Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128371
Menzie, while Harley KR-mounted Rusty Lowry was third, harassed by Allan johncock on a Matchless G50. Back in the second wave were the Sportsman 350 machines, and Daryl Foster and Buff Harsh immediately got into some side-by-side dicing. But Foster's Honda started smoking and he pulled off on lap three. That allowed Harsh to cruise to an uncontested win, while Scott Turner edged Jason Bessey for second. Harsh was back up again immediately for the Sportsman SOO race and earned the win over Tim joyce's Triumph. Harsh had nothing but praise for his Honda's Todd Henning-built engine. "This bike flat-out flies," he said. Things were anything but cut and dry in the race's second wave as Formula 500 was a five-way battle for the lead at times. On the last lap, Yamaha-mounted Bob Hayes took the lead from Stuart Carter, riding the oldest bike in the field, a '62 Manx Norton. Next came Charles Easterling, Conrad Urbanowski and then Gary Smith. In Formula 250, jerry Herman and his Yamaha RD took the win from Craig Breckon on a Doug Gropp-tuned Can-Am. A collection of Modern classes made up race eight, and it was probably the first time ever in AHRMA that a father-son combination won a pair of classes in one race - perennial fast-guy john Long in Battle of Twins Two-Stroke and son Barrett in BOT F-2. Both were on Yamahas. "Super" Dave Rosno captured the SOS Two-Stroke-c1ass win during the same event, and Super Mono 2 went to Chuck Campbell. Joyce was again Triumph-powered in the BEARS event dUring race nine, finishing by a comfortable margin over New Mexico's Craig Murray and man-of-manyentries Greg Nichols on a Rickman-framed Triumph. Similarly, Staska ran off from the Vintage Superbike Heavyweight crowd on his Suzuki - until the machine started sputtering and popping coming around the east banking on the final lap. His cushion over the Kawasaki of jeff Hinds was enough for him to limp home and still win by a narrow margin. Race 10 was billed as the Battle of the Nines as former AMA National number nine Gary Nixon would go up against current number nine jay "Springer" Springsteen. But that matchup wouldn't happen yet, as Nixon's Rob North-framed Triumph triple experienced problems during the sighting lap and Springer's Hourglass Racing Harley-Davidson XRTT had its transmission lock up the first time through the International Horseshoe. Joyce went on to take the victory on another Hourglass H-D in F-750 ahead of Paul Uma on another North-framed triple. Legends or not, the Sportsman 750 guys put on a show, with the Norton of Canadian David Lloyd being chased by the Triumphs of jesse Morris and Norway's Geir jacobsen. Morris and jacobsen eventually demoted Lloyd to third, and Morris hung on for a narrow win. "I turned 60 this year, but it's beginning to be a lot of work. These guys are getting closer every year," Morris said. Still, the Pennsylvania racer conceded that his secret to success is "horsepower and a little bit of age and guile." The closest race among AHRMA's Modern classes came in race II's Sound of Thunder. It was also the most international race as Venezuelan Marco Martinez battled with japan's Goshi Ashikari and Italian Dario Marchetti. After early shuffling of the lead, it was Martinez out front on a Ducati 998, hounded by Triumph-mounted Ashikari, who in turn was chased by Marchetti on another Ducati. Marchetti had more power, but the japanese was a demon on the brake. In the end, power won. Production Singles was another squeaker, as Mike Emery and his Yamaha got past the Honda of Robert McClendon III in the final sprint to the checkered flag. The nines finally got their battle in the day's last race, Formula Vintage, and it was worth the wait. The problems with Nixon's Triumph were fixed, and Springer borrowed the Harley XR of Hourglass Racing owner Keith Campbell. The pair traded the lead numerous times during the race, with Springsteen in front when the white flag came out. In the run out of the banking and to the finish line, the Harley rider made sure he kept just enough distance between himself and Nixon to prevent one of Daytona's draft-and-pass wins. "It's the best Vintage bike I ever rode," Nixon, a two-time AMA Grand National Champion and 1967 Daytona 200 winner, said after the race. "Springer, he's one fast dude." "It was great riding with Gary like that," said 5pringsteen, a three-time National Champion. "Old Nixon must have been gritting his new teeth as I motored away from him out of the turns." Overshadowed by all that in the same race was the win by Guzzi-mounted Andrew Murray over BMW rider Brian in Vintage Superbike Sawyer Middleweight. DAY TWO Heavy early morning rain had everyone concerned, but by race time the day was sunny, though very Windy. The program saw many repeat winners - and a few surprises. Kicking things off, Dennis Poneleit repeated as 200 GP winner, though this time under pressure from Sakis Vasilopoulos on a Yamaha. Pre-I 940 again was an excellent handlebar-to-handlebar battle for the lead, but this time Norbert Nickel's BMW got the win and Art Farley had to be content with second place. Race two again was a Pat Mooney runaway over David Roper, with Greg Nichols working up into third position. Roper indicated he changed his gearing to try to get an advantage for Tuesday's race, but the Maurice Canciy-owned Manx wasn't running as well. "Forget Scott Russell. Forget Miguel Duhamel. Pat Mooney is Mr. Daytona," Roper said. The Thruxton Cup Challenge again proved that this new Triumph-supported class will be anything but a boring parade. Mounted on Triumph's "factory" entry was Doug Polen, two-time World Superbike Champion and 1993 AMA Superbike titleholder. The race started with Polen sandwiched between Tim joyce and Ted Cobb, but Polen and Cobb qUickly moved joyce back to the third slot. Cobb, an instructor at the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School, hounded Polen all race, the two setting a torrid pace. On the final lap - with Cobb working to set up the former World champ for the infamous Daytona draftpass - Polen chose an unusual low line down on the apron through the banking. Cobb followed, then pounced, executing his pass perfectly and taking the win. "FollOWing Doug it looked like the Fourth of July, he was kicking up so many sparks," Cobb said. 'lust watching his lines was a great experience. He obViously has a lot of talent. If he had more time on the bike, I'm sure he would have been a lot faster." "That was a blast," said Polen, who last raced at Daytona in 1997. "just being here was worth it. I had fun riding the Triumph. I was dragging parts allover the place. I wore down the bolts that held on the belly pan and that fell off." Race three's results were a repeat, with one exception. In BOT F-I it was Robbie Nigl stretching to the win over Dario Marchetti, while BOT F-3 saw Staska again take the win, followed by Matt Winnacker. Fred Eiker appeared to again have a Super Mono victory sewn up, but on the fifth of six laps, he pulled off with mechanical problems, and Gary Dipietro was there for the win on his KTM SMR. Race four saw Roper take his second 250cc GP victory over Paul Germain, as Greg Nichols got another Class C win ahead of Manx-mounted Fred Mork. The one change this race was Art Farley taking the Class C Handshift win; Keith Campbell was a no-show this time. Roper also repeated with a big win in 350 Gp. trying to "channel Calvin Rayborn's mojo" on the ex-factory Harley Sprint. Bob Daniels and his Ducati got the second spot after Paul Germain ran into problems, and Eric Pritchard earned third after a tough race with Nichols. Shannon Silva doubled in F-125, as did Dave Bourbeau in Vintage Superbike Ughtweight. josef Brenner, a Do-show on Monday, denied David King his second win in Classic '60s. The two had a good race going until King got too hot into the horseshoe and Brenner pounced, opening a nice lead aboard the 'S4 Gold Star. A close race for second between King and Gordon Menzie went to the Norton-mounted King. In the same race, Buff Harsh's bid for a double win in Sportsman 3S0 disappeared along with his exhaust pipe, and Eric Cook stepped in to take the victory. Harsh came back in race seven to take his second Sportsman SOO win, while in F250, class champ Craig Breckon again finished second to a different rider, this time Yamaha-mounted Californian Mark Watts. There was plenty of action in F-500 as Monday no-show Christopher Spargo chased the Honda of Rich Levert. Spargo and his Yamaha two-stroke took over the lead on the next-to-Iast lap and put his head down to open a nice gap. Spargo had bike trouble on Monday and saw the reconfigured track for the first time Tuesday. '" just had to go learn fast," he said. There was only one repeat winner in race eight, Chuck Campbell, who had his hands full with Colin Fraser on a supermotostyle Yamaha. In BOT Two-Stroke, john Long ended up second, this time to Thomas Fournier. Matt Winnacker CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 30, 2005 3S