Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - A_cot - Ventura - Sacramento - Napa - Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - Mcot - Ventura - Sacramento - Nap SPEEDWAY WEEK Faria and Morse fly at Cal Expo HANDICA P M AI N: 1. Charlie M orse; 2. Mike Faria; 3. AI Yarrow ; 4. Marv We bst er; 5. Edd ie Ingels: 6. Marc Prince. . HAN DICA P CDNSOLATION : 1. Duane Yarrow ; 2. . To m Ferris; 3. Pa ul Orlandi. DIV II M A IN: 1. Gary A bel; 2. Si eve Viei ra; 3 . Harlan By Jann Houston Photo by Terry Parmeter SACRA MENTO . CA . J U LY 18 "Flyin' Mike " Faria was a real winner at Cal Expo tonight win ning his Handicap H eat , Handi cap Semi , Scratch H eat , Scratch ., Semi a nd fina lly. the Scrat ch Ma in . endi ng Paul Orlandi's fou r in a row. In fact . he missed an all win evening b y inches. p la cing secon d in th e Handicap Main. Mike proved on ce agai n why he wears th e b ig number one on his navy blue and red leathers . northern Ca lifornia 's top AMA point man for th e th ird consecu tive yea r. Faria shot in to the lead out of th e starting ga te in th e Scratch Ma in with "Dyn a mite" Denny Pyeatt , back home at Cal Expo from down sou th for the first tim e th is yea r . in second. In tu rn turn of lap two . " In cred ible" Eddie Ingels ca m e under Pyeatt taking second , Pyeatt dropped to third with Orlandi fourth . At this point. In gels and Faria became a side -by-side. twoman rac e battling it out cha ngi ng position time after tim e by never more than inc hes. thrilling the crowd . At t he checkered flag it was Faria in a p hoto finish , Ingels second. Pyeatt third a nd Orlandi fourth . Faria had turned on another lap four . turn four Faria finish. In th e H a ndica p Main , "Ch argin' Charlie" Mors e. who like Pyeatt ca me home to Cal Expo tonight . thri lled th e crowd hold ing off the a lmo st unbeat able Mik e Fa ria to take th e checkered flag in a fast and crazy Handicap Ma in. It was Marv W ebster in the lead out of th e sta rt ing gate. In tu rn th ree on lap one , Marc Prince went down ca using a lay down by Eddie Ingels. It was at th is po intthat Mo rse wen t wide to take t he lead , Faria m oved to , second. AI Yarrow was thi rd and Webster slippe d to fourth. As th e race continued th e th rills came with Mors e a nd Fari a , as "C hargi n' Ch arli e" d id just that . holding the lead from lap two to th e checkered flag with Faria threatening in every turn . The Division Two Ma in was fast . wild . crazy and with th e permission of th e winner. I must sa y it was a win by default . Gary Abel . last week 's win ner in his firs t night in Division T wo was in the lead until he went wide in turn two on lap two. At th is point Ste ve Vieira took the lead . Mark Dra gony was in seco nd a nd Ab el slip pe d to third . Vieira could only be d escribed as smooth and fast as he held a clear, comfor tabl e lead. On lap fou r. Ron Sweeton , Dragony and Bob Holmes crashe d int o th e wall. Vieir a lost power ab out 30 feet from th e checkered flag and Abel ca me from wa y b a ck th ere to t ak e t he chec kered fla g. Vieira coasted ac ross for seco nd a nd Harlan ' Bast . J r . took I t hird. T he win in the Division T h ree Main went to J im T h ras her from Reno. racing for the first time fou r weeks ago_ Doyle Jes ter was ' second and J erry Laney was th ird. Tw elve -year-o ld n ewcom e r Paul Cornelius. a lso fro m Ren o, surprised everyone wit h his speed and style in th e Junior Ma in . hold ing th e lead until la p four . tu rn th ree whe n Joh n Cryer took him on the ou tsid e. At t he finis h it was Cryer . Corn elius and Ba rt Bast. Watch out for Pa ul. he's go t style! Results .. SCRATCH MAI N: 1. M ike Faria; 2. Eddi e Ing els ; 3. Denny Pyeatt; 4 . Pau l Orlandi. Bas t. Jr . DIV III MAIN: 1. J im Thrasher; 2. Doyle J ester; 3. J erry Laney. JR MAIN: 1. John Cryer ; 2. Paul Cornelius; 3. Bart Bast. Hutchison and Prince prevail in ,Napa By Jann Houston NAPA . CA ,JULY 19 "Wild Child" Glenn Hutchison made an outstanding comeback at Napa tonight after a very dis appointing evening at Cal Expo last n ight. He began th e eveni ng by winning his Handicap Heat and Handi ca p Semi, took second in his Scratch Heat. won his Scratch Semi. placed second in th e Handicap Ma in a nd came back fast and flyin ' to end the ' evening taking the checkered fla g in th e Scratch Main. As th e ga te went up in the Scratch Main . Hutchison took th e lead from position two with Ferris in second off th e pole. Hutchison was uncatchable as he took th e turns holding th e pole. making it impossible for Ferris or Faria to do anything but wait for a m istak e that never happened. At the checkered flag it was Hutchison. Ferris , Mike Faria and Allen Yarrow. In the Handicap Main . Yarrow was in th e lead until he went wide on lap thr ee in tum two; Prince moved into the lead. Hu tchison second and Fe rris third. Hutchison put on pressure as Prince held th e pole and took th e win , ra ising his fist in jubilant victory. The Handicap Consolation look ed more like the usu al Handicap Ma in with rid ers such as Mike Faria, Charlie Morse and Eddie In gels transferring to th e Conso la tion rather th an th e Ma in due to a combination of luck and cir cumstances. Even more surprising was th e fin ish as Joe Ledu c , up from Division T wo for the second week . took the lead and clearly held it to take the checkered flag. John Volk was second , Eddie- Ingels thi rd . This was Joe's second win in the Handicap Consola tion . doing it his first night in Division One at Cal Expo. H e took second in the Handicap Main at N apa last week . . Division Two seemed to be jinxed a t Na pa tonight. H arlan Bast , Jr. suffered a broken leg in his he at ra ce . According to reports from the hospital. he brok e two bon es an d will be hospit a lized for a few days a nd in a cast for fou r or five mont hs. The Division T wo Mai n was a real classic! Danny Montgomery was in the lead when he went d own- be tween turns three and fou r on la p one . T he cras h that followed ca n onl y be desc ri b ed as spec tacu la r as Da ve Schlosser and Pat Linn flew over Montgomery a nd through the air like th ey'd been shot from a cannon . leaving th eir b ikes som ewhere b ehind! At that point . refs Ron Da y and Truman Bail ey decid ed to run th e next event in order to a llow tim e for th e ride rs and bikes to get str aigh te ned out. On the rest a rt , Cra ig Elstins b roke the tape arid was eliminated . O n t he second restart. J ack Forset h was in th e lead followed by Schlosser . Linn and Mont gomery. In turn on e of lap th ree. Mo ntgo mery went do wn. Forseth was b lack -nagged when he lost a muffler. Schlosser took the checkered flag and Linn took second . Everyone survived. In th e J uni or Scratch Ma in . Ba rt Bast too k the win , .l\1 i)<.e Parsons was seco nd . J ohn Houston. J r. thi rd and Bobby Hedden fourth . T he Nap a W ine Cup Championship on July 26 will close th e 1980 season. Pr om ot er Dennis Robinson is a lre ad y making plans for 198 I. Results SCRATCH MAIN : 1. Glen n Hutchi son : 2. Tom Ferris; 3. Mi ke Faria; 4 . Allen Yarrow. SCRATCH CONSOLATION : 1. Duane Yarrow ; 2. Dave Faria: 3. Mar c Princ e; 4. Paul Orlandi. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Marc Prince: 2. Glenn Hu tch ison ; 3. Tom Ferri s; 4. Mike Delacy; 5. Dav e Faria; 6 . All en Yarrow. HANDICAP CONSOLATION : 1. J oe Leduc; 2. John Vol k; 3. Edd ie Ingels; 4 . Mi ke Faria; 5. Charl ie Morse; 6. M ike Belanq er. DIV II MAIN : 1. Dave Schlosser; 2. Pat Linn: J . Danny M ont go mery . JR MAIN: 1. Ban Bast; 2. Mik e Parsons; 3, John Houston. J r: 4 . Bobby Hedden. ...And it's "Insane" M clain in the Main! moved ba ck ac cordingly. Bobby -H ill of Ventura. a ft er coming from nowhere to second with a frantic outs ide maneuver in his heat race , returned from whence he came with a crunching cr ash . He managed to stagger off under his own power. La st week there was no crashes in Third Division racing . This week they reverted to form with five crashes in th e Main . Chris Hedge was th e winning su rvivor. Henry Swain was a close second for a couple of laps until his bike decided to retire early for the evening. The noise resumes Tuesday night, and direct from England - nobody. .. Results , SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Bobby M clain; 2. Charl;e M or se: 3. Jan Ballard; 4 . Denn y Pyean . HANDICAP MAIN : 1. J an Ballard ; 2. Shawn McC onn ell; J . M oose Kennedy ; 4. Bobby Mclain; 5. M ike Curuso; 6. Tom M orl ey . SECOND DIV: 1. Eddie Clark; 2. M ike McCarthy; 3. By Bill R. Locey Craig Bradley. VENT U RA, CA , JULY 22 Henry Swain . Bobby "Insane" McLain, the Fillmore Flash, in his best outing of the season , dazzled the home folks as he won the Scratch Main at th e Ventura Raceway on a foggy Tuesd ay night. Jan Ballard had fun , too . as he rode well all night in making both Mains . winning the Handicap off the 20 ·yard line. After a week's worth of hoopla . the featured sta r of th e evening, th e invisi ble Shawn Moran. failed to show up due to a late flight from England. However . a number of NorCal riders turned up to tune up for the National Qualifiers due to begin here in two weeks . Also making his first appearance here in who remembers when was Mik e Curuso , a veteran of th e British Speedway League in 1978. a threetime participant in th e Nationals (second in 1973) and all around hot rider. Curuso plans to ride here for the re o mainder of th e season and retu rn to England next yea r. Handicap racing started with a boom . or rather a series of them , as nine rid ers hit the dirt in the first four ra ces won by Keith Chrisco . Tom Morley. Curuso and Moose Kennedy in his new duds. Alan Christian crashed while leading his heat . remounted and still managed a transfer spot. He was not so lucky in the semi . The Ventura points leader went down again . this time reinjuring his ba ck , a problem which kept him at home all last week . H is sta tus for next week is doubtful. In th e Main , Ballard got a great start a nd led all th e way in making th e whole thing look easy . Shawn McConnell held off Kennedy for second. Cu ruso 's bike pooped ou t. for cing him to sett le for fifth . Bobby McLain had a battle royale in each of his Scratch rid es en route to his victory in the Main. He managed to hold off Chrisco in his heat race aft er Denny Pyeatt had taken a Bastsized lea d . In th e Semi . McLain won a two -lap, bump-and -run battle with Curuso for another second place fini sh. this tim e fini shing behind Ballard. In th e Main . Charlie Morse got th e ga te with th e Fillmore Flash righ t be hin d him . After a three-lap battle in wh ic h th e le ad chang e d hands numerous times, McLain took the lead for good an d held on to win th e ra ce by a whee l. A b rok en leg suffered last year at Costa Mesa had sidel ined McLain unt il jus t a month ago. Eddie Clark of Ce rritos won h is third Mai n even t in Ven tura. a nd his first-ever Second Division trop hy. After winning his hea t a nd the Main easily, Clark is history o ff the zen? a.!,p- wj ll,~~ THIRD DIV: 1. Chris Hedge; 2. Dave W ooten; 3. MATCH RACE: Mi ke Muntean def. Charlie Morse. Bast and King conquer Ascot By Gary Hoffman GARDENA. CA , JULY 24 Though there was much disappointment as Shawn Moran didn't show up while his bike waited patiently for him in the infield, Speedway racing was as fast and exciting as always here at Ascot on Thursday nights. Dubb Ferrell made his first appearance here at Ascot this yea r after being out for several weeks and looked to be a tough competitor next time out , as he rode fast and smooth on the big quarter-mile. T h e Feature Match Race pitted national champ Michael Bast against Denny Pyeatt. Pyeatt quickly shot by Bast in turn two of the first lap and held on to take the checkered first in the two lapper, In the Second Division Main, after what seemed an eternity to get started, Jeff Carmello (who normally rides First Division) took first place coming from the 30-year line. Cary Faas rode a fast second place, lead ing most of the race on his brother Leni's bike, with Mike McCarthy riding an im p ressive third . With the start of the Handicap Main . Dave Miller shot out front with T om Morley right behind till Jan Ballard, who had been riding hard all night, slipped into the lead. For the next couple of laps Ballard held his lead with Morley right behind Pyeatt and Lance King battled for third . The last lap brought all the changes: Morley edged out in front of Ballard whil e King went over Ballard and under Morley in the last turn just in tim e for the checkered flag and the trophy. , The Scratch Main event brought together four of the top seven point sco rers here at Ascot , with Denny Pyeatt on the pole position. Mike Bast next to him. then Lance King (top point scorer) and the "Chrisco Kid " Keith Chrisco on the outside. The tapes went up a nd Bast shot out first with a very fast sta rt while King followed and Pyeatt and Chrisco battled for thi rd . T he rac e stayed the same wit h Bast holding his lead and King behind him . At the very last mom ent. Pyea tt tu rn ed on the power co ming off th e last turn and seemed to squeeze by King a t th e finish line . But a fter a m inute , . it was annou nced th at King ha d hel d second place with Pyeatt in third and the crowd made it ob vious that th ey all d idn't agree. At least th e debate wasn .'t .. first! for ~ .~ ~ ~ ..; ... ..

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