Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I Southern California·Arizona·Southern Nevada· Southern California·Arizona·Southern Nevada· Southern California.Arh 1:1 Western hotline ~ second for a while. but lost it to Danny Perkins who had come flying on by Monger and Minnig until he was firmly in second. There was to be no catching Goss. Graham was to drop out, still plagued by wire problems, and although he did his best, Monger could not get up and around Rainey. In the Junior division, Bill Scott had an exciting night. He was on a 750 Harley instead of one of the stnaller Yamahas he'd been riding, and found out a couple of times what all those ponies can do to you in a tum. In the first heat he was doing very well in third until the bike almost got away from him and he ended with a transfer to the semi. The winner, start to finish w~ Jeff Johnson followed by Bob Garrison on a 500 Honda. The next and fastest heat went to Mike Garrison start to finish, with Chris Cannon second and Craig Scroggins third. In the semi, Mike Hale, the fastest Junior in qualifying, just flew through the pack, going from the back row to fourth place in one fell swoop. Up front it was Rod Sullivan, then Steve Karsten. Hale, Dennis Camp and Dorothy Rowe. Sullivan was to make a bad bobble, losing the lead to Karsten. The final rundown was Karsten, Sullivan, Hale and Scott who had gone on up by Camp and Rowe to be last transfer to the main. For the start of their main, the Juniors gave the starter a bad time. They were always moving right before he even had one foot up on the starter's table - it took two red flags to get them quieted down. By that time Derek Land's bike was giving him probletns so he was replaced by Dennis E Camp. lTop) Hendy Goa didn't quellfy fIIatat lit Aacot. pieced third In the Trophy O..h, but nobody ceme cIoM In the Expert meln. (Above) Chria cannon 117RJ end Mike Gerrison got Into another blIttIe lit Aacot over top Junior honora. cannon won. Goss wins Ascot h.lfmlle By Maureen Lee Photos by Dan Mahony GARDENA, CA, APR. 24 In previous years, Ascot's halfmile faithful have not had the enjoyment of seeing the Grand National Champion ride unless 28 it was a National. But Friday night, there was number one Randy Goss out there with the rank and file of expert riders giving it a go. Steve Monger set fast time. 22.57, and Goa was fourth with a 22.88. The first heat was a restart when Jeff Alliton got a ride to the hospital after unloading in the south tum. On the restart Sal Hoffman had the lead briefly, but 10It it to Steve Oort who hung onto it until the finish. Behind Oort, Dennis Fitze and Hoffman were swapping second spot around. Right at the end Fiue was firmly in charge of second and making a run at Oort, but it was no go. Monger pushed across the line, registering a finish. The other Expert heat was also a restart when the light turned green with Ricky Graham's arm up in the air. Graham was out fairly quickly with wiring difficulties, and Goa was having a blast doing wheelies down the back straight. Next came Mike Minnig, then Wayne Rainey and Frank Gillespie. Goa put a nice bit of distance behind himself, and it was Minnig defending against Rainey who finally took over the second spot. On the last lap Danny Perkins, with all stops out, took away the transfe.r spot from Minnig. For the semi, again the Ron Wood camp was having traoubles but away they all went with Graham tucked in behind leader Monger. Monger built himself up a nice lead by the end of the race, with Graham second. Then came Minnig who was guarding his rear wheel from Gillespie, Mike Inderbitzen and Rick Volk. Goss still holds the five lap record at Ascot set in 1979, but Friday's Trophy Dash at three laps wasn't to be his. That went to Graham on the Wood Harley. Goa had second for a while but Monger took it away, and the race ended Graham, Monger, Goa and Dennis Fitze. Graham had barely missed setting a new Dash record, he got a 1:09.69 compared to Ted Davidson's 1:09.09. It went without saying that if Randy Goss got away from 'em at the start of the main that would be it. .. all the opposition could hope for was to go with him off the start and bottle him up a bit. In spite of a bobble in tum two, and with Wayne Rainey right on his tail. Goss pulled away slowly and surely. Rainey (Yam) held onto a The eventual start looked like a hooligan with every rider showing a different variation as to how to go through the south tuml Cannon emerged in front of the herd, then came Scroggins and Garrison. Cannon just kept goin~, but Garrison was soon by Scroggms and chasing Chris hard. Cannon wasn't getting rattled by the sound of hot pursuit behind him. but the race came to an abrupt halt when Mike Hale did an imp'ressive get-off exitin~ tum two. His bike slung him high 10 the air, handstanding over the handlebars as if the front end just locked up solid. He was able to walk away from it but because the race was 50% over, there was no restart. In the Novice division, the first heat was the quickest. Jimmy Rosa had just slid nicely into the front spot when his bike went sour, leaving Mike Vital to win it followed in by Tony Holdsclaw. Second heat went to Rob Ely who fended off Bud Carroll for a while until Carroll nearly christened his new leathers out with a bobble in tum two. The heat ended with Ely still the leader but with Brian Yocum running very strongly at his rear wheel, and two riders went down hard on the front straight right by the flagman. Ouch ... but no real damage done. More restarts for heat three, but finally they all got off with Terry Singleton blasting off into the lead. He eventually lost it to Pete Hames who pulled out ahead leaving Singleton to fend off Don Howard. Champion Frames' Bud Carroll may take bows this week as he won the Novice semi with what was substantially the fastest five lap novice time of the whole evening - a 2:02.55. He was followed in by Mark Cain, Don Howard and Jim Toews.

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