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Sears Point Raceway AI ana goes to Sears, comes back aLegend By Margie Siega l Phot os by Nick Cedar SONOMA, CA, JULY 9-10 e American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) rolled into Sears Point Raceway in the brown hills north of San Francisco Bay for two days of road racing in conjunction with the American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM). When all was said and done, it was David Aldana who came away with the victory in the headline event at Sears, the BMW Battle of the Legends final. ~ (Ab ove) David Aldana (13) battles Reg Pridmore (163) for t he lead In the BMW Batt le of the Legends final at sears Point Raceway. (Right) Dave Roper (1) won the 500cc Premier race In convincing fashion. (Below) Nick lenatsch (200) won the Sound 01Singles final at Sears Point. 40 BMW has scored a hit with the Legends, with top racers of yesterday dicing on the track on identically prepared RllOO RSs. BMW provides the bikes and the mechanics, and all the stars hav e to do is show up and ride. At Sears Point, a large and enthusiastic crowd showed up to watch Gary Nixon, Don Vesco, Don Castro, Yvon DuHamel, Don Ernde, Roger Reiman, Walt Fulton, Eddie Mulder, Reg Pridmore, and A ld ana race around the comers of one of the toughest tracks on the AMA circuit. Dirt tracker extraordinaire Jay Springsteen, a legends regular, was an absentee due to a conflict with the AMA Grand National Championship dirt track races at Lake Odessa, Michigan. During the first legends outing at Daytona in March, the fun was tempered somewhat by slippery tires . In between events, Metzler did a lot of testing in order to come up with new softer compound tires that would stick to the pavement. Don Emde, former Daytona 200 winner, was pleased with the outcome. "We were riding hard - as fast as I want to ride a motorcycle.t .Emde said. With a crowded schedule, practice started early on Saturday and the first races went off before lunch. The first Vintage race included the Pre-1940 machines, the 200cc GP class, 350cc Sportsmen and the Formula 250 twostrokes. The Pre-1940s are the looker class, but just because those bikes are pretty doesn't mean they don't go: the GMA Racing Indian Sport Scout, ridden by Rusty Lowry will rev up to 8500 rpm. The start saw the top 10 fastest riders filtering though the pack, but by the first go-round, Vintage Iron's Rick Doughty was firmly in the lead on his Formula 250 class Yamaha, chased by Chris LaCruz of Reno, Nevada, on a Bultaco entered in the 200cc GP class, and Yoshi Kosaka on another F-250 Yamaha. Kosaka dropped back as a charging Charles Se xton and h is Bultaco challenged laCruz. Doughty and laCruz pulled away from the rest of the contenders, finishing first in each of their classes. Kosaka came in a distant second in the F-250 class, followed by Tupper Robinson 's Bultaco. Sexton finished second in the 200cc GP class and th ird overall, followed by Ken Ligh tho use, from Winnemucca, Nevada, ona BSA. In the 350cc cla ss, Bob Sinclair on a Moto Morin i dominated , fin ishing far ahead of Dan Jones' Honda. Phil Parton was th ird on a BSA 350 GS. Gordon Menzies Pre1940's Tr iumph passed lowry's Indian on the second lap and held on to first place in class and eighth overall. Both Menzie and lowry finished ahead of Jones. Ozzie Auer, a longtime AHRMA BMW racer and even longer time BMW dealer, placed third. The next five-minute board found the 500cc Sportsmen class, Class C (pre19505) and 250cc GP bikes on the grid. Ralph Auer, Ozzie's son, took the holeshot on his SOOcc BMW followed by veteran AHRMA racer Mike Green and his 250cc Ducati single, and Jim Neuenberg on a Bultaco. Green worked for the overall lead in the turns, but would fall back on the straights. Then he dropped out completely with a broken rear axle on the . fourth lap. Auer went on to finish first overall and first in class, with Ken Lighthouse, fourth overall on his BSA and Rod Lighthouse next on a Velocette. In. the 250cc GP class, Sexton came under the flag first with Neuenberg second and Tom Meyers third to make it a Bultaco one-two-three. Menzie again piloted a Triumph to victory in Class C, followed by Fred Mork on a classy Manx Norton and Ozzie Auer on his trusty BMW. When AHRMA first started putting on races, promoters were worried that the old bikes would break down and spill oil all over the track. Although experience has shown that a properly prepped vintage racer is no more likely to break or spill oil than a modem bike, every once in a while all the race track gremlins stri ke in unison. More bikes pulled off during the third AHRMA race of the day than in all th e other races combined. Randy Bradesku was first off the line on his BMW, pulling out a lead on Californian Jim Holbrook, who was riding one of the three Matchless G-50s entered in the Classic Sixties race . Craig Maclean, riding a 350cc Ducati, drafted Holbrook. Bradesku showed his rear wheel to the pack as the battle for second heated up. Maclean s ta rted smoking badly and retired and Holbrook dropped back as Norton-mounted Tom Terry moved into second in the 750cc Sportsman race and third overall. Green, on his 350, made a pass for the lead before retiring with another broken axle. He was heard muttering unprintables as he loaded both bikes. The checkered nag waved on Bradesku and Terry, with Yamahamounted Craig Weeks third. Terry was later d isqualified for visually illegal rims, moving Weeks up in the point standings. In the 350cc GP dust-up, Harold Parks was first across the line and third overall ahead of Steve Arnett. Both Californians rode Ducatis. Neuenberg ran his Bultaco to third in this race. Saturday's last race for historic bikes featured the factory racers of yesteryear in 750 and 500cc configurations, and the Formula 500cc two-stroke machines. Team Obsolete's Dave Roper got out in front on his Matchless G50, and streaked away from the pack as usual, leaving a dogfight for second place in his wake. Kurt Mund and Peter Watson, both on 750cc BMWs, duked it out, with Mund getting th e better start. Watson wa s never able to catch Mund and he pulled in a close second, with Dave Russell on an eye-catchin g BSA triple a distant third. The 500cc Premier race went to Roper, who never loo ked back . Second place in class an d fifth overall was taken by Jeff Elings, and Legend (and noted Bonneville record holder) Don Vesco was third on a Norton Manx. Vesco was back in the saddle for what was advertised as a heat race for the Legends. In actuality, the main purpose was for these former top racers to have some more fun on the track, and for the spectators to have even more fun watching them. Endurance racer Aldana took the holeshot, but Pridmore, a former AMA Superbike National Champion and father of current contender Jason Pridmore, went outside and then inside and passed Aldana on the hill. Triumph racer and two-time Grand National Champion Gary Nixon passed Yvon DuHamel on the fourth go-round to slide into third. DuHamel, of course, is the Canadian racing star and father of current factory Harley-Davidson road racer Miguel Meanwhile, former Daytona winner Ernde got the bit between his teeth and passed Nixon and DuHamel in the back stretch to nail down third on the last lap . Sunday saw the Battle of the Twins and the Sound of Singles racers strut