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/126427
Cook and Oxley wallow to victory By Bill R. Locey LANCASTER, CA, AUGUST 50 What started out as light comedy in heavy mud ended up with some dynamite speedway racing as the regular Thursday ni~t l8rry Kosta lit Costa M .... Sandonna and Larson win no-show night in Ventura ll II By Bill R. Locey Moran reinstated at San Berdoo VENTURA,CA,AUGUST28 By Dennis Greene Ventura Speedway was filled to capacity Tuesday night - but half the fans came disguised as empty seats. The disappearing 20 act also affected the program as several riders failed to show up; among them track regulars Dave DeTemple, Criag Schaeffer, and program cover boy Gene Wood. New promoter Jim Naylor, facing the difficult task of taking over the track in mid season, was visibly disappointed by the 16 noshows. But the program, though lacking many of the favorites, was not lacking in exciting, sideways action. John Sandonna, certainly among the top five best dressed speedway riders (being something of a minipsychedelic experience in his orange leathers with yellow and black checkered sleeves), made his ninth local appearance payoff as he rode to victory in the Scratch Final. This was his second ,-ictory on the local 116 mile oval in the last three weeks. After mechanical problems forced a scratch in the Handicap Semi, Sandonna held off Lou Lindwall to win his first Scratch heat two races later. Although placing second to Brad Oxley in the Scratch Semi, the final was all Sandonna as he took the lead on turn two and never looked back, besting Oxley, Danny McNeill, and Lindwall. Oxley was particularly solid all evening, finishing second in both main events. Keith "The Snake" Larson, looking better every week, was the story in the Handicap portion of the program, scoring his initial First Division victory. Riding for the eighth time locally, Larson had begun the season in Ventura from the ten yard line in Second Division, winning the Main twice. Starting from the ten in First Division this week, "The Snake" was never seriously challenged and he rode to victory in all of his Handicap rides. Denny Pyeatt continues to impress. Mter crashing in his first Handicap ride, Pyeatt not only did not give up, but remounted and passed enough bodies for a third place finish and the transfer. In another Handicap heat race. Sandonna clearly elbowed over Bob Waller. Apparently a case of no-harmno-foul in the eyes of the referee, Waller was not surprisingly out-voted !I-I by the qualifying riders as to rerunning the race. In the finale, five riders essentially negated one another in the futile pursuit of Larson as the second place spot changed leaders repeatedly. Since only eight riders showed up, Second Division racers got the rare chance to go scratch racing. Bobby \ SAN BERNARDINO, AUGUST, 29 Just before the races got underway a special riders meeting was held to announce that Shawn Moran had been reinstated; that there had been no powerproducing additive in his fuel as previously charged. This same information was passed on to the race fans by announcer Bruce Flanders and after a long round of applause the show got underway. It's great that the speedway control board had the backbone to admit they made a mistake, but they should have done their homework before pointing the fmger of guilt. By not letting Moran ride the last night of qualifying, he could have found himself sitting in the grandstands on the night of the U.S. National. Only his superb riding talent gave him enough points to hold onto tenth spot, even without riding that last night of qualifying. Shawn Moran has been signed to ride overseas next season and it is not beyond reason that he could take the U.S. title with him. As it turned out, Shawn only got a couple of laps in before a hard carsh sent him to the hospital with lower back pain and a light concussion. But he will be back in time to race before the title shot in October. Jim Fishback had a rough night of it also. So much so, in fact, that when he was asked about his upcoming trip as a team member in the ISDT, he replied, in answer to the question, "When do you leave for Germany?", "This weekend, if I survive." Fishback did not qualify for the National; he missed the first qualifier in Sacramento due to injuries, then scored low and got knocked off a couple of times. Gene Woods and Alan Christian continue to take their fair share of main events. Woods took the Scratch Main just ahead of Christian; Alan had already won the Handicap Main. On Wednesday night, September 12, with the running of running of the California State Championship, San Bernardino' puts the wraps on their 1979 season. orch~trated performance, rode a 250cc dirt bike seemingly without effort or drama through a row of knives and a wall of flames. A member of the speedway entourage was heard to wisecrack that he'd ride through a wall of flames nude for only a hundred. Well, maybe next year ... As for next week, it's back to Ascot for the season finale on the big quarter mile. Racing begins at 8:00 p.m.; and the bot dogs aren't half bad, either ... Ascot program moved to the '/8 niUe oval at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. On a night dry cleaners dream about, the track was initially so mucky that the number of riders making the traditienal prerace check of the traction was lICVerely curtailed. The crash wall consisted of hay bales strategically placed a few feet apart around a track which had survived the midgets and a demolition derby the night before. While the capacity crowd suffered from venomous hotdogs, j.C. Agajanian suffered visibly 'frOlD promoter's nightmare - 15 no-shows on the program. Mike Bast. who had ridden Wednesday night in Olr.lahoma, confirmed his absence from somewhere in Kansas. Ascot favorite Frank Adamo failed to materialize, and Shawn Moran, his energy crisis resolved favorably, was recovering from a· nasty crash at San Berdoo the night before. None of this bowever. dimmed tbe good time atm06phere of tbe fair-goers and speedway fans. A number of thrifty fans, saving the price of admission lined the chain link fence near the pits, sharing their Perrect view of half the track witb a number of curious sheep. Bruce Flanders, the Vin Scully of speedway announcers, was in fine. irreverent form. After five crashes, several close calls, and riders spinning out regularly in the first four Handicap heats. it was clear that simply staying up was a major accomplishment. Suddenly, in the fourth heat, Brad Oxley found a line, and won his beat by half a lap. Oxley's quick adaption to track conditions netted him the win in tbe Handicap Coney and later the Main, in similarly convincing style. By intermission time, the track had gotten faster, but not fast enough. Without tbe proper grading equipment available to bring the track around, the riders were encouraged to take practice laps in order to blow off the excess mud. With as many as nine riders on the track at once, blasting showers of mud in every direction, it wasn't long before tbe track was in decent shape. The grading process was much more entertaining tban the boring tractors we're so accustomed to seeing. The second half of the program was, in a word - fast. John Cook, Denny Pyeatt, Danny McNeill, Lou Lindwall, Brad Oxley, Shawn McConnelf and Dave DeTemple aU looked strong in the opt;ning Scratch heats. Sbawn McConnell apparencly finished second in his heat after passing and being passed lICVeral times by Phil Gagnon. only to be disqualified for "dangerous riding.'" On the final lap. McConnell bumped Gagnon who ,mmediately threw a chain amid a shower of sparks. It seemed to be no more than your basic wheel-to-wheel, e1bow-to-e1bow speedway racing with no malicous intent on McConnell's pan, who even commiserated over Ga~n's bad fortune in the pits after the race.