Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RROADAAcr~~~c~~s_eri_~:_b_OO_d_l~~~~~~~~~ 8 ~ Henning 4for 4at Roebling Road ~i~;:?f:~~?5~ ~~7i1i;=m~f5~t;~ . By Matt Benson . FAULKYlLLE, GA, FEB. 26 odd Henning of Provincetown, Massachusetts, found the wet Roebling Road Raceway circuit to his liking as he nabbed four class wins at the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association's Daytona Warmup National. Henning rode a 1972 Yamaha TD3 to the Formula 250cc win, a '72 Yamaha TR3 to victory in the Formula 500cc race, and a blazingly fast '72 Honda CB450 to wins in the Sportsman 500 and Sportsman 750cc divisions. In the,day's SOOcc Premier feature race, British classic racing star John Cronshaw narrowly defeated American legend David Aldana. Both were aboard Team Obsolete-prepared Matchless G50 singles. A total of 361 entries took the opportunity to work the bugs out of restoration projects and to try and recal1 their riding skills before heading several hours down the road for AHRMA Vintage Day at Daytona International Speedway. The day was cool, windy and wet, making for slick track conditions and numerous spills. The 500cc Premier race got off to a fast start, with Cronshaw leading Stephen Mathews, who was on a 1960 Matchless G50. But Mathews soon was out with mechanical problems. As Cronshaw opened a small margin on the second lap, Aldana quickly moved up to challenge Steamboat Springs, Colorado's Doug Pedrick, who was mounted on a Ducati 450cc. Aldana soon overtook Pedrick for second place, and though it was his first-ever race aboard a 500cc single, Aldana looked quite comfortable with the Andrew Paul-owned machine. He spent a lap closing on Cronshaw, then moved into the lead on the white-flag circuit. "The guy was asleep," said Aldana of his surprise move on Cronshaw at the end of the long front straight. "He had never looked back. But then he got on the gas and passed me back with one lap to go. I thought, 'Here we go, we're going to race to the finish line.''' The close finish wasn't to be, however. Cronshaw worked his way through some slower traffic, while Aldana balked momentarily in a section of the course that was made slippery by both oil and water. "Rather than risk crashing, I wanted to be ready for Monday at Daytona and not take any unnecessary chances," explained Aldana. The win went to Cronshaw, closely followed by Aldana and then Pedrick. Aldana, who was also riding in the BMW Battle of the Legends and in AHRMA vintage classes at Daytona, said he greatly enjoyed racing the nimble British single. "It's very lightweight and easy to flick around. Unlike the (BSA) three-cylinder, which you have to muscle into the comers, these just flow around. That's the first thing I noticed - just how easy it is to ride." Henning led the Formula 250cc race from the very beginning, with Yamahamounted Yoshi Kosaka and John Louck on his JML Rokon following. As the race wore on, Kosaka posed the biggest threat to Henning, but was unable to wrestle away the top position. The checkered flag saw Kosaka trail Henning across the line, with Louck farther back in third. Henning had no worries in the Formula-SOOcc race. Again, the Yamaha rider was off to a fast start, but this T 46 time he opened an imposing margin and was never challenged. A distant second was Canadian Tovio Madrus on a Honda CBSOOT. After a lengthy delay to attempt to remove some oil from the wet track, Henning proceeded to run away from the rest of the Sportsman SOOcc field, this time on a Honda 450cc. Behind him raged a good four-way battle for second place. First, Cliff Bigoney slid out on his '66 Honda CB450 while holding second place. Then the battle over the runner-up position went to Tim Stancill, Tom Antor and Paul Shoen. As the race neared its end, Shoen dropped off the pace somewhat with a sputtering BS~, while Hondamounted Stancill and defending class champ Antor kept at one another. At the finish line, it was Stancill earning second. The 450cc-mounted Henning should have been completely outclassed in the Sportsman 750cc division, but instead it turned out to be his closest race. Here, his challenger was Larry Kirby on a '72 Yamaha XS75O. The duo diced for the lead until Kirby got into a big slide on the closing lap. Kirby managed to save it, but lost precious ground to Henning. Some distance back, another good race was going on between class champ Pat Mooney (Triumph) and Mike Eiland on another XS750. The decision went to Eiland. Stewart Rogers made his trip from England worthwhile by winning first the Pre-1940 class on a '39 Norton and then the Class C event on a '49 Norton. In the Pre-'40 event, Rogers almost gave away a big lead when he pulled over momentarily after running through a large puddle. By the finish, though, he had built up another huge lead of approximately 15 seconds over the 1928 Indian of Jim Smith. In Class C, Rogers overcame a poor start to work his way into the lead on lap five of the six-lap event. Second went to fellow Brit Cliff Gobeil on another 1949 Manx Norton, followed by David Roper on a '51 Velocette KIT. The 350cc GP competition looked as if it would shape up to be an excellent race between Roper and Ducati-mounted Ed LaCruze. Rather than the AJS 7R he usually rides in this class, Roper was aboard Team Obsolete's latest jewel, an ex-works 1968 four-cylinder Benelli. The high-pitched howl (14,000+ rpm redline) was something special·to hear. Unfortunately, the Benelli succumbed to a wet ignition and retired early, leaving LaCruze to win by a huge margin over Malcolrne Tunstall. With Yvon DuHamel at the controls, Team Obsolete's factory BSA triple (the bike that Dick Mann rode to victory at the 1972 Daytona 200) is a serious threat on any race track. Englishman Paul Bamford and his '71 Triumph Trident gave DuHamel trouble in the early going, until the French Canadian turned the throttle a little harder to win by a margin of close to 10 seconds. DuHamel's margiri of victory in the non-points-paying Formula Vintage race was a mere bike length. After missing the warmup lap, he had to start last from the pit lane. By the end of lap one, DuHamel and the BSA were fourth, and on the next circuit he moved to second behind the Norton Commando of Cal Lewis. On lap three DuHamel was in the lead, shadowed checkered flag down the fast front straight, Pedrick just couldn't find the power to get past the big BSA triple. Other class winners were Sven Bley ('68 Maico 115) in the 200cc GP; Byron Blend ('68 Honda 160) in the 250cc GP; Stephen Mathews ('60 Matchless G50) in the Classic '60s race; and Russell Foard ('72 Honda 350) in the Sportsman 350cc division. t'l' Results 200 GP: I. Sv

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