Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..I SPEEDWAY WEEK 1:1 C_ta Mesa - S an Be rna r d l·n o - A.cot - V e ntura - Sacramento - Napa - C _. -- .•_ t M - _-V S - _••••- ~ E '. Dave DeTemple watches Dubb Ferrell tumble and John Foster lie down. Christian perfect in round 3 win at . Cal Expo By Jann Houston SACRAMENTO, CA, AUG. 9 Perl~t. weather aJ.1d perfect track condl.uons provided tonight's standing-room-only crowd with all the ingredients needed for 34 ..... tho~ough enjoyment of the long and anxiously awaited thi rd round of the U .S. National Qualifier. Sacramento was ready and waiting as the offic ia ls and stars of the southern California speedway circuit arrived on the scene. At the conclusion of the first two of three rounds, consisting of eight heats each , It was Kelly Mora n , Joh n Saridona and , of co urse Ala n Christian with p erfect scor es. ' Going into the four heat Semi portion of the program, it was Christian and , San~ona . continuing their flawless e~enln.g with Moran taking a second in hIS third round heat losing the first place position to Gene Woods. Making the transfer to the Semis turne? ou t to be a mi nd-boggling e:epen~c for the officials as five e riders tied for the three final positions. much discussion and A.fter disagreement , the decision was made to ~at. two ~ders according to place of finish In their heat races, thus placing Columbo and Ferrell into the Semis A tie -breaking runoff race betw~en Eddie Ingels, Gene Woods and Shawn !'icConnell resulted in Woods moving Into the 16tJ1position. In the first Semi, it was Christian in the lead from position three with Brad Oxley in a constant pressure situation threatening in every tu m. Christian too~ the checkered moving him to the MaID .and Oxley to the Consolation. Charlie Morse was third and Woods fourth , experiencing mechanical problems on lap three. The ~cond Semi saw Lance King in t~e lead m tum one, holding on to win with Denny Pyeatt taking second after giving King one hell of a race. Dubb Ferrell was third and Sandona fourth after going down on lap two. In the third Semi, Dave DeTemple got the holeshot from position two as Dave Faria, off the pole, showed him th at the boys in northern California know th e meaning of the word "fas t. " It was DeTemple who held on to win and: transfer to the Main event sending Fana to the Consolation. Steve Columbo -was third , Duane Yarrow fourth . The wildest , most thrilling Sem i of the evening was , without a doubt Semi number four . It was Canadia~ Gary Ford ~who took the lead off th e but northern California's pole. number one Mike Fa ria took the lead on the outside, in his most familiar "Fa ria Fashion" , of tum fou r. At t his po int, it became a b attle for second position. between Ford an d Kell y Mo ra n ; It was an ybod y's race, where second position was concerned , until tum three on lap four when Moran went down. Ford took second and Keith Chrisco th ird. In the Consolation event, Pyeatt took the lead off the wa ll with Ford second until he came face to fac e wit h the track on lap two in tum two . At the checkered flag it was Pyeatt taking the win, Dave Faria seco nd an d Oxley third. . Throughout this season I have made every effort to avoid m ention in my articles of any controversial subject. . I feel, however, it would be unfair to the fans and readers if I did not mention the injustice done to Eddie Ingels tonight. During the fourth event in round one , two riders , Jan Ballard and Bobby McClain went down in tum one on lap four as Ingels, who was in th e !ead, and Pyeatt in second were go ing mto tum three headed for the checkered flag. At this point , for an undetemined reason. ref Irwin Moon ordered the red flag, and called th e race official, reverting to the third lap as the official finish . Pyeatt was in the lead at that time and was therefore declared the winner. The race is now under protest, and rightfully so. There was no danger to the fallen riders and the race was a' half lap from completion. There was no reason to red-flag the race . Three scorers and four AMA officials present at the track tonight agree with the above statement and support the protest . A serious error was made cost ing Ingels dearly. Hopefully the wrong will somehow be justified! Tonight'S race closes the northern California speedway season . See you next yearl Result s POINT STANDINGS: 1. Alan Christian (701 2. Bred ; Oxley 162); 3. Lanee KIng 158); 4. Deve DoT emple 1541' 5. Dubb Ferrell 151 I; 6. Donny Pyoott (49)' 7 Mike F"'; (46 ); B. JfJ!f Tomlin (40 ); 9. Keith Chr;"; 1391; 10. Bob MclaIn 1341; 11. Eddie Ingels 1311; 12. Ouone Vorrow 1291 13. Chari", Morse (29); 14. Dave Sima 1281 15. ; ; Shawn McConnell 1261; 16. Craig Schae!fer 126)' 17 Dove F.ia 12~I; 18. Gary Ford (25); 19. Steve Colu;"~ l25l: 20. l8ni Fa. (22); 21. Tom Forria (22) ; 22. Mike / Munt8lln 121 1 23. Jan Balwd 1211; 24. Glenn Hutchison ; 1201 25. Gone Woods 11 BI; 26. Paul Orlandi 1181; 27. ; ~ Gage 1161; 28. Man: Prince 1141; 29. Mike Delacy 1131; 30. Moose Kennedy 1131; 31. John Sandona 32. Kelly MOfOn 16). • m· The Johns have it in Ventura By Bill R. Locey VENTURA , CA , AUG . 12 A couple of Johns - Sandona and Foster - were hot on the wann Tuesday evening as they took the Big Ones. The "Beer Night" patrons were also witness to an unexpected surprise - the Ventura I Raceway debut of "T he Menacing . Midget ," Kelly Moran . Only a week a!1d 30 .mlnutes late, which earned him a mInUS 12 for his nonappearance at last week's Qualifier here, Moran nonetheless arrived in style by helicop· t~r and wa.s able to take his Scratch n des. While a number of riders decided to stay home and save them selves ~or .next week's final Qualifiers, the wrire-ms filled in admirably. New faces included T.O .'s Randy M~rsh (b ack from a sick bike ), S.B .'s MIke Peddicord (back from a b roken wrist ), and winner of the Flash From the. Past Award, Troy McKee (just pi am ba ck) . McKee first rode speed~ay back in 1970 and hasn't ridden since 1976 , and while shedding some rust , managed a second in the Handical? Consy. Dennis Bransford, Bob~y HIli and Eddie Clark, yearlong survivors of Second Division racing made their D-I debuts. ' But the big story in the Handicaps was the probable Rookie of the Year . John Foster of Buena Park. In only h~ second D-l ride, Foster off the zero m.ad~ the. most of his opportunity, wtn!1mg his heat easily and finishing behind Lance King in the Sem i. In the Main, Foster performed flaw !essly and . ~y the time King could -get mto a posmon to challenge, it was too late as Foster held him off for the final I~p . ~atch for Foster to really hit the big time next year. Also notable was another star of the future, Eddie Clark. who narrowly missed making the Main. Denny Pyeatt; King, andI6-yearold Steve L~cero. won easy Scratch heats. And m hIS first ride, Kelly Moran , fourth place finisher in the 1979 World Finals, blasted between Bobby McLain and Randy Marsh fOT a second. place finis h behind Charlie Morse In the final Scratch heat race. Sad to say , the Bummer of The Night involved Morse, a track regular. In a Scr atch semi, Mike Curoso got it too far sideways too soon and went down in tum one. Trailing, Morse tried to go a!ound, almo~t did, but caught a peg, flipped and skidded into the wall on h~ ba~k: ~e was t~ken. to the hospital wtth mJunes to his hip. wrist and shoulder. but later released. The red flag gave John Sandona the win ; he had ~ huge lead anyway. Moran was a blur m the other Sem i. In the Main , Sandona got the gate and left. Moran , Pyeatt, and King to chase him around the one-fifth-mile ov.al, waiting impatiently for the mls~~ke that never came. It wasn't very exclt!ng: but it was pretty dam convmcmg as Sandona won by six le~gths. That was John's first Scratch ~n here . after. an earlier Handicap WID , putting him on a par with la st year's total. In the Second Division Main, it was W~s. Ran~olph of Bloomington waitmg until the third lap to pass Dennis Abbott in what became a rout . And in D·3 action , Victor Robledo, who got about five feet before crashing in his debut here a few weeks ago , went a lot further and faster last n ight. And for th e second time this season (drum roll , please), no D-3 crashesl Also memorable was the premiere of ~an~y ~onroe of t!pl~nd who passed hIS n?er s test eaflier m the evening, and IS so new he doesn't have a nu~ber yet . Passing riders on the outside and ge~erally looking good, Monroe won hIS heat and finished fourth in the D-3 Ma in. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. John Sandona; 2. Kelly MOfOn; 3. Donny Pyoott; 4.lanco King. ; HANDICAP MAIN : 1. John Footer 2. Lance King; 3. John Sandona; 4. Tom Morley; 5. Steve lucero' 6 CharlieMorso. • . SeCOND DIY: 1. Woo Randolph. THIRD DIY: 1. Vietor Robledo. MATCH RAce : 1. KoIIyM0f8n dol . LanceKing. Christian and Sims successful at San Berdoo By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO , CA , AUG . 13 J\la~ "Crazy" Christian picked up his Sixth Scratch Main victory of the season and second in a row at John LaDouceur's Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednesday night . Christian took the lead at the start over Gene Woods, the "Lil

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