Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cal-Expo Vintage National Mile By Mike l aw Pho tos by Fred Windum SACRM,fENTO, CA., SEPT. 28 espite a d ay and a half' s worth of intermittent rain and a on e-da y postpon em ent, co -promoters Eddi e Mulder and Gene Rom ero pulled off one of the best races at the Cal-Expo facili ty fo r th e legions o f die-hard AHRMA racers. Riders from as far aw av as Connecticu t lined up on the grid with clear skies and perfect track .cond itions to test their mettle with machinery ranging from Royal Enfields to BSAs. When the sm ell of Ca strol R had dissipated and the last bellowing vertical twin had shut down, Southern California' s Tom Ho rto n eme rged as the d ay's big wi nner, wit h w ins in the Dinosau r, Classic 250cc, and Mod ern 750cc A classes. "I' d jus t really li ke to th ank Chris Agaja nia n and Ge ne Romer o," co-promot er Mulder said pri or to the second ann ua l eve nt. "They d id n' t ge t to bed on time beca use of a little bit of rain at the Na tio na l. At 8 o'clock in the mornin g, we had to call Chris (Agajanian) beca use we had a rain-o ut yesterday. Thanks to him, (it was) possi ble for us to d o a day deal. He got the insuran ce moved up a day, go t the snack bars here an d all the e mployees here . W ithout hi m , we wou ld have bee n SOL, and we'd all be in trouble a nd wouldn ' t have a great day like we're go ing to have tod ay." SENIOR Two hea ts determined th e Wo rks Shocks /Maxima Racing Oils Senior-elass starting positions, with Mulder making fast wo rk of the first for a quick win over rival Tom Robertson. Gary Brennan and John Kent d iced in the second hea t, with Ken t cross ing th e fi nis h lin e fi rst. Holesh ot artist Mulder then lived up to his reputati on in the ma in event, as he was the fastest rider to the first tu m, with John Kent in hot pu rsu it. Mulder opened .up a trem en d ous lead of abo ut 100 feet d own the backstretch as Kent go t gobbled up and dropped to third by Dann y Sma rt. When the trio exited the fourth tum, Jim Challingsworth hooked up into the draft and moved in to third . As the checke red flag came ou t, Mu ld er outdistanced his co m petitors by nearl y 100 ya rds , wit h Smart, Challingsworth and Ken t finishing in the top four, respectively. SUPER SEN IOR A 61 -yea r-o ld Bob Gerberich ran wit h the J RC Classi c 250s aboard a stock-framed Hon d a 450 to claim the win in the Super Sen ior class . Gerberich a nd his wife have traveled well over 25,000 miles this year, wit h the racing bike towed on a trailer behind a Ho nda Gold Wing . T h e pai r have attended many National races this year, including Daytona and Pikes Peak. DINOSAUR Qua lity prevailed over quan tity in the A.V. Kawasaki Dinosaur class fo r 1951-and-ea rlie r m a ch in e s . Horton grabbed the ho les ho t on his 1951 Triumph, a hea d of the ex-Ellio t Sch u lt z Royal Enfield of Gordon Men zie and the 1948 h a rd tail H a rl e y -D a v id s o n of Geo rge Wills. With one lap down, Wills held a fou r-bike-length ad van tage over the rapidly closing Horton befor e Ho rton overtoo k Wills down the backstretch a nd into the third turn. Wills returned the favo r on lap thr ee, and he an d Horton seesawed back and fort h befor e Horton too k the lead for good. Horton mad e a final pass on th e back stra ight, th en continued to kee p a tight wick on the brakeless British twin as he sped to the check ered flag ah ead of the determine.d Wills and Men zie. "The race tra ck w as good, and th e rid e rs were goi ng real fa st," H orton said . "1 wa s real happy to race agains t Geo rge Wills. I've been wanting to race aga ins t him for a long time. He's from the East Coas t, and we ran 1-2, and we raced really hard and reall y clean." CLASSIC 250cc Horton scored the second of his three wins in the K&N Classic 250cc main against the likes of the very fast Maurice O rtega and an equally impressive Gary Davis. Horton immediately jumped int o the lead in wha t became a bat tle of the single vs. the twin. Ho rton's Suz uki X-6 ra n fl a w less ly as he h a ndil y outdistan ced the Bu ltaco of Orteg a , while Da vis suffered mechanica l woes wi th his Sonic Weld Yamaha TD1. its a MODERN 250cc Da nte D'Am bruoso and Don Frau enberge r staged an all-out d rag race in the Nesbit Insu ra nce Modern 250cc main eve nt after the green light flashed in the battle of the Shell T huett-prepared Yamaha twins. Frauenberger carved his way into the lead ahead of the ex-Steve Ek lund Novice bike of D' Ambruoso before being d rop ped to second coming out of the fou rth tum on the first lap. D' Ambruoso quickly made up for lost time as he opened up a 12-bike-Iength lead on the second lap. Frauenberger dropped further beh in d , a nd third pla ced rider John Lundgren was nearly an equal d istance behind Fra uenber ger as the trio finished in that order. "The bike sei zed this mor ning," D' Am bruoso said . "We were putting the top end toge ther as the heat race started, came to the line late, d id some ad justments, a nd took it fro m there. I had a good- ru nn ing mot orcycle and this is a neat race track. I' m very fortun ate to be rid ing the bike." CLASSIC 500cc The rat her large Feu ling R&D Classic 500cc main eve nt was trimmed down to size, wi th Chris Rudy an d Davis battling in the first heat. Davis was first to th e wire. Dave Atherton established himself as the ma n to bea t as he han d ily rode wi re to wire in the second heat, ahead of John Kent. Atherton tim ed the starter perfectly, and he s hot ahead of the field and around Davis to grab the lead on his 1956 BSA Gold Star. Davis, wanting no part of this, quickly turned the tables on Atherton: He powered his similar 1956 BSA ahead of Atherton through the third and fou rt h turns. Atherton continued to close befo re pouncing on Dav is in the third turn and displaced him to second for good. Davis tucked in behind Atherton's draft as George Wills quickly crawled u p Davis' rea r fen de r and passed him in the third tum on the final (Top) Hard-riding Vintage racer Tom Horton posted three class wins at the raindelayed 1998 edition of the Sac ramento Vintage National Mile at the Cal-Expo Fairground s. (Right) Gary Dayis (89) leads eventual winner Dave Atherton (15) and George Wills (94) In the Classic 500cc main evenL lap . Atherton smartly applied the horsepower in the final tu rn and broke the draft, and left Wills and Davis to battle over second , with Wills getting the nod . "I d idn't get an exceptionally good start," Atherton said of his win. "Bu t I did ge t the lead going down the ba ck straig ht. I hit a hol e and go t knocked way off the groove and go t passed . I had to work my way back into the lead, and I was able to hang on for the win." 750cc A Th ree heat races downsized the 750s, clearly the lar gest class of the afternoon, as A&A Racing and Barne tt sponsored th e fas test" 750cc race, a nd Be rk el ey Yamaha a n d The Sho p ho sted th e B mai n. Ho rton, Mulder and Ar t Fredenburg tucked in lo w as t hey le d t he fre igh t tra in into the first tu rn , in that order. Fredenbu rg qu ickly tried to open the door a rou nd Mu ld er, only to have Mu lder close the d oor. Fredenburg continued to apply the pressure and eve ntua lly made the pass stick, taking Ch uck Joyner along on th e second lap before Joyn e r moved in to second . Mu lde r dropped off the pace behind the leaders a s Fredenbu rg got by Joyner. Horton continued to ride on rails wi th a tremend ou s lead while the ba ttle for second ended in a photo finish , with Fredenburg nipping Joyner by inches. 883cc Stephanie Welch proved to be a real trooper, as she was the lone 883cc rid er in the Bartels' H-D/H-D of Sacramento main . Welch ran in a combined cla ss with the Classic 250s and thoroughly spanked the boys as she finis hed ahead of ev eryon e else fro m th e first turn to the last turn. "It 's reall y nice to be her e," Welch said . "T his is a lot d ifferen t th a n th e mile tracks in the Midwest, like Spri ngfield . I really like it here and wa nt to come back." Although he was stranded 15 feet in the air on a stuck scisso rs-lift for the better pa rt of an hour, co-promoter Rom ero was more th an positive regard ing th e second annua l running of the Vin tage Sacramento Mile. "I think it was a wonderful th ing , despite the rain," Romer o sa id . "It was unfortuna te, but for the people that d id stay , we offe red a rea l good race track for them, and I' m looking forward to next year - withou t the rain. I'd just like to th~nk all of the rid ers that su ppo rted this event." f:Cal-Expo State Fairgrounds Sac ramento, California Resu lts: September 28, 1998 S R: I. Ed die Mulder (Tri); 2. Danny Sm art (Tri): 3. Jim C h a lli ngswort h (T ri) ; 4. [o h n Kent (T ri) ; 5. To m Bo oth (Tri) . S/S R: 1. Bob Gerberich (H oo). DINO: I. To rn Horton (Tri); 2. Ccorge Wills (H· D); 3. Go rdon M enzi e (R·E) . CLSSC 250; 1. To m Hort on (5uz ); 2. Ma u rice O rtega (Bu ll. M DRN 250: 1. Dan te 0 ' Amb ruosu (Ya m) ; 2, Dun Frauenberger (Yam); 3. John Lu ndgren (Yam); 4. Brian Coa kley (Bu l) ; 5. Brad Ho lt (Bu1). C LSSC 500 : 1. Dave Athe rton (BSA); 2. George Wills (Tri); 3. Gary Davi s (BSA); 4. Ch ris Rudy (H -o); 5. Gordon Menzi e (R-E). M DR.."J 500: 1. Joh n Lu ndgren (Yam) ; 2. Guy Da vis (H on): 3. Maurice O rtega (Bu1); 4. Bra d Holt (Bu1); 5. Steve Gorby (Yam ). 150 A: 1. To m H orton (Ya m); 2. Art Fred e n burg (Ya m ); 3. Chuck Joyner (T n) ; 4. Edd ie Mu lder (Tri) ; 5. Jeff Johnson (Tn) . 750 B: 1. Ken Th ieba ud (Tn); 2. Rick Rt"lCI (Tn); 3. " Brian Coakley (Ya m) ; 4. Wa yn e Warri ng to n (Tri): 5. Brett Berna (Yam) . .. 500 sur: 1. Scott W hi tta ke r (Bon) ; 2. Ro d La ke (Yam ); 3. Joe Carrera (Yam); 4. Eric Founta in (Rtx) ; 5. Dan Phillips (Yam ). 600 IN V ITATI O N A L: 1. To ny Meirin g (Rtx); 2. Dante D' Am b ru o so (W· R); 3. Rod Lake (Rtx) ; 4. Jim Monegan (Rtx); 5. Rick Rl. t. (W· R). " od f8 ~ ~ 00 0\ 0\ ,...... OO ~ N l-< Q) ,.0 o ..... u o 31

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