Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE BMW BATTLE OF THE LEG£NDS Round 3: BMW Battle of the Legends DuHamel: wins, last final By Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 7 • hey raced in Roger Reiman's honor and they.raced well. After the cancellation of round ·two due to the tragic death of three-time Daytona 200 winner and '1964 AMA Grand National Champion Roger Reiman, 58, who was killed in a practice accident here on Tuesday (see In the Wind), the final BMW Battle of the Legends race was held late on a Friday afternoon. And instead of the usual deception, the pretense of battle, the last-lap heroics, this had the semblance of a real race. There was the lead pack of five leaving the other three behind then ba ttling hard to the line. It was won by Yvon DuHamel, the 57-year-old French Cana- T By Scott Rou~seau DAYTONA BEAG:!, FL, MAR. 3 hirty years to the week after he had won his first and only Daytona 200, former twotime AMA Grand National Champion Gary Nixon returned to Daytona International Speedway and claimed another road race win on the hallowed high banks as he and several other former heroes of yesteryear took , part in the first round of the final BMW ,I Battle of the Legends Series. And that '67 Daytona win, which came the same year that the gritty Oklahoman won the first of his back-to-back Grand National crowns, may have come much more easily as Nixon, who now resides in Mary land, was forced to thread his way past four other legends in a blanket finish tha t has been the trademark of the series since its inception in 1992. It's a wonder he did; Nixon 'wasn't even in the hunt after the first lap. , "1 didn't think I would catch 'em," Nixon said. "The first lap I was just taking it easy, and all of a sudden I was in eighth place. 1 said, 'This isn't going to work:'" r--,.. 0\ ~ , ~ 34 - Instead it was former th,ree-time AMA Superbike Champion Reg Pridmore who led it off the pace-ear-controlled rolling start, towing along 14time Daytona 200 starter Yvon DuHamel, fabled BSA factory dirt tracker and road racer David Aldana, 197:4 AMA Grand National Champion Mark Brelsford and three-time Daytona 200 winner Roger Reiman. But as it so often does in the Legends contests, the running order remained in a constant state of flux. By lap two, Brelsford, DuHamel and Reiman had dropped back while Emde had made his way through the fray to grab the 'lead at the stripe with Aldana, Pridmore, former three-time Grand National Chgmpion and '96 Legends series winner Jay Springsteen and a charging Nixon. More shuffling, and by the third lap, Aldana (Above - left to right) Jay Springsteen (1), Reg Pridmore (163), Yvon DuHamel (17) and David Aldana (13) battled for the win in the first round of the BMW Battle of the Legends Series at Daytona International Speedway, but Gary Nixon (hidden behind Aldana) sneaked up and took it. (Right) DuHamel was the final man to win a Legends race when he scored the win on Friday. DuHamel dedicated the victory to the late Roger Reiman. was on top as four of the top five flared out across the stripe. Pridmore once again took control when the five-rider lead pack made its way through the International Horseshoe. He remained up front before being swallowed by the pack on lap three. Several riders were still in contention, however. Nixon was rolling by now and came across the start/finish line dead even with Brelsford when the .field took the white flag... Aldana and Springsteen ran third and fourth just behind the duo. Three riders, Aldana, Pridmore and Nixon, attempted to break away on the final run out of the infield, but Pridmore would fail to pick up the draft as the leaders headed onto the East Banking and mop back to fifth. 'What happens is that the bikes are so together that if you lose the draft, it's over," Pridmore said. "It was close, though. And if we're close, then we're doing okay." DuHamel managed to set himself up nicely for the final run through the trioval, and as he fanned out across the stripe with Nixon, Springsteen and Aldana in a blanket finish, he came away fourth. "It's so close, you can't tell," DuHamel said. "I got in, too hot in the back chicane and let a few guys by me. I pushed pretty hard the last two laps to catch up. Maybe if I'd had one more lap I would have done better. Tomorrow or Friday I'll try to get one." . Aldana was d"edited with third~ "It was every man for himself out there," a disappointed Aldana sai<;i. "No matter what you do, some things don't work out for you. We all still have that racer mentality, and it's hard to curb· that even though we know we're older now." Springsteen finished second behind Nixon. "Hell, I thought I was third or fourth," Springsteen said. "Every time you get a drive out of the chicane you draft someone and then you bump the rev limiter 200 yards before the liI:\e. I just kept my cool. I had to change bikes because mine blew a head gasket in ,practice. I had to go out on brand-new tires. The bike had one mile on it when I started it for the rider's parade." Brelsford, Reiman, Emde, Ascot IT legend Eddie Mulder and world motorcycle speed record specialist Don Vesco rounded out the top 10. (N Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 3, 1997 (Round 1 of 3). LEGENDS: 1. Gary Nixon; 2. Ja.y SpringstlWl; 3. David Aldana; 4. ,,"von DuHamel; 5. Reg PQdmo'te; 6. Mark Brclsfor.d~'9. Roger Reiman; 8. Don Emde;.9. Eddie Mulder; 10. Don Vesco. dian who won the first BMW BotL race here in 1992. As expected, DuHamel dedicated the race to Reiman. "1 wanted to win that one and give it to Roger Reiman," DuHamel said. "Roger, you come down soon again when you have the chance and we will race again." His words were eloquent, not maudlin, and they properly closed the book on the BMW series which has done so much to remind us of the greatness of the past. Already there's been talk of another manufacturer continuing the Legends format, The finish was a wandering serum, DuHamel having used the low line to take the win just ahead of Gary Nixon, Reg Pridmore, who won the first AMA Superbike Championship on a BMW back in 1976, Jay Springsteen, the only currently active racer in the field, and Dave Aldana. Then there was a gap to Don Vesco, Eddie Mulder and Mark Brelsford. The 5-year-old Legends series ends with Aldana the career winner,

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