Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

II C::wta Mesa - San Bernardino - A8cot - Ventura - Sacramento - Napa - C::wta Mesa - San Bernardino - A8cot - Ventura - Sacramento - " I: SPEEDWAY WEEK ~ t o 00 0') P"""ol Kelly Moran. Lance King. John Sandona and Dubb Ferrell at San Berdoo. Christian, DeTemple perfect night moves By Bill R. locey VENTURA, CA,MAY 13 Here's what kind of night it was in Ventura Tuesday: The program's cover boy didn't show up. The riders couldn 't decide 20 whether to be disgusted with the track , the officials or each other. The loudest cheer of the night , wonhy of a dozen Penhalls, went to The Loading Zon e, a local headshop that buys program space, inadvertently mentioned by the announcer. There was a fight in the stands. And it was really cold. Oh, and they had some motorcycle races, too. Alan Christian won the Scratch Main for the second week in a row here. Things were a bit easier for Alan this week since he didn't have to deal with Mike Bast who has been suspended from racing for 30 da ys for allegedly trying to send Irwin to the Moon. Dave DeTemple, who always seems to be right there at the end, won the Handicap Main for the second time this season, taking a ll three of his rides off the 40. In between there were thrills and spills galore. Riders flew through the air, bounced off walls and each other at an alarming rate as DeTemple, Brad Oxley. Charlie Morse and mighty Moose Kennedy won the heats . Hairraising near-crashes highlighted the Semis, won by DeTemple and Morse. The Handicap Main was in a word, weird . Under the heading " In -PraiseOf- Long- Legs:" Shawn McConnell pulled an unintentional wheelie at the gate , came off the back but still held onto the handlebars and ran along behind his bike for about 15 yards. somehow got the front end down, then jumped back on and took off: an amazing save to be sure, but good enough only for last place - by plenty. The third turn was a turn for the worse for McConnell who went down hard, straining his abdominal muscles and finishing him for the evening. Mea nwhile, back a t the race, every · one else was going fast. Grant Salyers, after build ing a temporarily big lead . unaccountably went down hard on the back straightaway, losing a one-on one with th e wall . DeTemple sensibly avoided all this and took the lead just before the rac e was red flagged . After a lengthy d iscussion - a shouting ma tch actually the race was declared complete with DeTernple the victor. Christia n was his usual awesome self in the Scratch portion of the program, winning all three of his rides. He was lucky too, unlike Lance King. On his first night back from a shoulder injury, King was kamikazied by Keith Larsen and both went down hard . King sprai ned his thumb , destroyed his motorcycle and was unable to compete in the Handicap Main. Christian, meanwhile , had built a sizable lead. but crashed all by his lonesome in turn one. Saved by the red flag . he easily won the three man restart. With one of his patented starts. Christian ended the suspense quickly in the Main as he took the lead on the first turn and never looked back. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Alan Chr istian ; 2. Brad Oxley; 3. Dave DeTemple; 4. John Sandona. HANDICAP M AIN ; 1. Dave DeTemple; 2. Dan McNeill ; 3. Charles Morse; 4. Grant Salyers; 6. Shawn McConnell; 6. Lance King . SECOND DIVIS ION: 1. Bill Dunlap. THIRD DIVIS ION: 1. Craig Bradley . MATCH RACE: Frank Adamo del . Dan McNeill, Christian, Gage star in Speedwayola John Sa ndona passed Spe llm a n on the back straightaway for the lead. McConnell, with a memorable lap of crazy riding, went from last to second. Dave DeTemple went under Spellman on the last turn for the final transfer spot. And no one caught Gage in th e other semi, or all night for that matter. The young man out of Okla hom a ate up yardage like the Sooner wishbone wh ile cruising to an easy win in the H an d ica p Mai n. It too k King three laps and Christian until the fin al turn to get by Kenn ed y for the second a nd t hird spots. T he Scra tch po rt ion of the program fea tured that venerable springtime rerun, The Alan Christian Speedw ay Show . He won his heat , his sem i a nd th e Ma in . King m ade it close in the Ma in, but not that close. Christian , number two like Avis, sim ply tries harder. Mike Bast remains on suspension . Shawn McConnell , a lways fu n to wat ch since he either crashes, wins , or alm ost wins, d idn't make either Main this week b ut salvaged some measure of reve nge by taking both Consola tion r aces . Speedy Greg Ayers won th e Second Division Main, but not without consi derable hel p fr om Bill Dunlap's m ot orcycle. After building a substantial lead, Dunlap's motor went south and he rolled to a stop with only half a lap to go . Expletives deleted . Craig Bradley took Third Division honors for the second week in a row. but with more drama this time. Ken Williams led the race for 3 ~ laps only to have Bradley pass him on the final turn and win by a wheel. Will Christian win again? Will Becker, Woods . Sims and Moran show up? Stay tuned ... Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Alan Christian; 2. L.anceKing ; 3. Brad Oxley; 4 . John Sandona. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Derek Gege; 2. Lance King ; 3. Alan Chr istian ; 4. Moose Kennedy; 5. Grant Salyers; 6. John Sandona. SECOND DIV : 1. Greg Ayers. THIRD DIV: 1. Craig Bradley. M ATCH RACE: 1. Ja n Ballerd del . Mike M untean. DeTemple and Lindwall score at San Bernardino By Bill R. locey By Scott Daloisio VENTURA, CA , MAY 20 SAN BER N ARDI NO , CA. MAY 21 While m illions of pairs of baby blue eyes from sea to shining sea turned their attention to the final chapter of Mooieola, a few Da ve DeT emple scored a convincing victory in the Scra tch Main at Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednesday night. DeTemple, hardy souls instead chose the fog and the drizzle at the Ventura Raceway Tuesday night . It would've been a great night to reshoot The Hound Of The Baskertnlles, but instead they had motorcycle races. The scenario turned out to be a familiar one: "Darth Vader" Christian won the Scratch Main for th e third week in a row . And Derek Gage, who won the Second Division Main here opening nig ht, proved he belonged with the big guys by winning the Ha ndicap Main. In the Ha ndicap heats. Gage, Ch arlie Morse , a nd the mos t popular moose since Bull winkle, Moose Kennedy, were winners. The final hea t found Marty Spellman first after two laps . As they slid around the first turn three riders wide , Spellman held his ground on the inside; the middle man Rusty Howard went down forcing the outside man . Shawn McConnell , into th e wall , but he bounced off a nd kept comi ng . Mea nwhil e. crowd favorite who started in the number two position, and pole sitter Kelly Moran moved out front at the start. DeTemple took the low groove coming out of turn two to take the lead ahead of Moran , John Sandona and Brad Oxley. Moran stayed with the high side of the track and pulled even with DeT em ple on la p two in turn two. They stayed side by side down the back strai ght and into turn three. Just as th e "Wizard of Bala nce" edged past DeT em ple for t he lea d . he lost contro l of his bike a nd went down. With Moran out, Sando n a inherited second. DeTem ple's bike began to have m otor proble ms at the end of la p three b u t his huge lead was too much for secondplace finisher Sandona to overcome. Oxley finished third with Moran fourth . Louis Lindwall , coming from the 20 as a reserve rider (he replaced Mike Bast who was ill) , took his second Handicap Main at IMS this season. J ack Kee and Jan Balla rd jumped out fr ont at the stan a he ad of Lindwall , Lance King , "Dangerous" Du bb Ferrell and Dave Sims. Kee took the low groove and Ballard used the cushion as they staged a torrid duel for the lead through the first two laps. Lindwall took the lead in turn two on lap three as he blasted by Kee and Ba llard on the inside. Kee and Ba llard continued their exciting battle for seco nd until Sims snuck th rou gh on the inside followed by Ferrell on the back straight on the fin al lap. Lindwall took the win by a comfortable margin over Sims, Ferrell. Kee, Ba lla rd and King . Po pular T om Hughes took the victory in the Seco nd Division Mai n over Dwight Hill. H ughes foug h t off H ill on lap on e and sta yed in front the rest of th e way. Troy Fisher tried to go around H ill for second in tu rn one on th e th ird lap , bu t fell when he go t too high an d was in the loose stuff. The ra ce was red -flagged at the end of lap three when last week 's main event winner, Ma rk Milazzo , took a hard tumble down th e front chute . Milazzo was u n injured , b ut the race was called com plete as t hey had gone over h alf the distance. Hill took second over Gr ant Salyers, John Foster, Fisher and Mil azzo. Ga ry Faas became the first twotime winner in T hi rd Division at IMS in 1980. "Hollywood" Steve Bauer had proble ms with his bike at the stan and pulled into the infield. It looked like Bauer was history as he p ulled into the infield , took off his helmet and began a conversation with the "Voice of Speedway," Bruce Flanders. The pit gate then opened and Gene Woods came out loaning his bike to Ba uer. Steve Rogers took the lead over Don Bovee at the start. Cary Faas and Bovee touched wheels in turn two on lap one giving Faas control of second. Rogers' motor went sour as he completed lap one giving the lea d to Faas. Faas went on to win by a comfortable margin over Bovee, Ma rk Stahovich, Bau er (who had motor problems on Wo ods' bike at tlie start), Ma rgo King and Rogers. Mark the date J un e l Ion your calendar as Bruce Penha ll will return from Engla nd to ride at IMS. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Deve DeTemple; 2. John Sandona; 3. Brad Oxley; 4 . Kelly Moran. HAN DICAP MAIN: 1. Louis Undwall: 2. Dave Sims: 3. Dubb Ferrell; 4. Jack Kee; 5. Jan Bellard; 6. Lance King . SECOND DIV: 1. Ton Hughes ; 2. Dwight Hill; 3. Grant Salyers; 4. John Foster: 5. Tray Fisher: 6. Mark Milazzo . I THIRD DIV: 1. Cary Faas; 2. Don Bovee: 3. Maok Srahovtseh; 4. Steve Bauer; 5. Margo King; 6. Steve Rogers. MATCH RACE: 1. Margo King del. Jim Fishbeck. King and Moran lead Ascot attack By Gary Hoffman GARDENA,CA.MAY22 If you weren' t out at Ascot last Thursday evening, you missed some of the fastest racin g yet this year. Ga ry Ford (who up till last week had $8 .00 to his nam e) started the even ing making the quarter·m ile track look like a Sunday drive, winning three of his first four events until a mechanical problem pulled him out early fro m the Handicap Main . Ford hails from O nta rio , Canada and has done quite a bit of racing since 1975. In 1977 Gary started racing in New York and in '78 went on to England for a year. Lance King pulled out a tight win

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