Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ e WIDlicr~A~~_~_~_I_m_~_~_:I_~_d_l e Honda rider Tony Gill won the .5OOcc Premier and 250cc GP classes at the AHRMA Historic Cup Road Race. The largest class of the day with 63 riders was the 750cc Sportsman division. Rob Tuluie, riding a Norton. was the winner. Gill again at Daytona By Brian Catterson . DA ITONABEACH, FL, M 5 AR. ast year Austral ian T on y Gill made the long trek to Florida worthwhile by taki ng hom e the Premier 500cc trophy. This year. the Mt. Pri tchard resident went on e bett er, defeat in g the top Amer icans to take both th e Premi er 500 and 250cc Grand Prix wins in the first round of the American Historic Racing Moto rcycle Associa tion's H istoric Cup Road Ra ce Series at Da ytona Interna tion al Speedway. With 348 entries, gri ds were fu ll for each of the II races, incl udi ng the usually sparsely-contested 200cc GP class. The event was made all the more special by the presence of a number of foreign riders, as well as a rather lar ge turnout of spectators. The crowd lined the fences surro und ing the special short circu it (comprising the in field roa d cou rse and west ban kin g, con nected by service roads ), providin g further evidence of the increasing interest in vintage machi nery. The feat ur ed event for Premier 500cc machines was the fina l race of the day, and at 12 laps was al so the longes t. At the start, Team Obsolete's Dave Roper took the lead on his Avon-shod 1959 Matchl ess G50, followed closely by Gill on his Dun lop-shod Westgate Racin g '62 Honda CB72, and Pete Johnson on his Michelin-shod Fast By Ferra cci '62 Honda CR450, nicknamed "Nemesis." . The three riders circulated at a torrid pa ce, never more tha n a few bike lengths apa rt. Roper took th e early lead, with Gill second and Johnson thi rd . But o n lap four , Roper ' s machin e balked and Gill took th e lead. Lap six saw Johnson also snea k past Roper and pull out a small advantage L 30 until th e du o enco u ntered lapped tra ffic, at which point Roper closed back in. T hen, as the trio negotiated the lefthand infield kink moments afte r crossing the start/finish lin e to begin lap seven, Johnson's . rear tire lost 'tra ctio n , a n d th e P ennsyl vani an careened off the track and onto th e grass at high speed. " I don't know how it happened, " Johnson said. "The back end came around. (Veteran racer)John Lon g was wa tching fro m th e side of the track there. He said all he saw was a puff of smoke fro m th e rear tire and then I was loo king straight at him - that's how far it came aroundl . " I got it straigh tened up out in the grass , bu t I was still goi ng over a 100 (mph). The guardrail was comi ng u p fast, so I laid it down . I slid all th e way pas t the west-end horses hoe into the guardrail." . Fort una tel y, Johnson was uni n jured. largely becau se the bike came ' to a stop just a few feet before it would have foll owed him into the hay bales. Johnson also crashed du rin g last year's Premier 500 event, Despite having a startli ng, up-close view of Johnson's incident, Roper was again in the lead by the end of the lap, hi s machine's performance having improved. But on lap 10, the Matchl ess aga in slowed. and Gill resumed the lead whi ch he would hold till the fin ish. " I think it was something with the magneto or the carb ," said Roper. "The engine cut out, then it came back to life. It ran great for a couple of laps and then started to go sour aga in. I had to nurse it in the final laps." " We had quite a da y," sai d G ill . " It's hard to exp lai n wh y we came all the way from Austral ia to win a trophy, bu t that's what racing is all about. " We h ad so me trou b le getting backing, but we did get some (from Can tas Mfg., Poly Ad, Emery Air Fre ight, Qantas Airlines, London Trading Australia and Frank Muntzey.) I couldn't have done it without the help from my crew - Eric Debenharn, Bill Snelling, Bob Blythe, John Swainson and Harold Gillitt, plus a lot of folks back home in Australia." After the races, it was apparent that Gill and Roper hold each other in the highest esteem: " Dave is one of the fin est competitors I' ve raced aga in st, T o beat Dave, I'm on top of th e world," said G ill. "There's no more fun than to race with Tony," said Roper. " Now, I need to go do wn to Australia and do it on on e of his tra cks." British journalist and freq uen t Cycle News co ntrib u to r Ala n Cathcart brought a '62 Manx Norton home in th ird place. " Manxes aren 't known for having much top speed , but I'll tell you, tha t bike really got going up on th e banking," Cathcart said. Canadian legend Yvon DuHamel ra n as h igh as third on a T ea m Obsolete '59 Manx, but retired with mechanical problems. Gill also too k the win in the second race of the day for 250cc GP machines, where he rode a standard displacement Honda CB72 to the win over Florida's Lee Robison on a two-stroke Bridgestone, and California's Mike Green on a Ducati Diana. Rivaling th e excitement of the Premier 500 final e was the 350cc GP even t, After pass ing fellow Californian Craig McLean for the lead on lap two, Green looked to be a sure winner on hi s Avon-shod West Coast British Racing '65 Ducati Sebring. But Green missed a shift entering the final tum - of the race and was passed by Roper on the ex-works '62 AJS TripleKnocker 7R13 and McLean on his '66 Harley-Davidson/ Aerrnacchi CRTT. " Mike rode reall y well, " said Roper. " He seemed to have a littl e advantage going out onto th e bow l, but I had an advan tage coming o£(. I don 't know what happened to him - whe ther he missed a shift or the bike started missi ng. " According to Green , both of Roper's estima tions were true: " I missed that sh ift about four ' times," said a frustrated-Creen afterwards. " I was concentrating too hard on holding them off through that last comer. " Earlier, Green had said that the 350 was running too lean, even with the biggest main jet ' he had, and that he was planning to run it till it blew up. It never did blow up, although he did say that it was missing during the race due to oil on the points. Earlier, Green won the first race of the da y in the 200cc GP class, and fini shed a close second behind AMA 250cc GP contender Cliff Bigoney in the 500cc Sportsman division. "T his is the. first tim e I've tried vintage racing," said Bigoney, who won after starting on the n inth row on a '62 Honda CB450. " It was a fun race. Rich Cook spent some time putting the bike together. I thought vintage bikes were something that guys just found in the comers of their garages and blew the cobwebs off, bu t this bike wasn ' t, It was a treat to ride something that wasn 't just thrown together. " It reminded me of why I started raci ng in the first place - to ha ve fun. " Som e of th e quickest laps of the da y were turned in by Canadian John Ramsay on his Ecu ri e Classic '70 Honda CR750 , as he caught and passed New Yorker Pa t- Moroney on his im m a cu la te Team Obsolete '72 Harley-Davidson XR750 to win the 750cc GP even t, Texan Robert Tuluie rode his Fair Spares America-sponsored, shortstroke, five-speed '72 Norton Commando to the win over the largest field of the day - the 63-rider 650cc Sportsman division. Tuluie led every lap of the race, as Californian Eron Flory came from behind to take second on a CC Products '72 BMW R75/5; New Yorker Mike Eiland was third on a '73 Yamaha XS650. After the race, Flory protested Tuluie's machin e, since Sportsman-class rules dictate that the stroke may not ' be altered. However . according to AHRMA officials, Norton built a short-stroke production racer in sufficient quantiti es to justify their legality. One of the highlights of the day was AI Knapp's win in the Pre-40 di vision. The likeable senior ci tizen with th e boyish grin led from start to finish on his American Motorcycle Institute '40 Harley-Da vidson WLDR to take a popular win. CI'I Resul ts 500 PJlEM: I. T on y Gill (Han ); 2. Dave Roper (Mat); S. Alan Cath cart (Nor). 750 GP: I. John Ram say (Han); 2. Pat Maroney H·D ); S. T om Marquardt (Han) . !50 GP: I. Dave Roper (AJS); 2. Cra ig McLean (H· D); S. Mike Green (Due). 250 G P: I. T ony Gill (Han ); 2. 1.«: Robi son (Yam); S. Mike Green (Due). 200 GP: I. Mike Green (Due) ; 2. Ed Scnig (Due); S. Bob Bataleer (Han). !50 2-STl1J1: GP: I. T odd Henning (Yam); 2. Ricky Soles (Yarn); S. Bruce KIne", (Kaw) . SPTSMN 500: I. Cliff Bigoney (Han); 2. Mike Green (Due); S. Dave Walden (T n); 4. .Ed Abdo (BSA). . SPTSMN .750: I. Rob Tuluie (Nor); 2. Em nFlory (BMW); S. Mike Eilan d (Yarn). PJU:-t94G: I. AI Knapp (H- D); 2. Oeeie Auer (BMW); S. Butch Baa (Iod). CLASSIC 6lIo: I. Mark Samuelson (BSA); 2. Norm Nelson (BSA); S. Tinn Stancill (BSA). CL C:I I. Norm Nelson (Nor ); 2. Mark Samuelson (Nor); S. Pat Maroney (H-D).

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