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/127831
VINTAGE AHRIIA CLASSICS DAYS (Lett) Barber's Ice Creem's Stephen Mathews had luck on his side as he rode to the win In the 500cc Premier CIBSS lIfte~ early leaders John CronshBw Bnd Todd Henning both left the rBee with mechBnlcBI difficulties. MBlhews Biso won the ClBsslc '60s event. (Below) TeBm Obsolete's Dave Roper exited the trBck 10 Bvold downed rider Chuck Huneycutt with this disestrous result. Huneycutt Bnd Rolier had been battling for the leed. Neither rider WBS By' Scott Rousseau Photos by Henny Ray Abrams & Daytona International Speedway DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 3 arber's Ice Cream's Stephen MathI n'~ ews had Lady Luck riding with ...:....:J him as he captured the 500cc Premier race victory on the first of two days of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association's Classics Days of vintage road racing at Daytona International Speedway. Mathews claimed the victory after Team Obsolete rider John Cranshaw's '68 BSASOO broke down while the Englishman was enjoying a healthy lead over the rest of the field and appeared well on his way to victory. Mathews, who sat on the pole for the start of the lo-lap race, got off to a thirdplace start aboard his '61 Matchless GSO, trailing Cronshaw and I Think I Can Racing's Todd Henning, who was piloting a 1968 Honda 500. Cronshaw and Henning quickly began to distance themselves from Mathews and the rest of the field, and'Henning began to challenge Cronshaw for the lead as the pair streaked through the International Horseshoe early on lap two. Henning was using a low line. on the West End Banking to good effect as he pulled closer to the leader, but when the pair came through the Tri-Oval to end the second lap, Henning's mount appeared to falter. The Massachusettsbased Henning picked up the pace again, but then retired for good on the following lap. He was credited with 28th. That left Cranshaw with a huge advantage; by the halfway point, he could be seen exiting the West End Horseshoe as Mathews entered it. That appeared to be the story of the race until Cranshaw's motor expired just two laps from the finish, dropping him to 22nd. "1 don't know what happened," Cronshaw said. "1 was just cruising out there. 1 whacked it open and spit clear, and then when I got to the line it just spat. I pulled the clutch in and the motor died. Daytona is never kind to me. I have been coming here since '82, and it has just been a catalog of disasters." Cronshaw's exit left Mathews with a four-second lead, which he was able to maintain to the finish, albeit not without problems of his own. In fact it was more a matter of survival. "When 1 went around on the warmup lap, it wouldn't stay in sixth gear," Mathews said. "I told the guys that 1 might have to pull off because the transmission was going out, but then I saw Henning slowing down, and I thought 1 should stay out there. I'm glad 1 did." Sport Rider Magazine editor Kent Kunitsugu finished second aboard an ultra-rare 1968 Honda CR450 that had been in storage for nearly 30 years. Ger-· many's Wolfgang Stropek was third on a '63 Matchless GSO. hurt. The scene practically mirrored that of the earlier 350cc GP event, which was to be the first showdown o( the day between the high-profile vintage camps of Team Obsolete and Barber's Ice Cream. Obsolete stalwart Dave Roper sat on the pole for the race and grabbed the holeshot at the start before Barber's rider Chuck Huneycutt powered his 1962 Honda CB77.past Roper as the pair exited the infield for the West End banking. The two then left the rest of the field for dead as they established a rather torrid pace. The lead changed hands a few times as Roper's '62 AJS 7R appeared to be better suited to the infield, and he would gain the lead there only to lose it to Huneycutt when the pair headed out onto the high banks. But the complexion of the race changed drastically when both Huneycutt and Roper crashed in the dogleg on about the third lap. "Chuck started getting loose and went down in front of me," Roper said. "I went onto the grass to avoid him and started heading straight for the hay bales. I thought 1 coUld miss them, but no. Chuck said that he thought he might have hit some oil." With the leaders gone, Team Obsolete's Erik Green picked up the point and was never challenged for the remainder of the race as he finished well ahead of runner-up Jay Richardson and third-place Butch Sprain. Green was quite pleased, considering the trouble he'd had the week prior in DeLand, Florida. "I handed that race in DeLand to Dave last Friday," Green said. "This was my comeback. I'll take this. They (Roper and Huneycutt) were pretty far ahead of me. I didn't see it (the crash). I got there and saw Chuck getting up. I didn't even see Dave." Mathews came back on Tuesday to win his second AH'F-MA race going away, riding his 1%1 Matchless G-50 to a better than 3D-second margin of victory in the Classic '60s field. Mathews took the lead at the end of the first lap and, by the halfway point in the six-lap race, had nearly the entire front straightaway on the rest of the 29rider field.. Second and third didn't change from the first lap on, RC. Barker Engineering's Patrick Mooney racing his 1960 Norton Manx 500 across the stripe ahead of Austrian Walter Wartbichler on a 1961·Norton Manx 499. Then Wartbichler was disqualified and Rusty Lowry and his GMA All American Racing 1960 H-D KR750 were elevat~d to third. Not all of the happenings were confined to the vintage set as several AHRMA-sanctioned modern classes