Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

! c.. - ta ..... - San ....aardln. - ARM - V.ntar. - Sacr....nt. - N.p. - C.-t...... - San Bernardin. _ ARot _ V.ntar. _ Sacr....nt. _I rece ived the white flag . He held a slim lead over Bast down the back chute and through the final two turns. Bast tried to go inside of Woods coming out of four but fell short at the line . Following Woods and Bast were Pyaett and King. Oxley, King at Ascot Christian takes Costa Mesa clean sweep By Ken Kellogg Christian moved low in tum three on lap three and got inside of Ford. T~ey touched coming out of four and gomg down the front chute, their bars hooked with Ford's catching the cord of Christian's marble switch and pulling it out. killing the motor on Alan's bike . With Christian out. Ford and his Maely had the victory in the bag. Gagnon and Fishback had a wild battle for second on the final lap with Fishback falling short at the line on the outside groove. Finishing behind Ford. Gagnon and Fishback we~ Columbo, Christian and Strommer. Dwight Hill scored his second. Second Division Main in less than a week (the other coming at Ascot last Thursday) by defeating Moose Kennedy and Greg Ayers . Hill jumped out front at the start over Dave Van Hom. The red flag flew on lap two as Van Hom went down in tum two . Robin Bourgeous did a masterful job to avoid hitting Van Hom but in the process had to put it into the wall . Bourgeous was able to continue while Van Hom was sent to the pits for causing the red flag . Hill again took the lead on the restart ahead of Bourgeous and Ayers . Kennedy went to the high groove to pick off Jim Lawson and Bourgeous who had been passed by Ayers for second. Lawson went down in tum two on lap three. Kennedy got around Ayers for second in tum three on lap three but was unable to catch Hill in the remaining laps and was forced to settle for second. Following Hill and the Moose were Ayers , Lawson. Bourgeous (who seemed to be favoring his left shoulder) and Van Hom. Dennis Abbott jumped out front at the start of the Third Division Main and never looked back as he captured his second IMS main of the season. Ed Castro was running second until he went down in tum two on lap two. At the same time as Castro went down. Kym Mauger and !l8-year-old rookie "Flashy" John Pavano went down in tum one. Always fast Tom Conrad moved into second ahead of Match Race winner Kerry Miller. At the checkers, it was Abbott. Conrad, Miller, Castro, Mauger and Pavano. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Gory Ford: 2. Phil Gagnon : 3. Jim F"lOhboc:k: 4. StlMl Columbo; 5. Alen Christian ; 6. _ . KurtStrom.".. SECOND DIY .: 1. Dwight Hill; 2. Moooe Kennedy; 3. Grog Ayen; 4. Jim Lawoon: 5. Robin Bougeous: 6. DlMI Van Hom. THIRD DlV .: 1. Dennis Abbott; 2. Tom Conrod: 3. Kerry Miller; 4. Ed Caotro 5. Kym Mouger: 6. Jon ; MATCH RACE: 1. Kerry Miller; 2. Grog Ayon: 3. TomConrod. Results COSTA MESA , CA ,JUNE20 SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Alan Chriolian; 2. Mike Munteon; 3. Boo DxIey; 4. Gene WoodL HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Alan Christian ; 2. 0lMI By Gary Hoffman GARDENA , CA. JUNE 19 Impressive Canadian Gary Ford took a hard-earned victory in the Handicap Main to record his first victory of the season at IMS _ Ford jumped out front at the start over Kurt Strornmer, Phil Gagnon, Steve Columbo. Alan "Cra zy" Christian and "The Animal" Jim Fishback, Teammates Strommer and Gagnon battled for second as Christian went to the cushion to move through the pack. Christian was flying around the outside and took second on lap two. Strommer went down too on .the third lap. After the Second and Third Divsion winners got their trophies. Christian was given his award by the M.D . poster boy for Jerry's kids (Christian and Woods are his heroes). The sun was still shining Thursday night as the speedway bikes took off for the first race of the evening at J.C . Agajanian's Ascot Park. From the very first race, the crowd got to see a new face blaze the quarter-mile track. Bob McLain broke his leg last year out at Costa Mesa.and)ust now passed his physical. Looking m top shape. Bob won his first and second race transfering him to the Handicap Main. where he rode three impressive laps until bike troubles took him out. The Feature Match Race pitted "Bad Brad" Oxley against Junior Speedway Champion Lance King (the two highest point leaders here at Ascot .) At the start. Oxley took the lead by a very narrow margin, and as they came by the starting gate at the finish of one lap they were as dead even as two bikes could be. With only one lap to go . King tried everything he could to squeeze past, but the veteran Oxley stayed out ahead enough to take the checkered flag by a bike length. Second Division racing brought some new Ma in winners at Ascot. Kym Mauger took a fast lead with Ed Thurman riding hard in second. Mauger, riding a flawless race, gave no hope to be overtaken. In tum three of the very last lap. Thurman lost control leaving Bill Dunlap in second and Cary Faas in the number three spot. Thurman then picked up his bike and wheelied across the finish line last , but with the style of a confident competitor. The Handicap Main brought Dwight Hill (last week's Second Division Main winner) out front quickly. followed by Bob McLain while Keith Chrisco and Lance King battled for third . The second lap brought no change while in the third lap McLain went out with apparent bike problems allowing the riders to move up one. Lap four seemed to be the lap everyone was waiting for. Lance King made his move in the very last turns passing Chrisco and Hill while Oxley followed his momentum squeezing by Chrisco to take third. Then came the Scratch Main. On the pole was the Canadian Gary Ford. Next to him fresh from winning the Handicap. was Lance King. Number three was David De'Temple, and on the outside Brad Oxley. The tape flew up and Oxley flew out first with King breathing hard right behind him . The battle was on again. DeTemple pulled out on the th ird lap while Ford riding hard could not catch the leaders. As the riders approached the last tum. it looked like King was about to slip underneath Oxley, but Bad Brad closed the door and took the checkered for the win. Next week Alan "Crazy" Christian, star of Costa Mesa. says he is all set to extend his winning streak to Ascot as well. He's got some pretty stiff competition at Ascot. and besides, the top point leaders we can never count out Michael Bast . Results FEATURE MATCH RACE: 1. Brod Oxley; 2. Lence King. SECOND DIY. MAIN: 1. Kym Mouger; 2. Bill Dunlop ; 3.CeryF-. .HANDICAP MAIN EVENT: 1. L.ence King; 2. Dwight Hili: 3. Boo Oxley. SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Bred Oxley: 2. Lence King; 3. Gory Ford. . ':lI - - .J .. - ~ The story of the night at Costa Mesa was, in a word. "Crazy." Alan "Crazy" Christian made a clean sweep of both the Scratch and Handicap Mains. Christian made the Scratch Main undefeated in every heat race; he was untouchable. Alan got the gate with Mike Muntean on his rear tire. Gene Woods tried the outside while Brad Oxley went between Woods and Muntean. Woods went down and Oxley slowed down to avoid him . Christian won the race (making it 11 straight) by at least six bike lengths. He has broken and nearly doubled Mike Bast's old record . The question now is will there be a new national champion? Can Alan keep up this remarkable pace without burning out? The Scratch Consolation brought up Keith Chrisco, Leni Faas, Steve Columbo and Dave DeTemple. When the gate went up Columbo was first into the cornerv Chriscc tried going underneath him and for an instant, the two tangled. While these two were fight ing it out, Leni Faas took fu ll advantage and went by underneath. DeTemple was just inches behind but Columbo and Chrisco recovered and were scrambling for position. In tum three they were still battling it out for second. This time DeTemple moved underneath and took second. Moving into lap three and tum one Faas went down and DeTemple was all alone in first . In the Handicap Main, Christian came from the 60-yard line to third place in the first tum behind Jeff Tomlin and Shane Hawley (who was just promoted from second division) . Christian and DeTemple passed Hawley on lap two, then began to work on unyielding Tomlin. Christian finally passed Tomlin on the inside on the final lap while DeTemple took the outside. Hawley finished a fighting forth. In the Second Division Main, Alan Davidson was in first place in tum one with Jim Lawson second, Moose Kennedy coming from the 20 was in thi rd while Dennis Bradsford was forth . Moose moved quickly into second place while Dennis patiently moved just behind him . In the first tum of lap three, he moved past both Kennedy and Lawson and took the lead. He wasn 't satisfied with just the win so he opened up the lead so that by the checkered flag he was five bike lengths ahead of the paclr.. Moose finished second with Jim rounding out the field . To let the fans know they meant business. the Third Division contenders came into tum one like First Division. However, Tom Conrad went wide, lost control of his bike and hit the crash wall. He did a double flip off the wall and over onto the outside cement. For about five minutes. he didn't move. Though taken out on a stretcher, the word was that he was alright . On the restart, the race was conservative. Reserve rider Eddie Clark, who had a fairly comfortable lead. was bumped the last lap and nearly lost control. but he managed to get right back to it and won . Second was Jeff Havacko who is always either first or second, and third.was Dave Wooten. .J ... - - - - - . . • DeTemple; 3. Jolt Toml in. SECOND DIY . MAIN: 1. Dennis B...,onl; 2. Moooo Konnody; 3. Jim Lawoon. THIRD D1V. MAIN: 1. Eddie CIorlc; 2. Jeff Ha..cI

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