Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Historic Liebmann, Roper split classic battles ~ ~ I- I- a: « u :l: « u z ~ -c >en 0 I0 II] l!') 00 :l: c, By Ala n Cathcart m ...... DAYTONA BEAC H , FL, MA R . 6 r- ~ C\l' Kurt Liebmann and Dave Roper staged two hard-fought battles in the Historic R oa d R ace program with Liebmann winning th e pre-1950 500cc class oyer Roper and having the ta bles turn ed by Ro p er in th e Formula 750 fin al. The Formul a 750 race wa s added to this year's p rogram and featured mach iner y from th e early 1970s. Th e fin al was a reen actm ent o f the classic str uggle betw een th e boomin g BSA/ T riu mph tri p les a nd th e howling H o nda fours. Dave R oper , on th e T eam Obsol ete BSA, led throu gh out over Kurt Li ebmann 's H onda C B750, though never by m ore th an 100 yards or so. " I h ad motor on him o n th e bankin g ," sa id Liebma n n, " bu r. he rid es harder th an I do o n th ese old bikes. " Beh ind th e field showed a good selec tion o f th e m achines from th at early Su perbik e era 15 yea rs ago with Kurt L yn ch 's Du cat i holding do wn third pl ace for a long time until h e made a m istak e a n d was p assed by Pete Kogut 's "Yell ow Peril " Norton twin a n d Pat Conro y's crack li n g Harley-Davidson KR flath ead. Conroy ran th ird a t o ne stage af ter Kogut ran o ff th e track bri efl y, bu t th en i t wa s hi s tu rn to do the same thing a n d Conroy wo u nd u p fifth beh ind th e European bik es. Th e bi ggest entry of th e da y was in th e Li ghtweight race which o pe ned th e p rogra m . T he race fea tured a fla g-t o-fla g win for last yea r's vict or Malcolme Tunstall , riding th e sa me Du cati 350 whi ch h is dad Syd won so many races a n d cham p io ns h ip s o n in Florida 10 or more years ag o. "We were too busy working on th e Ba ttle of th e Twins bik es to even ch eck th e littl e Du cat i over ," said Tunstall. " It hasn 't even been cleane d since last yea r. All we did was pull it out of the co rner of the sho p wh ere it 's been since last year's w in, ch a nged th e gas, a nd bro u gh t it to th e track . I wi sh racing wa s a lways that easy. " Ed Cul bertson mad e it a Syd's Cycles double w he n he took th e 250c c class win in th e combined ra ce ahead of a trio of CRS H arleys led by Bob Crawford. An interesting entry was Er ich Bley's water-cooled Adl er twin which, like the other 250cc two-strokes, ran in th e 350cc cl ass to even th ings up. The bike was made in G ermany in 1956, and clearly sh ows th e origins of the Yam aha TZ250 which ca me alo ng 15 yea rs later. Bley pl aced six th on the bike , whi ch until last year wa s rac ed suc cessfu lly in th e nourishing Eu ropean vintage scene by its Germ an form er o w ner bef ore Bl ey brought it to th e U .S. Surprisin gl y, the most exci tin g race of the day was th e one for bikes m ade before 1950. Th is featured an ou tstandin g duel for vic tory th roughou t th e 10 laps betwee n th e tw o quite different Ind ians of Illino is team m at es Pat McHenry and L. V. H all. McHenry's " big-base" V-twi n Sco u t flathead , one of on ly 50 su ch ma chi nes ma de by th e Massachusetts factory in th e lat e 1940s, proved fas ter on th e ban king tha n H all 's 500cc overhead-va lve Warrior para lle l twi n . On eac h lap in the in field, H all wo u ld co me shoo ting up o n .his frien d un der bra ki ng, with eac h o f th em gra p p li ng with th e limited grou n d clea ra nce an d h and shi fte rs of th eir steeds . The lack of a stee l shoe didn't stop H all from trai lin g hi s foot in th e slo wer tu rn s. but in th e en d McHenry won ' by a bike len gth , in sp ite of hav in g th e bik e j u m p o u t o f seco nd gea r goin g o n to th e banking o n th e last lap. " I alwayswanted to win Daytona, but I never th ought I'd do it on an Indian ," joked McHenry, who rode th e beach co urse a t Da ytona in th e late '50s on Harley a nd BMW eq u ip ment. McHenry als o rode th e first tw o Daytona 200s. to be run on th e banked Spee d way . Mark Samuelson 's '47 Nonon Manx wa s left trailing behind in third until he wa s event ua lly ca ug h t by th e win ner o f the .20Occ class, J ohnny Szol drak , w ho cran ked h is little Parilla over to so me lurid ang les o n its ski n ny tires. Second to him in th e class was Bob Bark er , a for me r ear ly 60s ro ad racer; who was riding a Bu ltaco 125 bel ongin g to .the. sta r West Coas t aceof th ose days, T ony Murphy. " T o ny' s had this bike a lmos t sin ce it wa s new ," sa id a n ela ted Bark er. " Believe it or n ot , th is is th e first time it's ever fi n ishe d a race . Th e guy he bought it from had it n ew in '65 an d co u ld n 't make it run , a n d n ei th er co u ld Murph y. I wa s just luck y, I guess." Th e m ain Hist ori c race wa s for th e 500cc Premi er class whi ch a lso a llowed 750cc Ilat head s mad e a fte r 1950. Hopes of a repeat of last year's tit anic duel between eventu a l winner Kurt Liebmann 's OL Special BMW and three-time Daytona 200 vic to r Roger R eiman's Harl ey KR750 were dashed when Reiman fell off tw ice in practice - th e second time sp ra ini ng a wrist badly eno ug h to have him with dra w h is entry. This st ill left Liebmann to fac e a determ in ed challenge from last yea r's third p lace man , a nd Isle of Man "IT winn er, Dave R oper o n the T eam Obsol ete G 50 Mat chless. From th e nag, it was Roper wh o surged into an immed iat e lead with th e BMW close beh ind. Surprisin gl y, th e British sin g le looked to be a mat ch for th e G erman twin for speed on th e banking , but o n lap five Li ebmann shot into th e lead com ing ou t of turn five. " I tr ied co m in g o nt o th e bankin g a gear hi gh er a nd bogged it ," sa id R oper, " an d before I kn ew i t Kurt wa s p ast m e an d 50 yard s ahead. " Roper soo n ca ugh t up in th e in fie ld an d at the sta rt o f the next lap th e two wer e side-by-side going into turn fo u r. T hat 's where the in cident happened th at de termi ned th e outcome o f th e race: closing o n a slower ri der go ing i nt o th e turn . Ro per was forced to tak e th e escape road before rejoin ing the race, st ill in second p lace . ..c: U l-< C'j ~ ~ Dave Roper (1) won the Form ula 750 battle over Kurt Liebm ann (52) . Liebmann led Roper to the f inish in the pre-1950 500cc class. Former dirt t rackers Pat McHenry (4 1) and LV. Hall (fo ll owing) styled in the pre-1950 750cc class. M c Henry won over Ha ll . " Ku rt went for th e inside o f th e g uy ," sa id Roper, " an d I guess h e sa w him and mov ed over to th e outsid e to g ive him more room. That left m e with no pl ace to go since I was a lrea dy shap ing up to pass him on th e outside. We h it each other , h e went down, and I a lm os t did too. T oo bad i t had to happen because i t co u ld hav e been a great last lap o the rwise." Li ebmann rode stea dily to th e flag to take th e win. with R o per closing in th e fin al laps, but una bl e to get back on terms. Beh ind, British visito r J ohn Cro ns ha w , one o f En gl and's leading vint age riders, seeme d to have esta blished a safe third pl ace a fte r an ea rl y battl e with Pat Mo ron ey's H arley KR , but a post-rac e prot est th at Cronsha w 's Manx Nort on, en tered as a 500cc machine, was ac tua llv a n ine lig ible 600, wa s uph eld w hen th e bik e's o wne r, Kent uckian Mart i n Ad ams, ref us ed to have th e m ot or stri p pe d and measu red . T h e consequent disqua lifi ca tion left Mor oney in a well ea rne d thi rd o n the flat head Harley , in spite of being lapped by th e first two flying fin ish ers. . The swi tch to th e new in field track, using the whole of th e west banking r u n in reverse, proved an adverse move for th e older bikes wh ich go t strung out by th e wid e-open banked sec tion, and al so struggled so me what for br eath o n it . Nex t year th e pl an is to hav e a Historic Da y at th e Speedway a n th e Tuesd ay of Cycle Week . a llo wing th e o lde r bik es to run o n a sma ller track m or e su i ted to th eir a bilities. Resu lts 350cc U W : 1. Malcolme Tun sta ll (Due); 2 . Joe Lac hn iet {Yam}; 3. Bi ll Hinson (Yam) ; 4 . Stan Nichol son (Gre); 5 . Jam es Reed (Yam) . 2 50cc,UW: 1. Ed Culbert son (Du e); 2. Bob Crawford (H- D); 3 . A lan Bar ker (H·D ); 4 . Fred Mark (H· D); 5 . Lou is Sned den (Duel. FOR M ULA 750: 1. Dave Roper (BSA ); 2. Ku rt Li ebmann (Han); 3. Pete Kogul (Nor); 4 . Kurt Lynch (Du e): 5 . Pat Conroy (H- D). PRE-1940: 1. Beno Rodi (BSA); 2. Geor ge W ils in li nd). PRE·1 9 50 7 5OCc: 1. Pat M cHenry (Ind ); 2. L V. HaU llndl; 3 . M ar k Sam uelson (Nor ); 4 . Butch Baer (Ind); 5. Den n is Legg ett lind). 200cc: 1 . Jo h nn y Szoldrak (Par); 2. Bob Barker (Bul ). l00cc: David Hug hes (Ita) . 5OOcc: 1. Kurt Liebmann (BMW); 2. Dave Roper (M at) ; J . Pat Moron ey (H· D); 4 . M ike Smith (Tri); 5 . John W im an (Ma t ). 9

• Cover