Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

I C_ta Mesa - San BeraardI.o - Ascot - V••tara - Sacr_••to - Napa - e-ta Mesa - San BeraardI.o - JUcot - V••tara - Sacr_ _ te I SPEEDWAY WEEK ~ E Denny Briggs won Third Division at Costa Mesa by atllylng out of trouble. Deja vu in Taft: Locals - 2, Tourists - 0 By Bill Locey TAIT, CA. MAY 9 With the racing season but four races old, Taft has already begun reruns. Frank Adamo won the Scratch main for the second week 18 in a row, giving him three wins in four tries on his home track. ThOle are just the type of reruns the home folks love - just like when Fishback wins at San Berdoo, Christian at Costa Mesa, Faria at Auburn, or McLain in Ventura. And just like last week, local Randy Griffith won the Handicap main despite being backed up 10 yards to the 20, where he took the lead at the stan and never looked back. He wouldn't have liked the view behind him anyway: Crash City. Earlier in the evening, Many Nation joined Alan Christian and Shawn McConnell in the Hun Shoulder Club, crashing hard, sufficient for a ride to the hospital with a pouibly broken collarbone. Although it won't show up in the box score, yet another Taft local, Gene Conners, won the Handicap consy. In the Scratch main, Adamo took the early lead, but this week had a new cast of riders chasing him. Tom Ferris, one·time Ascot regular making his Taft debut, not only chased Adamo but caught him on the second lap. After a lap of wheel-to·wheel action, Adamo got sufficient drive to take the lead for good to win a close one. Nonhero rider Bill Lingiey. riding well enough to make both mains, was third. Bert Stephens. the only rider without the initials F.A. to win the main in Taft, was founh. Due to a lack of riders, Second Division riden got a chance to go scratch racing. Ventura's Pat Smith won both his heats. defeating younger brother Dave twice in the process. In the second heat, Pat traded Dave the number four spot for the number two spot - yet another demonstration of what brothers are for. And it worked great, at least for Pat, who got the gate and took the lead into the second turn. Brother Dave on the outside got J{l'eedy and also too much drive and found himself going venically. heading for the stan. Smith bailed out. landed hard on his back, but managed to exit under his own power. His motorcycle was monally wounded. Meanwhile. Pat Smith cruised to an easy win. Guy Ennolenko of Cypress, getting lots of rides lately, also won both of his heats. In the main, it was Pat Smith's race, as he led from stan to finish - good enough for his first trophy ever. Ferris defeated Stephens in the decider of the King of The Hill match races to take a 2·1 advantage. Taft will run through Saturday June 6. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Fr8nk Adorno: 2. Tom Ferril: 3. BiB UngIey; 4. Bert Stllpheno. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. R8ndy Griffith; 2. Bill Ungley; 3. Fr8nk Adorno; 4. Gront s.Iyerw; 6. Chril Hedge; 6. OlMIeo•. SECOND DIY: 1. Pot SmilII. MATCH RACE: _dill. StlIpheno2of3. DeTemple, Tomlin star at the commotion by the ocean By Bill Locey VENTURA. CA, MAY 12 Roll over Costa Mesa and tell San Berdoo the news. The Ventura Raceway is back. For the fourth consecutive Tuesday, the rider turnout was better, the crowd was larger, the weather was warmer, and the racing was faster. Alan Christian put on some memorable night moves on the outside coming off his shoulder injury, and nonhero California champ Mike Faria drove down from Richmond for the festivities but didn't have much fun. Dave DeTemple did, however, as he took his first Scrateh main in Ventura this year. Jeff Tomlin took the Handicap main off the 20-yard line. In Handicap racing, DeTemple was charxed with unnecessary roughness for sfamming into Shane Hawley and Greg Ayers. Afte the shower of bikes and bodies came to rest, DeTemple was banished to the pits. Christian, riding hard on the outside, palled everybody, including the last body - Craig Schaefer - in the last tum for a win. Tomlin. in a preview of things to come. cruised along uneventfully and was not passed for the win. In the Handicap 1en1is. Tomlin and John Foster motored to easy wins. Behind them. five riders in a tight pack battled for the fmal two transfer spots. Lance King got by Dave Miller in the last 10 feet for a transfer, and Christian came up a length shon of Foster, but still ahead of Schaefer who was third. The main, as is so often the case. was anticlimatic. Tomlin led all the way. It was much ado about nothing behind him as everyone took turns palling one another. Schaefer effectively blocked King on the last lap, ruining Lance's chances. By the time second place fmisher Foster broke free of the pack, the race was history. Schaefer took third, and Christian beat King to the line by a spoke for founh. In Scratch racing, DeTemple made up for his earlier faux paus by winning his heat easily, as did King. In another heat, Mike "The Madman" Muntean exchanged leads with Faria a numher of times until Faria crashed in the final turn. giving Keith "The Snake" Larsen a gift transfer. The final heat was the race of the night, if not the year. Christian outgated everyone. but Gary Ford caught him in tum two. Christian muscled him to the outside. which usually spells the end of the race, but Ford kept coming. They battled wheel to wheel down thC straights, with Christian pushing him wide in the turns. On the third lap, Ford pulled a Dubb Ferrell special and cut inside Christian in tum two and took the lead. In the next tum. Christian took it back and held on to win by a wheel. The crowd gave both riders a welldeserved standing ovation. After King thrashed Christian in a semi, Ford was at it again, this time against DeTemple. After three laps of motorcycle madness, Ford crashed, giving DeTemple the transfer behind Muntean who won by plenty. DeTemple has made the main each week here and finished second on three occasions. This time, he took the lead from the gate for his first win. Christian crashed hard in the final turn, rolling over several times. but did not reinjure his shoulder. In D-2 action, Cary Faas who knows the way to Ventura unlike brother Leni, won his heat' easily. But in the main, Bob Pfetzing. also on the zero, had the race won by the fint turn good enough for his third trophy in Ventura. And new guy Mik~ Mazzacane won his heat and the main for the Third Division honon. The crowd. in usual midaeason fonn, saved the lion's share of the leers. the cheers. and the oh dears (mostly leers) for trophy girl Ms. Susan Slevak. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. 0lMI DeT...,pr, 2. ...... 1Cing; 3. Mb Mun-.;4. Alan a..-. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Jeff Ton*l; 2. JaIln 3. er.Ig ~ 4. Alan a.-; 6....... ICing; .. -s_~. -= e.v "- SECOND DIY: 1. Bob "'**'0: 2. 3. Donnio Abboll; 4. AntJot Northrup; 5. Honry s-,; 6. lHIlID DIY: 1...... Me . . 2. _ ConiglIo; 3. W-: 6. Guy ErmA.... e. JIm.-v. MATCH RACE: King dII. ~ lMry ~ 4. _ Fishback flies at Costa Mesa By Ken Kellogg COSTA MESA. CA. MAY 15 Jim "The Animal" Fishback is . back. and now everyone knows it for sure. FIShback rode a devastating Scratch main at the Orange County Fairgrounds as he defeated Steve Bast, Dave DeTemple and Craig Schaefer. From his fint race of the night, it was obvious tha.t Fishback wanted a win. It was his kind of track, with a lot of soft din, and it required a lot of changes in "normal" speedway Ityie. In one Scratch semi. Fishback was matched aPinst Craig Schaefer, Alan Christian and Jeff Tomlin. Schaefer was out flI'St and fought off The Animal for the fIrSt lap. After that it was all FIShback. He went high into the soft din, rather than low and inside, nearly clipping Schaefer and took the lead, never to relinquish it. The Third Division main was basically a romp. Denny Briggs was first off the line and never really challenged. Shane McDonald and Rick Miller fmished second and third and did a fane job of holding on and maintaining con· trol on the soft track. Several riders went down (in every division), but they managed to stay up and finish in good form. . The Division Two main event saw Steve Lucero. ridinlt from the 50-yard line, work his way through traffic and take the win. The battle was for second. Ron Blanton and Andy Nonhrup fought for this position the entire race. Both riders were reserves. Founh waS old timer Dennis Bransford riding from the 50·yard line with fifth going to zero·yard·liner Victor Robledo. The Division One Handicap main was a fast-paced, action·fl1led thriller. Kun Strommer took the gate and led nearly the entire race, staying just ahead of Tom Hughes. On the last lap, Hughes passed Strommer, then faltered for a second in tum four. Strommer nearly took the lead back but. at the wire, it was Hughes by inches. Hughes has improved every race and next week will probably be a back yardage rider. John Sandona was third with Mike Muntean founh. The Scratch consy is nearly the most exciting race of the night every week. This one featured a great match up Dubb Ferrell, Alan Christian, John Sandona and Jeff Tomlin. When the gate went up, Ferrell was left sitting, literally. Dubb claimed that the green stan light didn't work (this was confuned later by referee Irwin Moon). Sandona rocketed out front with Christian right behind. Third was Tomlin. Christian was trying everything to get past Sandona, but he refused to yield. On lap three, Christian edged by Sandona but only for an in· stant. On the last lap. the best race of the evening was about to end, but they couldn't let it just end. In turn four. Christian moved by oh so slightly. Sandona took it back.again, and at the wire, they were nearly dead even with both riders claiminJ victory. Irwin Moon took the traditional stroll to the official scorer's table and the decision was made public via announcer Bruce Flanders. "The winner - number two, Alan 'Crazy' Christianl" Believe this - next week. Sandona will be back and ready. The Scratch main match up was perfect - Jim Fishback. Steve Bast. Craig Schaefer and the hottest rider ·on the circuit. Dave DeTemple. Unfor· tunately. DeTemple was out on the first lap. The race was between Big Jun, Bast and Schaefer. Fishback took an early lead with Bast breathing down his neck. At every turn it seemed as though Bast was about to~. but this wu Fllbback's race. The din was his, and the track seemed custom made for him. On the third lap, it seemed as though Fllbback had had enough, and "wham," like a rocket he shot out fanber in front. even though it appeared that he would lc.e it at every turn. He won the race by five bike 1engths followed by Bast and Schaefer. Mike But wasn't in any main events toni~t but not because he didn't qualify. Just before event number nine. he announced that his wife DeAnn was in labor. and the hospital was over an hour away. Best wishes to the Bast family. •

• Cover