of participating in his possible victory to assuage my feelings, but also those were some tough laps in the extreme heat and I could cut some very fast laps to help make up some time. 

We were indeed a lap down as Bill relates because our bike was crashed once or twice and needed to make a pit stop to straighten the bars and controls.  I think that we were in fact even further behind after the crash and pit stop, but made up some time. 

As I recall, the actual co-rider with Tor was Jack McCornack who I believe had the crash(es)  probably caused by fatigue.  Maybe Jack remembers the facts here.  I cannot recall who my co-rider was, but I think our bike was out before he (whoever he was) got to race.  Perhaps it was Carey Rossiter, can't think of  who else it could have been. 

Lacking the crash (I actually think it was two crashes, maybe Tor or Jack can
clarify) it would have been a very close finish indeed between our bike and Bill's.

I remember Bill very well, after all, he was our most formidable competition in the 250 cc production class back then.  He was a very nice guy and his bike was beautifully turned out and like ours, fast enough to defeat the legions of Suzuki Hustlers and Kawasaki rotary valve (vastly superior inlet system) beasts of the day.  That we could beat these bikes was cool because we were riding singles and they were all twins with much more modern engineering than our Spanish bikes.  But the Bultacos had much more soul! 

I finally got a first place at Vacaville, but then went off to UC Santa Cruz for my junior and senior years and racing became logistically too difficult to continue-- for a couple of years, that is!"

(re: the photo on preceding page)  "Cool! The stance and face shape looks Torish to me but might be Tipical.

Yes, I well remember the race. Endurance racing was great fun; I liked it better than sprint racing because I was never that good a 10/10thser, particularly not compared to Tip--I might have been happier with my performances if I'd had less lofty peers to compare myself to.

The crash was a memorable one. Endurance racing is hard on the equipment and exhausting to the riders, y'know, and I was within a dozen laps of my stint being over when, coming out of the fast right-hand sweeper at the end of the straight and braking-and-entering the slower left-hander (which came up pretty fast and was the only thing that made the preceeding sweeper interesting-- the fast right sweeper was hellaciously interesting on a 750 but it could be ridden full throttle in fifth on the 'taco)...oh yeah, as I was saying, when the left footpeg came off the bike.

Imagine my surprise. Without its traditional support, my weight came down on
the brake lever and locked up the rear wheel, then my foot slapped the ground (still going 50 or 60 or so) and I fought for some vague semblance of control while waiting for that eight-second bell. Anyway, I ran out of room and left the course but was only going tennish or so when the front wheel washed out on the dry grass--man, it's amazing how the details come back-- and the bike fell down on its left side, rotating its left clip-on handlebar in pretty close to the tank.

It was pretty hot that day, so I rested for perhaps two seconds before getting the bike upright, putting it in second gear, and pushing it all the way to Turn 3 before the engine finally caught. Man, I was sweating! I had to bring the bike to a full stop to climb back on board; none of that sprightly LeMans Start stuff which we'd all honed to an art. I motored around the course, panting and gasping, pulled into the pits, where my riding colleagues of Team Colitas were taking a cigarrette break. Being the only guy wearing his leather pajamas at the time (remember, I wasn't due in for a while and it was godawful hot) I went out for another lap while Tor dressed for success and Tip pulled a footpeg off his bike (which had expired from some Bultaco malady earlier on). 

My pace wasn't blistering; riding with one foot on the engine case and no useable rear brake (I found I couldn't work it without the footpeg; I'd just touch the brake pedal and the rear wheel would lock), but I got around without passing out, and next lap, traded places with Tor.

My memory is not sure-fire on this point, but I recall the two pits stops as being very quick. The first was me pointing and gasping "Gasp need footpeg gasp pull the bar gasp" and Tip heaving the handlebar to its normal position and braaaat off I went, five to ten seconds it seemed like. The second stop was max 15 seconds and might have been 12; Tip installed the footpeg with a ratchet and an extension bar, spinning the ratchet around with airtool-like efficiency, while I dismounted and Tor mounted the bike and somebody (Cary?) tightened the clipon clamps; 

Tip pushed himself back from the bike and yelled "Go" and Tor was off in a cloud of Castrol. I made some witty comment about how I though Tip had beaten the flatrate book on that one, and then I think I got a drink of water and laid down for a lap or two--and then Tip said it looked like second place (Bill?) was closing the gap and suddenly it was a spectator sport and I was back at the pit wall with a stopwatch in my hand.

However, I do remember one thing very clearly, and it differs from the other accounts:

When I dropped, we had more than a lap advantage on 2nd Place, and nearly two laps. It was getting close to the end of the race, and we were into strategy, not style. I wasn't dogging it, but I wasn't smokin' either; my job was to keep the bike runnning for another half hour--I could see Bill at the end of the main straight when I was at the beginning of it, but I had no incentive to catch him and we had the win in the bag. 

But my crash turned it into a race again, and it was an exciting finish, and... well hell, when the results were posted we were a lap down because the timers hadn't counted the lap I'd done between the pit stops. They showed one pit stop of around two minutes instead of two quick pits. We were all very disappointed and Tip pointed out that if he'd been going as slow as I was going, he would have stayed on his bike regardless of footpeg presence.

Oh well, that's endurance racing for you. Timing those things has got to be tedious, and having the pit road running past the start/finish line on the track added to the confusion. But I've always wondered (actually, I haven't wondered it for twenty years, but your letter brought it up again) if the lap counter maybe got it right the first time, then later thought he'd written it down twice 'cause two apparent rider-change stops one lap apart didn't make any sense, and corrected what wasn't wrong to begin with. Or maybe he just missed one of the stops, but whatever way it happenned, Team Colitas got scrooched out of a hard earned lap.

Thanks again, Tor (guys, please forward this to Tor for me), for letting me ride your bike. Had it been you and Tip, you guys would have reeled Bill in and lapped him and his teammate twice, and we'd still be celebrating."