Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I SPEEDWAY WEEK ~ E o 00 0') ~ Victor Robletto and Cary Faas tangle at San Bern ardino. (Above) Will anyone beat Alan Christian in a Scratch Main soon7 (Below) Danny Becker. Dave DeTemple and Kelly Moran at Costa Mesa. Loco boy makes good By Bill R. Locey VENTURA , CA, MAY 6 After a spill in the Handicap Main, Alan "Crazy" Christian, the Darth Vader of U.S. Speedway, came back to win the Scratch 22 Main in fine style before the largest speedway crowd of the year in Ventura . A perennial also- ran behind meticulous Mike Bast, Christian's outburst was long overdue as he beat the Champ not once, but twice for the first time in a year and a half up here. The Champ, who only lost two Scratch Mains here all last season' (to Kelly Moran and Bruce Penhall) has already lost that many this yea r. His rival ry with Christian continues to be am ong the best in speedway. For th e fou rth week in a ro w we h ad a new H andicap Ma in win ne r - this time Rusty Howard . In the heats , Brad O xley took the hard riding Sooner, Derek Gage , on the last tum for a win . Then Howard an d th e Shawn ' on the circu it fas test (McConnell) won y a w n ers , and Ch ristian did one of h is remarkable numbers to win the fin al hea t off th e 50. The first sem i was a nothe r yawne r with th e b lon d Howard winn ing easily. The second sem i gave the crowd their money's worth. In turn two , Christian crowded inside Keith Chrisco; if they had been any closer, Chrisco would've had a new shadow. Chrisco held his ground , but Christian ha d the position and took off, leaving Chrisco with Grant Salyers, Jan Ballard and McConnell to fight it out for th e final transfer spot. The Handicap Ma in was too much. As Howard took a good lead , th e other five riders formed a tighter and tighter mass after two laps . In another unbelievable mo ve, Christian muscled DeTemple asid e and passed four riders in the second tum . But th e pack was hot on his tail as he m ade his mo ve on Howard . Tum th ree was a turn for th e worse for Alan who got it too fa r sideways too soon and dumped it. He was safe with a slide (De'Tem ple's and Mors e's). With hal f t he field do wn , incredibly en ough, th ere was no red flag. Referree indecision in th e form of a simulta neous checkered flag an d a red flag gr eeted th e lead ing su rvivor, J ohn Sandona. Since t he re h ad been no red flag , Sandona won, right ? But, oh nooool After a lengthy disc ussion, th e race was rerun . The cheers turne d to boo s when Christian was ruled out of the restart. Howard won the less exciting restart, leading all t he way. The Scratch h eats were a seri es of laughers won by Bast, Christian , Ox ley an d DeTemple. "Sna ke" Larsen slithered by Mike Mu nt ea n for a close second -place fin ish and what seemed a questionable call awarded another transfer spot to Charlie Mors e over Denny Pyeatt. W ith Bast on the pol e , t he first Scratch Semi seemed like a good time to go for popcorn. but Christian from t he fourth spot blasted around the Champ in the second turn and held on for the win . The other semi was a four-lap , three-man battle between Oxley, DeTemple and Sandona . The issue remained in doublt until th e fina l turn as DeTemple narrowly bested Oxley and Sandona . In th e Main , it was the Crazy man go ing underneath th e Champ on th e seco nd turn and th e rest is history. Christian , who last year in his black leathers even looked like Darth Vader, con tinu es to ride like the Dark Lord . If Alan can adapt his style to the long track at Ascot this season , watch out. Newcomer Gary Ford, down from Canada , won his heat and the Second Division Main in convincing style. Young Pat Hawley easil y won th e Third Division Main as he did the week before. Counting th e other tracks, that's four Mains in a row notbadl . Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Alan Christian ; 2. M ike Bast; 3. Dave DeTemple; 4 . Brad Oxley. HAN DICAP MAIN: 1. RustY Howard; 2. Dave DeTemple; 3. John Sandona ; 4. Keith Chrisco; 5. Charlie Morse; 6. Alan Chr istian. SECOND DIV : 1. Gary Ford . THIR D DIV: 1. Pat Hawley. MATCH RACE: 1. Sond ona del. Pyean. Christian and McConnell share San Bernardino wins By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO , CA , MAY 7 Alan "Crazy" Christian defeated Dave Sims to take his first Scratch Main of the season at Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednesday night. Christi an , who start ed in the number four position, a nd popular Kell y Moran , who sta rt ed on the pole, jumped out front at th e start. Moran took sole possession of first com ing ou t of turn two on th e first lap ahead of Christian , Sims and John Sandona. Sandona went do wn coming out of turn two dropping him out of contention . Christian st aye d <;m Moran's tail a nd passed the 19·year-old com ing out of th e fourth tum on lap two. Moran stayed with Christian on ly to hav e his motor go sour as he took the white flag. Sims inherited second. but was unable to ca tch Christian in the remaining lap . Sandona took third with Moran ending up fourth . In th e Handicap Ma in, young Shawn McConnell edged Christian for his first win at I.M .S . this season. McConnell a nd Der ek Gage jumped out front at th e start from th eir I O-yard starting position. McConnell took the lead as the pair went in to tum three on lap on e. Gage went high com ing ou t of turn four a nd hit the front stretch wall. H e was unhurt bu t was out of the race. As McConnell lengthened his lead , a wild battle for second went on between Keith Chrisco, Sims , Jeff Tomlin and Christian. Christian went to work on th e high groove and took second from Chrisco coming out of the second turn on the fourth lap. Christian was able to catch McConnell but was unable to get by as they took the checkers inches apart. Chrisco managed to hold off the ever-present Sims for th ird . Tom lin ended up fifth with Gage being credited for sixth. Marty Spellman took th e lead at the start of the Second Division Main and never looked back. Spellman's onl y challenger was Keith Larson . La rson was running well using th e high groove until he took a h ard tumble coming out . of the fourth turn on lap th ree . Canadian Gary Ford , Dwight Hill, Rusty Howard and Jeff Carmello were left to battle it out for the number two position. Ford and Hill went at it side by-side down the back chute and through th e final two turns with Hill getting second by inches at the line. Finishing fourth behind Spellman, Hill a nd Ford were Howard and Carmello. Pat Hawley was the fa vorit e in Third Division as he again won the main at Ventura the night before. Hawley'S race en de d ea rl y as he caused a red flag and was di squalifi ed . Cary Faas took th e lead on the restart ahead of Victor Rob lett o. Margo Kin g , Ed Thurman and Dennis Abbott. Thurman moved by King and Robletto to take second. The high-flying Thurman then got by leader Faas going down the back chute on lap two . Thurman's lead didn't last long as Faas got it back in turn three on the same lap. Thurm an then tried to move inside Faas coming down th e front straight whe n mechanical problems for ced him out. Abbott

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