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/126469
I SPEEDWAY WEEK ~ E o 00 0') 1"""'4 (Abov el Kell y Moran was fast but lost to Alan Christian in Costa Mesa's Scratch Main. (Belowl Moose Kennedy starts a long stretch. M ike Bast and Jack Kee at San Bernardino, Moran master at San Bernardino By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO. CA , AP R . SO Commotion by the ocean attracts horde By Bill R. Locey VENTURA, CA, APR. 29 Mike Bast and Lance King won the big bucks Tuesday night in Ventura before the largest speedway crowd of the new season, Not only were the winning riders paid overage money, but promoter Jim Naylor dazzled the patrons by holding drawings for $20 bills . A disciple of continuous entertainment, Na ylor had something for everyone. To keep mom and pop enthused, ther e were ATC races from 6 p .m. until ra ce tim e and convenient flyers inside each and every program . soon to become paper air planes for the aerodynamically inclined . Tuesday night's hero, Lance King , cleaned house in the Handicaps, win ning all of his races off the SO . Keith Larsen , Rusty Howard and Jim Lawson won the other three exciting heats. In the Semis , Howard took Shane Hawley on the last tum for a win . For the first time in recent memory, Alan Christian did not make the Main . Credit Mr. Christian with a sacrifice slideout in order to avoid the fallen Shawn McConnell. King picked his way through the pack for the other Semi win. In the Main , King. displaying a great feel for the dramatic, went under Lawson on the last tum, taking the lead for good in the final 10 yards . His masterful performance netted him a .flock of well-wishers after the show . In Scratch racing. John Sandonna kept it close before losing to Bast while Brad Oxley . Christia n and King were the other heat winners. And now for the bombshell: Mike Bast actually lost a Scratch race! That's a rare event in deed up here, and I've got witnessesl Bast, with his chief nemesis "Crazy" Christian close behind, forgo t about Dave DeTemple who blasted by every· one on the outside of the second tum and won comfortably. King, off the pole in the Main , had a chance for a sweep. but it was not to be . The Champ never makes the same mistake twice . Bast took the lead from the fourth spot by th e first tum and DeTemple made the ra ce exciting with a series of frantic charges from the outside. If Bast keeps this up . they may let him mail in his win in order to save gas . Second Division ra cing was a case study in the bizarre. Jeff Carmello and Dave Rose won the very typi cal first two heats. In the fina l heat race, firs t Bill Dunlop th en Venturan Pat Smith crashed while holdi ng big leads , leav ing a surprised Jeff Tom lin the victor. The same pattern followed in the Main as Tom Hughes then Dennis Bra nsford went down for the count after briefly enjoying insurmountable leads. Jeff Ca rrnello was the winning survivor. . The immaculate Pat Hawley won his heat and the T hird Division in convincing style. Resu lts SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Mike Bast; 2. Dave DeTempl e; 3. Brad Oxley; 4. Lance King . HANDICAP MAIN : 1. Lance King; 2. Jim Lawson ; 3. Brad Oxley; 4. Keith Larsen ; 5. Rusty Howard ; 6. Shane Hawley . SECOND DIV SION: 1. Jeff <:armalla. THIRD DIVISION: 1. Pat Hawley. MATC I1 RACE: DeTemple del. King . The hard-core of speedway fans braved both the rain and cold to see Kelly Moran ta ke the Handicap and Scratch Mains at Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednesday night. Moran started in the number four position in the Scratch Main and trailed Ala n Christian. Dave Sims and Steve Nutter. Sims fell goi ng into tum three on the first lap. taking himself out of the hunt. Moran went by Nutter coming out of tum four on the first lap and set his sights on leader Christian. It didn't take the 19·year-old long as he went inside Christian in the very next tum and was never headed the rest of the way. Christian hung on for second followed by Nutter and Sims. In the Handicap Main . Keith Chrisco (in his first ever Handicap Main) took the lead at the start followed by Jan Ballard, Craig Schaeffer, Sims . Mike Bast and Moran. Sims pulled off on the back straight on lap one with motor problems . Bast and Moran moved past Schaeffer and went after Ballard . Bast took second from Ballard on the front stretch at the beginning of lap three. Moran then put Ballard in fourth coming out of tum two on the same lap. Moran brough t the crowd to th eir feet going down the back chute as he pulled alongsi de Bast. The crowd went wild as Bast a nd Moran battled side by side throu gh tu rns three and four. The white flag came OUt with Moran going high and Bast low to get a ro und leader Chrisco. Chrisco then fell in tum one dropping him to fifth as the battle for the lead continued down the back straight and into tum three. Moran gave the crowd what they wanted as he took the lead for keeps coming off of turu ! gW- iUld..be:a.tJUst .10 the line by 10 feet. Ballard took third with Schaeffer fourth ahead of Chrisco and Sims . David Rose moved up to Second Division and proved he belonged, leading the Main from start to finish. Rose took the lead ahead of John Foster at the start. John Silva took second from Foster on lap two and went to work on Rose using the high groove. Silva was able to pull even on the turns, with Rose our-das hing him on the straigh ts, Rose opened up a sm all lead on lap fou r with Silva hanging on to second until he got loose . in tum one of the final la p letting Jeff Tomlin and J eff Ca rmello by. T omlin fought off Carmello the final lap to f:nish second. Carmello was third ahead of Silva . Gary Ford and Foster. . Pat Hawley. who was only in his third night of speedway racing, nabbed his second Third Division Main. Hawley. who won the Main the night before at Ventura . took th e lead at the start of the crash-filled event and was never headed. The race was restarted after being red-flagged on lap two as Steve Murray was shaken in an accident on the back straight. Hawley took the lead on the restart ahead of Tom Conrad. Dennis Abbot , who won last week 's Main, got by Conrad coming out of four on lap two. Abbott then fell coming out of four on lap three taking away his hopes of catching Hawley. Kerry Miller inherited second but was unable to catch Hawley in the remaining lap. Finishing third through sixth were Con rad , Margo King, Abbott and Mu rray . Earlier in the evening, popular 16-year- old Lance King injured his shoulder in a spill during his Handicap hea t forcing him to scratch for the night. On the brighter side d uri ng the preliminaries. Margo King pleased the crowd winning the first heat in Third Division . Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Kelly Moran ; 2. Alan Christian; 3. Steve Nutter; 4. DaveSims. HAND ICAP MAIN: 1. Kelly Moran ; 2. Mike Ba51; 3. Jan Ballard; 4. Creig Schaeffer ; 5. Kean Chrisco; 6. Dave S ims.