Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

E • ~ E ~ 00 0') ~ ICIockwIM from top left) Dennis Siploa (Inside' bettI.. with Kelly MOl'lIn. Moran wound up tied with Sipio. for .econd. From the pole: Alan Christian. SrIId Oxley, Steve Columbo and Bobby McClain. Scott Autrey gathers hi. thoughts. witile Mike Faria turned in 'and upset second over Moran. So that left Sigalos with I~, and Moran with 10. tied with Pyeatt, who turned in five secon~ place finishes. After his loss to Sigalos, Kelly Moran Jon in his next two efforts. In the 15th lace, it was a close one over Scott ,(utrey with Shawn Moran third over SteVe Columbo. o'n race 19 Moran met Christian, D'eTemple and Jeff Tomlin. Christian was on a hot streak with two consecuttve wins and nine points, despite his dislike of bigger tracks. Off the start it was a packed first tum with Moran on the inside and Christian and DeTemple hard on him on the outside. The latter pair tangled and crashed through the retaining fence, bringing out the red flag. Fortunately, both riders were OK a d made the restart. - Moran and Christian led it going into the first turn, but DeTemple made it by into second in the next corner and the order stayed same for the remaining three laps. So Moran had I~ points, and Christian was on the growing list of riders with 10. After having his kill button short out, Autrey turned in two wins and a second, including a dramatic, lastlap, last tum pass to beat Pyeatt in the 10th race. With one race to go, Autrey had seven points and a chance to join the run-off for fourth, if he won the 20th race. Win it he did, leading flag to flag over Steve Gresham, Chrisco and Oxley. The stage was set for the final. After a final' "international race," the run-off for second place was held and Sigalos e a siI y out -distanced Moran. The final race of the n'ight was for the one remaining ticket to World Championship contention. The veteran Autrey saved his best for last and got out of the hole first, carrying a slim lead over Shawn Moran. Christian was running third while Pyeatt had slid out and gotten up to run a distant fourth. Moran stayed with Autrey for .two laps, but gradually dropped back to finish second. The "four go on" conclusion was settled. "Bruce kept telling me to keep my head up," said Sigalos after the race. "It·s not over yet. So I kept my head up, kept going and it went my way, so I'm really happy," Asked what the hardest part of the race was, Kelly Moran replied, "The 15 other ,riders. That's always the hardest part." ''I'd been down all night, but I kept my head up and for the run-off I had gate four and funny enough, I was most confident in that race, even though it was one of the harder races," said Autrey. "Usually under pressure like that I'm OK, where the younger guys might fluff a start of something, while I find that I can sometimes pull out a little extra. The three-race "international," or "judges" series found Billy Sanders winning the first heat with Mike Bast suffering from' clutch troubles and placing last. Bast came back to win the final two heats in convincing fashion, although all three heats were in the slow 1:16 category. During an infield interview, after he'd won his last heat, Penhall quipped, "I need to celebrate badly." • ~ SCORED POINTS Rid.. Bruce Penhall Mike Faria b- Kelly Moran ~ Brad-Oxley Scott Autrey Dave DeTemple Dubb Ferrell Bobby Schwartz Dennis Sigalos Steve Columbo Ride Steve Gresham 2 3 4 5 Total 3 3 3 3 3 15 031228 2 3 2 3 3 13 1 1 200 4 2 1 1 1 2 7 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 1 10 1 i) 2 1 4 2 2 2 2- 10 Keith Chrisco 0 1 ·0 Denny Pyeatt 2 Shawn Moran 3 3 2 1 1 10 Jeff Tomlin Alan Christian 2 0 3 2 3 10 ,. 2 0 1 2 6 Shawn McConnell (R) 000 3 2 1 0 1 7 3 1 3 3 3 13 1 000 0 1 *Two-way tie for second place. Tie breaker race between Kelly Moran and Dennis Sigalos was won by Sigalos. **Four-way tie for fourth place. Tie breaker race was won by Autrey, with Shawn Moran second, Alan Christian third and Dennis Pyeatt fourth. BQbby McClain (R) 1 0 1 0 1 1 19

• Cover