Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Eddie Mulder's West C o a s t V intage D ir t T r a c k S eries C a l E x po S t ate F a irg r o u n d s (Left) Not only did Eddie Mulder (12) once again promote a bang-up Cal Expo Vintage Mile, he also won the 750cc A main event aboard his Harley-Davidson XR750. Mulder used a rocket-fast start to take the lead right from the green flag. (Above) Dante D 'Ambruoso (161Z) outran John Lundgren for the 250cc Twin main event v ictory. (Belo w) Bob Cunnington (28), John Lundgren (4 5) and Chris Geilfuss (31) staged a close battle f o r the Modem 500cc f eatu re win. Lundgren took the honors, w ith Cu nnington second and Ge ilfuss third. Ron Gould, walked awa y with th e win in the Barnett/Dodge B r o s . Sup er Senior race on his 7S0 Shell Yamaha , leaving Ron Predmore and J im Forrest to fig ht it out for the ru nner- up spot. F o r r est snuck up the ins ide coming ou t of turn two to tak e th e spot on h is 6S0 T r iu m p h , le av ing Predm ore third on hi s SOO BSA tw in . D oug Phe lps and contine ntal commut e r Bob Gerb er i ch f oll o w ed in fourth and fifth. J eff John son and Ell i ott Iv er son ran into turn on e sid e by side in th e CE,J/Contin enta l/Wo rks Vet A m ain , w it h Br ian Coakley and K eith Br ad ford cl ose behind them . J ohn son to ok the lead on his Cham pio n 7S0 Yam a ha, Iverson hang in g on to second w ith his Wood -R otax f o r th e n ext l ap. Coakley m otored past ' o n th e ex it of turn t wo , putting a pair o f Yamah a twins out fro nt as Iverson sli d w id e into th e m arbl es on th e exit. As the two 7S0s pulled away , Keith Bradford closed on Iverson , st ic k in g a wheel up the inside on lap six in turn two , but didn 't have the power to pass . He tried the same m ove on the last lap, t h is ti me p u ll in g a head, b ut o nc e again h is Ya m a h a single couldn't build up th e stea m to make the pass sti ck . Johnson and Coakley crossed the finish line nose to ta il , with Iverson an d Bradfo rd co ming through about 20 - bike -lengths later . Steve F o r t u n e borro we d W ay n e W a rr ing to n's RS600 Honda and left the rest of th e field beh ind in th e Vet B m ain . Dav id Harness , Cla y Chamber s and D anny Friesen ran nos e to tail , w ith Tyce Heebner taking fifth . N i ck Sm ith put hi s '61 H arl e y KR7S0 o u t front i n th e B er k el e y Yamaha /M eg acycle Cla s s i c SOOt 7S0cc Sid e Valve race, with Gordon Menzie second on his trusty 'S9 Royal Enfi eld . Sm ith and M en zi e p u lle d awa y from each other, and th e rac e S T O RY AND PH OT O S B Y FR E D W IN DUM SAC~O,CA,SEPT.24 om et im es the leftovers are bette r the next day. This seemed to be the case as Ed di e M ul der 's West Coast Vintag e Di rt T rack Series made it s annual trek to the Cal Expo Fairgrounds fo r the ultimate westem v in tage race on th e fam ou s Sacramento Mile. While the national the night before suffered dela ys du e to track pr ep compl ications , th e v i n t a g e bi k e s headed right out onto the track . The bumps and rut s were still there, bu t in daylight and with less serio us competition , the ri de rs simply wen t around them and laid down more ru bber, giving a w id er raci ng surface t ha t had plen ty of room for passing and multi ple lines t hrough t h e corne rs . An added bonus fo r any race fan was th e pres en ce of r a c i ng l e g e n d J o e Leonard , who served as the ev ent' s Grand Ma rsha ll , signing autographs and swa p ping race stories with the fans. Ed die Mu lder doe sn 't j ust pro m ot e the race s. Like m an y othe r ex -p ros keeping th e sport alive , he also co mpetes on h is '69 Trium ph tw in . Tak ing the ho leshot in the J RC/ Progressiv e Suspen sion Senio r main, Mulder wa s f o ll o w ed b y C h uc k Cl a yd o n ' s Champion Yam ah a , wi th Ma rty Lewis and Charli e Higdon close beh in d on another pa ir of T riumph twins . Higdon made up for his slow start, pa ssing Lewis and Cl aydon to t ake sec o nd. John F r i t z followed H igdon through the pack to make it a Tr i umph swee p at the finish . Wh il e th e Senior m ai n may have looked like an easy w in fo r number 12, Hig don kept Mu lder ho nest in th e heat race, hold ing him off to th e che cke red flag . Marshall Jennings, at Sac ramento without his long -t ime friend and rival S 54 OCTOBER 25. 2000' c u e I ... nevvs for third . Ma tt Cam pbell , on a very stock SOOcc T riumph, held th e spot a head of D a vid Brown and Ste v e Lac ey, but Lac ey powered past on his 'S6 Go ldstar to take over th ird, leaving Campbell to hold off the charging Dav id B rown . Campbell and Brown swapped pla c es sev era l times before Campbell pulled out about a four bik e advantage. Smith cruised to th e win with Me nz ie sev era l seconds bac k , j ust as fa r ahead of third place Lacey , with Campbe ll and Bro wn fin ishi ng in th e to p fiv e. The Shell y Ward/The Shop Modern Vintage 2S0 c c race was divided into two g roup s, twins and sing le s. J ohn Lund g re n , D ant e D ' Amb ru oso a n d Chu ck Clayd on took off ou t front o n a t r i o o f screami ng Ya m ah a twi ns . Nothing sho rt of a 7S0cc two-stroke sounds l ike these b i k e s , an d for some, it's mu s ic to t h e e ars . D' A mbruo so took over th e lea d w it h Lu nd g ren back severa l seco nds by the end of the race , th e pai r motoring away fro m the field . Br ian Co ak ley , o n his Bultaco, led the singles grou p , ca tch ing and passing Cla ydon to ta k e third overall . J immy Abrams and Jeff A k sland fo ll ow ed , second and thi rd in t he si n g le s, fift h and sixth o v era ll. Severa l b ik es dropped out during th e day , the rigors o f Th e Mile taking their toll on the little bikes . Bob Cunn ing ton , J ohn Lundgren and Chris G eilfus s all wanted th e same little sec t io n of real estate, run ning elb ow to elbo w at the st art of the Oregon Cas cade Water/Sadd l em en M odern SOO ma in . Lundgren and Cunn ingt on made qui ck wo rk of Geil fuss ' 3 6 0 Yamaha on th e back stretch, th eir twi ns powering away to run a rac e of th eir ow n . Cunn ington held the lead through tu rn four of lap one until Lundg ren drafted p ast on the front straight. Lundgren , on a ' 73 Champion Yamaha 3S0 twin , had his hands fu ll with Cunn ington pull ing along outside on his '6 6 Honda 4S0 each time th ey entered the corners. The pair continued out front like they were chai ned together, w it h Lundgren ho ldi ng o ff Cun ni ngt on fo r the w in . G e i lfus s was th ird , a hea d o f th e 3S0cc Ho nd a of W ayn e W a rr in gton and Bo b Gerbe rich 's C84S0 Hon da. Thi s was Gerbe rich 's third trip to th e Sa cramento Mile from his home state of Ohio. Bob and his wife make th e trek out west eac h summer, towing the race b ik e beh ind th eir Go ld Wi ng , h itt in g other rac es al ong the way su ch as the Pik es Peak hi ll climb and th e A HRMA Natio nal roadraces at Willow Springs and Sears Poi nt. Sixty plu s year s yo ung , and stil l racing . Mulder, once again, ca ught sta rter So nny A nd erson perf ec tl y to lead the M o tion Pr o M o dern 7 S0 A ma in . Dant e D'Ambruoso fo llowed Mu ld er's XR7S0 on h is li ttle 3S0c c tw in Yama ha , but the fi rst stra ight saw th e twost r o k e fall b ehind to deal with J eff Johnson and Ken Thiebaud on a pai r of 7S0cc T rium phs. The Br itish twins motored past, p ut ti ng Johnson and Thiebaud second and t h ird, a f u ll stra ight b e hi n d Muld er , whi le D 'Ambruoso held off the late cha rge of Br ian Coakl ey ' s 7S0 Yamaha for fourth. Carl D il o res was out front in the K E,N filter s 7 S0 B Main . Dilores had trajectory troubles in turn two, letting

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