Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

----- -------- · . R AD·R C Rounds 1·3: DaYtona International Speedway O A E.· B WBattle ofthe Legends : M Gary Nixon had a great week in the BMW Battle of the Legends Series at Daytona, winning the first two races and topping the three-race series overall . B Battle of theLegends: Round 2 MW Hixon fixin' to sweep By Do nn Maeda Photo by Henny Ray Abra ms DA¥rONA BEACH FL MAR. 7 , , he 'first one w as close - real close. But w h ile Ga ry Ni xon will ad mi t that he enjoys a good race , he'll be the first to tell you th at he 'd rather spank the pants off of his competitors especi ally when they ' re th e 10 oth er mo torcycle racing legen ds competing in the BMW Bat tle of th e Legends races. Nixon's first w in at the Worl d Center of Racing came in photo-finish form , bu t his w in on day two was nothing of the so rt. At the end of the five-lap "celebrity .d ash," Nixon enjoyed a whopping si x bike-len g th lead as he raced across the finish line. A w hopping six bike lengths, yo u say? Well, when all I 1 racers ar e mounted a boa rd identica lly prepared BMW RlOORS motorcycl es, a ny t h ing m ore than a few inches ca n be considered w hop ping. Ni xon 's second win in two rac es puts h im in perfect pos ition to sweep the entire three-race BMW BOTL Series held during Da ytona Bike Week. "T w o wins in a ro w !" sa id Nixon. "Well I feel lu ck y . It' s great, I can 't believe it. I he ld it o n real long goi ng into the chic ane on the last lap and got away from those guys a bit. I was just waiti ng for th e whole troop to come sw oop ing pa st, but they never came." Th e "Squirrel" Eddie Mulder was the speedy one off the starting line - ed ging out po le-sitte r Don Emde an d Don Castro as they raced int o the firs t tum. Castro was th e first to m ake a mo ve, an d zipped past Em de and Mul der as th ey en tere d the International Horseshoe, but his time in the spotlight was short-lived. Em de showed the most hair entering the back straigh t ch ica ne and slip pe d into th e lead, head ing second-row starte rs J ay Sp ri ngs teen, N ixon and Yv on DuHamel d own the fro n t straigh t fo r the first time . Sp ringstee n and Nixon made quick w ork of Ernde , passing th e ' 72 Dayt ona 200 winner just be fore they en tered the Int ernati onal H orsesh oe . . After runn ing fourth a n d fif th throu gh out th e o pen ing lap, D a vid Aldana came to life as they a pproa ched the eas t bank and raced to the high end of the bankin g. Ald ana startled Nixo n, w ho was al so headed to th e top, and man aged to sneak in to the lead by th e time the pack competed lap tw o. "Jesus, Aldan a about wiped u s all ou t," sa id Ni xon. "I w as go ing up ther e and all of a sud den th er e he is! I keep telling th e BMW guys that th ey should mount m irrors on th ese th ings for u s, bu t they think I'm just being silly. Now m aybe they wil l." By la p three, the battl e fo r th e lead dev eloped into a six-rider fre ight train. At tim es, the pack was four rid er s wide as they raced o nto the bank ing. O f the s ix - Sp ri n gs tee n, N ix on, Aldana, DuHamel, Roger Reiman and Emde - no rider appeared to have a firm g rip on th e lead. Until the final lap, that is. Aldana controlled th e p oint as they ra ced past the white fl a g, Reiman, l[ • Hixon's t rl er By Henny Ra y Abrams DA¥rONA BEACH, FL MAR. 6 , he fir s t of th e three BMW Legends ra ces g o t underway on a warm Monda y afternoon, 12 identically prepared BMW R-lOOORS's taking to the track u nder a collection of some of the finest racers in American h istory. It ended five la ps lat er with a blanket finish - six riders crossing the li ne nea rly t o geth er, led by fo rmer Grand Nationa l Champio n Gary Nixon. "What a race! Wh at a finish'," Nixon sai d after n arr o w ly d e fe a t in g Dave A lda na a nd a no the r for me r Gra n d Na tional Cha m pion, Jay Springsteen . "I've been in th e top five every yea r they've d one this. I was du e to wi n on e and th is is a great way to d o it. I'm one up now an d I w ant to wi n th e ove rall title." Fo u rth pl a ce was a d e ad h e at b e tw e en Yv on Du H am el a n d Ro g er Re iman, the 1964 G r and N ati ona l Champion, w it h fo rme r Daytona 200 w inner Don Em de six th .' Wa lte r Fulton led a t igh t p a ck in seven th - Jod y Nicholas, Don Vesco, Don Cast ro , and Eddie Mulder. . At the start Ald ana was followed by Emde, Reim an , D uH amel, Springsteen, a n d N ixon . Em de pu ll ed eve n with Aldana in NASCAR Tum Two, the pair sh u ffli ng spots back and forth on the w ay to the chicane w ith Aldana endi ng u p in front as the first lap ended w ith a six-rider horde all w it h in a few b ik elengths of ea ch o the r. "I wan ted to m a ke s u re the ti res were wa rm and then Don Emde go t by m e," Al dana sa id . " He w a s running p rett y good, I have to admi t. He was right up there so, I th ought I would stay behind him and see what the pace was like. Then the o ther guys caught up to us." l[ Farther back a second pack w as fighting over seventh, a lap later th e pack was even tighter, first five, th en s ix across on the run off of the final tum to the flag , Nixon taking th e lead o n the dive down to tum one with Aldana second , then Springsteen, Ern de, and Reiman. Now it was Sp ringsteen ' s turn to lead, w hich he d id w hen he ma de h is m o ve in th e chicane o n the th ird lap, tho ugh he had plenty of company and A ld a na re t oo k the point when the y crossed the line. DuHame l moved into second with a . late brak ing man eu ver w he n they' began the fourth lap , and Nixon sh uffled back to fifth, but it d idn't matter, as anyone in the front grou p was capable of wi nning at this point. DuHam el took his tum as th e race leader when he u sed another last-minute break in g effo rt on Aldana en tering th e West End Ho rseshoe. Th e p ai r ex ited turn six an d e n te red the banking side by side, the BMWs as even as they're meant to be and th e d raft the most crucial factor. Trying to brea k th e draft, DuHam el swu ng down low, but he couldn't shake th e pack, and Nixon m ad e a sli ngshot m o ve in to th e lead en tering the ch ica ne and hel d it al on g th e fr o n t s t ra ig h t until Ald ana a n d DuHamel spe d past, side- by-si de again, thi s time through tum one to sta rt th e final lap. "You go so fas t the rev limiter makes th e m achine sha ke w hen it goes too fas t," DuHamel said . "The draft helps us run 20 mph faster so metimes. They (BMW's) d on 't feel heavy at all." Out of th e In te rna tio na l Horseshoe the order was Aldana, DuHam el, Nixon, Springst een, Reiman , Em de , and Walt Fulton, who'd moved up late to join the fray. Nixon we aved hi s w ay to the fro nt and led going u p the banking, losing it briefly to Aldana, th en DuHamel moved into second en te ring the chican e, norm ally the be st pl ace to be on th e final lap . But on this da y it didn't matter . Coming off of NA SCAR Tum Four, a pack of five ran to the flag in nearly a dead heat with Nixon the winner by a whisker; Aldana wa s second, then came Springs te e n . Fourth was s o close it was declared a dead heat between Du Hamel and Reiman. Emde finis hed six th in fro nt of Fulto n, then came th e second wave with [ody Nich olas ahead of Do n Vesco, Don Castro an d Eddie Mu lder. " I ju st tri ed to m ak e sure I was up there wi th the fro nt-ru nners, because it all comes down to d ra ftin g on the last lap," Aldana said . "A ll of a su d den, I look and see four o r five bi kes besid e me." " It wa s g rea t," Sp rings teen ex cla imed. " It was like rid in g a m ile o r somethi ng like th a t. You d on't kno w who was go nna wi n it un til the last lap. Then again, I can' t rem ember too many · miles wher e we w ere se ven wide. " It was a good race. In fact, I bumped Nixon's rear tire rig ht bef o re th e trioval. Then, I pulled out of the draft an d I co uldn ' t d o a ny thi ng w ith him ," Springsteenad ded . • Roger Rei m an sai d, " I d on't k no w how much more fun I could ha ve had. Thi s is grea t because we tru st ev eryo ne and no bo dy makes any dumb !"oves. If so meone m akes a pass yo u g ive th em so me room and th ey'll gi ve yo u ro om on the next tum." l~ Daytona Inte rnational Speedway Daytona Beach , Aor ida Results: March 6, 1995 . LEGE N DS RAC E 1: 1. Gary Nixon; 2. David Aldana; 3. Jay Springsteen; 4. (TIE) Roger Reiman /Yvon DuHam el ; 6. Do n Em de; 7. Wa lt Fulton; 8 . j od y N ich ol a s; 9. Do n Vesco; 10. Do n Ca s tro ; 11. Edd ie Mulder. .

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