Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eEVENT Steamboat Motorcycle Week. ~ Because of large rider turnout, officials combined several classes into the same motos and released the riders in separate waves. Tom Van Stelle (178) and Tom Grimmel diced during the slick vintage road races. Rick Doughty clinched his third and fourth MX class titles of the season. Some riders had so much fun that the competition became secondary. more clearance than him, so I just left it on longer." "Oh man, I didn't know Morrison was in first," said Watson. "I got a terrible start and just reeled everyone in, so I figured I was only about fourth or fifth. I showed him my front wheel a couple of times, but I had to be careful with my cylinder. I might have hung it out a little further if I'd known he was in the lead, though." Morrison was a two-class winner, as he also topped the Formula 750 race. MRA road race 24 Surprisingly, one of the closest races of the day came in the Class Crace, which fielded bikes even older than most normal vintage machines. Ozzie Auer pulled the holeshot on -his 1939 BMW R5ISS, but Blake Wilson and Butch Baer both passed him oil lap one. Baer held off Wilson's Indian for three of the race's six laps before . surrendering the lead in the turn-one hairpin. Baer grabbed the lead back on the following downhill however, and led for the final two laps. As the riders approached the finish line, Wilson pulled up along-side Baer's 1926 Indian in an attempt to steal the win, but Baer crossed the line first by mere inches. "I just had a great time," said the veteran Baer, who drove all the way from Massachusetts. "I don't think I've ever had that much fun in a race. I just owned the track out there; that's all there is to it." The two riders battled again in the Pre-'40 class, and Wilson redeemed himself with a win over Baer~ After Steamboat master Dave Roper went down and wrenched his knee in the morning practice session, some wondered if he would be able to race in the eight-lap 350cc GP race. New York's Roper had a good shot at the class championship, but needed a couple valuable points to lock up the title. He showed up on the line ready for battle, but .was mired in the pack as they entered turn one off the start. Craig McLean led for the first few laps on his Harley-Davidson 25Occ, while Roper slowly pushed his AJS through the pack. Hap Jones/J.H. Davis Attorneysponsored Michael Green pulled up behind McLean on lap two, passing him for the lead one lap later. With two laps remaining, Roper moved into second, but Green had a comfortable advantage and held on for the win. "I had a feeling it would rain, so I made some changes with the gearing and tire pressure," said Green. "As usual at Steamboat Springs, my main goal was to beat Roper. We both got pretty bad starts, but once I got in front, I just tried to put as much distance as possible between us. With the rain and all, I just concentrated on staying consistent." . Green also took home top honors in the 250cc GP class. Roper's second-place finish in the 350cc GP was good enough to score him the points he needed to lock up the class championship. "It (the knee) hurts quite a bit, but - I don't think it was that much of a factor during the race," said Roper. Roper in fact felt good enough to compete in and win the 500cc Premier class, despite the fact that he had already clinched the series title in that division. At the evening's award ceremony, though, Roper could barely walk up to re.ceive his plaques. Another tight battle came in the Formula GP Open class, the last race of the day. With the sun out and the track dried off, riders were able to hang it out a little bit farther than those in the morning classes. Air-Tech/Lemon Grove Cycle Supply-backed Anthony Morrison pulled the holes.hot aboard his Ducati and immediately began to pull away. While Morrison cruised up front for what looked to be an easy win, Rick Doughty and Randy Bradesku diced for second place. Bradesku got by Doughty before lap two of the eight-lap race, but leaned his BMW over too far as he entered turn two. The horizontally-mounted right cylinder of Bradesku's BMW scraped the pavement, and his bike pitched him off and went coasting, riderless, off the course. Meanwhile, Pete Watson was recovering from a poor start and pushed his BMW into second behind Badesku by lap five. Watson slowly began to erase what had been a five-second deficit, closing up to Morrison's rear wheel with two laps remaining. Watson tried everything to get by Morrison, at one point pulling up even with the leader in a turn, but Morrison held him off for the win. "I drove out from San Diego, but when it started raining, I told my girlfriend 'I'm not going to race; it's too dangerous,''' said Morrison. "Then it cleared up and it was great. When Watson pulled up beside me in the apex of that turn, I knew I had On the final day of the week's activities, the MRA sprint road races were held on the same street course as the previous day's vintage race. Sunny weather lasted throughout the day, a fact which combined with the higher technology of the contemporary machines, brought the average lap times down. Competing aboard Kenny Roberts Jr.'s Wayne Rainey Racing Team Yamaha TZ250 and his own Yamaha FZRIOOO, Don Hough won three classes and set a new record lap-time of one minute, 24.73 seconds, almost four 'seconds faster than the previous mark. Despite his impressive performances, Hough gave the impression that he could have ridden even faster had he needed to. "It's a street course, so you can't push it too hard," said Hough. "You just have to take it easy, or you'll wind up in a parking garage or something. I just rode consistently." In the Race of· the Rockies GTO class, MRA's premier division, Hough charged off the line in second, but immediately moved into the lead of the scheduled 12-lap race. Robert Wright took up the second-place spot, but Hough's pace was too much for him to handle. By the midpoint of the race, Hough had stretched his lead over Wright to more than half a minute. With Dan Turner taking up, the third spot, the top positions were set until the penultimate'circui t, when the race was red-flagged in order to allow the ambulance access to a fallen rider. Another of Hough's wins came in the Formula Colorado race, a division that featured a wide array of smallerdisplacement bikes. It was in this class that Hough rode the borrowed TZ, and again, he led for almost the entire eight-lap race. While Hough cruised up front, Kelly Newman passed John . Hjelm for second on lap two; and maintained his position to the finish. Houg,h earned his third win in the Unlimited Superbike class, which was

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