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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126427
Chandler takes three,
Hill two at AMA
Amateur TT National
By Maureen Lee
Photos by Dan MahonylWlzard Racing Photography
GARDENA, CA, AUG. 25-26
The Lightweights M. C. hosted their half of
the AMA Amateur/National Championship
by throwing the TT at the legendary Ascot
Park. Although heavily pressured to get things
over and done with so the groups
renting the track for the two
evenings wouldn't get antsy, the
club threw a terrific race. Every-
16
one involved knew what they were to
do and where they were to do it and
things went smoothly, considerably.
aided by the professional talents of
AMA Pro starter Al Mintz and his
assistant. Shorty Seaborne.
Unfortunately, track management
wouldn't permit the half-mile section
of the track to be used Saturday (sprint
car racing at night) so District 57
scrambles steward Ed Carroll and his
club laid out a real neat IT track in
the infield, big enough for the little
screamers running that day, whereon
they went over the jump backwards.
There was a dog-leg in the first section
that parted quite a few riders from
their mounts; riders not skillfull
enough to move their body weight
from left to right quickly.
Tom Knight was the first- one to
come adrift in the 50cc class but he
was up and at 'em again and went on
to win the main. One of the best rides
we've seen in a long time was turned in
by Greg Fraser from British Columbia.
He fell right in the beginning scramble
for position, and then proceeded in
the few short laps to move on up
through the pack by Washington'sJ.P.
Simonsen.. on up by the gaggle from
Stockton-Visalia of Ron and Bryan
Knight, Frank Morris, and Allen
Walton. Walton moved eventually
into second. but right at the end, hard
charging Fraser came flying up and
took it away from him. Time didn't
allow him to knock off front runner
Tom Knight.
Randy Turbett, from Peoria who'd
won two classes at Porterville the week
before, was chased home fmt in both
.
his heat and the 65cc 7-II main by
Scottie Scherb from Texas. Behind
them came Ron Wade from Illinois,
and then the first Californian. Antone
Mellow from Marina.
The 85cc Stock 7-11 main had two
restarts because of crashes; finally they
got underway, with Pat Murray from
Stafford, NY. making a perfect pass
from the outside to the inside of tum
one. right through the pack to third
spot. Front runners Aaron Hill and
Kurt Chandler never lost their first
and second. but CraigJohnson and Joe
Avila did shuffle fourth around.
It was Oregon's tum in the 85cc
Stock ll!-14 class, a group that
naturally went faster because they
were bigger. Stockton's Shawn Black
took off with the lead but right on his
rear wheel the whole time was Clay
Clark from Oregon. Behind them
Steven Hill w.as going very well and got
up to third only to have his bike slow
down, dropping him back behind
Mike Lawrence and Rod Gillis. Then
zap, on the last lap Clark left it full on
coming down the back chute and got
by Black for the win. leaving his
cheeri~g section almost prostrate with
excitement.
Again. Hill got the job done in the
85cc Modified 7-11 main, but not
without considerable pressure from
Kurt Chandler and Curtis Cannon. in
maybe the best race of the day. Hill
didn't lose his first but Chandler and
Cannon were flat having at it while
Dean Snell was going every which way
including sideways to keep up and.in
contention with them.
Showing the amount of talent on
tap at Ascot Saturday. there were
three number one plates in the 85cc
Modified U-I4, a solid California
lineup except for Richard Duncan
from Snohomish, WA. The current
National number one, Danny Moore
from Carmel, had the tough luck to
faD right when he was in contention in
third place. while Doug Chandler and
Roger Thompson settled out first.
Chandler finally got away from
Thompson. who in tum put space
between himself and Chris Carr.
In the lOOcc Schoolboy, Oregon's
Dan Bennett was giving it the ride of
his life when he sailed by Jim Toews
going over the jump and then got by
Vance Sherfield to end up fourth
overall. Up front though, it was Doug
Chandler
again.
then
Chad
Bettencourt and Chris Carr. all so
equally matched they couldn't better
their positions and track conditions by
then made it important to show some
consideration on the turns.
Nastiest crash of the day happened
to Roger Schollenberger in the 125cc
Schoolboy heat when he went down in
the pack and a rider with nowhere to
go went right over with both wheels,
but Roger walked away, though slowly
and no doubt remembers his first time
at Ascot by the bruises. Danny Moore
won the main, while second place man
Randy Green from Washington had to
do some maneuvering around people
to get his spot. Darren Hulbert got
third and notably in fourth was
Michael Murray all the way from New
York. making his claim to fame and
jumping past Drew Roberts in mid-air
to do it.
Trophy winners went home with
beautiful tr0rhies courtesy of Yamaha
Internationa, who went all out to
support the Amateur races, while the
participant pins from the Lightweights have to be quite the nicest
we've ever seen in years of racing.
Sunday got underway using the
complete Ascot IT course, and right
off the bat in the fmt race, the lOOcc
Amateurs. had a red flag and a backrow start for Larry Babcock who
thought he'd try out AI Mintz as
staner. AI's action showed 'em that he
wasn't to be messed with. Chris Carr
won that heat with a big lead and took
control again later in the day in the
main. Richard Hager had second held
down but the racing was between
Oregon's Dan Bennett and Texan Ross
Duncan. Bennett would get up alongside going through the eases but every
lap Duncan was the master coming out
oflhe twisty stuff.
District 57's number one, Charles
"Bud" Carroll, lived up to his name
with a smooth win in the 125cc
Amateur class. Porterville's Bob Land
beat him in the heat but the main was
a d.ifferent matter, and Land took
second. Mearl Barnett went well for a
while but slipped back behind Roger
Shellenberger and Chris Carr. while
Carr pushed third place Mike Garrison
for all he was worth. '
There were only 12 entries for the
200cc class so they rode a heat and a
main. Chad Bettencourt won both but
not without a real fight from Roger
Schellenberger from Texas. Roger
pushed Chad hard and when Bettencourt bobbled in the esses, he took full
advantage and slipped into first. Back
came Bettencourt and regained the
lead at the jump, with Dallas Babcock
barely third over Richard Horton.
Space won't allow full details of the
250cc wars in the heats and the semis.
Doug Chandler went against national
number one Mike Garrison, taking the
lead early after a mad tangle around
the first two turns.
There's a tale in Jeff Springman,
winner of the 560cc class. Last week.
he came out of about a two year layoff,
went to Porterville as an alternate and
won there; this weekend, he did the
very same thing. In the main
Springman took the lead. then came
Jerry Brandt and Jim Mahoney.
Things happened: Darrell Thompson
fell off and then Kenny Bunon
grenaded his engine over the jump.
After lots of people spent time kicking
dirt over all the oil that extended from
halfway over the jump into the next
turn, away they went again, single fale
start. Again, Jeff took charge, pulling
away with the lead. while Chris
Cannon flew up past people to end in
third behind Mahoney. and Scott
Saunders did the same to take fourth
ahead ofJerry Brandy.
National number one Rick Almeida
didn't survive the tangle through turn
one int he 500cc main; that class had
more than its share of troubles
including one of their semis being put
back on the ready line to cool off and
running the Open c1ass next. Notable
was a ride by Pete Hames in his semi as
he made a terrific attempt to make the
main (he did) passing both Danny
Moore and Tony Urias to do it. Urias
lost his transfer by the simple fact of
being heavier than Moore - Danny
out-dragged him down the chutel
In the main Mark Key got the lead
early and pulled away with it. The
track had developed its infamous blue
groove and the Amateurs handled
themselves commendably on it. Joe
Mitchell took second, holding off Fred
Bennett for a while, then Doug
Chandler when he got by Bennett.
Kreg Hunt from Oklahoma was right
in the hunt for a while, in fourth spot.
only to finally unload in the esses after
a lap-after-lap battle with Chandler.
The Open class was a screamer for
the fans of Ronald Day and Randy
Griffith as they swapped the lead
around in a class with 24 entries. Some
hopefuls like Dave Peters didn't ev=
make it in when he got center punched
in a semi, National number one,
Michigan's Ray Garrett, made it in
from a semi and got an eighth in the
main. Matt Rohr and Randy Griffith
treated the stands to some side by side
jumps over the big Ascot jump, tben
up came Ron Day to take the lead
away from both of them and keep it,
with Griffith takinlt' second by a hair
over Rohr.
Immlten/Peck led the lightweight
hacks home while Whitaker/Maclean
from across the seas in Avalon took
second. Actually the team of Ketcham/
Ketcham was second after a hell of a
battle with the 109 hack, but they
disqualified themselves when the fray
was over, moving Rahm/and Wyant
into third.
For the heavyweights. it was Fresno's
hot duo of Butterfield/Hill with their
BMW, with Sanner/Melillo taking
second. We observed the ambulance
crews taking more notice when the
hacks came to the line, but they
needn't have bothered, these guys
know how to do it.
•
Results
!iOc<: Q.ASS: 1. Tom Kn9tt lSuzI; 2. Grog _
lSuzl; 3. AIen W_lSuzI.
86cc Q.ASS lAGE 7-11~ I. Rondy T_lSuzl; 2.
_ _ lV.....;3._W... lV......
86cc STOCK Q.ASS lAGE 7-1 I ~ 1. Aoron Hit ~;
2. Kurt a.-~; 1 Croig.Johr-. lV......
86cc STOCK Q.ASS CAGE 12·141: 1. CIIy CIorlt
lV ; 2. SIwM1 _
ae-t; 1 MicIleoI ~
lV .
lISa: MOO Q.ASS lAGE 7-1 I ~ 1. Aoron Hit ~. 2.
Kurl a.-lV.....; 3. Cur1Ioe--lV......
'
86cc MOO Q.ASS CAGE 12-141: 1. Doug a . ~: 2. Floaer 1lonpeon lV.....; 3. tmiI c.r lSuzl.
lOll SCHOolBOv: 1. Doug a . - lV.....; 2. Chod
_ l V.....; 1 ChriIc.rlSuzl.
125 SCHOOlBOY: 1. Donny - . lV_I; 2. Rondy
Grew! lV_I; 3. o.ren ~ lV......
l00cc AM: 1. ChriI c.r ISuzl; 2. R_d Hoger
lV_I; 3. _
aunc.n lV_I.
125 AM: 1. ClwIoo ConoII lV.....; 2. Robert l.8nd
lV_I; 3. Mike GorriIan lV......
200cc CLASS: 1. Chod _
lV.....; 2. Roger
Schellenberger lVlml; 3. 0aIlB1lIIbcoc:k (Sull.
250cc CLASS: 1. Doug Chlndler IKawI; 2. Mike
Ger