Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125870
Rick Hocking and Rob Morrison, both rookie Experts, swap pe d t he lea d in the Ma in a few ti mes wi t h Hocking swapping last to be f irst . Gold Cup" Half-mile Ascot "Gardena GARD ENA, CAL.,JULY 19 Defending cham p Dave Aldana stuffed his No rton into th e fence for the th ird ti me in his last four o ut ings at Ascot Friday n igh t. The crash ca me after t he Santa Ana ride r had clocke d fast ti me, won his Heat race an d scored his third Trophy Dash win of th e year. Gard ena G o ld Cup wi nner was roo kie Rick Hoc kin g, who won it the h ar d way over a no ther ro o kie , Rob Morrison. , Both firs t y ear Ex pe rts were d efea t ed in the earlier Hea t races wi th Ho ck in g high a n d wide off the groove on both en ds o f t h e oval an d runnin g third behind Aldana a nd Da nny Hockie. Ed die Wirth put th e b inders on Morriso n in a handle bar hanger in a no ther Hea t, r i ding the Tom Ro ckwo od T riu mph. Hocking had to come ba ck and win the Se m i to get in to the fifteen -lap G o ld Cup final. DeW ayne Keete r was the leader for the first three laps before Aldana, who started on the row th ree penalty lin e for jumping the flag twice, hi t the hay bales o n the so ut h tum on the fourth lap . The race was stopped an d re-s tarred , O n the restart it was Hocking off to a perfect start and Morrison in close p urs ui t . The lead between th e two changed seven times with Ho cking finally getting back in fr ont o n the last tum of th e final lap. It was his second Ascot victory o f th e y ear o n the Ro cky Eq u ip ment sponso red Yamaha. Bad luck struck down Mike Kidd, t he Texas ace. Kidd kn ocked off t h e seco n d fast time tri a l an d then wa s on his wa y to win n ing th e lI eat race wh en the engine went so ur o n th e las t lap, G uy McC lure, th e n u mber one rated sho rt track rid er fro m Texas, m ad e h is firs t Ascot a ppearance in th e Juni or class . Ridi ng a borrowed Trium ph, McClure , ra n fifth in his Heat race b ut failed to gain a spot in the Semi u n til Wash ingto n's Kirk Watersson crashed leadi ng th e Semi, t ak ing Ryan Gifford a nd Tracy Brigh t into the crash wa ll. McC lu re go t in to the Semi on the re -st ar t and fin ished second to :\like Myers , earning a spot in the final , where he ran sev en t h . It was all Ale x J o rgen se n in the J unio r feature. Jorgy held o ff Wal t Fo ster fr om th e start with Sk ip Akslan d co mi ng up from t he ha c k o f the field to ta ke a cl osing third p lac e finish . Cast le Ro ck winn er Bru ce Hanlon came up with e n gine t rou bles o n t he starting li ne prior t o h is Hea t rac e an d did n ot comp e te after clocking one o f the top time trials. As exp ec te d , it was agai n a t wo -ri der sh ow fro m start to fin ish in th e Novi ce class between Elbert (.. Don't call m e Bert") T urn er and Steve Eklun d . Eklu nd go t into th e lea d three times but Tom Horton sneaks one in while David puts an Aldana on Becky after wi n ning the closest racing of t h e night in t he Trophy Dash . Does he win t h e D as h just so he can ge t an armful? each ti me Turner got it hack on the outside. Bu t agai n it went to the finish line before Turner gai ned h is third straight light weight victory. The interm ission ceremonies were high ligh ted by special reco gn iti on awards from th e city of Gardena, the G ardena Chamber o f Co mmerc e and the State of California officials p re sentin g three plaques eac h to Ro xy and Tom Rockwood in recognitio n for their invo lve ment in pro fessi o nal mo to rc ycl e raci ng a t Ascot an d o t he r t racks around t he cou n t ry. T om is still h ospitalized in Torran ce so h is te ammate, Ed d ie Wirth , accepted th e awards for h im. • Result s in t he Results Se c t io n. Half-mile vs. speedway from the spectators' view Barr y Briggs: " , . . this is the hard est a nd most cu t-throat kind of pr ofe ss i on al m o t orcycle rac ing . . . " Qu o te fro m his co lumn in ou r number I i issu e of this year. At my editors' instruction s we went to view the speedwa y scen e a t Costa Mesa, Cal iforn ia. I did so me ch ec king. to o, and a ·frien d wh o h as spee dway co nnec tio ns and th erefore as ke d n o t t o be ide n ti fied told m e this. "I use d to te ll pe ople to go 10 Costa Mesa. I t w as gr ea t racin g (still is) and fin e fa m ily e n te r ta in m en t. I don 't any more. I d on 't kn ow w h er e some of th at wei rd cro w d co m es fr o m but so m e o f them arc o ut o f sigh t. I espe cially w ou ldn't send anyone there for hi s first loo k a t th e sp ort w ithou t warning h im wha t som e of th at mob is lik e," A m en . Urged on by Larry Huffman wh o co u ld de finitely be h eard fro m Costa Mesa t o Wemblev Stad ium if th e wi nd was righ t, th e ' crow d go es banan as . S omeo n e o nc e sa id th at Lar ry is the • best m ot orcycl e rac ing an n ounce r" aroun d. Hes ce rtai n ly the m os t excit ing, ('II say tha i fo r hi m . AL times, his entreaties to various deities an d th e crow d - makes - you · ," on de r· If' Billy · Graham shouldn't ta ke a few lesso n s fro m him! This, plus th e go in gs-on on the track m ak e fo r a gr eat sh o w but it's an a tmosp he re almost foreign to me. It defini tel y smacks of Ch risti ans and lions. It w ou ld be u sel ess to a tt e m p t to co m pare it to flat track excep t for the fac t that bikes a re used and they go aro und in an oval. But there it ends. R o xy Ro c kw o od is in n o w ay. sh ape. or form lik e La rry Huffman over a mike . For one thing , h e is a walking e ncyclo pe d ia of in form a ti on. If a ri de r breaks a reco rd , im mediate ly R o ck y knows wh o set it alo ng w ith b ack-up inform ati on abou t the ci rcu ms tances. He a lso keeps u p wit h what is go in g o n all th r ough th e p ack, n o t jus t the front runners , al tho ugh that's not necessary a t a tiny track like Costa Mes a w ith on ly four riders. Purse mone y for spee d way nde rs is lar ge r th an for a man who ri de s j ust Friday a t Ascot. Eve n though a speedway man can m ake $2000 to $ 3000 a we ek by t ootlin g arou nd to the various Ca lifornia tracks, As cot riders are no long er ea ting b eans the w ay they used to. Purses are up th er e, too. Compared to speedway. you co u ld ca ll As cot dull, .. if you wer e a begi nning viewer of tra ck raci n g an d we re trying to de cide where to spen d your ti cke t mone y. Going b ack to Ascot the fo llowing wee k I ta lke d w it h Sammy Tanner, Director o f Motorcycle Ra cing th ere and an Ascot legend himself, ab out wh at I h ad been asked to d o for th is co lu m n. We kick ed the su bjec t around for a while and I cam e to these con clu sio ns. Whe n the stands were a/ways more crowded than they are now regardless of whether th ere's a Na tional and the big names a re o ut o f town o r no t, the sport has changed. It wasn't so long a go that to watch pro s, all y ou had to choose from was As cot. pe riod. Now we have speedway and motocross. the latter w ith pro classes in organizations besides the A.\ IA. Look at what C:'IC has done, for instance. Sammy pointed out a n interes ting thi ng. "I t' s funny and I d on 't unders tand it . bu t say we have a Nation a l on Saturday. The big bo y s are here an d the y' re riding Fri day n igh t. Tha t d oesn ' t b ri n g th e crowds out. They' ll wait for t he N a tio nal, Wh a t 's even fu nnier is tha t if the re's n ot a no ther b ig ra ce after th a t and th ey stay in tow n to rid e the fo llo wing Friday , th e crow d will d rop w ay do wn ag ain. " My ow n id eas o n any co m parison possib le ? Speedway is ra w an d exciting . Asco t : fast, sm oo th , and con tro lled . TIl is is still the big ti me sce ne. Speedway, altho ugh bi g in these local outposts of th e co lon ies is still in diapers. Ask a rider wh o has gone overseas to ride. We did. DeWayne Keeter . Ke e ter won th at n igh t a t As cot on his H arl ey. DeWa yne w as ve ry well thought o f when h e went t o England and secured a te am be rth there. "~I y h andicaps, m y God. They did everything they co u ld to he lp me along. A t first I'd literally be h al fw ay a ro un d th e tr ack and h ad to turn aroun d on th e m ach in e to w a tch th e tape : ' K eeter loves speed way bu t in spite of th e purses be in g pai d , h e chooses to stay wi th Class C. O ne reas on is the p ot ential. The m oney . Wit h luck, he has a sh o t at the bi g tim e mo ne y to be made in A:'IA racing an d these d ays the m oney is big. S o u t hern Cali fo rn ia has the sp eedway . Per hap s it wi ll ex p an d to include the res t of the c o un try . I hope it d oes. Sp eedw ay racing is the o ne form of m o t or c y cle raci n g Am ericans ex cell ed in interna tion all y. So, w ith 110 a po lo gie s Lo my editor, Ascot is fin e . thank y ou. It's th e only track in th e cou ntry to run professional Half-m ile weekly. I w ill hav e to take except ion with Briggo abou t speedway be ing th e hardest type o f ra cing. I t' s not hard on th e rider s unl ess you co u n t cra shes. S o Ch arles, you ca n ' L com p a re the two. I t's c ithe r t he sw ings or the ro undabouts, an d lon g may they b o th ke ep runn in g. Will I go bac k to see speedw ay again? Yo u betcha! I'm a So nn y Nu tte r fan. Maureen Lee 29