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/126409
SPEEDWAY WEEK the highlight of the nigh t. This event was so close that no one saw th e c hec ke re d fla g . J an was leading , coming out of tum two on the sixt h lap of a five-lap even t, he caught tra ct ion and went into a wheel sta nd, loo pi ng it on the back straightaw ay. He was not hurt and ha d already gone back to t he pits before it was a n no unced over the P .A . that he ha d won. Dan McN eill was already in t he winner's circle because he was the first to tak e the checkered fla g in th e sixt h la p . A big handshake and a pa t on th e ba ck was McN eill's reward as he handed over the trophy to Ballard when th e officia l finishing order was read. More motor trouble showed up in " the Scratch Ma in Event when Tom Morl ey could not get his bike to fire. so there were just three riders on the starting line when th e ga tes went up. Agian , it was Jan Ballard right in th e heart of things with Dan McNeill on on e sid e and Gene Woods on the other. A little bump from either sid e and it was a two, man race for the gold. As Ball ard picked himself up and got going, Woods held off every charge made by McNeill on his way to victory. Both Woods and McNeill are sponsored by Western Wheels. who are big speedway backers. Dave DeTemple, due to some error, was put into div ision two for the opening night show , even though he rode in d ivision on e most of last year. Dave , be ing a good sportsman , started with a 50·yard handicap a nd was still first to the chec kered flag . Rounding out the night was th e victory of Keit h Chrisco in d ivision three . IAbovel Costa Mesa double w inner Alan Christian stays to the inside of Gene Woods. IBelowl Division two riders tangle. Bast resumes at Ascot By Dennis Greene GARDENA , CA . APR. 26 With _a light mist or rain just starting to fall as practice got underway on the quarter· mile track, it looked as if the opening Ballard, Woods split San Berdoo By Dennis Greene SAN BERNARDINO , CA , APR. 25 26 Inland Motorcycle Speedway ope ned its fift h yea r of rac ing to a stand ing ro om o nly crowd, The new gra ndstands in tu rns on e and two wer e fu ll to over flowing. Dozen s of new riders from all over the country got a cha nce to mak e t heir W est Coas t debut and severa l got into the second and th ird di vision m ains. High -speed getoffs a nd mech ani cal troubles kept a ha lf-do zen riders in first d ivision ou t of t he m ai n events : J im Fishb ack , Steve Bast , Alan C hrist ian , Mike Bast and m an y ot hers just stood on th e sideline wa tchi ng the biggest pay nigh t of the year go by. J an Ballard , a vete ra n of the spo rt, had not seen the winner's circle in a couple of years, bu t his winni ng ride in the Handicap Ma in Even t by far was night might go by th e wayside, but as luck would have it. the wet mist was gone in less than a m inute and practice got underway. Many of the riders got their first ride ever on the big track . Lance King is a past Junior Speedway U.S. Champ and now that he has reached the ripe old age of 16, he can ride with the big guys . And ride he d id , right to the winner's circle, taking th e Division Two Main Event. He , like the Moran Brothers, Pam Bennett, Troy Ingolia , Wes Randolph, Moose Kennedy all come into big time speedway with as much as six years ridi ng experience. W ith several of the old timers hanging it up and some others rid ing overseas, there is a real need for these new stars. The opening night First Division Handicap Ma in Event went to Da ve DeTemple. Dave had just ea rn ed his way into first d ivision a t th e end of last season and with th e style he exhibited on winning on the big track, you can easily expect to see his name in type a lot th is year. The final even t, the Scratch Main , went to Mike Bast. Last yea r, Mike put 10 straight in th e record book, but with a ll th e new tal ent around this year, and new equipment for several of the top riders , you can be su re that anyon e winning t he Sc r a tch Main Event will have to let it a ll ha ng out. Seventeen -year-o ld Tony Br iggs really came into his own on the bigger track. T he young son of World Ch a mp Barry Briggs has been getting pu shed around on the sm aller tracks, but here on the quarter-mile it was just like back home and he flew. Asco t is th e onl y spe ed way track that hosts a p ra ctice session and if you like th e spo rt and want to see where th e you ng tal ent is corning from, com e ou t an hou r ea rly (7:00 p.m.), get th e best sea t in th e place and watch th e best pu t a fine edge on thei r style and ' the new gu ys lea rn th eir way around I th e track. .Ii Christian doubles at Costa M esa By De nnis Greene COSTA MESA , CA, APR. 27 The rules are there and for the first time in several years, it looks like they are going to be enforced. In last week's story, I told you that a couple of riders were excluded from the race they were in when their mufflers came off during the race. Whether by design or just bad racing luck, there is a power advantage gained with no muffler and the law of the land says the bikes are just too loud without them. Those riders who were put on report last week drew one week on the fence and when the word went through the pits , you should have seen the rolls of safety wire come outl The only rider this past Friday n igh t to fall victim to the rule was lfi -year-old Lance King. What rea lly makes it tough is that Lance was in his first ride in d ivision one, a spot that he had earned in his first week in speedway. He took the word with a stiff upper lip , but you could see the heartbreak in his fac e. He 'll be back in two weeks and odds say he 'll work his way in to the main event. The odds of any rider earning a ride in both mains are very high and the odds of winning both the Scratch and Handicap Main Events as well are just huge. In all of last season, there were only two rid ers who pulled it off . Alan Christian did it twice last year, once at San Bernardino, where he had never won before in four years of trying, and once at Costa Mesa , Now with the season just one week old , Alan Christian, the guy they call "Crazy," came from the 50 ·yard line in the Handicap Main Event to the winner's circle for the first of his two victories of the night. That's right , Alan came right back in the Scratch Main to outride Mike Bast , J im Fishback and Brad Oxley for the win. He also won the Feature Match race over Fishback earlier. Seventeen -year-old Tony Briggs, from Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of former World Speedway Champ Barry Briggs, is riding in the U.S. th is yea r and so fa r has had some trouble getting in step with the smaller tracks. Last week, he was knocked off twice at Costa Mesa . On the big track at Ascot, he really shined and if you were going to knock him off there. you just had to catch him first. The young man really has a feel for the big track and on his first night in competition, he earned a ride in the Handicap Main Event , ending up in third place. Then back on the smaller track at Costa Mesa, he again was getting bounced around between riders, not from meanness on th eir part and not because of lack of gu ts or ta lent, but just because the tu rns a re so very tight and it really takes several weeks of racing on th e sma ller trac ks to ge t a feel for them . The who le trick is just to survive thos e traini ng weeks .