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RUNNING START, FOR REAL—In world and international competition they use a standing start for the motorcycles and a running start for the men as they push their machines to get them started, then hop aboard anyway they quickly can as the motors start to roar. Here Ukiah's Ron Grant, 12, right, hops aboard as Fumio I to, Japan, on No. 2, and England's Phil Reed, on No. 30, also get going in the field of 39 starters. Grant, on o Parilla owned by Orrin Hall of Sacramento, was second with a 90 MPH average.—Daytona Speedway photo(fitlvsVaUkiah's RonPlaces Second*Expectant fathers have been known to pick some strange and .sometimes dangerous ways to rid themselves of the tensions and anxieties of the waiting pe-: jiod while their beloved is giv-1 itig birth to their first 'born.Like one man who built the original “Maid of the Mist,” tiny excursion boat which travels beneath the Niagra Falls. He took his first trip years and years ago, in the night, while his wife was in labor, Both survived.Of course it is only coincidental that Ron Grant, tall, quiet, soft.spoken transplanted:Londoner with a zest for motor-! cycle racing as a hobby, sped j around and around a winding, banked, Daytona Beach asphalt speedway at an average speed of slightly better than 90 miles per hour for 80 miles to take second place in the Internation-' al 250 CC motorcycle race at about the time his wife. Barbara, was expected to bear their, first child»Met In Stockton .Barbara fooled him. When; Grant. 23. got back to Ukiah late this week she informed him that wonderful things wore still expected- and at this writing! the two arc still awaiting birthof their child.Barbara met Grant, who then | was living in Los Angeles, at a \ Stockton race. Grant has been in a 300 or more of such weekend races, both in England, where motorcycle racing was Big League” long before it made a splash here with today’s modern small, light, fast bikes of Italian, Japanese or German or English design, and here. He has a whole slough of trophies, not counting the runner-up trophy in the International 250 CC World Championship in which a long-time friend and rival, Alan Shepherd, also from London, won on a special factory builtMZ.Grant, so tall and slender he would seemingly offer little wind resistance himself, is wiry and deceptively lough, though not in manner. He looks more the grey flannel suit type of rising young businessman or the part of a scholar than he does u man of the track. But he’s at home there, perhaps more than any other place of business, even the former Rlva C.arage which he now operates as 1n-lernational Motors h e r e In Ukiah, featuring bikes as well as the Toyota and Pntsun Japanese Jeeps and cars. His hike sales have been zooming.Credit to SheetsHowever, the bike he piloted to an astonishingly high place in the World Championship without a single pitslop over the 80 miles on the twisting, 31 degree banked track, the fastest in the world, was a standard, off-the-floor model pf the Italian Parilla, owned by Orrin Hall of Sacramento, who has the Parilla agency there/ Grant flew to ljnytona; Hall and his wife irailored their bike to Daytona Beach.When they got there, however, they found that their bike was not eenrori fast enough to stay with the tremendous speed shown on the track. So they made hasty rnodlfienUons--und credit for their fine showing at Daytona must, go In a large measure to Ukiah’s George Sheets, a highly skilled metals man, who fashioned, them on a moment’s frantic notice a petrol' ’ lank weighing only two pounds and a streamliner of about two pounds, thus lightening the bike considerably. Grant and Ilall made changes in cur-burntkm, gearing, etc. and upped the speed capacity of the Parilla from 115 to 130, more in keeping with the 150 rriph *Suz-zuki and 345 mph Yamahas, and the souped-up Hondas,Parilla a BeautyHowever, over the 80-mUes (30-Kilometer) course their su-pcr-speed rivals blew up Or otherwise dropped out. And tholr stout Uttle Barilla : just: rolledONE OF WORLD'S BEST—Ukiah's Ronald Grant, formerly of London, but now operator of International Motors, formerly Riva's Garage, is shown with just two of thescores of trophies he has won in motorcycle racing hereticand abroad. He just returned this week from Daytona Beach, where he was runner-up in the 250 cc World Championships on a cycle which George Sheets of Ukiah helped to modify. His employes and friends gave him a special cake witn the Union Jack frosted on top in celebration. He is about to become a father, too.—Journal photo by Ericksonalong mile after mile of trouble j or second all the way. free racing, at speeds up to 91 qualified at 87.9 miles imiles per hour per 3.5 mile lap and a solid average of. 90 behind Shepherd’s factory-backed, faster MZ which averaged about 91 and hit a lap top of 94 mph.Where other racers had two or more bikes in reserve, Hall and Grant put all their eggs in one basket so to speak—one Parilla stock.,This as opposed to the mighty sums backing Honda or Yamaha or Ducati. Honda reportedly spends about 9-million a month on racing preparation and bike promotion through racing.It is probably safe to say that Grant’s outstanding handling of what was probably the only actual off-the-floor standard bike and the only private entry in the 250 cc World Championship race, entered by 39 and finished by only 35, rates as one of the top feats on the track this World Championship,Shepherd also drove n musterful race with few if any mistakes, and his factory backed, wuter-cooled, twjn cylinder, rotary valve engine MZ special, rated about 35 miles per hour fustcr’ “than even the modified ParlUa, and Grant, himself, placed oncrtwo with ease, Far back came the Bullaeo, Duiiall, Grooves, Motobi and Bond as.*‘Tremendous PerformanceThe Parilla gave us a tremendous performance, Grunt will tell you; the kind of trouble - free driving gas commercials promise American motorists. lie did say, probably in typical British understatement, that he did have one nasty moment when wo thought wc were going to be pushed into the field by another Jamming bike. He stayed on course and on target and man, muchlno and crow did themselves proud.Chris Williams, an old friend from London, one of the many London motorcycle buffs who trek to Daylona Beach and other International Cycling events when they get a chance, was plt-mari and had the Easy sign up the last part of the rnfceas- Uie Ilail-Granl entry hud a comfort able, second, w o r t h about $600 plus trophy. Tic had stnrtod as fifth quallfyer, in the second row, and had bean .firstHe had per hour.Grant was not a stranger tothe Daytona track. He had beenthere twice before, averagingonly 75 mph last, year in second place, as opposed to a whistling 90 plus this year behind Shepherd’s record 91.56 miles per hour for 53 minutes and 28 seconds it took to cover 30 kilometers on the twisting asphalt track; about 80 miles, through maize-like turns and 31 degree turns where a bike has to go 130 miles per hour to stay in iune on the curves.His Tirsi year at Daytona lie had been roaring around in Jirst on an English Manx Norton with a half-mile to go when he fractured an oil line and had to pull off the track and wave some $2,000 in prize money good by.Kcmurknhlr KentGrant began racing in Londonthree years ago, and he had a narrow squeak or two' on n 650 CC Norton, averaging 75 miles per hour over 35 rainswept miles of slippery hard-packed course and finished in the money. He won four pounds —about $12,As you can see, hobby motorcycle radng won’t make you rich, but Grant wishes he could lake part in more of the big. International races And right how he'd put iiiui sturdy hi.v-yenr old Parilla up against any of the factory special entries where opposing drivers have us many as four machines, counting spares, and up to 10 mechanics in the pits. The combination or Parilla, Grant-Ilall and Sheets is a combination Barbara, Ukiah, Sacramento, London and the motorcycle world can bo proud of--and so can the Grant, baby when he or she grows up.Confidentially — Grant was mighty glad that Junior hadn’t arrived before ho got back to Ukiah. lie wouldn’t miss walking that hospital corridor for anything — though raping his Parilla with both soft leather booted leet on the running board, rattier than one lead-slioed foot like American'dirt trackers use—was probably easier on the feet—and uervea.
Newspaper Details
Ukiah Daily Journal
Ukiah, California, US
Fri, Feb 07, 1964
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Carol S.
CA, USA 07 Jul 2019
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