Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126609
N ...... en en ..... .... a. « en ~ w z i:: « Deena Got hard (far lane) and Kim Pa yne (near lan e) battle in the Jr. class. Got har d t ook the w in. SIPS winner Keith Ahart. puts the power to the ground at Glamis. Three-wheelers make big impact at ASRA Glamis Sand Drags By De nnis Ketterman GLAMIS. CA. MAR . 13-14 The new American Sand Racing Association three-wheel classes developed this year has certainly sparked a great deal of interest with the motorcycle enthusiasts around the country. Five new Pro-Bike classes , all categorized by engine displacement, were the center of attention during the off-season, and now they a re a reality and beginning to grow. With th e three Junior ET classes a nd the 16 regular ET classes, all. of co u rse. open for threewheelers and drag bikes, th e impact and popularity they 've made on sand drags is becoming very evident. Although the 1982 season is onl y three months old, six points meets, most of which were ET class events. have already been logged into the books. The latest National ASRA points event took p lace at G lamis' International Sandway. the most popular off-road sand pile in the world. It was the "Winter Sand Nationals." sponsored by SI96-FM and MollyMate. Nearly perfect weather greeted a record number of entriesand a record number of spectators for the two-day shootout. Virgil Pontes has been holding down the number one spot in the top Pro-Bike class. AAlPB , with his 1200cc turbo Kawasaki. Pontes experienced the ride of his life this da y most of which took place without h is bike. As he was about to cross the finish line during his final . the front tire got crossed upa tad . and when he corrected a nd unloaded the throttle a t the same time. it pitched right. Virgil left. a nd moving about 65 mph. things began to happen quite rapidly from that point on. H itting the ground about three times. Pontes lay motionless in th e middle of the tra ck , providing a few anxious moments for everyone wa tching. But, after a few minut es he was up, walkin g arou nd and looking for his bike. wh ich had coasted o ff to the side li nes. H appy to report that P ontes suffered on ly a mild co nc ussion a nd is o n the mend. making ready fo r th e Ma y 8 Gl am is n ight d rags. Pontes had won h is class each tim e o u t so fa r th is year, a nd is cu rre nt ly holding down the number three spo t in th e overall points standings in Pro-Bike. T wo th ree-whee l riders who a lso have co ntributed in forming th e n ew bike cla sses. run in B/PB a nd they met one another in th eir fin al s. Keith Ahart and Micha el Coles. Ahart started out competing with a twowheeler, but opted for a more stable rid e on three last seas on and ha s built one of the more consistant machines currently in competition. As Col es sa t on a two-wheeler, he drew the redlight against Ahart in B/PB finals. It was 4.808/63.934 clocking for Ahart to a red-light 4.993/70.868 for Col es. In ClPB. Cliffand Charles Clupper, a father and son team and Don Sm ith provided all the competi tion in their class. After receiving the bye in th e first round. Smith red-lighted aga inst Charles Clupper, gi ving Clupper the win , turn ing a 5.050/63.630 a nd claiming that ET as a new record for jhe newly established cla ss as well. Ov eranxiousness prevailed again in D/PB. as John Nicholas red -lighted his chances of winning awa y against steady Bob Sechi. Sechi, number four overall in the points co mpe tition, clicked off a 5.571/54.413 to Ni cholas; red-lighting 5.748/57.312. The regular ET classes (forme rly known as bracket racing) at Gl amis a lso produced a record number of en tries, as 99 vehicles of all types q ua lified a ll da y Saturday for a spot in one of the 16 eliminator classes. Each driver was allowed three passes with th e low est ET of th e three determining what class he or she would co mpe te in du rin g the elim ina tio ns o n Su nday . It 's a ll " heads up." no handicap racing. and has reall yca ug h t on by the racing corps. Jeep -vs-Buggy: Bugg y-vs-Three-Wheeler; Dragstervs-Funny Ca r; wha tever: Vehicle constructio n pl a ys no sig ni fica n t ro le in classification. o n ly ET, and all ows almost everyone an opportunity to compete. Da vid Co x q ualified in the number two pos itio n of ET cla ss 12 a nd drove his uniquea nd familiar three-whee ler th rough three ro unds of co mpe ti tio n for a win over J ames Scribellito's three-wheeler in th e final s. Laurie Hightman had a n easy time in ET class 16. as sh e ended up soloing in for her win. as she watched Clarence Hightower III a nd Dee Pa yne both exceed th e cla ss index of 7.20 in their fir st round match-up, resulting in a double breakout. Junior ET Classes The you ngs ters between th e ages of 12 and 15 ha ve their own separa te ET racing program, m ini-ba ttl es a nd poi n ts system. whi ch has reall y proved out to be very successful. The Jun io rs are limited to run only three-wheelers a nd Odyssey-type vehicles, a nd a re gove rned bya n ET not to excee d 7.00 seconds. In Junior ETClass I , Brian George. 15. the old man o f the Juniors who is a bo ut to retire from the Jun iors because of his age a nd enter int o the regular ET classes. ha s been on a romp latel y, taking th e win at Glami s over Mik e Ra smussen in th e fin al s. Geor ge a lso leads the overall Junior Points competition with a whopping total of 1921 points. In Junior ET Class 2, 12-year-old Deena Gothard recorded her first win of the season. outlasting Jeff Haskins as he broke out of class. In Jun ior ET Class 3. it was the battle of the Danell cousins. Eric and Rance. Eric, the son of Bill Danell and Rance. the son of Top Fuel driver Danny Danell carry a family name very familiar to sand drags. Eric came out on top of th e duel as Rance tried to physce out his cousin to no avail with his staging line techniques. The next ASRA event will once again be held at Glamis, Saturday, Ma y 8. for a first ever night drags. Qualifying will take place all da y Saturday. with the eliminations run at night under the lights. It will be a di visional points event. with all th e Pro-Class vehicles; Top Fuel , Funny Cars. IT Classes. junior's. everyone. The following weekend, it's back 10 Riverside Raceway in Riverside. CA . the home track of ASRA , for a two da y All Comers ET Class event. May 15 a nd 16. The 1982 ASRA Rule Book is availa be for $4 plus 50¢ for po stage and handling. For further informat ion regarding sched uling. membership, rule book. and San d rag Magazine, ca ll or write: ASRA , Dept. ATI'N . P.O . Box 3583, Ontario . CA 9176171 4/947-6103. L.aas flies at Hollywood By Victor Jones HOLLYWOOD, FL. FEB. 7 The first race of th e season for AMRA brought 85 degree temperatures, a clear sky and a new track. Instead of last year's small track inside the stock car oval at Hollywood Speedway Park, promoter Pete Scalzo set up the motocross track behind th e Sportatorium. Races were also increased from their two motos of six laps each, to two 10-minute motos in each class . Alex Laas seemed to adapt to the new long•.rough terrain and came out as the " flyer of the day ." winning the 70-15Occ Modified cla ss in both heats by a half lap over the rest of the field. and moving the 206-0pen class in the first heat with th e same winning margin. In the second heat came a brilliant challenge from Chris Woods who finished second, aga in lea ving Laas th e victor. The Stock class showed Robert Lee and Pat Griffin witha very close one. two finish. The 151-205cc class had an exciting dice for fir st. second and third place in both heats. with Joe Brow coming out the winner in the first moto and Tom McPartland first in the second moto, That left Brown the overall winner. Anyone in the sou th Florida area wising to race or spectate, please contact AMRA at 305/752-1168 or Grant and Vickie Hawk at Miami Auto Marine 305/446-6677. ' Results 70- 125 STK: 1. Robe n Lee (Ylmt 2. Pit Griffin (Han); 3 . Ol llid WIlson (Han). 70-150 MOO: 1. Alex leIS (Hant 2. Bred Wllco (Han); 3. Bob Krier (Han). 151- 205 : 1. Joe Brow (Han); 2. Tom MCPlnllnd (Han); 3. John Arechi (Ylm). 206-0PEN: 1. Alex leI' (Han); 2. Chri. WocxI. (KIW); 3. Ralph Garzan (Han). Robbins rules at Big Oak Raceway By Joe Strange Photos by Chris Martineau MO BILE, AL . MAR. 14 Mobile's Bill Robbins swept all three heats in the TwoCycle Stock class , to take the event o n- Big Oa k 's quarter mile oval. R obbins , piloting a stock RCloo Yamaha sponsored by Budweiser-Busch of Mobile, was returning to Big Oak after a two month absence. Tim Huff. the second place finisher in the event. said of Robbins, "He was just too fast. I chased thai Bud weiser car all afternoon and couldn 't catch him. " Huff took all th ree second pl aces and has been a consistent winner at Big Oak. In the T wo-Cycle Open class Bubba Gale was all by himself . Seldom was he in anything but first place and when he wasn 't the tempora ry lead er was James Albritt on . " Albri tt o n seemed as if he was right behind me all da y," said Gal e. " I was jut running from him. " It was the best racing yet a t Big Oak in on ly their th ird month of organ- 23