After the successful revival of the Trans Atlantic Match Races last October at Daytona Speedway, Team Obsolete has established a three event series for 1998, with two races per event. Round One was held this past week at Laguna Seca. Round Two will be held at Cadwell Park, England on July 25-26, 1998 along with six times World Champion Jim Redman as Grand Marshall on his the Honda Six. Round Three will be at Daytona, October 18 with fifteen times World Champion Giacomo Agostini on his MV Agusta 500/3.
After
a month of El Nino rain, the Sun God smiled on America's only FIM approved Grand
Prix Circuit. The main event was the Honda Challenge AMA Superbike National
Championship, won by Honda's Miguel Duhamel ahead of Kawasaki mounted Doug Chandler
and Matt Maladin on a Suzuki.
The Vanson Trans Atlantic Match Races featured possibly the highest quality grid ever seen at a USA Historic event. The USA Team featured Dave Roper, Yvon Duhamel, Don Vesco, Cal Rayborn III, Todd Henning, John Long, Craig McLean, and Mike Green, riding respectively an ex-Agostini MV Agusta, an ex-Dick Mann BSA Triple, an ex-Hailwood Manx Norton, an XR 750 Harley, a Drixton Honda, Rob North Triumph Triple, a Team Obsolete G-50, and a Seeley Triumph. Long, Duhamel, and Rayborn's late father all were entrants in the original 1970's series. Early entrant, John Ulrich had to withdraw when the heavy demands of ancient drum brakes aggravated his carpal tunnel syndrome. He was replaced by Motorcycles Unlimited, Craig McLean. Cal Rayborn III was a non-start with teething problems on his newly rebuilt XR 750.
The UK team featured evergreen Dave Pither, Colin Breeze, Richard Haas, and Malcolm Tunstall on a trio of Rob North Triples and a Ducati Special, Chris "Wingnut" McGahan, Vernon Glashier, Larry Swann and Manx Grand Prix winner Paul Barrett all on Seeley G-50's.
In race one, McLean pulled a holeshot on the Rob Iannucci tuned G-50 and pulled away. Ten seconds after the 500's got under way, the 750's got the green flag. Long got the holeshot with Breeze, Roper and Pither in close pursuit. The big drama was whether the 750's, which started in the second wave, could overtake the 500's.
At the start of lap two, Roper powered by Long into turn one, passing the UK's Colin Breeze and Dave Pither as well. Roper showed the way for two laps, but Breeze was right on his tail and eventually got by him on the brakes in turn 11 on lap four.
On lap four, Paul Barrett low sided his Seeley G-50 in turn six ending his ride for the weekend, fortunately without injury. Meanwhile, Pither thought best of a last lap dive under Breeze, deciding in favor of the safety of his immaculate Commonwealth Triple and for the Brit Team and Mother England. Duhamel had dogged Henning for the entire race but a last lap charge failed.
While the 750's were closing on the 500's of Henning, McGahan and Glashier, McLean had run away with first place by lap three and would remain unchallenged for the remainder of the race, ending up the overall winner, including all 750 machines. At race end, McLean was so far ahead that Roper, Pither and Breeze could not see him.
The score for the first race was UK 98, USA 101.
In Sunday's race, Henning, who had recovered from a stomach ailment, ran away and hid from the field eventually taking first overall. This time, McLean had no answer and settled for third 500 after a race long battle with Vernon Glashier.
As the 750 riders got off the line, Breeze got the holeshot and was first into turn one. The racing was much closer than the previous day, with the 750's of Breeze, Pither, and Roper in formation quickly overtaking several 500's.
On the fourth lap in the corkscrew, Breeze caught up with three smaller machines and was making the pass when his throttle stuck. He kept the bike upright but had to "go empty his leathers" at race end. From that point forward, it was Pither first. Breeze had no hope of catching him with his throttle gone south. Roper passed McLean and made a good attempt at catching Pither, as did Yvon Duhamel, while Tunstall, Long and Haas swapped positions. Then on the last lap, Pither got into the corkscrew too hard and almost lost it. Luckily he kept it up and kept the lead for the win.
After the race, Pither said "on the penultimate, lap I made a mistake
in the corkscrew, I misjudged braking and was also having more front end
chatter. Maybe I was trying harder [than Saturday]; I'm still trying to
learn it, it's so technical and I don't want to let the team down by crashing.
Apart from that the bike ran like a clock."
The score for Sunday's race was UK 102, USA 106. This gave the USA overall victory 207 to 200. High points scorer for this round was again, David Pither, repeating his Daytona honor from last October. At that race, the UK team beat the USA team 333 to 319. Pither will take the prestigous Hailwood Trophy back home to the UK. The trophy was awarded to Mike Hailwood for his victory in the 1965 USGP. Look for exiting round two action at Cadwell Park, England in July.
For Trans Atlantic Match Race Results and Team Scoring check here.
For Vintage Race Results check here.
Team Obsolete is sponsored by Vanson Leathers, DomiRacer, Megacycle Cams, Red Line Synthetic Lubricants, Avon Tires, Works Performance, AirTech & R/D Springs.
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