AHRMA Historic Cup Series
Round 2: Daytona International Speedway
By SCOTT ROUSSEAU AND
HENNY RAY ABRAMS
PHOTOS By HENNY RAY ABRAMS
Alex McLean (46) tucks the
front end 011 the ..,. to
beating Will HIInIlng (1)
Pre-1940s race. McL_
also won the Class C
Footshlft and II
second In Classic
DAYTONA BEACH, FL, MAR. 3-4
ain was the rule rather than the
exception during this year's edition of AHRMA Historic Cup road racing at Daytona International Speedway. The precipitation made the
going treacherous, and it was probably the key factor in the shrunken
grids and the absence of some of the
series' more recognizable teams and
riders.
Even so, many of the usual suspects came to the fore during the two
days' worth of competition, including
several repeat winners.
R
It rains on AHRMA's parade.
MONDAY
The persistent precipitation forced
AHRMA officials to cut many of the
nine scheduled races from their original eight-lap distances to six laps.
Among them was the Premier 500cc
feature, where Englishman Pat
52
MARCH 19, 2003'
cue
I
Mooney, who calls Sorrento, Florida,
sored Mooney launched his 1962
home, came out on top of a battle
Petty Norton Manx from the pole
with Josef Brenner for top honors.
starting position and took the lead
The Turn One Motorcycles-spon-
e
n
B
vv
S
from the start, with Brenner on his
trick BSA Gold Star coming through
from row four to run second through
the infield. Although Brenner was
able to make up a bunch of time in
the infield every lap, Mooney clearly
had superior firepower on the superspeedway, and he was able to keep a
one- to 1.5-second advantage at all
times. Connecticut rider Greg Nichols
remained within striking distance of
Brenner for much of the race, even
though his '61 Norton refused to shift
into high gear on the banking.
Mooney, Brenner and Nichols crossed
the line with 1.35-second gaps
between them.
"This is three years in a row for
me, so I'm really happy about that,"
the 42-year-old Mooney said. "Conditions were not the best, to say the
least. It was pretty tricky out there.
Josef kept me honest. I just rode as
quickly as I needed to win the race,
no quicker. When he got close to me,
I just upped the pace a little bit. In all
my years of coming to Daytona, I
think this is the first time that I have
ever raced in the rain. It was fun, nevertheless."
Mooney wasn't the only repeat
winner on the first day. Pennsylvanian
Alex McLean started the feature races
off by pulling well clear of the competition en route to victory in the Pre1940 class aboard his Stu Rogers-
