Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 1: Daytona International Speedway AHRMA Ballle ofthe Twins Series: Round 2 DUD MAULS STROUDIVARIUS By Henny Ray Abrams ti me ," Strou d said. "We just won the New Zealand Series on it and it's been so reliable. It' s jus t a great bike, b uilt and designed by a great man. I'll always remember John Britten: ' Zampach was as secure and untouched in his position as Stroud was in his. The second- place d rider's spot go t even m or e secu re w hen Michael Barnes pu lled in on the ninth lap with a mi sfir e and suspecte d tire prob lems while ru nning third. Barn es looked at the rea r tire, which was fine, and we nt back ou t, still in third, only to pull in on the next lap when the misfire worsened. This en ded Barnes' d a y, lea v in g Zampach an unchallenged second. "I w as s truggling a little bit, b u t I thought I'd bring the bike ho me safe in second," Zam pach said, ad ding that he didn't have a lot of time on th e bike and this was his first time racing it. "There will be othe r days." The battle for th ird was d ecid ed in ju st the la s t few la ps, w hen Johnson re ali zed he had to d eny Cathca rt th e chance to draft him at the end. (Left) Britten-mounted Andrew Stroud (1) leads the pack at the st art of BEARS racing, followed by Scott zampach (10) In his first race aboard the Saxon Triumph. By Henny Ray Ab rams DAYTONABEACH FL, MAR. 5 . , efen d i n g se ri es ch ampion Andrew Stroud made a mockery of the British, Euro pean, American Racing Series season-o pener at Daytona International Sp eedway, lappin g th e field up to second place in a race whose resul t was ne ver in d o ubt . Th e New Zealander wa s, quite sim ply, in a class by hi m self and no one cou ld imagine challenging him on a day of bright su nshine and gusting winds. Sa xon Tri u mph-mou nted Scott Zampach rode to second, abou t 19 seconds behin d, afte r thinking earl y on that he could mak e a show of it. "I thought we had a chan ce," Zam pach said at the end of the IS-lap race. "I h ad a th ir d-row grid position, and it took me a little bit to get thr ough . I got up near him (Stroud), bu t Andrew' s got a couple of ye ars of riding the machine and he looked real comfortable and fast on it. He was too cagey for us tod ay and I couldn' t qui te keep up: ' . At least he finished on the same lap . as the leader. Stroud lapped third-place finisher Pete Johnson (M-G) on the final lap after having lapped fourth-place fin- . ishe r Alan Cath cart the previous lap. Th a t Cathcart made th e fiel d at all was some thing of an accomplishment. The drive chain on his Bimota br oke as he was roIling to the sta rt lin e, and he was forced to ride his V2 Du cati Supermono 572 single aga inst the top twins. A fu rthe r handicap w as th at th e V2 was s till w earing th e ti res fro m an ea rlier Sound of Singles race which Cathcart had w on . Ca thcart and Johnson had D DAYTONA B EAG!, FL, MAR. 4. Ian Cat h car t, Todd Hen ning, Pe te Jo h nson a nd Mark Reyn old s all won th eir. respective classes, but it was th e last race of the day, the Battle of th e Twi ns Open class, that was sup posed to be the showcase even t for the b est twins in th e worl d . But from the fi rs t tu rn of the whee l, it was a display of the su periority of th e Britten VI000 as ri d den b y And rew Strou d. The tall an d lanky New Zealander w as so much better than the field tha t he spe nt almost as much time looking back as looking forward, wa iting for the competition that he'd left so far behind in the early going . By th e second of 10 laps he had a m ore th an seven-second lead, w hich d oubled in tw o lap s and only stopped growing when the checkered flag fell. "The bike was going :really well, anc the Michelin tires were sticking reallj we ll," Stroud said . "Thanks pretty mud to (the late) John Britten for buil din g . bike that so many peop le can enjoy." "It' s a real pleasur e for us to com, down here a..d b ring th is bike here: bike owner Jim Hunter sai d . "Every where we take it peop le mak e it a poin to thank us for b ringing the bike ou t an, letting them see it." That may not inclu de th e comp eti A (Right) In addition to his dominance In the BEARS class, New Zealander Stroud also so undly trounced the Battle of the Twins Open class during AHRMA's Vintage days. dueled for much of the race until [ohnso n fully u tilized his obvious power advantage to pull away in th e last few laps. Du cati-equipped Les White was fifth. Th e wave of the gree n flag was the wave goodbye for Str oud. Endi ng th e second lap he had a lead of some 2.S seconds on Zam pach, with Michael Barnes third on a Harley-David son VRl000. Th en ca me Jo h nson a nd Cathcart, w hose contr as ting m ach in e ry d eter mined their success on vario us parts of th e track. Cathcart's V2 Du cati Superm on o 572 single wo rked well on the b rakes and in th e infield, bu t was no m a tch fo r Johnson' s Mo to-G u zz i TRC1200 on the banking. A t the crossed fl ag s, St r oud h ad about an ll-second cushion and no one cou ld put a dent in it. His lead continued to balloon all the way to the checkere d flag, th e New Zealand er's second win in two days. "The bike just ran grea t th e whole "He passed me abou t seven or eight times in the back," Johnson said. "I had horsepower on him and I slowly started getting back into it, but Alan also started s peedi ng up . I kn ew I had to put it down hard an d build a lead because he wo uld probably draft me." The rest of the field was mostly processional, and at the end Les White finished fifth in front of Geoff Bain es and James Lickwar. Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Rorlda Results : March 5, 1996 BEARS, 1. Andrew Stroud (Bri); 2. Scott Za m pach (l' ri); 3. Pete Johnson (M-G); 4. Alan Ca thca rt (Due); 5. Les Wh it e (Du c); 6. Geoff Baines (Du c); 7. James Lickwa r (Duc); 8. Ken Eva n (Due) ; 9. Davi d Kieffer (Bue); 10. Bob Robbins (Duc ); 11. Th omas Fournier (Tn); 12. De vin Battley (l'ri); 13. Will Hard in g (M-G) ; 14. Sosuhu Nagaya; 15. Peter Calles (Due ); 16. John Gillies (Due); 17. Philippe Thoma s (M-G); 18. Michael OhJstein (Due); 19. Michael Barn es (H-D); 20. Dave Russell (Bim ); . 21. John Long (Due); 22. Marty Sauls IV (Due ). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Las Vegas, NV, April 6-7 Round 3 - Rosamond. CA. April 13-14 tion, a few of who m dropped out in the early going. First to go was Alan Cathcart, th e Englishman p ulling in on th e second lap after find ing that a suspension adju stment he'd made to his Bimota was com ple tely wrong and mad e it nearly unridable on the banking. Next out was Ron McGill, the perennial hard-luck Harley-Davidson VRl00 0 ride r, with an internal battery sho rt. McGill had d ropped out on the fifth la p while running a distant second to the rapi d ly d isappea rin g Stroud. With hi s d eparture, the battle for th ird betw een Ducati ride rs De an Sc a rpa and Jer ry Wood became the battle for second. The pair swa pped spots a few times on the fifth lap, with Scarpa able to secure second on th e next lap and build a sligh t cushi on during the one after that. Th at ma rg in w ould di sap p ea r, though, as Wood closed righ t u p on Scarpa durin g the eigh th lap and then p as sed him on th e next circuit, using traffic to his ad vantage as the ba ttling

• Cover