Historic Team Challenge 1998
Norton single specialist and Euro-British team member Stu Rogers  at Daytona. (Nancy Hoppin photo)

Rain, rain go away: The British rounds

By Rusty Lowry

The tickets were in hand. The racer was in the crate. The leathers were packed. The dog was at the kennel and the girls at Grandmother’s, or was it the other way around? The turmoil of activity was at a peak as we left the house on the start of our trip to England to ride in the Historic Team Challenge races at Mallory Park. Each mile farther up the road the more real the trip became and the less I worried about work, customs, if the KR would be competitive or if the garage was locked. The final worries left when I got in line at the airline counter behind Gary Nixon and had to laugh as he tried to talk the ticket agent into free beers on the short trip to New York.

Rusty performs some front-brake maintenance on his Harley-Davidson KR750. (Nick Nicholls photo)

Once in New York we joined up with a large AHRMA contingent, all booked for an overfull Continental flight, and cheered on Fred Mork and Bob Hansen as they gave up their seats for a night in New York and a bunch of airline money to come over the next day. The rest of us left a little late, got an nounced over the aircraft PA system and wished good luck in our races, and landed in Merry Old England just about on schedule. Customs, baggage and rental car agreements found us heading out to the hotel in a loose caravan (left side of the road, LEFT!) bound for Hinckley. The caravan lasted until the first roundabout and then it was every car for itself; fortunately, everyone made it.

The Hanover House Hotel, which would be our home and stepping-off point for the next five days, was only a short distance away from the Triumph factory and 15 miles from the Mallory Park circuit. Mallory’s track manager, David Overend, took advantage of our location and arranged for a guided tour of the very modern Triumph factory that first afternoon. I think everyone left very impressed with Triumph’s attention to detail and quality manufacturing processes.

Friday found us at the track to uncrate the race bikes and get our first look at the Mallory Park layout. It was refreshing to find the bikes there and intact, with a line of tents set up to serve as pit spaces for the Challenge teams. Larry Poons was especially glad to see his Seeley Condor unpacked as he immediately pulled the engine apart to investigate traces of metal found in the sump after Road America. (Moral of the story: If you’re going to re build a G50 engine, do it in England. Lar ry’s bike was back together in two days and faster than ever!)

I got my first look at the track itself as a passenger in Nixon’s rental car (!) for a handful of hot laps. Just like bungee jumping, once I shut the door it was too late to back out, and I actually learned a few lines after I relaxed my grip on the dashboard and started breathing again. Nixon’s quick lines and smooth cornering were indicators of his upcoming performance in the races.

I got my next look at the track the following day along with the rest of the American team as David Overend lived up to Mallory’s “Friendly Circuit” slogan and provided us with two hours of open practice...in the rain. Yes, rain. Rain was never far away during our entire trip, and we were reminded just why England is so damn green as we slogged through corners and followed each other’s spray around the track. Oh well, at least British team member Bob Heath was generous with his anti-fogging visor spray.

Mallory’s track layout was fairly simply, with a very fast right-hand sweeper known as Gerrards circling the circuit’s central lake and then tightening slightly, leading onto the back straight. At the end of the back straight you drop a gear and pitch over through a right/left combination known as the Esses that lead uphill into Mallory’s famous hairpin. A large tree marks the braking point for the extremely tight first-gear righthander and then the same tree serves as a turn-in marker for the somewhat blind Devil’s Elbow left-hand kink leading to the start-finish line. Deceptively simple and fast, Mallory is much like a dirt track in that it demands accurate cornering and punishes mistakes with a loss of momentum and track position.

Sunday dawned cloudy but dry (well, at least not actively raining) and we all trekked out to the now-crowded circuit ready to experience British-style vintage racing. Unlike too many U.S. races, there was a good crowd of racers and spectators, as well as some parts vendors and tire salesmen. The corporate sponsor for the Challenge races, General Guarantee Finance, had a hospitality tent erected and provided the team members with tea in return for a couple of autograph-signing sessions. Elf provided race gas for the team bikes.

North Americans in practice: Todd Henning (Honda) ahead of Jay Richardson (Manx Norton). (Nick Nicholls photo)

Practice was run and the Americans posted competitive times with the top riders lapping in the 52- to 54-second range at an average speed nearing 90 mph. This turned out to be a good thing, as the British time their practice sessions and then grid riders based on lap times. Some Americans rated good grid positions from their times, while others (me) didn’t fare as well. I never really put together a complete hard lap. Oh well, 18th starting position wasn’t that far back.

As race time approached, the threatening weather conditions stopped threatening and acted, with a steady rain starting just as the riders were all paraded around the track on a flatbed truck to wave at the crowd before the race. Lining up on the grid, the rain worsened and even the locals were seeking cover as the race was postponed for 15 minutes while the downpour lessened. Then we started and found out just how fast the British can go on their home track in familiar weather conditions.

Turn one was huge clouds of wheel spray as the field poured into the righthander and John Cronshaw pitched away his Gold Star while cornering outside of Nixon’s borrowed Triumph triple. I ran with a pack of fellow Americans and a few Brits as the heavier and higher horsepower Hondas experienced traction problems and fell behind. Will Harding actually fell on his behind at Devil’s Elbow when his throttle stuck. Fortunately, he was relatively undamaged, though his Honda was done for the day.

The second race saw similar action with a dry line available for the first couple of laps and then rain increasing dramatically from the third lap on. More people fell, Jay Richardson and Todd Henning dropping their machines at the hairpin, while Adam Popp stalled his Honda in the same corner. Phil Read dropped out with a misfire while Nixon repeated his fourth-place finish to capture top American honors. I managed 10th after racing Larry Poons to the finish for the second American spot (he got it by a wheel) and was ready to pull into the pits for some dry clothes and a pint of bitter at the track pub.

In addition to the Team Challenge races, Mallory Park ran a full vintage program and a rematch of their most famous Race of the Year with Giacomo Agostini and John Cooper running some very fast laps on MV and BSA triples. Judging from the enthusiastic fans who kept streaming past the team pits, the 5,200 spectators who spent the day at Mallory left wet but happy, and the event had to be judged a success.

Racing in the wet: Gary Nixon (9, Triumph 750), John Cronshaw (16, BSA 500), Todd Henning (18, Honda 500), Phil Read (1, BSA), Graham Reed (2, Honda), Anthony Myers (14, Matchless) and Mitch Boehm (6, Honda 750). (Nick Nicholls photo)

As we sat at the awards dinner later that evening I recounted my memories of the day’s races and had to count it as a success too (even though we did not win the series). There was John Cooper wearing a tie under his leathers as he took to the track on his screaming BSA triple. Bob Heath tucked down behind his fairing so that you could barely even see him as he won both races. Dozens of fans stopping to take a close look at my Harley racer and relaying stories of when they saw Cal Rayborn ride. Pride of running respectably against top class vintage machines and riders in front of an appreciative crowd and showing that a sidevalve racer isn’t an oxymoron. Gary Nixon’s inspired riding to remind us all of his tremendous skill as a racer (in case we forget). Doc Batsleer’s surprise arrival in the pits without his Indian racer but with a great deal of help for Larry Poons, and our German friend Guther Weikert arriving, suitcase in hand, solely to support the North American team. The smiling faces of AHRMA friends, family and the whole Mallory Park staff throughout the day.

These things made the whole trip worthwhile and made packing the bike back up in the crate easy as we all hoped for a repeat opportunity next year to generate more memories and experiences...hopefully a little drier ones.

Thanks to AHRMA’s sponsors for the Historic Team Challenge races: Yamaha, Progressive Suspension, Bell Helmets, DomiRacer, Classic Bike magazine, Mallory Park and General Guarantee Finance Company.

Mallory Park scoring

Team captain and racing legend Gary Nixon, aboard a Triumph 750, was top North American rider at Mallory Park. Here he converses with John Cronshaw at Daytona. (Nancy Hoppin photo)

North Americans victorious
in opening rounds at Daytona

A North American squad captained by racing legend Gary Nixon defeated the European-British team in both opening rounds of AHRMA's Historic Team Challenge by Yamaha, March 2 and 3 at Daytona International Speedway.

Leading the scoring was Adam Popp on a Heritage Racing Honda CR750, winning the event both day. Top Euro-Brit rider and second in the points scoring was Rodney O'Connor, who rode his Triumph 750cc triple to fourth on Monday and second on Tuesday. Massachusetts racer Todd Henning was the top-placing 500 rider, earning a pair of thirds on his Drixton-framed Honda 450, while Nixon was the number-four scorer behind Henning with a fifth and a fourth aboard the Mork Racing BSA Rocket 3.

The 10-member teams will be evenly distributed on 500cc and 750cc machines from the 1960s to the early ‘70s. In addition to Yamaha, sponsors of the Historic Team Challenge are Progressive Suspension, Bell Helmets, DomiRacer, Classic Bike magazine and Mallory Park.

The North American team holds a points advantage of 196-135 going into the final two rounds at Mallory Park’s June 14 Post TT event in England. Though the big 750cc fours and triples dominated at Daytona, the tighter Mallory circuit could prove something of an equalizer.

The two teams are vying for the Roger Reiman Trophy, a perpetual cup memorializing the former AMA Grand National Champion and three-time Daytona 200 winner who lost his life during practice for the March 4, 1997, BMW Battle of the Legends event at Daytona.
 

December 1998:

Historic Team Challenge and Mallory Park news

The Historic Team Challenge, which so many members enjoyed in 1998, has become a biennial affair. The next Challenge rounds will run in 2000. Because of the broad scope which the format allows, it is possible to imagine our team racing a team from Australia/New Zealand/Italy/Japan or anywhere else where historic motorcycles are held in high esteem. The word “Historic” allows us good leeway to pick any era and machine types for our next encounter.

In the meantime, the Roger Reiman Trophy is safely on show at the British National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham, England. On behalf of AHRMA, Jeff Smith re cently delivered to the museum a large framed photo of Roger Reiman surrounded by checkered flags, to be put on display with the trophy.

Mallory Park, the site of our drenching defeat in 1998, has proposed a support package for AHRMA members who race in the Premier 500 and Formula 750 classes to come out to their Post TT event on June 13, 1999. They are particularly looking for machines which would be somewhat unusual in the U.K. scene, but all are invited to apply. AHRMA has agreed to double the incentive so that we can expect some representation at this annual event. If you have a yen for warm beer, wonderful hospitality and a great English racetrack, send a request for consideration to the AHRMA office.

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