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/126045
Eklund and Hocking follow Aldana 's example of how t o t urn left on a tight, slippe ry i~door Superman leaps State Championship in a single bound By Bobi Scott LONG BEACH, CAL, MAY 8 "Superman" Dave Aldana halted t h e thundering assault of eight fellow Californians placing their bids on the line for the California Stat e Indoor Short Track Cham pionship title. Aldana may well have won the race, but Dave Hansen stole the show with some 6 holesho t expertise that drove the starte rs up th e walls. Sh ort tr ack racing is not new to th e Long Beach ar ena alt ho ug h a de cade has gone by sin ce the polished concrete oval quivered under the pulsing last vibra tions of WFO th rottle play. A sparse cro wd o f 3 ,000 fan s tu rned ou t for probabl y their fir st, an d maybe their last, glimp se of " Short Trac k Kin g" Darryl Hurst , David "Bubba" Rush, National Champ Gary Scott , bro the r Hank and curr en t Camel Pro series lead er Ric k Hocking on th e tight slick in d oo r tr ack . A glimpse is just abo ut th e way it wen t as each heat proved to be fas te r than the previous one . T he red flag mad e its appearan ce so frequ ently th at yo u almo st cam e to expect it as over eagern ess played a who pping rol e in th e racin g game plan . short track. The first tum would draw the line between leaders and also-rans in mo st cases and nobody wanted to give an inch in either direction. Novice heats and sem i Four heats of Novice action started the eveni ng off with th e five fastest riders in each he at moving on to the semi and th e top two semi finishers bought their tickets to the main event. Tony Alves (Yam) set fastest qualifying time at 9. 24 , fo llowed by Randy Marnola, Yamaha's future hopeful star, clocking in a t 9.26. Only tenths of a second separated the followin g eight riders. Tim McWhorter (Bul) sent th e first Nov ice semi flying as he dived in to th e firs t tum on the seat o f his pants . On th e restart Rick Delacy (Yam ) was sent to the penalty lin e and Doug Davenport sh ot o u t front as th e gan g to ok off. Frank Borba pressed hard, found the doo r open and quickl y slam med it shut .in Davenport's face . Delacy worked hi s way through the pack to finish th ird with Tim McWhorter gnawin g at his rear tire. Randy Mam ol a and Mark Murray warmed up the penalty line in th e next se mi but Marnola was luck y en o ugh to work his way up to th e last transfer po sit ion by the end o f the ra ce. Murray di d n 't m ak e it. Ton y Alves circle d th e ova l smoothly as Don Gr igsb y (Yam) gen tly nudged him along . Jr./Ex. heats and semi T he pa ce o f elimination st epp ed up as th e stars to o k ov er . The pressure was on from the very beginning as Jimmy Odom, . astride a Mote-Villa, replaced Bobby Sanders before he even had a chan ce to slide ou t. Veteran Al Ken yon grabbed the first heat after a restart caused by Gene Romero who tilted too far Jeft and he aded for the hay bales. Steve Eklund found himself on th e penalty line instead of the pole in the next he at but worked his way up to fourth as Rob Morrison slid on home for the win . Dave Hansen, on a surprisingly qui ck Husky , breathed life in to the ro und about ro utine as the next he at gave th e fan s what th ey had paid to see . Holding the pole position, he relinquished it quickly as his front tire rolled out front too soon. As th e flag dropped he shot from the penalty line to fourth in one ' qu ick swo op. J ohn Hateley and Darryl' Hurst went down a nd a restart wasl'f called. Han sen, o n the second try, recoiled aga in fro m th e back of the pack into second at the first tum. But the ' officials wouldn't buy it . No o ne, n ot ' even Han sen co u ld be th at quick1 without some so rt of jump sta rt . It was back to the line aga in fo r a th ird chanc e a t the el usive start. Gennai fina lly got things off sm oo th ly and finished up with th e win. Han sen 's in credulous journey through th e pa c k n etted him a se cond as th e fans Cam e alive in appreciation . Sm ooth as silk , Rick Hockin g led th e fin al an d fast est heal of th e evening , leaving no doubt in an y on e's mind as to his a bility o n an y type of surface. Ro b Morrison su rvived th e first semi