Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ARHMA Historic Cup Series Daytona International Speedway I have two more rides scheduled for STORY By SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTOS By HENNY RAY ABRAMS tomorrow." DAYTONA BEACH, Fl, MAR. 4-5 or the first time in three years, the blood-red MY Agusta with Italian road race ace Gianfranco Bonera did not come from behind to take a thrilling victory in the featured Premier 500cc class on the opening day of two days worth of AHRMA vintage road racing at Daytona International Speedway. If tradition had held up, Bonera would have been shredding his way through the pack, the howl of the exotic Italian factory racer piercing the eardrums of the hardcore fans who always seem to turn up during the "classics days" that start the week of racing which leads up to the Daytona 200. But Bonera and the MY were nowhere to be found on the speedway grounds this year. Instead, 2000 runner-up Pat Mooney rode his Ray Petty-framed 1962 Norton 500 to victory as dominant as Bonera had ever experienced - although Mooney preferred to do his winning from the front - finishing ahead of Norton Manxmounted runner-up John Cronshaw by 12.22 seconds. "This is the one that I really wanted to win," Mooney said. "I've been trying for years now, but I've always had inferior equipment until now. I think we would have had the win last year if it wasn't for Bonera riding that MY. In my mind, I won last year as well, but this is the icing on the cake for me. Bike Week could end today and I couldn't be happier even though F 56 MARCH 21. 2001 • III U III • e At one point in the race, Cronshaw appeared to actually be catching Mooney, but toward the end, the Englishman simply could not match Mooney's pace. "' tried to keep the pressure up, but Pat was riding really well today, and you can't take anything away from him," Cronshaw said. "Pat knows the Daytona lap very well certainly better than me at this stage of the game. His bike was going good. There was nothing in it for speed, it was just a riding thing. My bike was performing well." BSA-mounted Josef Brenner hung tough and finished a steady third a few seconds behind Cronshaw, riding a mid-60s BSA single that, by Brenner's admission, was not quite up to the cha lIenge posed by the Norton singles that finished ahead of him. Still, Brenner, who finished second in the class at the Deland AHRMA event over the weekend, was pleased with his second-straight podium run in as many attempts_ "I can't take anything away from Pat and John, they rode a great race," Brenner said. "I just rode as hard as I could. I just didn't have the top-end speed for them. At Deland, when you're coming off the corners, you can make up some time with the 01' BSA. Here, when you're wide open for that long, there's only so much that you can make up in the infield. But I'm happy. Third place is great, and we've got three single-cylinder machines here on the podium - no MYs." n e _ s If Bonera's MY failed to stalk the competition on the banking this year, then at least Chuck Huneycutt had his Barber's MY Agusta on the pipe, and emitting the classic wail for which the marque is well known. Huneycutt appeared to be on the charge early, but then drifted back late in the race after he had almost hunted down Brenner for third. Huneycutt went on to finish fourth, while Jay Richardson wound up fifth aboard his Waldridge Motors Limitedbacked Norton 500 Manx. But Mooney was never really challenged after grabbing the holeshot at the start of the six-lap race. That was a surprise to him. "I was expecting a knockdown, bar-banging race with John and the kid on the BSA [Brenner], but after a couple of laps I had a look behind me, and I was like, 'What is going on?' I knew that if John could catch me, he was damned sure going to be trying, but the gap seemed to be constant. Then I saw that he dropped back, and I just put it on cruise control and headed for the line. I'm really happy to win this race for all the people who have supported me down here over the years. I'm over the moon right now." While the Premier 500cc race might have been the most-watched of the vintage set on this particular day, the Formula 750 race was certainly the fastest, with M-3 Racing's Adam Popp winning by the largest margin of the day ·during the final race of the Monday schedule. Riding the same Honda CR750 that he used to win last Yvon DuHamel leads Adam Popp and Hasse Gustafson in the West Horseshoe during the Fonnuta Vintage race. Popp ended up taking the win on his Honda CR750 by virtue of the bike's power advantage over DuHamel's B5A Rocket III around the banking. year's F-750 final, the 35-year-old Minnesotan, lept off the third spot on the front row of the grid and immediately established his superiority - his margin of victory was 55.6 seconds. "It takes good motor builders to win here, and my guys delivered," Popp said. "It really ran good the whole time. I had a little bit of oil on my foot that I was concerned about, but I kept my eyes forward and focused on what I had to do. Popp simply pulled away from his nearest challenger, none other than former Yamaha and Kawasaki factory rider Yvon DuHamel, one Daytona legend who was aboard another Daytona legend in the form of the ex-Cal Rayborn Harley-Davidson XR750 of Team Obsolete. DuHamel rode hard, but the XR was no match for Popp's Honda, and the French Canadian finished a commendable second, considering that this was his first time in competition since this same event last year. Still, DuHamel's final run to the checkered flag was anything but boring, and neither was his post-race commentary. "I needed to borrow my kid's RC51, because those younger guys are too young and fast for me," DuHamel said. "I almost lost it on that last lap. In the dogleg there was oil, and I went zoom! Both feet were

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