Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ro~nd 2: Daytona International Speedway AHRMAIPROGRESSIVE SUSPENSION HISTORIC CUP SERIES (left) The 250cc GP win went to Jonathan White (17X), who rode his 1968 Ducati 250 in ahead of the '62 Ducati 250 of Jay Richardson. (Above) Motorcyclist magazine editor Mitch Boehm raced to a Formula 750 victory on the Heritage Racing Honda CB750, vintage 1969. rider battle between Jess Morris on a Triumph, 1960 BMW-mounted Ralph Auer and Tim Joyce on another Triumph. Mathews and Henning swappe.d the lead all around the track for the first five laps before Henning throttled up and gapped Mathews as they came across the stripe on the white-flag lap. Mathews tried to hang in there, but Henning outpowered him down the straight on the last lap. Morris, meanwhile, eked out third place over Auer and Joyce. '1 sell engines to him (Mathews), and he's getting a lot better:' Henning said. "But we're running two bikes with the same set of fork springs and the same rear wheel, so we've got to get back and swap parts like crazy." Henning had just enough time to scramble back to his pit, make some changes and then join the 750cc Sportsman grid while aboard the same motorcycle. Off the start, it looked as though he was going make it two wins in a row, as his 512cc Honda carried him well ahead of Triumph-mounted Frank Shockley and Norton rider Tim Struke. But Henning's charge ended with a breakdown, leaving Shockley, Struke and Tim Joyce to run 1-2-3 to the line. ''I'd much rather have beaten Todd Henning straight up, but, hey, I'll take it any way tllat I can get it:' Shockley said. "They were better than me through the chicane, but I had turn one down pat." Adam Popp was hoping to avenge the bad luck that he had suffered in Monday's Formula 750 event with a win in Tuesday's Formula Vintage race, and the youngster put his M3 Honda 750 out front right away, opening up a huge gap over the rest of the field. He looked to be gone until the bike let go just before the chicane, forcing him to pull off and hand the lead to - guess who? - Henning. But Henning was not alone, as Ducati-mounted Swedish rider Hasse Gustafson pressured him for most of the remaining distance. After swapping the lead and probing for weaknesses, Henning simply outran Gustafson to the checkered flag, taking the win by about three lengths. David Roper rode Team Obsolete's stinking-fast MV Agusta 500 from the rear of the 4O-rider grid all Ute way to third. place. "That was fun," Henning said. "I didn't know who that guy (Gustafson) was, but he was pitted next to me. Before the race, I went over and said, 'Good luck.' I should have said, 'Mediocre luck.''' The second of the two AHRMA vintage days at The Speedway closed with an experiment, in the form of the new Historic Handicap race. This race pitted the top riders from the two days' worth of racing in a handicap format, whereby the slowest qualifier was allowed to leave the grid first, followed by the next slowest. This went all the way back to Formula 750-class winner Mitch Boehm, who started some 3 minutes and 20 seconds - and one lap - behind 200cc GP winner and lead-off rider Johnny Demoisey. Demoisey held the lead first, and then things got confusing to the point that by the end of the six-lap final, nobody was sure who to show the checkered flag to - not even AHRMA. Henning, who had started 27th, was shown the white flag and then was the first man to receive the checkered flag when he came around the next time. But after scorekeepers caught up, it was realized that Moto-Guzzi-mounted David Fulkerson had scored the win, with 16th-place starter Steve Maney fin-ishing second and Henning third. Fast guy Boehm made up enough time in the six-lap race to finish seventh, while lead-off rider Demoisey wound up 16th. CIf Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 1-2, 1999 Monday 200 GP: 1. Johnny Demoisey (TrO; 2. Cary Smith (Hon); 3. Uwe Markovac (Bul); 4. Dennis Macaluso CBSA); 5. Chorlie sexton (Bul). PRE-1940: 1. Ralph Auer (BMW); 2. Alex McLean (Nor); 3. Norbert Nickel (BMW); 4. Blake Wilson Gnd); 5. Paul Hanes (Iod), 250 GP: 1. Jonathan White (Dud; 2. Jay Richardson (Due); 3. Sandra Caprara (MY); 4, Jim Neuenberg (Bul); 5. Kemp ArchibaLd (Due). .F~l2S: 1. Jack Seaver (Hon); 2. Christopher Spargo

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