Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Pat Mooney (1) and his 1962 Norton 500 ran away with the 500cc Premier race, crosalng the ftnlsh line over 12 seconds ahead of runner up .John Cronshaw (71). Mooney _ thrilled to wln Daytona In the absence of the MY Agusta that _ _ to run away with the race annually. off the pegs. I slowed down because I thought my bike was leaking oil - it was a Harley, and sometimes they leak oil. Not enough practice. Maybe if I practiced, I could do better." Matching DuHamel in legend status, former Daytona 200 winner Gary Nixon rode another M-3 Honda to a fine third after surviving a late-race charge from John Long. Nixon and Long nearly collided in the infield on the last lap after Long, Chris Marshall and Malcome Tunstall caught the former factory Triumph star, who had been running third for most of the race already. "I'm just glad to be back," Nixon said. "I'm a little slow and out of shape. When you get on this thing and ride it for eight laps, you find out how out of shape you are. But if two more guys would have blown up, I might have won the damned thing." For his part, DuHamel, who is 61, was impressed that "that old guy Nixon", who is 60, finished third. "He must have had a couple of beers before he went out on the track," DuHamel said. As usual, the Pre- 1940 and 200cc GP classes combined to open the show, with the pre-war machines making a decent race out of it, as Ralph Auer charged into the lead off the start aboard his '39 BMW 500. But 1939 Norton Manx 500-mounted Alex McLean caught and passed Auer on the back straight, however, and the race was on. Auer chased McLean for the rest of the race, sometimes running as few as two lengths back, but McLean had more on tap, and he crossed the line some six seconds ahead of Auer at the finish. Willi Bertsch finished third on another '39 BMW 500. "This thing has never run so well," McLean said. "I have Nobby Clark here helping me out, and a few of my friends. With any luck, we can do it again in another race." Auer was disappointed to finish second. "He just had some motor on me," Auer said. "I just got a good start, and that kept me up front there for a while. The bike was missing at around 7000 rpm, and I had a hard time getting it to clean out." In the 200cc GP class, Dennis Poneleit made a shambles of the race, passing his way far into the Pre40 field as he steamed away to victory by over 14 seconds aboard his 1968 Honda 175. Edward Sensenig finished second aboard a '62 Ducati 200, while Mike Kirby was third. Jonathan White showed no mercy aboard his '66 Ducati 250 in the 250cc GP/Formula 125 combined race three, as he managed to put just a tick over seven seconds per lap on his nearest pursuers after rival Jay Richardson suffered mechanical troubles and dropped out early. White then left John Stevens and Chuck Davis to battle for second, and at least made a race out of it on lap four as they traded the second spot back and forth through the infield and again out in the chicane on the back straight. Davis was the aggressor, but Stephens' '72 Ducati 250 ultimately had more motor than Davis' '68 BSA 250, and that made the difference between second and third place. White, meanwhile, had cruised ·to a win with 33.1 seconds in the bag. "Jay Richardson lost something in his engine, so we didn't get the competition that we thought we would have, and this is just how it wound up," White said. "But a win is a win, and that's why we came here. This bike is just a 'build it with whatever you have and make it work' type of bike." David Fabian rode his '77 Honda 125 to victory over similar Honda mounts ridden by Leon Cortes and Steve Brown in the Formula 125cc class. Fabian was virtually untouchable as he caught and passed several of the 250cc GP machines en route to the win. Race four for the Formula 250cc and Class C machines provided two of the better scraps on the day, as 250cc riders Richard Merhar of Cleveland, Ohio, on a Yamaha TD3 two-stroke and Chuck Davis on a Drixton Honda 350 four-stroke battle back ~nd fourth for most of the eight laps, before Davis nearly collided with a lapper in the chicane on the last lap and ran out onto the grass. By the time that Davis had gathered it back up, Merhar was gone and Yamaha TD3-mounted George Taylor had also squeaked by for second. "Who was that guy?" Merhar said of Davis. "He goes really good, but two-strokes rule. I had to really work hard just to get my bikes together for this week, but this is a lot of fun, and I'm glad that we had good weather. I know it's snowing up in Cleveland right now." In the Class C footshift class, the battle was no less intense, as Vincent-mounted Carleton Palmer tried his best to run down BMW rider Ralph Auer for most of the race while the two pulled well away from thirdplaced Alex McLean. Palmer never could quite get a good run on Auer up the front straightaway, however, and Auer took the victory by .67 seconds. McLean held on for third. "Whenever he [Palmer) and I come to race, it seems like we're battling," Auer said. "That was another good one." cue I • Indians finished 1-2 in the Class C Handshift division, as Art Farley and Art Delor crossed the line ahead of A. "Moon" Mullins and his Harley-Davidson. Englishman Steve Maney kept Jerry Wood at bay by just a few lengths for much of race five, the British European American Racing Series (BEARS) event, leading most to believe that the run to the finish might be a close one. Instead, Maney was laying in the weeds, and he waited until the last lap to uncork his '68 Norton 750, pulling away to a 55-second margin over Wood at the finish. Glenn Campbell (no, not the country singer) was third, riding a '70 BMW 750. "I felt it was time to wind the wick up," Maney said. "It was very windy out there, and I was getting thrown about, so I didn't want to go faster than I had to. I just waited to see what happened. He [Wood] is a good rider. He just needs a Norton." Wood said that he wasn't about to change brands. "I've had this Triumph for a long time," Wood said. "It's an original 1966 Rickman Triumph, and everything the wheels, the rims - everything is just like it was. I've owned it for about 14 years, and I'm not about to trade. " A similar race was had in the Formula 350 event, as Jay Richardson and Team Oboslete rider Erik Green ran nose to tail for the entire six-lap race. In the end, Green's AJS 7R was no match for Richardson's shortstroke Norton Manx 350. "He's a really good rider as well," second-placed Green added. "It was a little bit windy out there, but other than that, no problem," Richardson said. "We were just on cruise control. The wind can get really spooky in spots. You just don't know where it was going to hit you." The final vintage event on Tuesday's race schedule was the Formula RaIf Aller (487) aboard a 1939 BMW 500 leads Art Fartey (96z) aboard an Indian In the Pre-1940 race. Aller finished second to Ale" McLean (no1 pictured) who rode a Nobby CIar1[tuned 1939 Norton Manx 500. n __ !Ill • MARCH 21, 2001 57

• Cover