Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AHRMA R u mble In t he Rockies DIRT TRACK ma ny of th e road race rs proba b ly wis hed th e y had st ayed hom e . Th e pa vement crowd arri ve d at Mounta in Vie w Motor sports Par k nea r Me ad to find a cra m pe d p a d d o c k , a s ma ll tr a ck a nd a venu e wit h a gene ra lly go ne -to -s eed a ppea ra nce. As for Fr id a y n igh t' s dirt t ra c k a t De n ve r ' s Roc ky Mou nta in Natio na l' S pe e dwa y , wh at it la cked in qua nti t y , it mo re tha n m ade up in qu a lity. S T ORY A ND P HOTOS B Y M ATT B EN SO N MIWKEN, DENVER, MEAD, CO, SEPT. 15·17 or more th an a deca de , the Arneric a n Histori c Ra c ing Mot orc ycl e As s o ci ati on h e ld a hu g el y po pul a r week of com petit ion e ach Septe mber in the m ountai n re sort of Ste am bo at Springs , Colora do . Whe n re lent le ss re al estate d e v e lop m e n t fin a ll y s queeze d AHRMA ou t after 1998, the e vent m oved la st yea r to Pa rk City, Utah , co mplete with the centerp iec e tha t h ad m a d e its p re d e c e s s o r so popu la r - road racing on a true street course. Unfor t un ate ly , opposition from a sma ll but vocal gro up of locals meant that the. first Par k City Motorcycle Week was also the last, whic h left AHRMA officia ls sc ra m bling to find something to fill the void in the calendar. Enter th e "Rum ble In The Roc kies " - o r, mo re a c curat e ly, wit hin sig ht of th e Roc kies. T h e lo ng weeke nd incl uded th e f ull co m p le me n t of AHRMA Vinta ge co m petit ion - trials , dirt track, m otoc ros s , road ra cin g a nd hare sc ra m bles - at three faci litie s in th e Den ver are a . Te m pe r a t u re s t hro ug h o ut the we e ke nd we re in t he 90s , about 20 deg rees hotte r t h a n norma l for th is time of year. Wh ile dirt riders ra ve d a bo ut t he Two Rivers Racing fa c ility at Millike n , f 38 N OVEMBER 1 ,2000' c ue OBSERVED TRIALS At first g la nc e , the rolling pr a irie of Two Rive rs Ra cin g didn 't look like tria ls terrai n, yet Mike Fe nne r and crew fou nd p lent y of ways to c ha lle nge the 73 ride rs who gath er ed o n Frid a y for rou nd 14 of t h e Spe ed & Sp o rt National Series to kick off th e Rum ble In The Rock ies weekend . T he e ight sect ions , la id out a long al 1/2 -mile lo op and rid d e n four t im e s , feat u red loose, dry s oil; climbs; a nd sha rp turns . Sectio n s ix, for insta nc e , c ut ac ross the face of a steep, rutted inc line . Riders we nt up and dow n th e hill a cou p le of tim e s the m o re d ifficu lt th e line , th e ste ep er t h e initi al c li m b . Man y p o in t s we re surre ndered a t the tricky up hill tu rn j ust be fo re th e exit , a n d t h e ch e cker th e re h a d his h a n d s ful l hel p ing ha u l bik es ba c k up th ro ugh th e g ate so t h at he co ul d a wa rd a t h re e o r fiv e . Th e ru t s g ot d e ep e r a nd the dir t loo s e r a s th e d a y wo re I e nevvs Bob Ginder and his James tackle one of the many loose descents. Ginder also lost no points on the day, w inning th e Premie r Lig htwei ght Expert contest. o n . Sec tio n two fe a t ur e d a lo ng d itch fu ll of loo s e ro ck s a nd bri c ks th at wer e diffic ult to ne gotiate with o u t en o u gh m om en tum . S e c t ion th re e wou nd th rou gh a s m all g rov e of big trees . Two riders on the two line turne d in 'c le a n ca rds fo r t he da y : Ten ne s s e e 's Bo b Gind e r on his Villier s p ower ed J a m e s in Pre mie r Lig h tw e ig h t E xpert , and Yama ha TY -m ount ed Arizo na r id e r Da vi d Boyd stun in Modern Classic Inte rme diate. The fo u r-stroke brig ade was h ot on G inder 's heel s , w it h Mike Par sley d abbing just once for second p la c e a n d Ma rt y Pa u lson to uchi ng twice to take th ird . In Modern C lassic, it too k a t ie b re a k er to d e cid e seco nd , b ehind Bo y d s tu n . S te ve Do y le a nd Ja mes Smith both scored th ree points fo r the da y , but Do yle rode two m ore sec t io ns e rro r- free tha n d id Sm it h . O n t h e o ne lin e it wa s a battle of th e Bu ls , a s Mik e Re n t h ro w t o o k th e Expe rt win over Rus se ll Todd by just , one mark, 4- 5 . The Novice win a lso was de ci d ed by a s ing le po int, with J ohn Kn app 's 13 ear n ing th e win ov e r Michael McP eter s ' 14 . Gar y Davi s a nd Gig Ham ilton eac h d ou b le d o n t h e D -s ha ped thr e e eighths -mile Roc ky Moun tai n Nati on a l Spe edwa y d ur ing AHRMA's firs tever vis it to the Den ver tra ck. Da vis' w in s in D in o s aur a nd C lass ic 500cc/ 7 50cc c a m e a fte r a yea r out of the s a d dl e for the Ho llyw o od s tu nt man , while Pennsylvan ia 's Hamilton c o nti n ued to beat up on th e S eni or a nd S po rts ma n 600cc c las se s with his Ma ico moto cro sser. The re we re just 5 7 entries for th e event, but th e close racing a nd bea uti fu lly p rep are d vinta g e ma chi ne s m or e t h a n ma d e u p fo r t he lig ht turno ut. Th e finals beg a n with the Dinosa ur cla ss , a nd Davi s im m e diat e ly put his Tr iumph out fro nt a nd s ta yed th e re . In a b a ttl e o f Ha rley h and shi ft e rs, Mai ne rid e r Bo o ke r Poi rier hounded George Wills until the last la p, whe n he du c ked underneath in turn two to take second . Trium ph-mou nt ed Craig Brec kon was a c los e fourth. Davis switched to BSA power and Wil ls to a Harle y KR for C la s s ic 500 ccj750cc com petition, but Poirier remained o n th e handshifter, and the three 'of the m went a t it again . Wills soon suffered m e chani cal problems , leaving Davis and Po irier locked in a back -and-fo rth battle . Davis eventua lly took control a nd inc hed away to a comforta ble lead by the c heckers . In th e Se nio r r a c e , Jim Cha lling swo rth put his Tr ium ph 750 in t o th e le ad f ro m th e s ta rt , b u t Ha mil ton found a way aro u n d a nd sta yed th er e . Ben o Rod i edged Den nis Pete rs on aft er a ra c e -lo ng battl e for th ird . Ham ilton ' s Spo rtsman 600 c c win ca m e afte r s ome o f th e e ve ni ng's c losest racing , in a class that fe atured only fou r ent ries . The Maic o rider got o ff th e lin e d e ad la s t, w h ile Bill An derson a nd Da vis q uic kly moved out in a dispute for the le a d . By th e tim e Da vis ' Honda broke , Mark Eric ks o n a nd Ha m ilton had brou gh t t he ir ow n battle to th e front to join up with Anderson's BSA . Ha m ilton eve nt ua lly go t to the po int positio n , taking the win over Eric kson and Anderson. E r ic k s o n go t his wi n in Vete ran competit ion afte r getting past early le a d e r An de rso n . By th e t im e th e c heckers waved , Ma rty Cox h ad also pa ss ed And ers on to finish second. S up er S en io r was a no t he r s ma ll but exciting event, with Honda rider Dan Ma lon e y ta king t h e wi n o v e r Ro kon -m ounte d Da vid Dean a nd Bu lta co joc key Ro n Fe nner , who hurt his le g - the nig ht' s only injury. As alwa ys , ' 7 0 s Si ng le s o ffe re d som e close ra c ing - right to the fla g . Wh ile Wyom ing race r Joh n McCle lland built a sma ll lead on his Ya ma ha , the next severa l m a ch ine s ran in a tig ht knot. Georg ia' s Darre ll Bryant and Wyoming 's T im S p ires , both on Hondas , broke awa y s lightly in a bat -

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