Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Costa M esaSpeedway Dirt Track SDFTA/ORANGE COUNTY FAIR VINTAGE DIRT TRAC By Fred Windum AMFSA, CA, JULY 11 ntclope Valley's Tom Horton filled another trophy case at the San Diego Flat Track Association's annual vintage races at International Speedway Promotions' Costa Mesa Speedway on the Orange County Fairgrounds, winning eight out of the 11 main events run du ring the evening's program. . But wh ile Horton may have stolen the gold, it was the Dinosa urs tha t stole the show. Paso Robles se n t Ronnie Brown and Kenny Remo to the Orange County Fair to show the So Ca l crowd how to toss around some true vi ntage iron . Rern o and Brown's bikes were bo th owned and bu ilt by Top Dead Ce nter owner Andy Mendez, Remo o n a '40 India n Scout, Brown on a '41 HarleyDavidson. Brown chose to sta rt on the ba ck row , leaving Remo on th e front, alongsi de Ron Cochran, on ano ther'40 Ind ian, Goron Men zie's Royal Enfield, and a clean Trium ph 500 twin ridden by Jeff "Mea tball" Tuli nius. Tuli nius na bbed the lead with the flash of th e g reen lig ht, followed by Cochran - who stopped to shift in turn one - Menzie, Rem o and Brown. Rem o passed both Menzie and Cochran on the . front ch ute, wh ile Brown pulled ins ide Menzie to run side by side in turns one a nd two . Tulinius ran wi de, allowing both Coc hran and Rerno p ast. Brown mo ved u p another pl a ce , droppi ng Tulini us to fou rth, and se t off af ter the leaders. Withi n the lap, Brown dropped Coch ra n to th ird , w h ile Men zi e ra n downTu linlus and passed hi m for fourth. Remo was now lea di ng Brown an d Coch ra n , with Men zi e and Tu lini us ' ' bringing up the rear. Brown pitched the big Hatley tw in in to turn one on a low line tha t carried him past Remo, but he ran into turn three a bit fas ter than he wa nted, sliding to the outside and letting Rerno in s id e . Coming onto th e front straight, Rerno ran wide, pinching Brown at the wall to hang on to the lead . Brown came back inside in the first comer, but , Remo had a good drive out of two, and the pai r stayed next to each other around the nex t comers. Brown's bike began to puff a bit of smoke at the en trance to the comers, as the old hog started to feel the strain of the in tense competition. Brown came out of tw o with a slight lead but once again slipped high through th ree, let ting Rerno ba ck und er to ti'ke th e le a d with th e w h ite fl ag fly in g . Brown came around lookin g at the mo tor as the smo ke turned to a cooked en gine, allowi ng Rem o to take the checkered flag uncha llenged. Brow n ro lled across the line in seco nd , while Coc hran held off Menzie for third . Tulin ius comple ted the top five. Horton, Mann y Cru m m et t, Don Frauenberg er, Joe Steffen and Rich Trait ra n int o turn one in a lump in the Vintage 250cc race, with Crummett's Bultaco gai ning the adva n tage w hile Horto n's Bull collected tire mar ks fro m Steffe n' s Yama ha in the d ice fo r secon d . Tra it slipped up (or down), keeping the motor runnin g, ou t of the hunt but not out of the pictu re . Cru m me tt co n tin ued ou t front, w hi le Ste ffen a nd Fra uenberg er started to wo rk on Ho rto n, Steffen ou tside and Frauenberger insid e to make a (Right) Tom Horton (55) was on a hot streak at the Orange County Fair Vintage Dirt Track. In all, Horton won eight of the 11 main eve nts run, including this Vintage 250cc feature. (Below) Old's-cool: Indianmounted Kenny Remo (8) chase s his TDC teammate, Harley-mounted Ronnie Brown (2), in the Dinos aurclass main event. The two waged a crowd-pleas ing war, with Remo taking the win. (Below) Horton (55) was "da bomb" In the bombe r class, too. Here, he races three-wide with runner-up Scott Rousseau (68) and fourth-placed Dick Fox (65). short-track sandwich. either rider could find a way aro und Horton, bu t all were gaini ng on Crumme tt, now read y to lap Trait. Goi ng in to turn o ne, C rummett slowed inside Trait, but Horton cou ld n' t get slowed eno ug h, pushing Crummett into the back of Trait, where he had no place to go and tumbled to the outside of the corne r. Cru mmett was up and runn in g aga in , but n ow at th e ta il of th e pack. Horton held on to win, with Steffen a nd Frauen berger hot on his heels in secon d and third. Gary Egloff took fourth, while Trait inherited fifth after two riders failed to finish . Vince Gra ves left the line ahead of the Vinta ge ,600cc class - but before the light went green - an d he was sent to the back ro w by starter Ch ris App le. When the ligh t di d go g reen, Frauen be rger led them into tu rn one, with Gerry Duttweiler alongside on the back straight. While th e tw o lead ers rubbed on each ot he r, Tom Ho rton sneaked around the inside in tum three to reach for his second wi n of the night. Du ttweiler s tole second, whi le Jim Rosa slipped in between Dut tweile r and Frauenberge r in the race for seco nd. Both Rosa and Duttweiller had tracking problems with their bikes sideways to the locks, letti ng Frauenberger past into second. Scott Rousseau , on the Cycle News pro ject TTSOO, a nd Ga ry Lowe r followed. Frauenberger closed on Horton , tr ying to for ce a mista ke, a nd w it h n o luck d o wn low , h e m o v ed arou nd to try an ou tside pass. This left the d oo r open for Rosa to run up th e inside of Frau enberg er in three. Horton took the checkered flag first, with Rosa just edging Frauenberger fo r second . Du ttwe iller and .Rousseau completed the top five. International Speedway's Brad Oxley would have bro ken the tapes if he ha d bee n rid ing his speedway bike, blow ing the light and headi ng for the penalty line for the start of the Bomber class . With the rid ers calmed an d read y to go, Rou sseau Oa n d Dick Fox led th e herd of TISO based racers into turn one, wi th the lone , Honda of Horton diving 'to the inside to take the lead . Coming out of two, Horton followed the racing line into Rousseau, clipping his front wheel .and letting Fox pull in to second , with Oxley ru nn ing aro und the outside to pu ll alongside Fox an d behi nd Horton. Roussea u recove red to fall in behind Fox and next to Oxley . Fox was having trouble getting off of fo u r, leaving the inside open, w hich slowed Ox ley but gave Ro ussea u a n o pen door to seco nd pl a ce . Oxley cha nged his line, ru nn ing low to try to catch the leaders as Jim Steet passed Fox to chase Oxley, who then ran high in one and two, letting Steet past for third while Fox pulled in alongside. . Horton continued to the win , ahead of Rou sseau, with Steet in third , and Fox m a king a last-la p p a ss on Oxley for fourth. Horton's final win came in the Pro Twins race ahead of Rosa , Du ttweiller an d Ch uck Clayton. In the Pro Sing les, many of the top contenders of the night's racing re tu rned to the track to try their lu ck . Keit h Bra dfo r d took th e le a d , a head of Bra d Ox ley on the ex-Mert Lawill Harley Sprint. Rosa, on the Warrin gt on Ho nd a, John Du p ree and Jeff Ap ple joined in to make it a race around the first la p . Ox ley a nd Rosa s tuffed insi de Bradford to the lead spots, follow ed by Steffen, Dupree a nd App le. Ox ley and Bradford both dropped off the pace, giving the lead to Rosa. Steffen held second and Bradford third, a head of Dupree and Apple. Rosa hit cr uise mode, clicking off laps to the end. Steffen continued to try for a line arou nd, but settled for the second spot. Bot h Dupree and Apple dropped Bradford back to fifth, with Steet and Oxley bringeN ing up the rear. Orange County Fairgrounds Costa M , california esa Results: Ju ly 11, 1999 VlNT 250: 1. To m Horton (Bul); 2. Joe Steffen (Yam); 3. Don Fra uenberger (Yam) ; 4. Gary Egloff (Hus): 5. Bruce Reynolds [Bul), VINT 600: 1. Tom Horton (Yam); 2. Jim Rosa (Hen); 3. Do n Freuenberger (Yam); 4. Gerry Duttweiler (Tri): 5. Scott RoUSSNU (Yam). VI NT OPEN: 1. Tom Horton (TrO; 2. Clyde Dennen (Nor); 3. Jim Gardner (Yam); 4. Manny Crummett (Bun. 250 e LSC: 1. Tom Ho rton (Suz]: 2. Richard Trait (HD); 3. Bru ce Reynolds (BuH; 4. Jim McM urTl"n (H-D); 5. Lenny Rodriguez (}-I-D). SOOJ7SO CLSC: 1. To m Horto n (TeD; 2. Ron Brown IInd): 3. Gerry Du ttw eiler

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