Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

ve r since the demise of mo torcycle week in Steamboat Springs. Colorado, several years back. the vintage-racing community has yearned for a replacement to the immensely popular, long-runn ing event. The year after motorcycle racing was edged out of Steamboat due to real estate development, the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association moved to another ski town, Park City. Utah . It was a great mountain location. with the trials and motocross running on ski slopes that would soon host the Winter Olympics . Some locals, however. didn't like the inconvenience of having streets shut down for a day of road racing. so Park City blazed once and died . AHRMA then moved to the Front Range area near Denver. but it never recreated that special Steamboat chemistry. But now comes the Sandia Classic and talk that this cou ld become the next Steamboat. In its second year. Sandia has already grown to include a pair of vintage road races, supermoto competition. vintage and postvintage mo toc ross. dirt track. road race and MX schools. a swap meet. bike show and a party t hrown at Ch ick's HD/Buel1. Everywhere you loo ked were lege nds of t he sport - Jay Springsteen. Gary Nixon. Jim Pomeroy. Reg Pridmo re. Rob E Nort h, Jeff Smith. Plans are in the works to add AHRMAtrials and cross country in the mou ntains next time . The whole extravaganza is driven by an enthusiastic. efficient crew led by local AHRMAroad racer Craig Murray. Friday's practice on the short but challenging road course was halted for a time due to sno w. but Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. As the mile-high spring day warmed up, so did the racing. The day began with BMW-mounted Ralph Auer winning a pair of classes - Pre1940 and Class C Footshift. In the Class C Handshift division, Will Harding and his Indian won a close one over Keith Campbell and Doc Batsleer. Sportsman 350 was one of the best, featuring a four-way battle for the lead among Daryl Foster. David Peters, Gale Harkness and Paul Dunning, all on Hondas. Pete rs eventual ly opened a bit of a gap to take the win over Foster. Harkness and Dunning. Meanwhile. the Classic Sixties class was having a scrap of its own, with Matchless GSO-mounted JeffElings eventuallygetting ahead of the Velocette of Rood Light hou se for the win, and Gordo n Menzie's Norton taking third afte r a battle with Fred Mork and Classic Sixties 650 winner Brid Caveney. Next came the sao Premier race, where the Norton Manx duo of Pat '~~~~~~~ Mooney and David Roper resumed .: their regular fight for class honors. Roper narrowly led for the first half of the 10-lap race, but then Mooney cut inside the multitime champ in the hairpin and spent the remaining laps building a gap. Ron Melton finished a comfortable third on his Manx. but behind him Bruce Yoximer piloted an AJS to fourth in a battle with Elings, Paul Sa ndia Classic organizer Craig Murray is fa st an Germain and Mick O field. the track tao. He w a s seco nd twice to Tim Joyce Roper was back again for 3S0 in BEARS and had a couple of good rides in Grand Prix. on a Honda CB7 and Fonnula 750 an his Triumph. 58 MAY 26, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS hot on the heels of Yoximer's AJS. After shadowing Yoximer for four laps, Roper made his move into the lead. Yoximer stayed close as the pair cut through lapped traffic, but on the last lap Roper fell. and Yoximer earned the win. Third went to Rusty Lowry. who survived a battle of attri tion that saw both Melton and Germain exit the race ahead of him. Sometimes the best racing isn't for the lead. That was the case in Sportsman 500 , where class champ Andrew Cowell and his Triumph cleared off from the pack. Behind him, Ralph Auer eve ntually earned second in a battle with Gale Harkness . But the real act ion was the tussle for fourth place as Caveney, Peters, Tim Lile, J. Tom Pruett and Peter Hipp shuffled positions. When the checkered flag emerged. it was Lile holding down fourth spo t on his BSA B50. followed by Peters. Caveney. Pruett and Hipp. Lilehad his 500cc thumper back o ut the next race in Sportsman 750. waging a battle over second with Yamaha 650 rider Mitch Smith as Lighthouse opened up a big lead on his Triumph. Lile eventually got clear of Smith to finish a solid second. Mean while. a rea l duel was going on in Formu la 500 between Dave Crussell on his Kawasaki H IRand Yamahamounted Michae l Carson. This one went the full dis- tan ce, with Crussell crossing the line first. The cherry on top of this satisfyingsundae of racing was Formula 750. Threetime AMA Grand National C ham pion Jay Springsteen thundered into the lead . chased by T im Joyce on a marching Hourglass Racing Harley-Davidson XR750TT. The pair traded the lead time and again over the course of the 10 laps. but on the lap that counted Springer made sure he the first one past the checkered flag. Farther back, a Triumph trio of twotime Grand National champ Gary Nixon . Paul Lima and event coordinator Craig Murray disputed third. with the spot going to Lima over Nixon and Murray. The day's final race , Fo rm ula Vintage, brought together several of these same top finishers. Crussell led from the start, but it was Springsteen leapfrogging his way toward the front. Soon the Harley rider was pressuri ng Crussell and the Kawasaki, and Andrew Murray had moved up with them. On lap four. Springsteen pushe d into the lead and proceeded to build an insurmountable gap. By that time Lima had joined Crussell and Murray in a batt le over second. O n the sixth of eight laps, Crussell got shuffled back to fourth position as they went through the hairpin. while Lima moved into sec ond over Murray. They remained in t hose positions for the balance of the race . In AHRMA:s modern-bike classes. Fred Eiker was a

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