Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ROAD RACE AHRMM'ROGRESSIVE SUSPENSION :Summit Point Raceway (Above) David Roper (7) had a good weekend at the back-ta-back AHRMA road race Nationals held at Summit Point Raceway. Roper managed three wins and two runner-up finishes during the weekend. (Left) Todd Henning tripled on Sunday, taking the 500cc Premier 350Cc GP and F-250 wins aboard his Hondas. By Matt Benson SUMMIT POINT, WV, MAY 3-4 oU might assume that once David RQper gets to the front of the pack and builds a commanding, unpressured lead, he'll stay right there until greeted by the checkered flag. Roper, of course, has won more than a dozen AHRMA national titles in the last 10 years, so the safe money ought to be on him. Bu t racing is nothing if not unpredictable. During the first day of the AHRMA double-National weekend at Summit Point Raceway, Roper was running away from the rest of the 500cc Premier class when on lap six of the eightlap race his Velocette KTI could be heard sputtering. The next time around the margin between him and the Seeley Condor of Larry Poons was noticeably smaller. And by the time the checkered flag waved, Poons had a two-second lead over Roper. The Vela's gremlins appar~ntly weren't exorcized, because in Sunday's Classic'60s event the scenario replayed itself. Roper led big, the machine started running rough at about the halfway mark and class champion Rusty Lowry and his Harley KR750 came across the finish line first after Roper dropped out on lap five. But Roper's entire weekend didn't go that way. The Velocette was running well enough in Classic' 60s on Sa turday, allowing him to win handily ahead of an excellent race between Norton Manxmounted Dick Miles and Lowry. On a Team Obsolete AJS 7R, Roper also narrowly won a pair of entertaining skirmishes in the 350cc GP class over the Ducati 250 of Jay Richardson, and aboard l a howling BSA Rocket 3 he chased Handa CR750-mounted Dave Rosno to second in Sunday's Formula 750 class. Summit Point's reputation as a· bad place to be in the rain had racers and officials keeping one eye on the sky all weekend. A cloudburst late Saturday afternoon caused the Formula Vintage/Skorpion Cup race to be redflagged and the day's Sound of Thunder to be added to the Sunday program. There was also a brief rain delay on Sunday, but otherwise the weather remained cool and breezy throughout both days. With 225 entries, turnout was on the light side for the Eastern half of the country. Capriciousness reared its head again in the Sportsman 500cc class. On Saturday, in a class normally dominated by Honda 350 twins, Andrew Cowell and his Triumph Daytona warded off Stanley Lipert and Tim Stancill for the win while Jeffrey Caiazzo and his Ducati 450 trailed close behind for fourth. Honda speedster Todd Henning entered Sunday's race and ran off as Cowell prevailed over fellow Triumph rider Jess Morris: But then the results showed Henning credited with seventh place - docked a lap for starting in the wrong row - and Cowell had a second win. Despite the setback in Sportsman 500cc race, Henning tripled on Sunday, winning Formula 250, the Sportsman 350cc and the 500cc Premier classes on three different Hondas. Had Henning looked over his shoulder in the Premier race, he would have seen an excellent dice between Harley KR riders Pat Conroy and Lowry, along with Poons on his Matchless-powered Seeley and Stuart Carter on a Drixton-framed Honda 500. On the final lap, Lowry moved past his GMA All American Racing teammate Conroy to finish third behind Poons, with Carter ending up fifth. The race for second also was the one to watch in Sunday's Formula Vintage event. As "Super Dave" Rosno jetted away aboard the Honda 750-4, John Ellis and his Yamaha 750 twin were unsuccessfully trying to shake Chuck Hess on a much smaller Honda CB400F. Coming out of the last turn on the final lap, Hess came around Ellis. It took all of the Yamaha's extra cubic centimeters to regain the lead by less than a bike length at the checkered flag. Carleton Palmer II rode a pair of Vincent singles to four wins in Pre-1940 and Class C, while Larry Kirby chose two very different Yamahas to quadruple in the 200cc GP class and the Sportsman 750cc class. Rosno was a triple winner in Formula Vintage (twice) and F-750. In AHRMA's modern classes, Pete Johnson used his big Raceco Mota Guzzi to equal Roper's weekend record of three wins and two seconds. One of those victories - Sunday's rain-postponed Sound of Thunder race - fell into the "unpredictable" category, as Michael Gage and his Triumph T595 looked to have the win sewn up until he slowed slightly on the last lap with an air-Uow problem and. Johnson was there to take advantage. In the Sound of Thunder rematch later in the afternoon, Gage prevailed as Johnson had his hands full with James Lickwar on a new Suzuki TLl000. Johnson, who rides a machine that almost bridges the gap between AHRMA's modem and vintage machinery - a 1979 pushrod Guzzi displacing in the neighborhood of 1200cc - was involved in some very close racing. In Battle of Twins F-2, he kept ahead of a hard-pressing Donald Unger on Saturday and on Sunday just managed to prevail over Michael Myers and Unger. Open Twins was another scorcher. In Saturday's race, defending champion Bill St. John and his Ducati 916 led the way for three-fourths of the distance, when James Kusar slipped past aboard another 916 and held on to win. Devin Battley, meanwhile; got his Ducati past Lickwar's TLlOOO to nab third. On Sunday it was again St. John holding the point position in the early stages of the race, only to see Kusar moved past and open an unapproachable lead. The race then was for second between St. John and Lickwar, and it all. carne down to a final drng race to the finish line - a sprint won by Uckwar. St. John doubled in BOT F-l. On Saturday the race was for second, narrowly going to Mark Iannuzzelli over Unger, Myers and Johnson. On Sunday, Johnson pulled to within half a wheel of St. John at the finish line, as Lickwar was right there for third. L'" Summit Point Raceway Summit Point, West Virginia Results: May 3-4,1997 (Round 5&6 of 19) Saturday . 200 GP: 1. Lnrry Kirby (Yam); 2. Mike Kirby (Bri); 3. Mark Samuelson (BSA); 4. Brian Beck (Duc); 5. RusseU McCallister (Hon). 250 GP: 1. Jay Richardson (Due); 2. Larry Poons (Duc); 3. John Stephe.ns (Dud; 4. Ch.ristian Kelleher (Duc); 5. Mkhael Gontesky (Duc). 350 GP: 1. David Roper (AJS); 2. Jay Richardson (Duc); 3. Johnny Demoisey (Tri); 4. Stuart Carter (Duc); 5. John Stephens (Duel. 500 PREM: 1. Larry Poons (See); 2. David Roper (Vel); 3. Rusty Lowry (H-D); 4. John Cooper (BSA); 5. Pat Conroy (H-D). PRE '40: 1, Carleton Palmer II (V in); 2. Harry Wheaton (lnd); 3. AI Knapp (H-D). CLASS C; 1. Carleton Palmer n (Yin); 2. Pierre Baril (H·D); 3. AI Knapp (H-D); 4. Harry Wheaton (lnd). CLSSC '60s: 1. David Roper (Vel); 2. Dick Miles (Nor); 3. Rusty Low.ry (H-D); 4. John Cooper (BSA); S. John Cygnor (H-D). F-250: 1. Stanley Lipe.rt (Hon); 2. William Boyce (Yam); 3. Jerry Kinzl (Yam); 4. Steve Ward (Yam); 5. Jerry Herman (Hon). F·500: 1. Chuck Hess (Hon); 2. Rick Newman (Yam); 3. George Fitz Sr. (Hon); 4. Oral Molden (Yam); 5. William Boyce (Yam. F-750: 1. Steve Von Borstel (Cuz)-; 2. Dave Rosno (Hon); 3. AI Charles (Tri); 4_ Will Harding (Cuz); 5. Robert Goodpaster (Nor). SPTSMN 350: 1. Stanley Lipert (Hon); 2. Frank Smith (Hon); 3. Eric Lewis (Hon); 4. Tom Grimme! (Hon); 5. Ivan Harkness (Hon). SPTSMN 500: 1. Andrew Cowell (Tri); 2. Stanley Lipert (Han); 3. Tim Sbncill (Han); 4. Jeffrey Caiazzo (Dud; 5. Frank Smith (Hon). SPTSMN 750: I. Lnrry Kirby (Yam); 2. Jess Morris (Tri); 3. John Ellis (Yam); 4. Todd Welch (Tri); 5. Jeffrey Caiazzo (Due). F-VINT: 1. Dave Rosno (Hon); 2. John Ellis (Yam); 3. Chuck Hess (Hon); 4. Todd Welch (Tri); 5. Oral Molden (Yam). F-3 SGw 1. Michael Gontesky

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