Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127775
Daytona International Speedway ~J ... 7" . in the refrigerator. Marquard t was righ t t he re to clai m seco nd, w hile th ird placed Chuck Huneycutt j inished some distance back. "He (Marquardt) was killin ' me on the straights," Roper sai d. "I thought I co u ld get by hi m in th e dra ft, bu t I quick ly realized tha t my only chance was to get by him on the infield . But I'm very pl eased for h im . It was a goo d race." . "We gave it our best ," Mar quard t sa id. "But he was ab le to pu t togeth er two really good laps. I had qu ite a lot of motor on him, but he was hu rting me in all the braking points." (Left) To dd Henning (454), Joh n Cronsha w (71) and Stephen Mathews (1) bailie f du ring 500cc Premier racing. Hondamounted Henning , a multl-cl ass winner, , went on to lake the wi n. (Below) Team Obso lete's AJS-mo unted Dave Roper (7) sco red a tough victo ry over Thomas Marquart (34) and hi s Honda CBn In the 350 GP class. By Scott Rousseau Photos by Henny Ray Abram s DAYTO, ABEACH, FL MAR. 4-5 , u re, the Dayton a 200 is the kin g of all AMA-san ctioned motorcycle road racin g eve nts th at take place at Dayt on a Int ernational Speed way during Cam el Motorcycle Week. But it's not the first. Th e A MA s che d u le tradit ionall y b e gin s wi th, well, tradition, a s th e Am erican Hi st oric Racing Motorcycle Association. invades th e hall owed high banks to st a rt th e w eek off with two days of vin tage road racing. Names like Russell, Corser, Ch and ler and Miguel DuHamel tak e a back sea t to those of Roper, Mathew s, Henning and Rogers. For th e fan s w ho com e to "reme mber when," these are the riders who pilot a potp ourri of classic marques from many different are as of motorcycle racing history into b attle. All were winners in . 1996. J MONDAY A showdown took place between two of th ose rid ers during Monday's 500cc Pr emier ra ce as Barber Milk a n d Ice Cream's Stephen Mathews clashed with I Think I Can Racing' s Todd Henning right off the line . Th e two go t o ff t o qu ick starts and engaged in a drafting battle for the lead, with Team Obsolete's John Cronshaw thrown in the mix . Henning immediately began to flex his muscle as h e drafted b y Mathews at th e stripe on the opening lap, bu t Mathews battled right back in the International Horseshoe to recover th e lead . Henning's '68 Honda 450 had too much muscle for the Matchless G50s, however, and the multi-time Daytona vintage winner began to steadily pull away after the trio reached the finish line on lap tw o. Math ew s then surren dered second to Cr onshaw and appeared to be falling into the clu tches of a charging Gianfran co Bonera, but Cre nsh aw's b ike lost its megaphone and the five-time UK Classic Bike champion w as forced to slow down. "I figured I ha d second anyway," Cr onshaw said. "Bu t H enning ' s bi ke was making wa y more h orsep ower on the straigh taw ay s. Th er e' s tal k about racing the BSA triple tomorrow, so we ma ybe will have an other ch an ce at a win. " Nob od y wo u ld h a ve a chance a t H enn ing, though, as he co n t in ued smoothly to build a lead that measured more tha n 20 seconds at the finish . "You d o what you go tta do.t'Henning said after taking the win. "There's no sense falling off if you d on't have to. Peo p le say these Honda 450s h ave an un fair advantage, but nobod y else h as won Daytona on one." Mathews man aged to stay ahead of the MV Agusta-mo un ted Bonera for second at the finish. "I th ought I'd b e able to stay with Henning in the draft, but then my bike started ju mping out of gea r," Mathews said . "I broke my good motor down in Savannah, Georgia. If I'd had 'that one, then maybe." Despite dropping ou t of th e 500cc Premier race, Team Obsolete managed to score a victory e a rl ie r in the day when crafty v in t ag e veteran David Rop er snookered a fas ter Dr. Thomas Ma rquard t for victory in the 350cc GP class . Roper's 1962 AJS 7R ap pea red to be giving away t o p spee d t o M ar qu ard t' s ' 62 Hond a CB77 while Roper was clearly fas te r a n th e in fie ld . Bu t Roper proved his savvy by stuffing the 7R by Marquardt while the two were on the infield an d then pulling far enoug h ahea d to negate Marqu ardt's horsepowe r advantage. After a ten se m om e n t where he almos t ran into a lap ped rid er as th e tw o climbed onto th e west end banking, Rop er was able to put the race Stewar t Rogers u sed th e sam e SRS Racing Norton to claim victories in the Pre-1940 and Class C divisions. Rogers had to fend off a 1939 BMW piloted by Ralph Auer on both occasions . ' "So far so good this year," Rogers said afterward. Richard Merhar ran away with the Formula 250cc race, and Jay Richard son stoo d atop the podium afte r win ning the 30-rider 250cc GP event - the largest vintage class of the d ay. TUESDAY Mathews put together a fine run as h e r ocket ed ano ther of th e Ba rb e r' s Matchless G50s into a command ing lead from the fourth row of the grid 'an d flat left his. competition behind en rou te to a decisi ve victory in the Classic '60s event th at ope ne d up the second d ay of vintage competition . The Georgian was so