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VINTAGE AHRMAIPROGRESSIVE SUSPENSION J HISTORIC CUP SERIES s'tm By Matt Benson ELKHART LAKE, WI, JUNE 6-7 ong and fast, Road America rewards horsepower and reliability. The Hondas ridden by Adam Popp offered the proper balance of these sometimes conflicting traits, and Popp ended the weekend with five winS (two in Formula 750, two in Sportsman 350, one in 500 Premier), two seconds (in Formula 500) and one third-place finish (in 500 Premier) on the Mark McGrew Motorcycles machines. Fellow Minneapolis racer Christopher Spargo proved to be Popp's nemesis in Formula 500, where Spargo and his 1976 Yamaha RD400 twice defeated the '72 Honda 500 piloted by Popp. Spargo's Yamaha also dominated Formula Vintage both days against machines up to 750cc in displacement. The anticipated match-up between Popp and Team Obsolete's David Roper in the marquee 500 Premier class never really materialized. Roper had made less than a lap in Saturday's race when he retired with a broken coil wire on the 1962 Matchless G50, as Popp prevailed over Larry Poons in what turned out to be a battle of attrition among the old singles and twins. F9r the Sunday feature, Roper put his head down and thundered away to a huge, insurmountable lead. Popp, who may have been preserving his '67 Honda 450 for the upcoming AHRMA Historic Team Challenge at England's Mallory Park (two of the McGrew motorcycles were to be crated the next day for shipping); was demoted to third . by Poons and his Matchless-powered Seeley Condor on the final lap. Gordon Cooper was third bOtll times on a 350cc AJS 7R. Among AHRMA's modern classes, Jeff ash swept Super Mono and Sound Of Thunder/BEARS aboard a Ducati Supermcino, and Matthew Winnacker was four for four on his Ducati 916 in Battle of Twins Open and Formula One. L SATURDAY The Grand Prix classes opened with a battle in 200cc GP between Ducati riders Brian Beck and Corey Rusk. But when race leader Beck broke, the victory went . to Rusk. Mike Gontesky was third on a '59 Ducati 200. Another Duck, this one piloted by John Richardson, jetted away to the 250cc GP win over Bultaco rider Charles Sexton and Takeshi Maejirna on a Honda. Peter Johnson and his Honda 350 were in the 350cc GP hunt early on, before being sidelined with mechanical problems. With Johnson out of the picture, TO's Erik Green, riding an AJS 7R, was never c1lallenged on his way to the checkered £lag. Sexton came home second, ahead of Maejima and Ducatimounted Craig Breckon. The first of the three Classic classes to take the track, Pre-1940, saw Norbert Nickel's 1939 BMW 500 earn the win over 1940 Harley-mounted !J Knapp, while Beno Rodi's Manx Norton suffered a seizure. Nickel also won the Footshift division of Class C on his Beemer, ahead of 1951 Triumph rider Lonnie Harmon, while among the Handshift group (run at the same time second 200cc GP win, ahead of fello Ducati rider Mike Gontesky. And . 250cc GP, it was again Bultaco pilo Charles Sexton taking ilie win, ailead 0 a close one between ultimate runner-u John Richardson and Rusk. After bein hounded early by Peter Johnson, Er' Green opened up an unbeatable mar . for the 350cc GP win. BMW rider Norbert Nickel aga; doubled with wins in Pre-1940 an Class C Footshift, and Blake Wil on too his Indian Sport Scout to the Class Handshift victory. Saturday's Classi '60s results were reversed, as Geof Ryan used his Triumph 500 to overcom John Cygnor's Harley. In ilie Formula classes, Chip Larkb jetted to the F-250 win, while in F-50 Spargo did ilie same. Popp again domi nated F-750, but be1lind him Goodpaste and Keith Campbell were making a r~ of it. Goodpaster got his Norton pas Campbell's XR750 on the fourth of s' laps and held ilie smallest of margins t ilie finish. Popp was chased to the finish lin but never challenged by Eric Lewis . Sportsman 350. In ilie 500cc race, it wa a dogfight between Honda 350 rider Lewis and James Swartout. The pai traded ilie lead numerous times durin the six-lap race, but Swartout ran int problems late on the last lap and Lewi claimed the victory. Don Jagger brough his BSA home second in the Honda dominated class. (Above) Honda-mounted Adam Popp scored five wins, two seconds and a thirdplace finish to do.minate the weekend of AHRMA National vintage road racing at Road America. (Right) Erik Green rode his AJS to victory in the 350cc GP race on Sunday. but scored separately) it was Blake Wil. son and his Indian getting the best of Knapp's H-D. John Cygnor led from start to finish to take the Classic '60s win on a '53 Harley. Honda-mounted Jerry Herman outdistanced Yamaila rider Kris Jepsen for the Formula 250 win. In Formula 500, Spargo and Popp dueled in the opening laps before the Yamaha rider began to pull away from the Honda on the rolling 4-mile-Iong circuit. Roger Swartout and !tis Kawasaki HI earned a close third-place finish over Yamaha 350-mounted Oral Molden. At the controls of a seriously fast Honda CR750, Popp had no trouble dominating Formula 750. Behind him, Bob Goodpaster put in an excellent ride to second on his '72 orton Commando, ailead of Keiili Campbell on a Harley XR750. Popp, iliis time on a '70 Honda 350, had an easy time of it in Sportsman 350. Battling for second was Swartout and Patrick Scltieffer, both on Hondas, wiili Swartout earning the runner-up spot. Scltieffer's win came in Sportsman 500, ailead of a dice between Don Jagger on a BSA and Andrew Cowell, riding a Triumph. Although Jagger held the advantage most of the way, it was Cowell who crossed ilie line in second. David Temple looked to be on the way to a win in Sportsman 750 - that is, until he fell just past the midway point and earned a ride in the ambulance. That left ilie battle for ilie lead to Cliff Murray and David Dickerson. It was won narrowly by Murray in the final drag race down the long front straight to the c1leckered £lag. One of the day's best races came in the Skorpion Cup race, where David Fulkerson earned a hotly contested win over Sven Bley and Dave Rosno, all on evenly matched MuZ Skorpions. Another notable singles performance came in Super Mono 2 as Jay Ric1lardson rode (of all things) a 1961 Norton Manx to third behind Jonathan Hord on Mark Hatten's Bare Bones Machine and Honda 5OD-mounted Tim Barker. Hord moved to the twins and earned the Battle of the Twins Formula Three win on a Honda Hawk, ailead of Will Harding's Moto Guzzi 850. In ilie allYamaha BOT Two-Stroke race, it was Blaine Bahm sneaking past Glen Christianson on the last lap to take the victory. Swartout prevailed in a race-long battle for third with Darren Martin. SUNDAY While Saturday became increasingly cloudy and downright chilly, Sunday was just a gorgeous day for racing. Corey Rusk responded by getting his Sportsman 750 turned ou t to b another nail-biter between David Di erson and Cliff Murray. The pair too turns leading until about ilie fourth la when it looked as though Murray an his Yamaha might have figure.d our way to stay out front. But Dickerson ha other plans, and he drafted past Murra on the run to the c1leckered flag, takin the win on his BSA by inc1les. In the Sound Of Singles classes, th Skorpion Cup battle again was amon the best clashes. As David Fulkerso managed to build a small lead as th race wore on, the battle for secon between Sven Bley and Dave Rosn started to heat up, with Bley managin to hold on to the number-two spot. Jeff Nash had no difficulty earning th Super Mono win with his Ducati, whil in Super Mono 2 Tim Barker's Hond arrived at the checkers first after rae leader Jonathan Hord ran into trouble 0 the last lap. BBM rider Gontesky fo lowed up Sahirday's Super Mono 3 . wiili yet anoilier, ailead of Eric1l Bley. Matthew Winnacker took ilie BO Formula One win after being hounde