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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126470
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Bill labrie 1101 topped Steve Morehead at Ascot's Friday night half mile.
Labrie lands
Ascot HM win
By Maureen Lee
Photo by Dan Mahony
GARDENA . CA . MAY 9
T wo weeks ago Florida's Bill
Labrie was spectacu la r on the
half m ile for his first time at
Ascot and seco nd time out he
26
did the regula rs in aga in ,
. In the first ex pe n hea t Frid ay night.
T ed Davidson and John W incewicz go t
th e dri ve in to turn one first, but
Labrie was right behind them . coming
up behind ' Davidson and ahead of
W incewicz and th e fight was on.
Labrie j ust leaned back and once by
Davidson, went on to win with the
fastest heat time. Wincewicz then took
on Davidson, and they went at it for a
while until John passed for the last
time and got the flag in second spot.
The second heat had a restart after
Steve Monger unloaded, and Many
Halkola and Bobby Sanders were the
early two up front followed by Ronnie
Jones and Scott Parker. Parker, Davidson and Corky Keener had be en
involved in a chain reaction crash in
practice and Keener had chosen to
save his bod for the n ational and not
ride agai n Friday. Halkola went out
and Sanders hung onto the lead as
young Parker, with Tom Berry right
behind him . came charging u p
behind, scooting by Ronnie Jones in
turn on e and a lmost n ipping Sanders
out of the win right at the fin ish flag .
The final heat was Steve Morehead's
with five riders in a pack up front for a
few laps - Morehead. Gary Scott,
Mickey Fay , Scott Drake and Ted
Boody. Boody was flying, getting up to
third with Bob Crabbe coming along
with him. Second was Scott who had
been overhauling Morehead , getting
great drives out of turn four . but Steve
was still ahead at the flag.
Ted Davidson got th e lead in th e
semi, th en ca me Mickey Fay using up
all his 500cc Honda had to offer a nd
go ing great. with Ronnie Jones doingthe same thing and running along sid e. Bill Crabbe and Rich Volk wer e
in the same group and it was good
racing as Gene Church cam e up
th rough the gaggle to em erge second.
Final rundown was Da vidson . Church ,
Fay a nd Volk.
Fay's little Honda flew off the line in
•. th e main . bllt .tb.e..big cH a rleys-.soon
gobbled him up . T he first pass
through the no rth tu rn was a bit hair
ra ising but all survived. Bill Labrie
came out of it with th e lea d , then Steve
Davidson,
Bob
Mo rehead , Ted
Sanders and Gary Scott . The next
cha nge about was Scott m oving a long
by Sa nders and the n Davidson while
beh ind, Scot t Parker was skidding
into fifth place.
J ohn W inc ewicz was next arou nd
San d ers whose engine was tighten ing
u p. a nd up front, Mo rehead was
tryi ng ou t Labrie. Bill got tired of th at
and pu lled ahea d far enough so
Morehead wasn't a ll over his rear
wheel. Gary Scott ha d third firm ly in
ha nd , bu t th e fight over fourth
between Da vidson . Pa rker a nd W incewicz was the action spot.
For at least th e last five laps . La brie
was sitting up on his bike , all relaxed
like he was touring while all th e others
were scrunched up and tense over their
gas tanks.. .a sight to see , and he
relaxed even more to do a wheelie as
he got the checkered flag . Finishing in
that contested fourth spot was John
Wincewicz.
Fastest Junior tim e was Rick
Arnaiz's 23.33. but Steve Polson led
him through turn one in th e first heat
of that division. Coming up fast was
Jim Filice on the factory 500cc
Yamaha , and Jimbo took
full
a dva n tage of all the opened doors and
the nimbleness of h is bike , ducking
under Arnaiz first and then Polson to
go on and win .
The second hea t ha d a pa ir of
Honda 500s out front rid den by Brett
Barkman and Wyatt Scroggins. with
Arlette Smith in th ird. Po int leader
Danny Perkins had been caught wit h
his head down at th e start and was
scrambling up through the pa ck until
he caught up to Smith. He finally
passed her and the pair of them go t
transfers to the semi behind Ba rkman
and Scroggins.
The final heat was all Jeff Allison's .
as he took off with Eddie San Roman
and Dennis Camp following hard
behind. That fast effort earned J eff
th e place on the pole for th e main .
Arlette Smith led th e way in th e
semi until Steve Polson took it away,
but ag ain . come-from-behind -Perkins
was coming fast , pass ing both of th em .
Smith, who handles tra ffic very well,
tucked in right with them an d although
Steve Karsten also got by, she earned
herself a place in the main .
In that race , Jeff Allison was awa y
__ _~~~ ?~~~i';1. ~i!i:~ ~.a~ .ri.~h.t ~i~~ ? im ,
Bob Kline was king of the 125cc Pros at AME's night MX bash.
and got into the lead by the start of lap
two . He never lost it eit her, in spite of
his engine size. Allison fin a lly lost
second to Rick Arnaiz , and Wyatt
Scroggins stayed with the front
ru nners for a while and the n faded .
Again , it was Danny Perkins starting
from way back skidding up through
the pack until he took th ird away from
Allison . Up fro nt Filice took the win
a nd Men Lawwill was all grins when
J im go t ba ck to his pit . . .ne at!
Bob Garrison fell on th e b ack
stra ight at the start of th e Novice main
and Pat Seigle became la unc hed whe n
he hi t Bob 's bike , so it was a restart
with Mike Paulson and Mike Bird the
first two alternates lin ing up . Mike
H ale took the high way arou nd the
outside lin e to take the lead away from
Bill Scot t and build up some distance
for himself. Again there was another
close photo finish between Scott a nd
Ross Klatt. with Scott getting the
scorer's nod for second place.
Result s
TROPHY DASH: 1. Ted Davidson (H-D); 2. Bill Labrie
IH-DI; J. SIeve Monger IH-DI; 4. Gary Scon IH-DI.
TIme : 1:11.9
. EXPERT MAIN: 1. Bill Labrie IH-D}; 2. SIeve Morehead IH-DI; J . Gary SCOIl (H-DI; 4. J oh n Wincewicz IHD); 5. Scott Po