Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I Shobert and Kldd eelebrete their teem reee win. Bubbe Shobert I87NI. here "edlng Mike Kldd (12), Ronnie Jones 1111 and Jim Rlleel17z) In team rece action. won the main event.IBelowl Third place Dennis Briggs leeds Mickey Fay 1691 and John Genna!. Team Texas gets it all in Long Beach short track By Dale Brown Photos by Patrick Behar and Brown LONG BEACH, CA , MAY 7 Texan Don "Bubba" Shobert led all 20 laps of the main event in the SPM-promoted Yamaha Gold Cup indoor short track, then rode with Mike Kidd as Team Texas and the pair ran away from Team Kawasaki in the run-off to determine the top t m e~. . . . I was a little worned after the restart, " said Shobert, referring to a lap 10 crash that put Ronnie Jones , Mickey Fay and Rod Spencer down onto the concrete surface amfbrought 16 ,l ou I2i M Jl.ah· . ~:I.Rfl ~estart, .and according to Shobert, everything turned out the way I wanted it to." That Team Texas was even in the match race final was fortunate for them . Recalculation of the scores of the 15 match races on the day after the race, showed that Team Kawasaki (Wayne Rainey and Dennis Briggs) in - ·W;Jii Pm. QpJ~ ' IJ't 'l' Il ~¥i- h' • with 33 points , but there should have been a run-off for second between Team Yamaha Oim Filice and Ronnie Jones) and Team Smoke (john Gennai and Rod Spencer), who had 31 points apiece. Kidd and Shobert were actually fourth with 29. Action in the Long Beach Arena was divided between heats and semis for the Ifl-rider main event and round rob in competition between six two man teams, representing bike brands (Kawasaki , Yamaha and Honda), places (Texas and Mexico) and the unknown (Team Smoke). Qualifying, which was interrupted after oil on tum three sent a couple of riders to the ground, found northern California's Rod Spencer (Yam) as the tet..:tuntin 1... ~ 1 i'1 !IeC.nd c""'k- "4 · . ·· I'i' .-1·••· • 'I ~ .. » .~;: . ing . Shobert qualified second fastest on a Yamaha with a 9.19. Bultacomounted John Gennai was credited with an identical time, wh ile Kawasaki's Wayne Rainey came up with a 9.22. Dave Aldana, skeleton leathers perched atop a Shell Thuet Yamaha , was credo ited with fifth fastest time. There were five heats, but no direct transfers to the main , as the field whittled down to four semis . The top two in each semi transferred, and the main event line- up was completed by the third place riders from the two fastest semis . The fint sem i saw Jim Filice , rid ing Kenny Roberts' Houston/Cow Palace bike, take the lead with Honda's Mickey Fay and Gennai filing in behind. Fay and Gennai soon muscled their way into the top two spo ts with Bobby Sanders (Kaw) taking third in the final order as Filice dropped to fifth . The second semi was a pan ial pre· view of the main as Shobert timed his stan perfectly and led all six laps. (T he semis were to hav e been 10-lap affairs , bu t after the first one was shown the checkered flag on lap six , all were.) Rod Spencer held second from stan to finish with Mike Inderbitzen finishing third in front of Honda'sJeffHaney. Brian Thompson placed himself in the lead of the third semi, but an on form Dennis Briggs (Kaw) and Cow Palace winner Ronnie Jones (Yam) edged inside going down the front straight midway through the race. Thompson ended up third in front of Mike Minnig. The Army - or Midd Kidd, anyway - ran awa y with the final semi , putting nearly half a lap on the pack and setting the fastest time of the four semis. Wayne Ra iney was a distant second with Terry Poovey working his way into third late in the race. The semis won by Kidd and Shobert were the fastest , which put Inderbitzen and Poovey into the main. Shobert, sponsored by Hi -Point and Bruster Performance Center, dialed in another perfect stan to take the lead in the main, followed by polesitter Kidd, Dennis Briggs and Mickey Fay. Room to pass was sparse and that order continued as Shobert and Kidd started to pull away. Fay, Ronnie Jones and Rod Spencer were bunched up tight behind Briggs and working hard to get by. On the 10th lap, the tussle between Jones, Fay and Spencer got too tight and they went down in a heap at the tum 1·2 apex. A red flag brought the race to a halt as Jones was slow in getting up. But he did and all three were ready to go in the restart, albeit lit t~,b,~ .~ ~,~~'~Lsj~~IS ,fil~ o,~~e~,'i4He.r' "

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