Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ F\ EVENTS EDITED BY CAMERON COAmEY o rear tire, Roper never quite ma naged to ca tch u p w ith Henning. a nd ca me in sec ond , Hen ning also supplied the fans with a piece of history: the TR3 Yam ah a that Don Emd e rode to victory at the Day to na 200 in 1972 . Th is bike is of not e because it was th e firs t" two-s t roke to win. the first Yamaha to win and the smallest bike to wi n. Th e bike was "as was" on race day, exce p t for th e ad d ition of mod ern tires. H enning. in tru e spo rts man fashion, did no t ride the bike himself at AM P but, instead, deferred to (Left) Todd Henning w as the dominant rider at the fourth a nnua l Atlantic Vintage TT In Shuben acadie, Nova Scotia. Ca nad a. winning seve n races . (Below) Dave Roper gave Henn ing plen ty of com petition, and won a few classes of his own at the Atlant ic Vintage TT, held at the Atlan tic M otors port Park. By Jennifer DiJoseph Photos by Brent Fia nd e r SHUBENACADlE, NOV ASCOTIA, CANADA, JULY 25-27 tlantic Motorsport Park in Shubena cad ie , No va Scotia , Ca na d a, hosted their fourth annual Atlantic Vintage IT, w hich incl ud ed three d a ys of vintage racing in th e remot e backwood s of one of Canada 's Maritime Provinces , and Tod d Henn ing d ominated seven dasses wit h his bea utifully p rl>par ed stable of Hon d as, ran ging from 350 to 750cc. Dave Roper cha llenged with Team Obsolete's AJS 7R and the genui ne ex- Dick Ma nn BSA 111. Local heroes Jim Pen teco st, Glenn McKinno n and Gary McKinn on pressed their homecourt ad va ntage all weekend . British Cyde Supply, U5CRA, Pete's Froo tique and the CMA helped sponsor the event. It was a full day of practice on Frida y, q ualifyi ng hea ts o n Satu rd ay, a nd th e races pr o per on Su nd ay . Th e tra ck is r u n b y t he AMCR A - t h e Atla ntic Motorcycle Co mpe tition Riders' Association - the oldest and larges t racin g o r ga n izat ion aHiliated w ith the Ca na d ia n Mot orcycle Associati on. The track's appeal lies not only in it s di stinctive down-home atmosphere, bu t also in th e cou rse layou t. Eleven co rners, 150 feet of ele va ti o n cha nges, decreasi ng radius . off-camber tu rns, an d an intense carous el are all stuffed into the track' s 1.6 miles of pavement. On Satu rday, the PI 500cc qualifier race was a n excellen t example of a veteran showin g the home advantage to an experienced but unfamiliar rider. Peter Davidson, astride a BSA Gold Star , was in the lead, but learning the tra ck as he went. Tim Co urts, on a BMW RSO, took the lead from Davidson on the las t lap in tum 11. H is horsepower was not as g re a t as David s on ' s, but Courts had und er his belt the laps o n the tra ck he needed to mount th e n t."C~rv offens ive and take the win at the check~rs. During th e Frida y evenin g tra ck walk with cou rse d esign er ja ck Ca nfield, "CFAs" (come from atars) were warned tha t thi s was preci>ely the kind of mov e the A!v1P regu lars would m ake. His prediction was accurate down to th e tum. it' s the ultimate basket case, according to tea m boss Rob Ian nu cci. Even the carbs a nd the ma gnet o were a pa rt a nd in boxes . The challenge to rebuild it was met. and was well worth it. The bike is a trea t to behold, bo th aura lly and visually . Th e fo lk s at A MP we re du ly impressed. .~ Atlan tic Motorsport Park Shuben s ca die, Nova SCotia, Canada Resu lts : Ju ly 25-27. 1997 5 , Itu rd .y l AM /CA N ~ lJC R: 1. Fit z Sa rg(" nt /Ti m Co u r ts ( BMW); 2. Tom vc rvn tc/Oo na B.1U Z,1 (BMW); 3. Bob Coy / Ra nkin (BMW); 4. Tha ne Gill ies / Mi ke G i lli~'s (Nor); 5. Cathe rw Ol.xI / W ind cr ]ec (Yam) . AM/CAN 350: 1. Erik Gree n (AIS); 2. Mike Fu lton ( Kaw); 3, Ian Reilly (I; on) ; 4. Harold O gd en (HI)l\); 5. Phi l TurlJngton (Hon). AM/CAN 250: I. C lenn McKinnon (Hon) : 2. Kevm ~odd~ ( Hon); 3. C.n y M on.·11 (Due); 4. Dav id Tatlock 'l' (Duel . AM/C AN lJW: 1. Stan Nic ho lso n (Yam ); 2. Wayn e MdcA llisk'l' (Hon); 3. MAlt Kin K:4. G il G reen law ( Hon). A MlCA N SNINT HIW: t . Joh n Larson (H o n); 2. . Dav .. Roper (AJ5 ); 3. Jim Pe n tecost (Ka w) : 4 , C ol ry M..:Kinullll (KolW); 5. Stt'"v(" lfoly",lip (50 7. . ) AM/ CAN SNl NT Mi W: 1. Todd I It'"nnin g (H on); 2. D.1ITC'1I I fing lry (llun); 3. Jack Ca nfield. (H e n ): 4. D. Burr (H on); 5. Kirk A1Il."ry" (Yam ). A M/CAN Pl SOl): I. Tim Court " (BMW); 2. Pet er Da vid son (BSA);. 3. Peter Eng le ber t ( Han) ; 4. Jo h n Wil"On (BSA); 5. Bri.ln Ca rrol l. AM /CAN P R E· 6 5: 1. Ro s s G reaves (Nor) ; 2. Thomas Kt.'!TSr. (V in l. orr lJW: I . Tom Verville (BMW); 2. Stan Ni cholson (G re); 3. G lt""nn McKinnon ( Han ); 4. Pete r Englebert (Hon); 5. Ed orr rn MUrTliY(Yam). H1W: I . JliCk Ca nfie ld (Suz ); 2. Pete Luckett (Nor); 3. Au SaI'K (BSA); 4. 'Thant"" GiDie'!'(Nor ); S. D. l"t\t Munroe (Tri) . Sundly P1 1-50: I. [M1I(" Rup..r (AJ5); 2. Enlo:. C rn-n (AJS); 3 M ilt- Fulton (kAw ); 4 C l.. nn McKinnon (Hon); 5. lan Rt·i1Iy (lfon). r RE-4iS; 1. f-.ril Green (AJS); 2. Rick Patro lia (T ri ); 3. John W il-wn ( BSA ); 4. R05!' G reaves lN or); 5. Thane Gil lies (N orl . UW S / V INT: 1. ToJ d Henning {Ho n) : 2. M ike Fulton (K aw ); 3 . S ta n N ic ho lso n ( Ya m); 4. G le n n McKinnon (Hon) ; 5. Kevin Ccd des (Honl . F·l : I. Alla n MiIIiS.. n (5u z) ; 2. wry McK innon (Kaw); 3. Da ve R(lpl"f' (BSA); 4, Steve H.:I) '!'Jir (Su7.); 5. Gn..~ M o ores . F· 2: 1. Jim Pm tl"CO!>1 (}Glw); 2. Pete Lucker (N or); 3. W,\yne unfidd ( K.l w ) . f.. RD: 1. Ste ve Burke ('(,\ m); 2. Dan Avis (Yam); 3. . KH Awry (Yolm ); 4. AIl.tn Hirtle (Yam); 5. G.iry B.oltor (yolm). Su nda y d awne d ho t - to o hot for some . Some of the best raci ng of the day was b et w e e n T ea m O bso le te r id ers Ro p e r and · Er i k G ree n, w ho pu t o n e xce ll e n t s hows in ra ce n u m ber o n e, Period 1-350cc, o n thei r very closely matched 1962 AjS 7Rs. Roper had more ex perie nce a nd a lighter bi ke, but the rid ing style of both men was very similar. G reen w ould pass Ro pe r o n t he back straig h t, but Roper was just playing and would ta ke it right back fro m him in the next corner. Both Green and Roper left for New York with a pile of podium-finish tro phies, induding a firs t for Roper in the Pete's Frootique Whitworth Cup, a hotl y contested Brit-only race . In Sunday' s Super Vin tage Hea vyweigh t race, a delayed sta rt gave Henning enoug h tim e to trade bikes on the start /finish line, from his 500cc Honda to his 350cc Honda. On a tigh t track like AMP, the sma ller bike d efin it ely handled bette r, a nd Henning go t the firs tpla ce trophy. Roper, aboa rd an AjS 7R (also a 350), started on the fourth row of the g rid , hu t qui ckl y cut th rou gh th e traffic to g ive chase to Pen tecos t (t he curre n t Vintage lap-reco rd hold er at AMP ), and ulliinately to Henning. Within tw o corne rs, Roper w as in fourth a nd coming on strong. After fina lly ge tting by two-s trnke Kaw asaki 400-m ounted Pentecost , who st a yed closely o n h is G le nn Mc Ki n n o n, o n e of th e tr ack fou nders. Th ree la ps around th e track was all it took to get all the bab ies crying. Th e sideca r races were e xciting (and fr ighteni ng) , as well , In th e Sideca r Su per Vinta ge class, Fitz Sargent (who _ bears m ore than a passin g resemblan ce to R. C r u m b) w a s pilotin g a n d Tim Cou rts was the passenger on their BMW ou tfit. On lap three, as Sargen t pitched it into turn tw o , Cou rts, w ho was no t ho ldi ng o n after a spinout, we nt flying out onto the grass - and landed unhu rt . He ra n, caug ht u p with his tea m mate, and they raced to a podium finis h, after . A nd r ew & Kim Fairbanks a nd Tom Verville & Oona Bauza, all three tea ms mo u nted on BMWs. An accident during Frid a y ' s practice involving Scott D'Onfro put him in th e hosp ital for a seriously in ju r ed r ig h t hand . A pl ea went ou t to all a tten d a n t racers for do natio ns toward his hospital bills and, ' by Su nd ay morning, 525 00 had been ra ised . It was noted tu us that une of the su rgeo ns at QE2 Ho spital in Halifax, Nova Scotia , wa ived his fee . A high point of th e week end was sel>ing Team Obsolete 's 1967 Benelli piloted .aroun d the track by Roper. This bike is an extremely rare, extremely loud 350cc four-cylind er ex-Grand Prix m achine.. Rebuilt by Team Obsolete after its acq ui sition in 1981 in di>assembled cond ition, P I 500: 1. Todd Henning (Hon j, 2. Tom V(Orvill . . (DMW); 3. Tim Cuu rt.. (TJMW); 4. Petce Engl..ht'l't (lllln ); 5 . Rich.tnt Pd("f";I.l n (flon ). II fW S /V I NT: 1. To dd He n n in g (Hon), 2. De ve Rnpt'I' lAJS); 3. Jim l'e ntecost (Kaw); 4. Gary McKinn on (Kaw ); 5. JolCk Ca nfie ld (Suz) . 1'1 2.50: l. Grcg.Nic bo ls (Due) ; 2. Kev in Ged d es (Hu n); 3. Glen n McKinn o n (Hon); 4. G,lry More ll (Due). 1"1 OI' EN: J. Todd Hennmg (Hen): 2. Dave Wilson (T ri) ; 3. Tom vcrv utc (BMW); 4. Tim Courts (BMW); 5. Th.ln(· Gi lliC::l (Nor). S / V I N T M /W : 1. Todd Henni ng [ Hen }; 2. Jim P.. nl (·OO,;1 (Kdw); 3. Darrell H in gle y (Hon); 4. Dave WilMln (TrI); 5 . Kirk Avery (Ya m) . SOC R ClSSC: I. Bob Coy/ Ste ve Rinker (BM W); 2. . M dr l G ib1>o n / D illon Eu su re ( BM W) ; 3 . C h ri s Lipsc... mb /Mdrk BiAA"luw (Vin). S DC R S.V I N T : 1. Andrew Fa i rbol nb / Ki m Fdirb.tn h (BMW>; 2. To m V","ilk-/ Oon.a B.I U 7..a (BMW); 3 . Fi l7. 5.1rgl""n t / T im Co u rl.. (BM W); ,4. Pa ul 8oyrr / Sh.l m n Boyer (Nor ); 5. Thane G ilIie5 / ~hlo.e G illin (:"% r). AM/CAN 1'1 500: I. Tim Courts (BMW ); 2. Pet er Davidson (BSA) ; 3. Peter Eng lebert {Hon j: -I. Ridwrd Pt1rt":"On ( Hon); S. Brian Carro lL AM/CAN r RE~5: I. Jo hn Wil son (BSA); 2. Ros s GreaVt."S (N or); 3. Th oma s Kl.'!TSr. (Nor). AM/CAN MIW : I. Todd H.."I1ning (Hon): 2. I);)m- II Hm g L.y (Hon); 3. Kirl.. A\'t.'ry (Ya m); 4. D. 6wT (Hon); 5. Chris Stl-in (Yam) . AMICAN OPEN: 1. Fitz Sarg~nl (BMW); 2. Thane C Ulil.S (Nor); 3. Do ug Forbes (BM W); 4. Keith Hu""H')' ' (Nor); S. Robert: Wilson O' ri). AM / CAN H /W: 1. Dave Roper ( AJS); 2. Ji m Pent lOcoli1 ( K.lo w ); 3 . G u y McK in n o n ( K.lo w); 4. 8 . Ml.JfKan S. G . Moores (Hon). ; AM/CAN f"2 lJW: 1. Std n Ni chol ""," (y.lom); 2. loin Rri lly (H nn); 3. W" y l'll"MacAIIi

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