Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.DIRT TRACK ·. Thunder from America 1- , By Cl iff Manley CANBERRA, AUSTRAUA,FEB. 4 h e battle for first was tigh t, th e lead changin g ev ery few second s among Springsteen, Ath erton an d Durelle. The staccato d rone of the Am erican-m ade Harley V-twi ns ripped the air as the rid e rs p itch ed t heir m achin es si deways into the tu rn s, lookin g each tim e like they' d be gon e for su re. The ra ce w ould come right d own to th e T w ire. Sou nd like a s ce ne fro m a ty p ical . Ame rican dirt tra ck race? That' s because. it was. Onl y it was being p layed ou t half a world away. Fiv e Yanks a nd o ne Aust rali a n brought their 750cc tw ins ou t for a ride a t Exhi b ition Park Canb er ra in N ew South Wa les. The blokes from the States had arr ive d bleary-eyed in Sydney on Th ursd ay afternoon. Frid ay was spe nt puttin g the bikes togeth er and avo iding the press . Th e lo n g tra ck a t Exhi b it io n Pa rk Canberra, more u sed to one horsepower cha ine d to a trotter bu ggy, wa s abo ut to reverber ate with the classic sound of the American V-twin. Harley-David son wa s here. The su n was ho t, th e crowd was bu ild ing up, and th e air o f expe cta ncy continued to bu ild for the fir st exhibition race of the d ay. Th e six-rider field featured a good cro ss section of experienced rid ers and . young u p-and-co me rs . Th ree-time AMA Grand N ation al Champi on Jay Sp ringsteen headed th e list of American talent, with the young and wild Kevin Atherton also in the field . They were joined by seasoned American veterans in Randy Triplett, Lance Jones an d Davey Du relle as we ll as Australian rid er Paul Caslick, wh o was ta ki n g a ri de on a loca l XR owne d b y No rm Fras e r o f Frase r's Motorcycles in Sydney. As th e tape po pped, six tir es spun, and the 750cc twins hit Aus. The crowd stood up and qu ietly wa tche d as th e H a rleys h it turn one loc ked tog eth er. Back wh e el s s li d, a n d h ea vy-d u ty machi ne ry danced side w ays down the dirt, the r iders shou lder-to -s hou ld er; still , the cr owd was qui et. Th e riders started to sprea d a little as they jockeyed for posit ion in the sw ee p ing turn an d ou t onto the tin y ba ck straight. Springs teen th en p u lle d h is Harley in to the le a d a n d o n to the back wh eel. Th e crowd we n t wil d. This is what the y ha d come to see. Runnin g h ard and fast arou nd th e top , the 750 s sli d back togeth e r th en lined up for the ru n back d own the front s t r a ig h t . Tim e for the bi kes t o pu ll arou nd 100 m ph. It was seriou s stuff, but apparen tly not too se rious, as the boys ha d time to pat each other on the back. Th e fo ur-la p ra ce was very clo se . Spri ngs tee n won out over Atherton with Durelle th ird, Jon es fourth, and Randy Tr ipl ett fift h, w h ile Pa ul Ca slic k was h a v in g a ball an d le arnin g h e ap s in sixth . The n ext time th e Am erican bik es sho wed for the cro wd, th e boys we re (Left) What's with the tapes? : Six dirt track racers prepare to power off the line at Canberra Park for the first in a series of exhibition races to be held Down Under. The event was run in conjunction with the Ivan Mauger long track speedway tour. '., mo re u sed to the track; they h it fourth ge a r go ing into tu rn one a n d s tayed there for th e d uration . Once agai n th e show thunder ed arou nd the d irt ov al, and o nce ag ain th e crowd s tood and cheered. Springs teen showed a clea n pair of heels to win the second leg over Athe rton, w ith Jones third and Dur elle fourth . Le g th ree chan ge d comp lexi on a s Sp rin gsteen d id n't win. He scored a fine th ird behind winner Durelle and Jones. Atherton ran a close fou rth followed by Triplett and Cas lick. . (Right) Threetime AMA Grand Nat ional Champ io n Jay Spr ingsteen (9) sweeps outs ide Lance Jones (middl e) and Davey Dure lle (58). Spr inge r was a big hit with the Aus trali an fans. (Left) Springsteen (9) and Kevin Atherton (23) prov ided some exc itement with a couple of close fin ishes during the day. Th e 'final exhibitio n rac e of the day was t he b est. Sp ri ngsteen, Ath erto n, Durelle an d Jones re peated ly swapped first, second, third and fourt h spo ts. The crowd was stu nned as th is was ha pp ening the who le way round the ova l. The p e o p le w ho p a cked in to th e gra ndstand stood an d cheered for a lon g time after the four bikes crosse d the finish together. H ow the lap scorers we re ab le t o separate th em m ay ne ve r be known. It had been an incredibl e day. Everyone in atte ndance was overwhelm ed by the specta cle, and all agreed abo u t one thing - it had to com e b ack next year. "Thunder fro m America" was a gia n t s uc cess. Th a n k s go ou t to T ri p le tt , Sp ringsteen, Atherto n, King and Durelle for not only im pressing the Aussies with their racing bu t for bein g gre at ambassadors. • Iv an M au ger, th e prom oter of the even t, was more than a lit tle pl eased with the outcome. As a matt er of fact, he is so pleased that next year may be bigger. A test series is on betw een Aus tralia and the United States of Americ a to be run on various tracks in Aus tralia and New Zealand. Mau ger plan s on bringin g a se lec t grou p o f riders from th e Un it e d Sta tes ' to co mpete ag ai ns t Aus sies on 883 Harleys. Details are yet to be con fir med , but it looks li ke th e futu re is set. It ap pears as' though the big boys fro m Ame rica wi ll once agai n be brin ging the thunder Down Under. Next _ year. 1':\ (Above) Atherton basks in the Australian sunshine. The TCR rider was scheduled to remain In Australia for most of February before returning to the states to prepare for Camel Motorcycle Week in Daytona.

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