Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~_I . . . . . . . I • t . ," "". oJ c::_ta Mesa - Saa Bernardino - Ascot - V.ntara:- Sacra• •ato - Napa - Cc.ta Mesa - San ....aardlao - Ascot - V.atura _ ....a ••ato- SPEEDWAY WEEK at IMS as he copped the Third Division main. Pfetzing, who is also undefeated in main event action at Harry Oxley's Costa Mesa Speedway. played this one cool as he waited until - turn three on the final lap before he took the lead. Craig DePhillipi had taken the lead from Ron Blanton coming out of tum four on the opening lap. Pfetzing got by Blanton for second on lap two with Mike Baeder (the guy you see every week flying off his bike into the hay bales at Daytona on the Wide World of Sports 'intro) getting Blanton for third on lap thrtt. Pfetzing then made the big move in turn thrtt to get DePhillipi and the victory. Baeder was third with Blanton ending up fourth ahead of Shane McDonald and Ed Castro. The match race was cancelled, but . Pat Hawley made a fine catch of a frisbee thrown to Ashley Whipett as the frisbee catching dogs entertained at intermission. Ashley immediately grabbed the frisbee out of H'awley's hand and returned it to his master. Hawley was more than wil.ling to give the dog the frisbee as it seemed the dog would also have taken Pat's arm if he didn't coopera·te. This Sunday (May 5) will be the last afternoon race at IMS. The regular Wednesday night schedule will begin on May 20. 00 0') Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Oubb Ferrell; 2. Mb s.: 3. IlolIby McLoin; 4. . . Curooo. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Keith ~ 2. loni F. . 3. . Tom Morley; 4. s.: 5. ee.. DeTemple; 6. Gery _e Ford. SECOND DtV: 1. 5_ _: 2. Greg Avers: 3. Jim t..weon; 4. Den & ....011; 5. Ke-ry Miller; 6. Attie Hey. THIRD DtV: 1. Rob PIetting; 2. Cteig DePhiIippi; 3. _ _; 4. Ron Blenton; 5. ShIne McOoneId: 6. Ede.tro. Morley manhandles Costa Mesa I By Ken Kellogg COSTA MESA, CA, APR. 24 The return of Tom Morley to Costa Mesa speedway was a good move for him. Riding from the 20-yard' line in First 'Division, (Topl Keith LarHn (1141111 CoIl1a'Mesa: "Oh yeah? Take thatl"IAbovel Steve Bauer won SaIJ Bamardlno'. Sacond Dlvi.ion main. Falls fail to falter Ferrell at IMS By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, yA, APR. !6 Dubb Ferrell proved that persistence pays off as he came back from two grinding crashes to ride his Jawa to victory in the 24 scratch main at john LaDouceur's In· land Motorcycle Speedway Sunday afternoon. Ferrell, who was shaken after the two crashes duri.tg the handicap portion of the program, started on the pole 'and took the lead over Michael Bast, Mike Curo"SO and Bobby McLain on the start. Curoso bobbled in tum two on the opening lap letting McLain get by into third. Curoso then dropped out on the next lap. Bast was able to close on Ferrell in the turns with Dubb opening it uf again on the straights over the fina two laps. M€Lain went down in tum three on the final lap, At the checkered, it was Ferrell by a comfortable margin over Bast, also on a jawa, with Mc~n and Curoso getting the wrap-up spots. The "Snakeman" - Keith La~n - took the lead at the start of the handicap main from his IO-yard line starting position and never looked back for his first victory of the season. Leni Faas took up residence in second on the start with Tom Morley beating Gary Ford out of turn twO for third. Dave DeTemple and Bast then moved by Ford on lap two with Bast getting DeTemple for fourth on lap three. La rsen was long gone for the victory with Faas also turning in a fine performance holding off Morley and Bast for second. DeTemple ended up fifth ahead of Ford. Steve Bauer turned in his best performance to date at IMS as he staved off the pack to win the Second Division main. Bauer took the lead over fellow zero'yard line starter Kerry Miller on the start. Miller moved to the inside of Bauer in turn three on lap two but was unable to stjueeze through as Bauer did a good job of riding the pipe.. Greg Ayers moved by Miller on the inside down the back chute on lap four with jim Lawson and Dan Braviroff following throug.h. Bauer cominued his good ride over the final lap to record the victory with Ayers nipping Lawson for second followed by Braviroff, Miller and Artie Nay. Super rookie Rob Pfetzing picked up his second vic~ory in as many tries Tom not only made the main event but won it. In the third handicap heat, fans saw a brief glimpse of the old Danny "Berzerko" Becker who started the race by lifting his front tire off the ground and hitting turn one at full speed. On the second lap, however, Becker went down hard in the back straightaway.' The race was red-flagged and Danny wasn't able to make the restart. Shane Hawley rode splendidly on to victory with john Foster second and Shawn McConnell third. In th~ second scratch semi, the finish for second was too close to call according to the officals so they decided to have a run-off between Lance King and Steve Bast to see who would go to the scratch main. The decision upset Bast, and he decided not to participate in it. Unfortunately, by so doing he also chose (automatically) not to race in the main event. It was called a forfeit with King awarded the win and the transfer. For the second week in a row. David Hancock emerged as the Third Division main champ with an excellent ride. On the first lap, he was in third place. On lap two, he moved into second place and by the third lap he was clearly in first. Second went to Mike Mazzacane, third was Mark Weaver and Bob Kellam got fourth. The Second Division main was one of the most suspense-filled races of the night. It literally started with a bang and had to be restarted minus Keith Larsen. On the restart, jim Lawson seemed the favorite. getting the best start. or perhaps even Andy Northrup. However, Moose Kennedy and Bob Pfetzing had other ideas as both' riders battled through th'e pack for position. Kennedy tried both high and low to pass Lawson and finally on the last lap in the back straightaway, Moose moved past. So did Pfetzing. He took the inside and the lead while Kennedy and La>non battled for second. At the wire, it was who else but blazing Bob. Kennedy took second ~nd settling for third with a nice ride was Lawson. Founh went to Northrup and fifth even after going down was Robin Bourgl!Ois. With too many riders on the 20yard line in the handicap main, one had to go back 10 yards. By the luck, or rather bad luck. of the draw. it was Jeff Tomlin. When the gate went up. Dave Miller got the best shal. Second was Tom Morley but by .the next lap, Morley was in front and never again challenged. . The big battle was for third place between Shawn McConnell and Tom Hughes. Tom spent the entire race holding off constant challenges from McConnell. but he did manage to hold ·him off and at the wire it was Morley, Miller, Hughes and McConnell. The scratch consy matched Steve Bast, Sterling Cogar, Craig Schaefer and Phil Gagnon. The only word for this race was weird. Bast took the gate, but as Steve's luck would have it this night. everytme but him went down (he had a thrtt-bike lead, tool). On the restart minus Cogar, Bast's "luck" held true and he couldn't get his biko going as something had broken. Thus, a two-man race would take place. But there's still more. just a second before the wire ~ent up, Bast appeared at the pit gate with his helmet on and apparently ready to race. No official saw him standing there waving his hands. so the raee started. In both frustration and dis· a ppointment, Bast went back to the phs to pack up his bike and pray that Sunday wouldn't be this bad for the former national champion. Schaefer led all the way from the restart and all Gagnon had to do was finish, but like I said, this race was weird. On lap three, Gagnon's bike died and it was a one man fmish with Schaefer winning. The scratch main event pitted Mike Bast, Mike Curoso, Dave DeTemple and Lance King. Curoso was first out of the gate but coming out of turn one, / the incredible Mike Bast took the lead and rode away unchallenged. Curoso rode one of his best races of the young season here as he shut out DeTemple who fmished third. Results THIRD DtV: 1. David Honcoct<; 2. Mike M.....,.".: 3. MerkW....... SECOND DIV: 1. Robert Pfetzing; 2. Moo.. Kennedy; 3. Keith LMoen. • HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Tom Moriey; 2. Dove Miller: 3. Tom Hughes; 4. Shewn McConnell. SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Mike _ ; 2. Mike Curoso; 3. Deve DeTemple; 4. L.ence King. King and Ford win the big ones at Ventura By-Bill Locey VENTIJRA, CA, APR. 21 A pair of speedway old-timers Steve Bast and Dubb Ferrell made their local debut here on a warm evening at the Ventura Raceway. In the end, however, it was

• Cover