Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

the even t convinced organize rs that it's no longer p racti cal or safe to h old the ra ce (see accom p a nying story). As a res u lt, t he fi n al Ste a m boa t att racted r e cord of m ore tha n 350 A H RM A entries fo r a d ay of racing u nd er su ndren ched skies. Ral ph Auer a nd his ' 61 BMW 500 na iled the holeshot in th e 500cc Premier race, bu t Adam Popp was in the lead by the second lap on the Heritage Racing '67 Ho nda 4SO. Peter Hom an, riding another H onda 450, ducked u nd er Au er in tum o ne at th e s tart of th e seco nd lap, and Larry Poon s soon took over third fro m Au er wi th his Matchless-powered Seeley Cond or. Poons next m o ved p a st H oma n to form a tight thre e- ri de r p a ck led b y Popp. Aue r wa s close behi nd, follow ed by Jeff Eling s on a Mat chl ess G50. Before fou r of th e ra ce's eight la ps were compl eted , howev er, Gordon Coope r fell in tu m nine and brought ou t the red flag. Homan w as first into turn one on th e restart, a nd he stayed there fo r nearly three laps before Popp again motored to th e fro nt. Homan then found hims elf in a back-and-forth race for second w it h Auer and Poons. Unfortu na tely, Homan slowed with machine p roblems, finishing an eventual 14th, and Auer and Poons set off in pursu it of Popp. As the trio ba ttled for the remaining three laps , Rood Ligh thouse held down a so lid fourth, ahea d of English Norton Manx replica builder Andy Molnar o n a m a ch in e o f his own crea tion u su ally raced by Canadian Jay Richardson. Then ca me a d ice between Elin gs and Rusty Lowry, gamely ridin g Crai g Breck on's Ducati 350 si ng le to seven th after h is ow n Ha rl e v- Da vid son KR750 ne v e r arrived at Stea mboat. The lead belo nged to Popp for th e remainder of the ra ce, bu t at the check ere d flag th ere w as plent y of drama in the race for second . View ing the action at a n a ng le, from th e p its, it loo ke d as th ough Poons just nipp ed A u er a t th e finish line, but from the scorers' position, it was act ually th e BMW rid er han ging on to seco nd by abo ut a w heel leng th. The Formula 750 class was won by W ill H arding and his H ond a C R750 , af te r he chased d ow n ea rly lead er Cal Lew is on a Norton 750. Jeff N as h and Jona tha n Glaefke were the dou ble winners in AHRMA' s modern-b ike clas ses . As Nash jetted hi s Dueati to the Super Mono win, Kell y Newm a n, o n h is Rota x m ach in e, w a s engaged in a good ba tt le w ith C ra ig Wright on a BBM, wi th Wrigh t holding the advan tag e. How ever , on the las t la p, Th at wi n capped off a very productiv e day fo r P opp . Ev en th ou g h h e d ecided to s ki p th e Fo rm u la 750 race w hen h e se nsed a p roblem w it h th e CR750 Ho nd a on the w armup lap , Popp was the man to beat in Formula 500 and Formu la Vintage o n a H ond a CB400based machine. After bei ng defea ted by Popp in th e Fo rmula 500 ..a ce , Da v e Ro s n o h a d h is P owerh ou s e Ra ci n g H o n d a fo u r a hea d of P opp and was ope ni ng a sma ll ga p w hen on the fifth lap Rosn o pulled off with mac hine problems . Seco nd then went to Glenn Campbell on a BMW 750. The re we re four d ou ble vin tage-class win ners for the d a y . O ne was Jim Neuen bu rg, w ho rode h is '68 Bultaco 250 to wins in 250 and 350cc Grand Prix. The 3SOcc race was the closer of th e two, with the Californ ian cha sed to the chec kere d fla g by Du cati-m ounted Breckon and John Demoisey on a Triumph. Elings, mean w hil e, captu red Formula 250 o n a Yamaha a nd C la ssic ' Sixties a board a ~56 Matchless. Behind Elin gs, Fred M a rk u sed h is e x- Di ck M a n n Mat chl ess G50 to come ou t ahead in a scra p w ith Virgil Elings on an AJS 7R and John Cygnor on a '53 H arl ey-Davidson 750. Auer ' s tw o w ins came in Pre-1 940 and th e Clas s C foo t-sh ift d ivision, both on a 1939 BMW SOO. In the lat ter even t, The last of the • Iron men G oing into this year' s Steamboa t Motorcycle Week, it didn't seem possible that the 18th edition could also be the last. Sure, there were the reports that the construction of a large new hotel and additional residential and commercial development would soon make it impractical to keep shutting down the streets of the ski-resort village for two days of motorcycle racing each September. And we had all heard that the large, bowl-shaped field used for the motocross also would fall victim to the seemingly relentless march to put a building on every piece of open space in Steamboat. The reality, however, could be seen in the huge construction cranes, the massive amounts of dirt that already have been moved, and the new condos that continue to spring up everywhere. Although there is serious talk of constructing a "multipurpose facility" that would allow for motor racing somewhere in the vicinity (all that 's needed is money l), the essence of Steamboat - not just the last true road race in the United States, but a street race with a gorgeous Rocky Mountain backdrop - is gone forever. Steamboat 1998 was a bittersweet affair, with record entries, wonderful old machines and great racing mixed with the realization that none of this would happen here, like this, again. For the past several years, a popul ar featur e of Steamboat has been AHRMA's Iron Man award. With four types of competition occurring over four days, it was only natura l that people would star t attempting to d o everything. When the y did, AHRMA began recognizing the rider who scored best in three of the four disciplines - dirt track, observed trials, motocross and road racing. Several years back, one rider, Rick Doughty, went so far as to do all four events on the same BSA Gold Star. The Steamboat Iron Man trophy has been a revolving award (Above) Ralf Auer gets down to the busin es s of winning the Pre1940 an d Clas s ic C Footshlft classes in road racing action from Stea mboat Springs. (Right) Jim Neuenburg rode his Bultaco to wins In both 250 and 350cc GP on the Steamboat Springs street circuit. Norbert Ni ckel took second on his BMW af te r a go od sc ra p with M ark and his Norto n Manx. Doc Bats leer , o n his ' 36 Indian Scou t, was the Cla ss C handshift winner and Pre-'40 runner-up. Hom an's Honda 450-powere d d ou ble came in the Sportsman classes, first in the 500cc d ivision ahead of th e BSA 50 0 of Paul Shoen a n d then in 750cc after d icing wi th Rodd Lightho use (on a Triu mph) and Ca m p bell (on a BMW ). The other Spo rtsm an class, 350ec, went to Tim Sheedy, w ho spent the race reeling in a nd g etting arou nd d ef ending cha m p Ti m Stan cill. Both w ere on Honda twi ns. with the winners' names engraved on it, but whoever won the cup in 1998 would get to keep it pennanently. Nineteen riders were in the Iron Man running this year, and seven of them signed up for all four types of competition. One of these do-it-all competitors was John Lefevre, who also happened to be entering his first-ever dirt track and trial. Like the others, Lef evre had a different machine for each discipline, but in his case all of them were pre-1968 four-speed Husqvarnas known as bolt-togethers because of their separate rear subframe. The choice of marques was a given for Lef evre, who runs the San Marcos, Cali forn ia, vintage Husky race and restoration shop Concours Classic. Lefevre's main competition was seen to be Mark Erickson, a Honda rider from Nede rland, Colorado , and last year's Iron Man, Utah CZ racer Robert Borg. Both LeFevre and Erickson left the Wednesday Classic Bike dirt track with c1ass wins and the maximum 1000points apiece, while Borg carded a fourth-place finish in his class. During Thursday'S Speed & Sport trial, LeFevre furthe r streng thened his position with a third, even though he had to ride as an Expert because he's also an Expertranked motocrosser, Finally in his natural element for the Friday Speed & Sport MX and leading the points, LeFevre managed to make thin gs more difficult for himself. After finishing fourth in the opening Sportsman 5(Xkc moto, he crashed the second time out. And so instead of collecting second-place points for the day, he had to settle for sixth. Still, while LeFevre continued to inch away from Borgand Erickson, the day-three point. lead was taken away by ' John McClelland, who had carded two seconds and a third. McClelland, however, was finished with his week, while the others continued on to Saturday' s Progressive Suspension road racing. In 250cc Grand Prix, LeFevre, new this season to road racing, placed third , one position ahead of Borg. While Borg was out of contention for the trophy, Rood (.ighthouse rocketed up the standings with a second-place finist. in Sportsman 750, and some quick calculating showed that Erickson could win the thing with a victory in Sound of Thunder, the day's next-to-last race. It didn't happen. Instead, Lef evre took the title with 2400 Wright pulled off the tra ck and second place went to Newm an. So und of Th u nder/ BEA RS, m ea nw hile, w as a contest between Nash on his 572cc Su permon o and Ran d y White on a Du cati 900 twin. And it w as Nash h anging o n to the le a d o n a co u rse w here nimble singles have as much of a chance of victory as a mu scu lar twi n. . G lae fk e rode hi s TU OOO Su zuki to th e Battle of th e Twins Fo rmula O ne wi n ahead of a good race bet w een Jim Brewer and Randy White. In Ba ttl e of th e Twins Open, White and Glaefke ran The last of the Iron Men • John leFevre points to McClelland's 2260, followed by Lighthouse at 1965, Erickson with 1923 BenoRodi with 1775 and Borggetting sixth , with 1770 points. . Though LeFevremade a serious bid for the titie, building the dirt tracker and trialer specifically for the event, he didn' t arrive at Steamboat thinking he had much of a chance of winning. "But when I won my dirt tra ck class, I got to thinking, 'Maybe I do have a shot at it:" he said. "It was a lot of work, but man, was it a gas!" John leFevre is the last of the Steamboat Iron Men, but he's probably not the last of the Iron Man breed. If the details fall into place, AHRMA will offera Steamboat-style week in the Salt Lake City-area resort town of Park City during 1999 . 00 0\ 0\ ...... 1:'-, ' I-< IlJ ..0 o ..... u o 27

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