Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days some shuffling for the 350 GP lead, this one turned into a rac e between winner Ch ris Kelleher .on an Aermacc hi and Ducati -mounted runner -up Cra ig Breckon. Johnn y Demoisey 's Triumph led earl y on, and finished th i rd . Rog er Swartout also was in c o n te n t io n for a tim e with h is ' 6 7 K awasaki 250, but he encountered trouble and ended up scored in 10th . Satu rd ay ' s m od ern cl asse s fe a tured some good action in the com bined B a tt l e of Tw ins T w o Str oke / Ap r il i a Cup ra ce . C hr i s Spargo and Glen Christ ian son , both on ' 9 0 Yam ah a 2 50s , we re battling fo r B OT honors , w hile Apr il i a ride r Ch ip Lark by was fi g hting w ith them t o see wh o co u l d m a ke i t to the checkered fl ag fi rst. In the end , it was Spa rg o , Larkby and th en Christ ian son , wi th J a m es S w art o ut clo se beh ind. In Super Mon o 2 th e crowd fa vo rite wa s Bob Robb in s , a s hi s Ya m a ha YZ4 26 F m otocrosser k ept pa c e w ith th e purpose -b u ilt roa d r ace rs , an d J ay Rich a rd so n uphe ld th e vin tage hon o r o n hi s N orton . C lass c ha m p Mark Hatten ultim at ely prevail ed o n his B BM 5 00 , while la t e- ra c e traffic favored Robb ins over third -pl ac e fin isher Richa rds on. Hatten and Robbins ( t hi s t ime o n a B imota ) w e re at it aga in in Super Mon o, along w ith Mike T iber io o n a H o nd a 5 0 0 , Sk o rp i on Cu p r ac er Mike K i nd el in J r. a n d Du ca t i -mo unt ed AI Ch arl es . T ib er io cla wed his way up from a fourth -ro w start to eventually establish control, a nd th en th e p o si ti on sw a p p in g focu sed o n the bat tl e fo r second . At th e fi ni sh, it was T ib eri o w ith a co m fortable l ead ove r Ha tten , K in delin , Robbins and Charles . Sunday 's act io n saw Swartout win both Sp ortsman 35 0 and 5 00 on his ' 72 Ho nd a 350 , as Norton -mounted Str uk e d ou b l ed in bo t h Spo rtsman 7 5 0 and F ormula Vi nta g e. Yamaha man Wright earned the Formu la 500 w in, th en p layed runner- up to Struk e in F-Vint age. John Coop er earned the Cl assic Sixti es win on his Gold Star ahead of Rusty Lowry 's Ha rle y -D av id son KR in a rac e that saw the we ll - 48 J U LY 2 6 , 200 0 ' c u e I e liked M a r y l an d ra c er Tim Stan cill c rash and badly inj ure his leg a n d knee. After fini sh ing third to th e Suz uki TLl 000 of Scott Evans and D avid Podolsky 's Aprilia Mille in Ba ttl e of Twin s Formula 1, Kris August bested th e pair w ith his Honda Super Hawk in th e any thing- goe s Sound of Thu nder event . J onathan Glaefke's Suzuk i T L w as fo urth both ti mes o ut. Th ere wa s also q uit e a lo t of overlap in BO T F -2 a n d F - 3 , w ith J oh n S t a sk a ' s Kawasaki getting th e win first in F-3 a nd t he n t a k ing s eco nd to Jeff Wood 's Kaw asak i 500 in F -2 . Wood ca ptured fo urth in F -3 , w hile Suzuki SV650 ri der J .D. Hord was 3-4 for the day in the tw o cl asses . SPEED & SPORT MOTOCROSS Fo r T im Shephard it was almost a perfect day - a pair of class w ins in wh at o ne l o ng - ti m e compet i to r described as th e fas te st Ex pert field he had ever seen in an A HRMA rac e. and a second overall behind a fo rmer 500c c world m otoc ross c h am pi o n. Th e Lan ca st er, Oh io , rac er even beat the cham p in o ne rnoto . Th e VM D MX moved th is year from the road co urse infi eld to an grasscovered ov erflow parking area at th e southwest edge of th e Mi d -Ohio pro p ert y. At first g lance it seem ed to be ju st a b ig fiel d strung w ith white plas t i c c o u r se m a rk ing s. B ut t h e D i c k Mann -d esig ned tra ck chall enged th e nea rly 5 0 0 ent rie s wi th tr icky turn s and low- p rofil e o bsta cles th at co ul d ea sily ca tc h the un wa ry off guard. Ev en tho ug h t h er e w ere a co u ple places we re ride rs co uld use top gear, th e t rack se em ed l on g e r t h a n i ts m e a sur ed l e ngth o f jus t ove r o ne mile. Sh ephard 's fun beg an in th e first m oto as the +4 0 Ex pert s t ook to the tra c k , wi t h C Z 380 -m o unted Brad Lack ey at the point and Washington' s D all as N y bl od c hasi ng w ith h is ' 74 Yamaha 250. Lackey and Nybl od fin ished 1-2 , w ith Sh ephard eve ntually work in g h i s wa y past D av i d Ell is' s Yamah a to ta k e th ird . Th e sec ond n e vv s (Above left) Winner Rick Merhar (202) and David Wright (24'" batUe for the lead In the Fonnula 250. (Above right) B lake Wilson topped the Class C Footshift division. time out it was Lackey ho u nd ed by Elli s and Shephard. As the trio di stanced th emselves from th e rest of the pac k , Shephard p icked off Ellis and then the former world champion , then he withstoo d La ckey 's pre ssu re fo r the last half-lap. La ckey 's 1-2 fi n ishes beat Shephard 's 3-1 and E llis's 4 -3 for the ov erall w in. Sport sm an 250 Expert was Shep hard 's next outi ng, and in moto one he co u ldn't quite ca tch leader Nyb lod afte r getting past th e Penton of Kevin Brown . Moto tw o saw Shephard in th e lead and battling Nyblod and Brown , un ti l Nyblod suffe red a mach in e pr ob le m and Sheph ard m ana ged to op en a sm all gap over Br own . Sh ephard 's 2 - 1 finis hes were good fo r the overall ove r B rown . It w as Sh ephard a n d Br ow n aga in in +30 Expert , but thi s ti m e Shep hard took bo th m oto wi ns and Brown was second eac h time. Sh eph ard was o ne of sev era l do ubl e cl ass win ners. AH RMA's other fo rm er Wor ld C h am p i o n , Jeff Smith, k ept h is BSAs ah ead of th e pack to p ic k up w ins in Prem ier 500 Expert and +60 Expert, wh il e Wayne Rantz dou bl e d i n Pr em i er Lightw e ight Nov ic e and Classi c 250 Novice, and Brad K enn ard capt ure d w ins in the Expert div isio n of th e two twins classes ( t he S p o r t sm an ov erall comi ng after first -moto winne r Rick Doughty limped in wi th a sic k Rickman -T r i um p h in the sec ond race) . Aft e r ex p e rie n ci n g a r as h of m ech an ic al d ifficulti es at VM D '9 9, Greg Ba st ek was look ing to settle a sco re with his Hodak a " Wolverine" in th e H ond a E l s i n or e - d o m i n a t e d Sportsman 125 Exp ert cl ass. On th e seco nd lap o f th e f our-lap op en ing moto , Bast ek g rabbed the lead as th e fa st -m ovi ng p ack c ame aro und th e Qu on set hut sitting nex t to th e trac k and inc hed hi s w ay to a ni c e lead, leav ing th e battle t o M a rk We av er, Jay Kinder, Robert B rown and Er ic Muffl ey . After his third- place fi nish in th a t open ing moto , Ki n der gave B ast ek a run for hi s money in moto two, ru n n i n g side by side with the Hodak a rider for most of the th ird la p . K in d er ' s 3-2 was good for second ove rall to Bast ek 's 1-1. Ell is got h is win for the d a y i n another hotly contested cl ass , Sportsma n 500 Ex p ert , w ith 1- 1 finishes . The first moto featured a close battle with Canad ian Rick Hudson ' s Ma ico 450 , while in th e second rac e Hudson h ad t o k ee p Ma ico -mounted Dav id Goyer at bay to earn his 2 -2 fin ish es. Ed F l a n ig en Jr. we nt 3 -4 fo r th ird overa ll. CN Classic Bike Magazine Dirt Track Ashland County Fairgroun ds Ashland , Ohio 1 Results: Jul y 7, 2000 (Round lOaf 1& DINO: 1. Craig Breckon (Tri); 2. George Will s (HD); 3 . Dennis Clark (H-D ); 4. Leo J ov anov ic; 5. Bene Rodi (Enf) . CLSC 250: 1. Mik e Connell (H· D ); 2. J ohn Bova (Bul); 3. Wendell Ware (H-D); 4. Karl Wilke n (H-D): 5. Marv in Lon g (H· D). CLSC I. Ronn ie Rail (H-D); 2. George Will s (H-D ): 3. Robert Litten (H-D ); 4. Rusty Lowry (H· D); 5. Bernie Breece (H· D) . SPTMN 25 0 : 1. Greg Bes te k (H-D ) ; 2. Donn ie Warf ( Oss) ; 3 . K eith B rya nt ( Ya m); 4 . Ti m Sw ain (Bul) ; 5. Roger Davis (Bul )_ SPTMN 600: 1. Rick Ho cki ng ( Yam) ; 2. Gig Hamilton (Mai) ; 3. Doug Hom er (Yam) ; 4. Ed VaJ iket (BSA); 5. Dan Gedeon (Hon). SPTM N 750: 1. Dennis Williams (T ri); 2. Brian Eck hart (Tri ); 3. Martin Lewis (Tri); 4. J im Monegan; 5. Dent e Weich t (Yam). 70s SNGLS: I . M ik e Gi lk ey ( Yom); 2 . J ohn Bower Jr (Yam) ; 3. Da ve Vali ket (BSA); 4 . George Mac k (Yam ); 5. Willi am Co uvelis (Yam). V ET: l. Ric k Hoc k ing ( Bul); 2 . Bria n Eckhart (Tri) ; 3. Bill y Kennedy (T ri); 4 . Will iam A llen (Yam) ; 5. Steve J ohnson (Yam) . SENIOR: 1. Martin Lewis (Tr i); 2. Gig Hamil ton (Mai); 3. Larry Weiss (Yom) ; 4 . Ed Valiket (BSA) ; 5. Marvin Lon g (BSA ). S

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