Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a - Cocta Mesa - San Bernardino - A scot - Ventura - Sacram e n t o - Napa - Costa Mesa - San. ~ernardino- Ascot _ Ventura _ Sacramli o 00 0') 1"""'4 Allen Martin lIeftl failed to walk away in Costa Mesa"s Second Division Ma in. Results FEATURE M ATCH RACE: Denny Pyeatt det . Mike Bast. SECOND DIV MAIN EVENT: 1. Jeff Cerrneuo. 2. Cary Faas; 3. Mike McCarthy. HANDICAP MAIN EVENT: 1. Lance King ; 2. Tom Morley; 3. Jan Ballard. SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Mik e Bast; 2. Lance King ; 3. Denny Pyeatt . Bast and Fishback fly at IMS By Scott Da loisio' SAN BERN ARDI N O . CA,JULY 23 Defend ing National Cha m p ion Michael Bast won his fifth Scratch Main of the season at Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednesday night. Bast, who started in the number three position, jumped out front at the start ahead of the "Chrisco Kid " Keith Chrisco , John Sandona and Gene Woods . Woods and Sandona came to gether in tum two 'on the opening lap , dropping them both from contention. At the end of lap one , Bast had established a comfortable lead with C h risco a distant second . Woods dropped out with mechanical problems at the start of la p three . Bast hu ng on for the final two laps to record the victory. Chrisco ca me in second wit h San dona third and Woods getting credit for fourth, Jim "The Animal" Fishback made it two Handicap Mains in a ' row at lMS as he defeated Derek Gage and Jan Ba lla rd . Tom Burmeister took the lead from the 10 at the start over Gage , Ballard, Sandona , Fishback and Woods. Woods hit the dirt in tum two on the first lap and retired to the infield. Burmeister led at the end of lap one with Gage taking over down the back chute. Sandona went down hard in tum one on lap three. Fishback had moved up to second and began to challenge a stubborn Gage for the lead . "The Animal" went to the outside to take the lead from Gage at starter Sid Sutton's white flag . Fishback led the final , lap and gave the crowd a clenched fist salute as e came down for the checkers. Gage hung on for second ahead of Ballard, Burmeister, Sandona and Woods . Dwight Hill outdistanced the field to sco re his second victory of the season in Second Division. Hill took the lead from his number three starting position ove r pole sitter "Crazy" Ed T hu rma n , Moose Ken ne dy and Ca ry Fass , who was having prob lems. T hurman got by for the lea d comi ng ou t of tum two on lap one to ta ke the lead . Faas spun in tum four on lap one and decided to call it a night. Thurman led through la p two with Hill moving back into the lead on the back chu te on lap three. Hill proceeded to open up a comfort able lead which he held to the checkers. Thurman hung on for second followed by Kennedy with Faas ending up fourth . Jeff Havacko outdueled a de termined J eff Allison to score h is second T hird Division victory of the season at IMS . Havacko moved out front at the start over Kenny Williams , Allison, Steve Bauer, Eddie Clark and last week 's winner David Wooten . Allison got around Williams for second in tum two and then pulled alongside Havacko where he stayed the rest of the way. Havacko and All ison battled side by side with neither able to gain an advantage. It was nip and tuck as they each tried to inch ahead. Allison bobbled in tum one on lap three, but managed to stay with Havacko. The battle continued the final two laps with Havacko taking first by inches at the checkered . Fin ish ing behind Havacko and Allison were Clark , W illiams. Wooten and Bauer. August 6 will be Gene Wood banner night at IMS . All Gene Woods fans a re urged to bring a banner to show th eir support for the popular rider who thrills everyone with his nightly rides on the cushion. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Mik e Bast; 2. Keith Chrisco; 3. John Sandona ; 4. Gene W ood s. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. J im Fishback: 2. Derek Gage; J . Jan Ballard; 4. Tom Burmeister; 5. John Sand ona; 6. Gene Woods. SECOND DIV : 1. Dwight Hill; 2. Ed Thurman; 3. Moose Kennedy; 4 . Cary Pees. THIRD DIV: 1. J eff Havacko: 2. J eff Allison; 3. Eddie Clark; 4. Kenny Williams; 5. Dave W oot en; 6. Steve Bauer. Chrisco and Christian conquer Costa Mesa By Ken Kellogg COSTA MESA , CA, JULY 25 T aking one week off didn't affect the crowd at Costa Mesa too m uch. It was good sized and the races , as usual, had a few surprises. Surprise number one found old timer Mike Curuso out of retirement and out to race. Mike said he hoped to be able to score like the good ole days. Unfortunately , he didn't. Mike did look good in his heat, but was unable to last a ll four laps and finished last. It was good to see him ba ck and if he ever gets it together again, new speed way fans will have a real treat. Surprise number two was Alan Christian in his first Handicap Heat race with a DNF. Alan collided wit h Steve N utter causing red flag a nd a restart. S urprise n umber three was t he Scra tch Semi-fina l, which matched Christian. Shawn Mc Connell . Brad Oxley and Mike Muntean . First out of th e gate was " Bad" ·Bra d followed by Shawn and Alan . In turn one of lap two. Christian moved inside McConnell and took over second in the straightaway. a Jim Turner mixes it up in Costa Mesa Third Division action, '-. Oxley was a bou t three bike lengt hs but on' the: way over the top of th e bike a head in first place by .now a nd was (a pe rfect endo) Allen's ha ndl eb a r got not a bo u t to slow down . O n the nex t hi m in the back near the kid ney. H e . la p , Christ ian gained a bo ut one length . was carried off on a stretcher, but later on Bra d , b ut it wasn't enough and was u p and wal king around . T he ra ce t hat's how they finished: Oxley , was ' called official with Jeff Havacko Christian, McConnell and Muntean. declared the winner, Armas second , At ha lftime, the Feature Match Race . Martin third and John Foster fourth. pitted Dave DeTemple against Dubb In the Handicap Main , there were Ferrell . The gate went up and three riders from the 20: - Charlie DeTemple was outside but first into Morse , Phil Gagnon and Sterling tum one. Ferrell moved underneath Cogar. Keit h Chrisco was alone on the and right into first in the straightaway. 30 with Brad Oxley and Craig DeTemple, still on the outside, took Schaefer on the 40 . back first but as soon as they locked The first lap was pretty much' 'em up for the turn, Ferrell went back predictable as all three guys from the into the lead and that's how they 20 were in first , second and third finished . But Bruce Flanders apparentplaces. ·O n the second lap, · Chrisco ly not happy with the race and asked moved inside both Cogar and Morse the fans if they would like to see it and in an instant was in second place. again. Of course the stands shook with Right behind Chrisco were Schaefer an earth-shaking "yeal" and Oxley. The rematch was set and awa y they On the third lap, Chrisco picked up went . This time, DeTemple came out speed in the straightaway and before on top . Flanders, trying to be fa ir , Gagnon knew what was happening, asked them to make it the best two out Keith was alone in first . Phil managed of three. Staged and ready to go , to hold off both Schaefer and Oxley who were right behind Chrisco and Ferrell's clutch got too hot. Dubb shut it off and started to walk away but ready to pass . fortunately , Flanders (by way of the Lap four kep t them in the same posiP.A . system) reminded him that he tions with "The Chrisco Kid " winning d id have a back-up bike. So, the race a n ot h e r Main event. Second wa s was to contin ue . To keep things Gagnon, fo llowed by Schaefer and hopping, the Junior Speedway guys Oxley. put on a show . The "big banana ," the Scratc h On the rematch, Ferrell came out Main, was a rematch of an earlier first and DeTemple was only a bou t event - Alan Christian versus "Bad" one tire length behind. In the stra ight Brad Oxley. Two other top Division away, DeTemple took over first and One riders made the Main and neither mov ed inside Ferrell. Going into 'the one was about to give this race to second and last lap, Ferrell took back anyone ; they were Dave DeTemple the lead , but he was on the outside and and Denny Pyeatt. had to take the turn wide. DeTemple With all riders staged and ready to gained some ground but Ferrell took it race, the gate went up, but wait , right back in the straightaway. Going what's this? Denny Pyeatt's in turn one into turn three, DeTemple took over first. Christian and Oxley battled it by not even a tire's width . Ferrell was out . for second with DeTemple in still outside and suddenly lost it in the fourth. soft dirt . He went down and Could it just maybe be an upset? No DeTemple won the best two out of way, Alan Christian is just plain too three. good and professional to ever give up Surprise number four was the Third and in the straight on lap two he flew Division Main - no crashes! Craig past Pyea tt and took the more familiar DePhillippi had the race won from the lead position. Denny wouldn't give up , start. The battle was for second place. tried the otuside and for an instant, As Rusty Jennings tried frantically to was back in first, but Christian was on the inside and had a shorter distance work his way out of fourth place on the third lap, he passed Craig Young -and to travel. Pyeatt got caught in the soft Pat Smith both by taking the soft dirt 'a nd both Oxley and DeTemple outside , but was too far be hind th e . moved past him . lead er and cou ld on ly muster up a So, Chri st ia n remai ns " king " of second p lace. Costa Mesa wit h his eyes toward the Nationals, b ut with his mind on the The Second Division Main got off to present races , Ala n is go ing to be a bang. Unfortuna tely for Alan David tough to beat. If anyone beats him , son, he banged into another b ike and cha nces are it'll only happen once. caused a restart. On the second lap , turn four of the restart Allen Martin (who is improving every week) was in third p lace and about to take over second by going under George Armas. But he cut it a little too close and their bikes locked. George was thrown to the outside and Allen's bike went down , Results HAN DICAP MAIN: 1. Keith Chrisco; 2. Phil.Gagnon ; 3. Craig Schaefer : 4. BradOldey. SCRA TCH MAIN: 1. Alan Christian: 2. Brad Oxley; 3. Dave DeTemple; 4. Dennv Pveart. SECOND DIV MAIN: 1. J eff Havacko: 2. George Armas : 3. All en Mart in ; 4. Johl'l Foster. THIRD DIV MAIN: 1. Craig DePhillippi; 2. RustV Jennings; 3. Pat Smith. 33

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