Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Nixon, Spring steen, Emd e and DuHamel follow ed, in that order. Reiman' s chances for victory were as good as an yone of the other's, but he got in to th e ch icane a bit too hot and saw his chances slip aw ay. "I had gotten a real bad start and ha d to work hard to get into the lead pack," sa id Reiman. "There was a real good draft on the back straight on the last lap because four or five gu ys were in one big cluster, but I stuck my cylinder on the gro und real hard and it lifted my front end clear off the ground . After that, I had to kind of back off." While Reiman was scraping his cylinders, Nixon was busy setting the stage for win number two. The ' 67 Daytona 200 winner he ld it on lo nger than his peers through the chicane, and managed to pull out a healthy 20-25 bike-length lead as he raced around the west banking . " I had been ha ving some trouble w it h my front brake," sa id Nixon. " I think there w as some air in the line - it was real spongy. Anyway, I figured I'd lead the charge to the line . I was waiting for someo ne to co me b y, but the y d idn 't. " . Not in time, at least. As Nixon powered out of the last tum and headed for th e finish line, he enjoyed a 20 bik elength lead . Th at margin o f v ictory would shri vel to a mere six at the finish, as the pack took ad vantage of his draft and began to close the gap at an alar ming rat e. But it wa s too little, too late. Ald an a led th e rest - Reiman, Sp ringsteen, DuHam el and Emde - across the finish line. "Th is is jus t like wha t happen ed to me yes terday," said Aldana: "I wa s in the wrong positi on coming out of turn fou r on the banking to ge t th e draft. I was third down the back straight, and I sa w Ga ry ge t a way in the chica ne . I kne w I had to get by Reiman to be able to catch Gary, but it didn' t happen. " Dirt track le ge n d Sprin gsteen w as happy with fourth. " On the las t lap we w ere a ll go ing into th e chica ne a ll bunched up," said Springsteen. "Gary wa s the fi rs t to go for it an d d ove in there, and th e rest of us kinda all go t cl utte red up. H e had a g o o d li ne through there, and after that there was l~ nothing we could do to catch him." Daytona Internat iona l Speedway Daytona Beach, Rorid a Results: March 7, 1995 LEGENDS RAC E 2: 1. Ga r y Nixon ; 2. Da vid Aldana; 3. Roger Reim an; 4. Jay Springsteen; 5. Yvon Du Hamel; 6 . Do n Em de; 7 . W alt Fult o n ; 8 . lad y Nicholas; 9. Eddie Mu ld e r; 10. Do n Vesco ; 11. Don Castro. BMW BaltJe of the Legends:"Round 3 (])uHame['s race, nixon's series By Don n Maeda Photo by He n ny Ray Abrams DA¥rONABEACH, FL, MAR. 10 ary Nixon won his only Daytona 200 in 1967. Yvon DuHamel never wo n the big race at Daytona Intern ati on al Sp eedwa y. Today b oth of the racing grea ts met w ith success as Nixo n wrapped up the overall hon ors for the three-race Battle of the Legends Series by finishing fifth wh ile DuHam el came away with the last-race victory. As w as the norm with each of the three races held at Daytona International Speedway, eig ht of the 11 Legends C (Left ) Extremely close rac ing high lighted ali three Legends contests. David Aldana (13), Don Emde (25), Nixo n (9) and Jay Springsteen (1) f ly in formation on the Daytona banking during race two. (Right) Yvon DuHamel (17) grabbed the lead on the last lap of the final Legends race and barely held off Springsteen (1) for the win . cou ld ha ve been covered at th e checkered flag by a cockta il nap kin. Severa l of the former champions took tu rns lead ing the fi eld acro ss th e s tri pe, b ut DuHamel wasn't one of them - at least not until it mattered most. At the ve ry end, the French Canadian narrowl y beat d irt track legend Jay Sprin gsteen to. the flag with Roger Reiman, Jod y Nich olas, Nixon, David Aldana, Walt Fu lton Jr. and Don Castro following closely. Then there was a ga p as the final three Legen ds - Eddie Mu ld er; Don Em de a nd Don Vesco - each' crossed the finis h line a lo ne o n th eir id enti ca ll y p re p ared BMW RllDDRs. Action started early during Frid ay' s race, with Emd e and Vesco cras hing in th e In te rna tional Horseshoe - on th e warm-up lap - becoming the first of the Legends to fall. "I d on ' t rea lly k now what hap pened," Emd e sai d later. " I just came out and just started warming it u p, an d all of the sud den it just gave out. I don' t know if I hit some gasoline or what." Vesco w as caug h t with nowhe re to go, an d he lost con tro l wh ile trying to avo id hitting the fallen former Daytona 200 winner. "Emde fell off and I tried to miss his b ik e an d I just h ad to lay it d ow n to keep fro m hitting it ," Vesco sa id. "I th ou gh t I cou ld m iss it, the n the back end go t ou t. Then I broke the foot peg. I came in and the y put me on a new bike with fresh tires. I've really had a lot of fun. I almost wasn't going to ride, but I decided I would. It's a good thing I did I learned a lot out there . I would n't have wanted to race wit h anybody but these guys. I can trust them." Emde got a lift back to the pits from Ald an a, who had sto ppe d to check on his fallen mates. Neith er Emd e or Vesco, however, were factors once the race go t underway in earnest. Legen ds h olesh ot s pecialis t Ed die Muld er led for the third straight race as the pack of BMWs approached the International Horseshoe for the first time, but h e was dis p laced rathe r q u ickly b y Springsteen, Du Ham el, Ald ana, Reiman, Nixon and Cast ro. Mu lder would en d u p circula ting a lo ne, we ll behind th e pack but well ahead of Emd e and Vesco. "The wind was aw ful," Muld er said. "On these grea t big tra cks it will blow you all aro und . From my seat, once again, I led it to the first come r. They tried to put me in the back row and I cheated . There was a bu nch of ta lent ou t th ere. It's a sh ame that Do n Em d e fell off o n the warm-up lap and ha d to get on another motorcycle - so did (Don) Vesco." Springsteen led for two laps before A ldana took over. Th e n it was DuHam el's tum to lead in to the In terna tional Horseshoe on the fourt h lap, and he was also ahead at the end of the fifth and final lap, thanks to a d raft pass on the ru n to the flag. . "T he race wen t good , " said DuH amel, who won 250cc International rac es at Daytona in 1968 and 1969. " I prepared for my drafting move a coup le of laps before. I planned my move carefully. I wasn't in first p lace. until the finish line. That was okay with me." The ma n w ho a p p e a re d to ha v e thi ngs in hand as they headed for the ch eckered flag w as Sprin g steen, who trailed but looked to have the best po sition in the lead d raft . But it was n't to be. "I we nt for it ou t of the ch icane on the last lap," Sprin gsteen sa id before ru shing off to compe te in Frid ay night's 600cc N ation al Short Track. "When we got up near the finish line I bumped the re v limiter and th at cu t th e p ower. I think I migh t h ave gotten Yvo n if that hadn't happen ed ." Nex t came Reiman, a three-ti me Dayton a 200 winn er, then N icho las and Nixon - the three-race overall winner. "I was lead ing th e Day tona 200 25 yea rs ago and had a problem with the bike," Nixon said. "Th is weekend, on a BMW, I've wo n Daytona - twice. It feels grea t." Ald ana needed to w in, w ith Nixon a few places be hi nd in ord er to cap tu re the overa ll title. At the end, the former d irt tracker I ro ad racer w a s a s po t beh ind th e form e r Grand Nati o nal Champio n. " It was really intense," Aldana said . "I di dn't know wh at was going to happen on the last lap. I knew I had to have a couple of riders between me and Gary Nixon if r wanted to w in the overall series. With the windy conditions tod ay, you couldn't break away. I guess I was breakin g the win d for those guys and all of a su d den four bikes came past me. It was tou gh to know what position I w as in from there on. I wan t to tha nk BMW and AHRMA and all the fans . I hope to l~ see everybody next year." Daytona Inte rna tio nal Speed way Daytona Beach , Flori da Results: Marc h 10, 199 5 LEG ENDS RAC E 3: 1. Yvo n DuHam el; 2. Jay Springsteen; 3. Roger Reim an; 4. Jody Nicholas; 5. Gary Nix on; 6. Da vid Aldan a; 7. Walt Fulton Jr.; 8. Don Castro;9. Eddie Mulder; 10. Don Emde; 11. Don Vesco.

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