Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

, o 00 c:n ~ (From left) "Rowdy" Rick Stone, runner-up Jody Garris and winner Gene Woods gather in the winner's circle. Woods nails U.S. Open Speedway Championship By Tony Rutledge Photo by Peter Anthony Shell OWEGO, NY , AUG. 16-17 The 1980 U. S. O pen Speedway Cham p ionship belongs to Californian Gene Woods. Third in last year's final, Woods relied on speed, style and a little luck to cop the title. 24 Mike Bast, the 1979 champ, did not show.up. He reporte?ly h~s been havmg problems with high blood pressure and was ad vised by his doctor not to race. New Yorke r Jody Garris was th e new lace in this yea r's fina l. He pla ced second. Lance King; of Cal ifornia. was fourth a year ago and im p roved his final standing by one position. Hank Bassett , a nother New York rider, saw his chance for a possible win go up in a cloud of d irt when he crashed. Bassett fin ished fourt h . Champion Speedway was again the site of the championship m eet and promoters Joe Biesecker and Jack Crawford had the traclt in top shape tor the two night program. However. the one elem ent th ey did not hav e control over was the crowd of partisan race fans . Saturday's portion of the elim inations to narrow th e field down to 24 went smoothly as did most of the Su nd ay program . Bu t when the final rounds were run th ey were filled with knockdowns and controversy. W ith th e first three rounds over, Woods had a on e point lead over Ga rri s and two over Basset t. The situation for th e final rid e unfolded thusl y; A win by eit her Garris or Bassett com bined with a poor ride by Woods could mean a New York rider would grab the titl e. Lance King, the fourth rider, could only hope for a tie on points and a run-off, The third lap of the final heat saw King and Bassett hook handlebars and go down. Garris then went down to avoid hitting th e pa ir and Woods crossed the finish line with the win and the tide. The hometown fans erupted in anger for Garris had a large followin g in the crowd. The fans felt he had been wronged and they displayed their displeasure by throwing beer cans an d other debris at Woods. Only after the riders made a personal plea to the fans d id thi ngs quiet down . When order was restored it was announced the ra ce was officia l and Woods was the champ. Woods brought a new bike to Champion Speedway for the final. He was riding a frame he had a designed himself that featured monoshock suspension and power by a four-valve Jawa . It was basically untested since iit is unapproved in the Cal ifornia league Woods races in . I Lance King, riding a Weslake fourvalve , had won his four fieats to make the final. Lance turned seventeen just two weeks before the finals . His youth belies his experience. He was fourth overall a year ago and is a former fourtime National Junior Speedway Champion. Hank Bassett was the leading rider at Champion Speedway could go"all the way. This soft spoken rider came close and certainl y solidified his posit ion as one of the best riders in the country. Two weeks ago in qualifying races Norm Robinson cracked several ribs . There was doubt that he would make the program. He almost made the final. On Saturday he fell and reinjured his ribs. He got up and back on his bike , The heat was restarted and he won . On Sunday he did the same thing .. crashed into a wall, got up and won th e restart, After three races on Sunday Robinson had eight points. A win in his last heat would have put him in the final , but he and George Lazor hooked up and both went down and that was it for Robinson. His brother Mike Robinson was also close with nine points. • Woods and 'Ga rris along with Rick Stone tied at ten points each going into the final. Two slots were open. Stone was eliminated in the run-off. 0 Prior to the championship Stone had announced that no matter what happened he would retire from speedway and devote his time to ra cing sprint cars. He rode his final speedway race with a cracked shoulder sustained -in a sprint car accident the -week before. Stone's decision to quit speedway was because he had had too many broken bones. The purse was just under $15,000 and the promoters are looking forwa rd to next year with the goal of having the , largest total purse ever for a speedway championship. • Penhall injured in long track • semi By John Hipkiss JUBEK, WEST GERMANY, AUG. 10 Californian speedway whiz kid Bruce Penhall crashed in the World Long Track Semi in West Germany. damaging his ribs and badly gashing a knee. Bruce has been ordered to rest for two weeks. He was in the opening race at Jubek when New Zealander Larry Ross

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