Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Speedway Spring Classic: Round one Penhall, Schwartz cop Costa Mesa • pomts By Kenneth R. Kellogg COSTA M ESA. CA. MAR. 5 It took only abou t 10 secon ds, once in the p its, to realize that th is wasn 't going to bejust the 1982 Spring Classic tonigh t at the Orange Cou n ty Fairg rounds. The a ir was filled with th e exc ite ment and worry th a t are present whe n yo u' re about to compete agai ns t th e bes t in th e world. Bruce Penhall (above) beat Bobby Schwartz (below left) in a run-off for first-place honors. Gene Woods (below rig ht ) was third. (Bottom . from leftl Dennis Sigalos. Schwartz. Shawn Moran and Lance King. 16 II was o bvio us that a ll o f thes e lap rid ers (the best in th e U.S.) wa nt ed a sh ot a t th e best in th e world. There wa s. o f co u rse. Bru ce Penhall Wo rld , U.S. a n d Ca lifornia sta te cha m p io n. There was also Bobby Schwanz, half of the '8 1 best pair in th e world: Mike Ba st, seven-lime U.S. Na tio n al Champion: t h e Moran bro thers, Kell y a nd Shawn - all were h ere. Fo r th e first lime. the Spri ng Classic was ru n champio ns hi p sly le, givi ng fans a chance 10 see all th eir fa vorite ri ders five li mes du ring th e n ight. The races were fu ll o f sur p rises , close ca lls and exc iteme n t. For m OSI o f th e even ing, th e full house cro wd were on th eir feel. T he ride rs wer e tr ying so hard 10 do good th e first n ight o f racing in '82 th at th ere wer e a 101 of close ca lls , near mi sses a nd even some ra the r spectac u la r crashes . As early as event one, th e laugh ra cin g beg an w here J ohn Coo k u p set Mike BaSI for th e w in with J o h n Sa ndon na th ird a nd Da ve ims fourth, Pen ha ll's first trip 10 th e starring line was in even t four wh ere he was ma tched agai nst Ala n Ch ristia n , Mi ke Fa ria and Ron Preston . Pen ha ll 's first ra ce was not too unlike Bast's first rac e in that th e fro nt -runner d idn ' t finish first. In fact, in Pen hall's first ride, he finished fourth . Christian took the win, Faria was second a nd Pres to n third, However , in th e Iirs t half of ra ci ng, Pen hall we n t o n 10 win his nex t two hea ts, six and I I. Bruce h ad very tough competition, a nd going in to the seco nd half he was in a three-wa y lie for firs t p lace. Tied w ith Pen hall was Brad Oxley. who won his first eve III but in his second hea t even t took a d isappoi nti ng fourth before winning again in even t 10. Also inv olved in thi s th ree-wa y fig ht was Schwanz who took a th ird , a win and th en a seco n d behind Penhall in even I II. Oxley, who was very much in the running up to event 20 with eigh t poi nts , went down in tu rn one. BaSI made a beauufu l auem p tto la y hi bik e down 10 a vo id a serious co ll ision . How ever : referee Irwin Moon decided that Oxley had ca u sed the restart whi ch PUI him OUI of th e race a nd o u t of th e running for fir st place. This gave reserve Keith Larsen his second cha nce to co m pere, a nd again Larsen took a second behind Penhall . BaSI a n d Sh awn Moran. Ge ne Wood s, the first reserve. had already raced twi ce, once against Cook wh ere h e placed third in even t 12. Ch ristian a nd Bast co llided . BOIh riders were au I, bUI unfortunat ely Chris tia n was oUI for the n igh t, and Woods was again given the call. T h is tim e he a nswered w ith a beaut ifu l firs t p lace ride. Agai n in even t 14, Woods wa s ca lled upon . an d aga in he '" ans were d with a first. ' Voods wa s no w very much in th e ' com pe titio n for the first p lace honor s. H owever , bot h Penha ll a nd Schwanz " had o ther ideas. Sch wa nz won both ' of h is nex t IWOeven ts as did Pen ha ll. Bo th h ad 12 points a n d a tie for th e I lead . Of co urse with th e lie bein g for a I fir st place troph y, th ere had 10 be a run -of f, Althou gh these rid ers are ,frien ds, it is q u ite eviden t o n th e track th ey a re tou gh co m petito rs. With bot h riders staged, th e ga le went up, and in turn one both riders were togeth er , wi th Pen hall sligh tly a head. In the back straigh ra wav . Pen ha ll exp an ded hi s lead. and o n the fin a l la p Bruce knew he had won th e Iirst big n ig h t of 1982. Wha l a wav 10 start the vear! ' ''h en all the dusl had cleared and after the runoff th e fina l res u lts were Bru ce Pen ha ll with 12 poi n ts in first place. Also with 12 points was second place Bo bby Schwanz. T hi rd p lace with 10 points wa s Gen e Woo ds, a reserve. Joh n Sandona was fou rth wit h ni ne poin ts, a nd 10 ma tch hi s number. Iifth pl ace was Brad Oxley. In the J unior co m pe tition , Bob by Cody, th e 10-year-old so n o f former speedway grea t Bill Cody, too k first p lace. Second wa s J o rdan Dun can . a I3-year-old . T hird was I l- year-ol d David Busb y follow ed by l l -year-ol d T rinon Ci re llo, l l -vear-old Greg H ancock and l5-year-old Ronn ie Co rey. If you wer e on e of th e u nfortunat e o ne s who missed tonight's raci ng, yo u' ll hav e 10 wait for th e season opener on April 2 10 see th e riders • co mpete agai n. J

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