Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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(; Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - Ascot - Ventura - Sacramento - Napa - Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - Ascot - Ventura - Sacramento- 1:1 SPEEDWAY WEEK ~ t o 00 0') 1""""'4 Alan Christian led all night at San Bernardino'. National Qualifier. King, Sandona win at the commotion by the ocean By Bill R. Locey VENTURA , CA , AUG . 19 On the eve of the Round Four Qualifier at San Bernardino, no on e who is anyone in speedway figured to be anywhere near the 28 Ventura Racewa y tonight. The notion of saving machinery and one's body from damage failed to materialize as the rider turn out was excellent. Better yet , they rode as if it were the Na tionals. Lance King and John Sandona had more fu n than mos t as each won his third Main event here this season on the on e-fifth-mile oval. Also sharing th e spotlight was th e track itsel f. Several inches of new dirt p rovided a seldom seen fast cushion, enab ling a number of racers to ride the outside wh ich translated into som e of the yea r's ho tt est action. Several rid ers said this was the best tra ck they've ridd en this yea r. Desp ite 19 cr ashes, everyone rem embered to tum left and the re were no serious inj u ries. In the first Handicap heat of th e night , Shane H awley soiled his whi te leathers as he crashed ; Troy McKee lai d it down behind him ~o avoid contact . The su rvivors cruised slowly for two laps wa iting for the red flag and th e restart which , surprisingly, was never called. Grant Salyers won, finishing comfortably ahead of Dave Mille r whose bright leathers make it seem as though he just stepped off a '60's black ligh t poster. Hawley remounted and managed a third, good enough for a transfer. . Brad Oxley, off the 50 , bumped his way past hot rid ing rookie Eddie Clark on the fourth lap for a heat win . Moose Kennedy, barely trailing Bullwinkle in popularity , held the lead for the fint two laps before go ing down and Glenn Hutchinson , trailing the pla y, slammed into the prone rider. Kennedy, however, managed to exit under his own power. In the next heat , they came around the final tum three wide with Sa ndona , Greg Ayers and Alan Ch rist ian finish ing inches apart. In the final heat , Dave Van Hom , a veter an since 1973 , enjoyed his well-earned initial D-l ride here as he led all the way for th e win . Van Hom also took an inst ant re play win in a Handica p sem i. Denny Pyeatt nipped Ayers with some last tum heroics for a photo finish third , two lengths behind Sandona who was second. In the final Semi after deciding he had cruised long enough , Oxl ey, in a memorable display of cr azy riding, went inside, then outside, but mostly by everyone as he passed five riders on the third lap to tu m a tight race int o a laughter. Persistence pa id off in th e H andicap Ma in for Sandona, winner of the Scratch Main here last week. Afte r three laps of hard charging on the outside , he finally got past Van Hom and never looked back. Oxley ; right there again at the end. took second. In Scratch ra cing, it was Pyeatt. Oxley, Christian and speedway Hall of Farner Mike Curoso taking hea t wins . In the Sem is it was the pole position starters, firs t Curoso in a yawner and th en Christia n (barely) in a Four Star rac e that was in do ub t until th e final tum. King, the 17-yea r-old wh iz kid , started off t he pole and led all the way to take the Scratch Main. The real battle, last ing all four laps , was for second between Curoso and Christian. Curoso took second ea ch lap in th e second tum, and Christian took it right back in the fourth tum . At the checkered, it was Ch ristian for second by inches. In Second Division action , Craig DePhillippi looked good as e led for all but the most im po rtant pa rt of th e Main , namely, the en d . ennis Abbott muscled him asid e on the last tum for his first win here in 1980 . Earlier, Pat Hawley was disqualified from a -transfer spot in a heat race for being less than subtle as he knocked aside Craig Eistens, then knocked down Dan Braviroff. Hawley's dismissal put Venturan Dave Smith into the D-2 Main , only no on e told him and he did not ride. In D-3 action, Randy Monroe of Upland celebrated his second week in speedway (he passed his rider's test here last week) by winning his heat and the Main with a thrilling display of outside riding . Look out for this guy. Next week , the motorcycle maniacs return for their final go 'round before the 1980 Track Championship to be held September 2. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Lance King ; 2. Alan Christian; 3. MikeCuroso;4. BradOxloy. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. John Sondo""; 2. Bred 0xI0y; 3. Dove Miller; 4. 0 ...... Van Horn; 5. GnInt SoIyors ; 6. Danny Pyoott. SECOND DIY: 1. DennisAbbott; 2. CtIlig OoPhillippl ; Rand y Songer . THIRD DIY: 1. Randy M onroe. MATCH RACE: 1. Tom M orley dol . Glenn Hut ch in- ~ oon. Christian sweeps San Bernardino clean By Scott Daloi sio SAN BERNARDINO , CA , AUG . 20 The largest crowd of the season turned out to see Alan "Crazy" Christian score a clean sweep in the National Qualifier at Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednesday night. The night started out on a down note for IMS fans as Gene Woods broke the tape in event number one and was sent to the pits. With Woods gone , Christian streaked to his first of five victories of the night. Steve Columbo surprised everyone in event number two as he outdistanced J im "The An imal" Fishback, "T he Fillmore Flash" Bobby McLain and "Bad" Brad Oxley. The remainder of the first round heats were taken by "The Lil Ghost" Lance King, "The Bionic Kid " Dave De'Temple, Denny Pyeatt, " F1yin' Mike " Faria, "The Wizard of Balance" Kell y Moran and "Dangerous" Dubb Ferrell. Round two started out with King keeping his record perfect as he defeated "T he Chrisco Kid " Keith Chrisco, Jeff Carmello and Jan Ballard in event nine. Ferrell continued to ba t a thousand as he outdistanced Shawn McConnell in event 11. Columbo went down in th e first corner in event 12, but was back at the line for the restart and went on to score his second victory of the night. Christian's round two ride was in event 15 and he blew off the field aga in . Other round two heat winners were Oxley, Fishback, "The Flying Canuck" Gary Ford and McLain. Christian came right back in even t 20 and destroyed the field , giving himself a perfect score of 12 poi nts heading in to the semis. Columbo's good night kept on as he picked his third victory and perfect score by taki ng even t 22 over Curt Strommer, Moose Kennedy and Da ve Faria, Fa ria was leading the event on lap two when he and King came together sending Faria over the crash wall. The ra ce was red-flagged a nd King came back to ch eck on Faria 's condition. Fa ria was alright and ready to return to the race. Lance was also ready to return until referee Irwin Moon told him to park it for causing the crash. The other heat winners in round three were Mike "The Madman" Muntean , Jeff Tomlin, Shawn McConnell , De'Temple and Moran. Heading into the semi 's, Christian and Columbo were tied for the lead with 12 points each . Ferrell was in third with ยท 11. Muntean, Pyeatt, Mc Lain, DeTemple, McConnell and Fishback were all tied for fourth wit h 10 points. In event 25 (the first semi), King got the lead as the gate went up , but as usual Christian was out front coming out of tum two on the opening lap. McLain got by King only to have King repass him at Paul Neighbor's