Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Walt Dorsch (322) leads Alan Cathcart (99) during AHRMA Sound of Singles Formula One racing.'Cathcart took his Ducatl Super mono to victory. pair en ter ed turn one. Scarpa used his Du cati 955 to hound the second -placed rider to the en d, but Wood, aboard a Ducati 916, w as ju st eno ugh better to keep the runner-tip spot. "I blew a shock in the last practice, a nd w e d id n 't h a ve an o ther s ho ck absorber," said Wo od. " We fig u re d we'd go ou t th ere and just d o th e best we could . As far as I'm concerned, we wen t ou t there a nd w on our race . I knew there wasn't anybody here today on a twin-cylinder bike who was going to beat Andrew Stroud on the Britten." Th e battle for fou rth was as intense as the one for second, th ough it was settled earlier and more decisively. Jeff Jennings moved up to fou rth when McGill retired from second w ith Larry Schnur in h is draft . Both were Du cati 916m ounted, th ough Sch nur had a n SP model. On the sixth lap it was clear that Jennings was ed ging away, and the gap grew rapidly to the end . Jame s Lickwar, who had been near th e bat tle for fifth before th e h alfw ay m ark, was th e last rider that Stro ud d idn' t lap. Earlier , Ca thcart had won the BoT Fo rmula One in m u ch th e sa me way that Stroud ha d d rubbed the Open class. Riding a Yamaha TRX850, Cathcart ran down early leader Pete Johnson 's Mota Guzzi on the second of 10 la ps and pa ssed him on th e eas t banking. From th ere he jetted away, leading by close to 12 sec onds at the h alfw ay mark an d cruising to the finish. Like Stroud, Ca thcart was lookin g back for some sign of competition, which was non-existent. "It's a great win for my good 01' girl, Tri xie," Ca thca rt said, a nthropo m o rphizing the TRX. "It was a fantastic race for all my team, too. We finished litera lly two m inu tes before the start of the .wa rm up lap." . Johnson was eq u ally d ominan t in second. Mo re so, in fact - his lead over third was half a minute at the midpoint of the lO-lap race. " He h ad some long leg s on th at t hi n g, an d once we got up o n to the banking he just kept reeling ou t," th e Moto-Guzzi TRC1200-mounted Johnson said of Cathcart. "I really rode my heart out in the infield, but I cou ldn' t quite stick wit h him. ThenI backed it down a not ch becau se I was ge lling th ro ugh so m e of th e backm ar kers and I d id n' t want to take any chan ces." Third p lace was less cut and dry, with a trio of Ducati s goi ng back and forth unti l the ha lfway point, by which ti me th e fi nish order was nea rly se t. That's when 916-mounted Russ Mattson passed James Lickwar, on a 900SS, for th ir d pl ace . A lap lat er Lickwa r los t ano the r slot, this time to Craig Cook and his 916. That set the finishing order for the top five. . Th e best of th e BoT races was the Formula 2. And it migh t ha ve been bet te r if one of the fro n t-ru n ne rs hadn' t pulled out on the second lap . Th e SOS Formula Tw o ran in con- junction w ith th e Formula Two -Stroke w ith John Long wi nn ing th e ra ce and finishi ng th ird overall behind Struke and Bley. The feature Sound of Singles event was the Form ula One race, and it might have beena good one if both of the leaders had finished. As it was, Englishman Alan Cathcart had his way after Walt Dorsch dropped out with mechanical pro blems on his WoodRotax 600 on the sixth of 10 laps, leaving Cathcart to speed to his second win of the AHRMAmeet. " I' ve been trying to win this ra ce (Yam); 2. Pete Johnson (M-G); 3. Russ Mattson (Du e); 4. Craig Coqk (Due); 5. Jam es Lickwar (Du e); 6. Da vid Fine (M-G); 7. Bob Robbin, (Du e); 8. Bob Levesque (MG): 9. John Bailey (Due); 10. Marty Sau l, IV (Due ); 11. Jean -Pau l ]uanola (Yam ). BATTL E O F THE TWINS F-2: I. Pete Johnson (MG ); 2. Jo hn Lo n g (Due ); 3. Bob Ro bbin, (BCM ); 4. Gue nthe r Weickert (Du e); 5. Cha d Healy (Hon) ; 6. Will Har ding (M-G ); 7. Devin Bartl e y (BMW) ; 8. Ce d ric Smith (Suz); 9. David Fine (M-G ); 10. Bob Levesq ue (MG); 11. David Podolsky (Due); 12. Robe rt Th atch (Due); 13. Dave Moon (Du e); 14. Reg Bolton (Vin); IS. Susuhu Nagaya (Mag); 16. Rich Barger (Due); 17. Richie Morris (H · D); 18. Mich a el O h lstein (Du e); 19 . Jo hn Gillies (Due); 20. Mark Eber ha rdt (H- D); 21. Yoshiyuki Sagai (H ·D); 22. Russell Barro n. BATTL E OF THE TWINS F-TWD-STRK: 1. Todd Hennin g (Yam); 2 . Riek New man (Ya m); 3 . Do ug Staddon (311); 4. Mich ae l Perry (Yam); S. Sean Dwyer (Yam); 6. Willia m Murar (Yam) ; 7. Bob Newby (Yam); 8. Brad Pa lme r (Yam) ; 9. Richard Merh ar (Yam); 10. Lee Florin (H-D) . · . ll ATTL E O F THE TWINS F-3: 1. Ma rk Reyn old, (Han); 2. Ch ad Hea ly (Han); 3. Charles Burnett (Han); 4. Ced ric Smith (Suz); 5. Steve Von Borstel (M·G ); 6. Pete Fu rk e y ( Du e ); 7. To m Albano (Du e); 8 . W ill H ar d ing (M -C ); 9. De vin Ba tt le y (H -D ); 10 . Robert C rawford (H an); 11. Jeff M cKin ne y (Kaw ); 12. Ian N oton (Du e); 13. Bill Welch (Su z); 14. Jose ph Ga tely (Tn); 15. Joe Templin; 16. Paul Hanson (Tri) ; 17. Rick Pe trol ia (H on); 18. Eri c Dews (BMW); 19. Dave Moon (Due) . for th e last three years, " Cathcart , ri ding a V2 Du cati Supermono 572, sai d in vi ctory lan e . "We did it at last! I knew from pr actice w e were goin g to be in a battle with each other. I kne w i t w as g oin g to b e a sli p s t r e a m in g d ic e, but I h ad a few tricks u p m y sleeve for the last la p and I tho ug ht it was going to come d ow n to a las t-la p shootout." When Dorsch left the race, Eric Wood inheri ted second on hi s Ducati Supermono 550 with a six-second gap on third th at he kept stretching. "A sixth-row sta rt put me behind 'at the start of the race," sai d Wood . "I put my head d own and tr ied to pick off as many guys as I could, but obv io u s ly A lan (Ca t h ca r t) w a s t oo far ahead ." The onl y real compe tition among the fro n t-ru nners w as the fight for th ird , Micah Stevenso n aga inst David Morris. After hookin g up on th e fifth lap, the two went back and forth righ t down to the last lap, when Stevens on drafted by Morris off of the final turn an d just beat him at the line. (Right) Jim Struke (791)and Sven Bley (83)dice for the lead Inthe Sound of Singles Two-Stroke class. Veterans John Long an d Pete Johnson to ok o ff from th e sta rt with Japanese rider Yoshiyuki Sugai in pursuit on the H-D 1200. Sugai used the draft to get the lead on the back straight, though John so n returned to th e fro nt entering th e chicane, wi th Su gai now second and Long third . Sugai mad e the chicane the next lap, b u t as he accelera ted, th e bol t ho lding the countershaft sp rocket backed ou t, the sprocket came off, and his day was d on e. That left Johns on in fro n t, now wit h the H-D 1000 of Richie Morris up to second and Long third. Long took the lead in to tu rn one on the fourth lap with Johnson in front of Mo rris, but Johnson was leading the next tim e arou nd and every lap after.wa rd . By the sixth lap he'd pulled nearly six se conds cle ar a nd m aintained roughly tha t margin to the end. "We won here last year, I tu rned 50 in January, and I really wa nted to come ba ck to Da ytona and win one mo re," Johnson said. "And we ma nage d to do it. I saw them (Long and Morris) coming an d I started to wick it back u p again. I kn ew it was not going be one where I was able to lay back. I had to get back on the gas and go ." Long stayed in second, b u t Mo rris didn' t stick around . He slid out in the west end horseshoe in about the same place he'd pitched his H-D 883 in Sunday' s Twinsports race, though this time he had about a 35-secon d cushion on thi rd place wi th less th an three lap s to go. Tha t moved the BCM 2V 748 of Bob Robb ins up to third, w here he woul d finish. Guen th er Weickert was fou rth on a Du cati 748SP with Cha d Healy fifth on a H ond a NT650. c:s Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 4, 1996 (Round 2 of 11) BA T TL E OF THE T WINS OPEN: I. Andre w Stro ud (Bri); 2. Jerry Wood (Du e); 3. Dean Scarp a (Due); 4. Jeffrey Jenning, (Due); S. Larry Sch nur (Due); 6. James Lickwar (Due); 7. Ian Gunn (Due); 8. David Fine (M-G ); 9. John Bailey (Du e); 10. Ron McGill (H-D) ; 11. Craig Coo k (D uc) : 12. Gu en ther Wei cke rt (Due ); 13. Alan Cathcart (Due) . BATTLE O F THE TWIN S F-l : I. Alan Ca thcart Upcoming Rounds: Round 3 - Las Vegas, NV, April 6-7 Round 4 - Rosamond, CA, April 13-14 AHRMA Sound of Singles Series:Roun d1 SINGLES PARTY By Henny Ray Abrams DA¥rONA BEACH FL,MAR. 5 , f the fou r Sound 'of Singles classes at th e Dayton a AH RMA meet, it was the Ii ttle 125cc m ach ines in the Form ula Two Two-Stroke class that provide d the best, and only, racing . The match-up was late-m od el Honda 125s, a '93 mod el for Jim Struke versus a '92 for Sve n Bley , with Struke d r afting by to win by half a bike leng th after eight laps on the high banks. "That was a h eck of a grea t race, _ es pecially af te r the season I h ad las t year, crashing a lap and a half from the finish," Struke said after the race, whi ch featu red about 20 lead changes. Frank Shockley finish ed third on yet another Honda 125, his a 1987 model. I Daytona Internat ional Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 4, 1996 SO UN D O F SING LES r-u 1. Alan Ca thca rt (Due); 2. Eric Wood (Due); 3. Micah Stev en son (W-R ); 4. David Morris (BMW); 5. Richa rd Inm an (Suz ); 6. Jason Weir (Rtx); 7. Sven Bley (MZ) ; 8. David Kieffe r (Du e); 9. Brian Brown (Yam ); 10. Ken Evan (Due ); 11. Ch uek Davis (W. R); 12. Sean Dwyer (W-R); 13. Geoff Sawyer (Yam) ; 14. Anders Fridman (Suz); 15. Da ve Podolsky (MZ); 16. Craig Wri ght (Rtx); 17. Fred Hopp (Yam) ; 18. Do nald Gates (Rtx) : 19. Kevi n johnson (W-R); 20. Wayn e Moor e (Yam ); 21. John Pickens (Kaw ); 22. John Nielsen (Yam); 23 . W alt Dorsch (W-R ); 24. Jerry Wood (MZ); 25. William Alston (Yam). SOUND O F SINGLES F-2: 1. John Long (Hon) ; 2. Ste w a rt Roge rs (Mat); 3. Norm an Lastovica (R tx); 4. David Goldstein (Yam ); 5. Erie She rre r (Ho n); 6. Cary An de rson (Yam ); 7. Kenneth Boyd (Yam ); 8. M ar k Hatten (Han); 9. Steven Enter (Han); 10. Co lin Fraser . (Yam). SOUND O F SINGLES F-3: 1. Seigfried Guttner (HD); 2. Ken neth Bak er (Due); 3. Michael Gontesky (Yam ); 4. Tim Cundlach (Yam ); 5. Stua rt Carter (Due). SOUND O F SIN GLES TWQ-STRKS: 1. Jim Struke (Han); 2. Sven Bley (Han); 3. Fra nk Shockley (Han); 4. Chris Lac r u ze (Han ); 5. Joe Fr edri ck son (H an); 6. Richard Bonelli (Yam). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Las Vegas, NV, April 6-7 Round 3 - Rosamond, CA, April 13-14

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