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Vintane c Round 2: Daytona International Speedway AHRMAIPROGRESSIVE SUSPENSION HISTORIC CUP SERIES By Scott Rousseau Photos by Henny Ray Abrams DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 1-2 he international flavor that seems to have gone bland in the past few editions of the Daytona 200 is still present at The Speedway - if you know when to look. Early in the week is when the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association descends upon The Speedway, bringing its unique blend of vintage racing motorcycles and vintage motorcycle racers - along wi th more-modern, purpose-built specials - from all corners of the globe. This was especially evident in 1999, as AHRMA logged more than 120 foreign entries - from" places just across the Atlantic to all the way Down Under - among its 700 entries over the course of two days. Further adding to the international flavor, the Euro connection got a big win on which to hang their helmets. It came in the biggest race on the Monday schedule, as former factory MY Agusta rider Gianfranco Bonera of Italy ran away with the SOOcc Premier event, the marquis race of the day. Despite a goodsized field of racers, a very game Todd Henning and his '1 Think I Can" Honda twin was the only rider good enough to stay with Bonera and his exotic MV Agusta 500. Henning and Bonera ran 12, with Barber's rider Stephen Mathews in third before breaking and coming to a halt just past the fimsh line on the first lap. . Henning and Bonera continued to do battle, with Bonera laying in the weeds, while Henning furiously attempted to outbrake the Italian and gain any advantage he could at the entrances to the corners. But horsepower is the name T ~ 38 of the game at Daytona, and when Bonera cracked the whip on the howling MY, Henning was quickly left behind. Meanwhile, Adam Popp and John Cronshaw were engaged in a spirited battle for third" place until Cronshaw was forced to ex;t with mechamcal trouble, leaving Popp to fimsh third, ahead of Sa nd ro Caprara and Rusty Lowry. Bonera continued to set a torrid pace, ultimately heading Henlling by about eight seconds at the end of the eight-lap final. "Grazie, Daytona!" the Italian sajd. "At the beginning of the race, I made (the first lap) in slow motion because this morning I have many problems wHh the chajn and with oil. So the first lap was slow motion to check the motorcycle, but it was okay, and then it was fuJI open and go." With Henning's home-built Honda twin com pletely outclassed, you nught think that the American, who has been a . Daytona fixture during the AHRMA days at The Speedway, wouldn't mind losing only to the race-bred exotica that is the MY. "Hell yes, I mind losing to that MY," Henning sajd. "I lidn't come here to finish second, but I definHely lid. He had things under control, but I lidn't come here to follow him around. There's probably a few horsepower in there (Henning's bike) somewhere, but that's" a pretty big deficit. Up until the third or fourth lap of the race, it became very obvious to me that he was not about to pass me, because I kept slowing down we went from '2:13s to like 2:19s. 1finally sat up coming out of the horseshoe, saying, 'Pass me, and I'll see if I can stay in your draft.' I just couldn't do it. I med." First to take to the speedway on Monday were the 200cc GP and pre- 1940 classes, with 200cc GP pole sitter Johnny Demoisey quickly putting his 1971 Triumph 250 in front of the field when the riders moved off the grid. Charlie Sexton filed into second aboard his '62 Bultaco 200, and Denms Poneleit moved to third on a '68 Honda 175. As the field stretched out around the track, both Poneleit and Gary SoUth moved up a spot, and Sexton began to drop off the lead pace. Sexton then fell victim to German rider Uwe Markovac as well. Demoisey and Poneleit went on to drop their pursuers by the third lap of the four-lap feature, appearing to be setting up a showdown between the two, with Demoisey enjoying a 12-length lead that quickly evaporated when PoneJeit late-braked into turn one. But that was about all she wrote for Poneleit, who suffered mechamcal woes on the final lap and dropped out. The 60-year-old Demoisey went on to run uncontested to the checkered flag for the win, with Smi,th finishing second and Markovac third. "The thing has a four-speed, wideratio gearbox, which makes it kind of a drag ter coming off the line," Demoisey sajd. "You never have to go back into first, so it works pretty well for us. I knew that he (poneleit) would be there, because he was there in Deland. We just did the best that we could and had a little bit of luck, and we came in there. I had to wait until I was too dang old, but I did it." Run concurrently with the 200cc GP, the pre-1940 class hosted a fantastic battle between the '39 BMW 500 Rennsport of Ralph "Ozzie" Auer and the '39 Nor: ton 499 of Alex McLean. The two riders quickly set sail after the 200cc GP field, with '41 BMW SOD-mounted Norbert Nickel and the Inlian 45s of Blake Wil- Italian Gianfranco Bonera (6) puts the 1967 MV Agusta 500 three-cylinder in front of Todd.Henning's 1968 Honda 518 twin en route to the 500Cc Premier-class win. son and Doc Batsleer stringing out behind them. Before long, only Auer and McLean were in contention for the win, with McLean drafting past Auer at the fimsh line as they took the halfway flags. The two then ran nose to till, separa ted by less than two lengths for the rest of the race. When they came through the tri-oval area for the final time, Auer drafted past McLean to take the win. Nickel remained t1Urd and Wilson fourth, but Paul Hanes rode yet another Indian 45 past Wilson to take the fifth spot. "It was good race," Auer said. "I want to thank all of the BMW people for getting me out here. That was a good ride. It was fun. I pretty much just followed him (McLean) around the last co'uple laps to see what he was doing and then I just drafted him at the end. The bike was pretty good, but the clutch was slipping." Ducati was the marque of choice during the six-lap 250cc GP race. Jonathan White.and Jay Richardson were riding the Italian singles, and they sped away from the rest of the field, with Richardson leading when they hit the West End Banking for the first time. The two appeared to be evenly matched, with Richardson lead ing through the start of lap two before White slipped by at the entrance to turn one. Richardson retook the lead just as quickly in the International Horseshoe and he led the field across the stripe on lap three, while White djd the same by a mere wheel length on lap four.