Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VINTAGE Del Mar Fairgrounds THIR N DA NUAL SKIP V AN LE U E E W NSHORT TRACK ~------'---- ----' --- -_---: Horton's .grand slam Murphree tops modem bikes By Fred Win dum DEL MAR, CA, OCT. 10 om Horton, still on a ro ll after his triple wins at Sacramen to, did one bet ter at the San Diego Flat Tra ck As sociation 's th ird a n nu a l Skip Va n Leeu wen / AH RMA National short track in the Del Mar sho w arena, taki ng wins in the Cla ssic 250cc, Classic SOOcc, Vintage 600cc an d Open races . Racing began as the sun went down in front o f a large pre- De! Ma r Mil e crowd on a beautiful Saturday night, as th e brak e les s Dino sau r s too k to th e track. "Fas t Eddie" Castro ju m ped ou t front on Bob ichol's Ind ian twi n, followed by Ron nie Brow n on an equa lly' an ci en t Harl ey-Da vid s on . Ca s tro 's momen tu m ca rried him wi de in tu rn tw o, allowing Brow n to slip insid e for the lead , as Ariel-mounted Allan McBee and Royal Enfield rid er Gordon Menzie pulled in behind . Castro went high and wi de, looking to kee p the speed up and pulling a longside Brown at one poin t, but he cou ld never gc l the dri ve ou t of the corne r to make it stick. McBee's bike went off so ng a nd off the track a t the crossed flags , lea ving Brown ou t fro nt ahead of Cas tro, Menzie and Bill Kiriakidis a t the checkered flag. Horton' s first win came at the expense o f Je ff A p p le , Jim McMurren , Crai g Hamilt on and Maurice O rtega . Hort on left the line on his Ossa and never looked back, leavin g App le and McMurren to tan gle in a heap in turn two and slowing Ort ega and Ham ilton, who mad e his way past Ortega. Horto n was too far out front to ca tc h by th en . O rtega fo llowed in third, ahead of Cary Buck and GNC team spo nsor PatMoroney, The Classic SOOcc final look ed to be a repeat for Horton , but a red flag for a downed Dave Miller gave Marty Lewis a quick chance at the lead on the restar t. H o rt o n w a s soo n p a s t to tak e o ve r . • Chris Rud y moved past Gordon Menzie and Lew is to ta ke the seco nd spot, as Ron n ie Brow n s ta r te d to mov e up through the field . Lewis tried an outside mov e on Rud y, and in th e process he opened a ga p for Brown, who wa s now ah ead of a slo wing Men zie, to slide in for the third spot. Horton cruised hom e to the win, with Rud v able to hold off Brown and Lewis; Dave Mille r recovered for fifth. Joe Ste ffe n took co ntrol of the Vintage 250cc race, with Manny Crummet a nd Steve Go rb y in tow. Early in th e race, Brad Hol t fell directly ahead of Tom Ho rton . Ho lt kept it ru nning, and Horton refired his stalled bike; bo th-riders dropped ba ck in th e field . Horton mad e his way throu gh the field, bumping inside Rich Trait for fou rth ; and Holt fell in to sixth. Steffen wen t on to a conv inci ng w in ah ead o f Cr u m me t a nd Gorby. Ho rton, in his only race in whi ch he didn' t win, follow ed in fourt h, ahead of Tra it and Holt. Do n Frauenbe rg er led the Vin tage 600cc bikes int o turn one, as Holt and Brad Spencer follow ed sid e by side. All three were lean ing on each other on the next go-arou nd , letting Horton close in. Fra uen berge r s ta ll ed in tu rn thre e, T 00 0\ 0\ ...... ~' ... IlJ .c E IlJ > o z 18 By Fred Windum DEL MAR, CA, OCT. 10 NC Rookie of the Yea r Joh nn ie Murphree took home the lion 's s h a r e of th e 600 cc P ro-Spo r t pu rs e a t th e t h ird a nnua l Skip Van Leeu wen shor t track the night before the Del Mar Mile, earning it the hard way · from the ba ck row! Racing was hot and heavy wh en the modern bikes took over the sho w arena at the fam ou s Del Mar Fairgrounds . The San Diego Flat Track Association had a full plate, wit h more than 200 en tries in the combined program . Chris Fitzhugh led the firs t start of th e 600c c Pro -Sp ort fina le , bu t Murphree stu ffed insid e to ta ke ov er as a rid er went d own in turn one, stopping th e ra ce . On th e r e st a rt, 198 7 U. S. , a t io n a l Sp eedwa y Cha m p io n Brad Oxl ey, who had been used as the pinball in an arcade game on the first start, G (Above) Vintage Grand National Champion?: Tom Horton (55) backed up his three wins at the Sacramento vintage mile with four more wins here at the Skip Van Leeuwen Short Track on the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Horton won the Class ic 250cc, Classic 500cc, Modern 600 and Modern 750cc mains. (Right) Joe Steffen (6) got the jump on the field and emerged victorious In the Vintag e 250cc feature. Manny Crummet (17J ) came through in se co nd place. bumping the bike off again before coming to a halt bu t losing the lead group. Horton ma d e his way p a st Holt a nd pu lled in beh ind Spencer, wh o was trying to make his left leg longer to hold Horton at ba y. Horton jus t ran it over! Spen cer st ill h eld on, bu t th e li re less Horto n wo rked ins ide to take the lead and his third main of the night. Spen cer followed a t the flag , ahead of Holt - a Bultaco rid er amid a herd of Hondas Mall Roh r a nd Mark Aragon. The end of an era was repr esented by th e Vin tage 750c c ra ce, fea tu ri ng the Bri tish and Japanese ve rtical twins that used to make up the bu lk of mil e 'and half mile racers. Horton laun ched hi s Yama ha out a head of Tr iu mphs a nd a Nor to n , ra ce rs toss in g the b ig twins around the diminutive track as though they we re minibikes. John Hateley had the next-qu ickest gate, runnin g the ed ge of the cushio n but letting Ken Thiebau d slip inside, the pai r of Triumphs side by side and trying to ge t by Horton . Norton-mounted Clvde Den nen and Adam Sabedra, on a b~rrowed Yamah a, fell in behi nd them . Thi ebaud ga ined o n H ort o n , but Hort on had already proved through out the night that he.was hard to pass. Hatelev settled into thir d , ahead of Den nen, ,,;hil e Rick Reed managed to ge t pas t Sabedra for fifth. Horton continued to thu nde r out ahead of the pack, ho ld ing off Thi ebaud and Hat eley. Reed tried to dri ve under Denn en at the flag bu t came up sho rt. l~ Del Mar Fairgrounds Del Mar, California Res ults: October 10, 1998 DI NO : 1. Ron nie Brow n (H·D)i 2. Eddi e Castro (lnd); 3. Go rdo n Menz ie (R· E); 4. Bill Kinakidis. C LSSC 250: 1. Tom Hort o n (Oss) : 2. Craig Ha milton (Bul); 3. Maur ic O rtega (BuJ); 4. Buck Ca ry (H· D); 5. e Pat Moron ey. C LSSC 500: 1. Tom Hor ton (TrD; 2. Chris Rud y (H0); 3. Ronnie Brown (H· D); 4. Mar ty Lewis: 5. Dave Miller . M OR N 250 : 1. Jot:' Steffe n (Ya m) ; 2. Ma n ny Cru mmct (Bu)); 3. Steve Go rby Il-lo n): 4. Tom Horto n 5. Rich Tr,l it. MO RN 600: 1. Tom Horton {Hon) : 2. Brad Spe nce r (Hen): 3. Bmd Holt (Bul) ; 4. M,lU Rohr; 5. Ma r k Aragon ( Hlm). MD RN 750: 1. Tom Ho rto n (Yam); 2. Ken Thiebaud 3. John Hateley {Tri) : 4. Clyde Dennen [r , (, 'or); 5. Rick Rt..'t.-d (Tri). SR (SO.): 1. Jim Con nolly; 2. Ron Could: 3. Tom Booth: 4. John Dotso n; 3. C arry Brennan. (Tri); P led the field aboa rd a bo rro wed 350cc two-valve Hon d a , but Murphree once again s tuck to the ins ide ra il, bu m pin g . the lead er in turn four. O xley was left to hold off John Grant and Perry Proiet te, Oxley, used to blocking the inside with that long left leg a t the speedway races, go t his foot run over by Grant, w ho sen t bo th O xley and Proiette to the ou tside. Murphree, find ing clear track ahead, d ep a rt ed. Fit zh ugh tu ck ed in beh ind G ra n t, passin g for seco nd on th e back straight. Oxley, cu t off from the pole by a wall of bikes, wa s running high and fast , a lmost d ra gging the cases on the lillie Honda. Joe Carre ra slipped alongsid e, edging a head and int o the fou rth s po t a nd und er G ra n t for th ir d , a nd s tuffing in sid e Fitz h ug h fo r seco nd . Oxley pulled in to the low line, but Proiet te and Jake Zemke were bot h looking at the high line, try ing to find a way to th e front. Gra n t tangl ed w it h an uther ri d er co mi ng o ff of turn two , goi ng d own hard , leaking fuel and oil onto the back straig ht and getting th e red flag .

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