Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

N co ...... 0) L.- a. <{ CJ) S LU Z j::: <{ Speedway karts turned out in full force to vie for the $1.500 cash at Corona Raceway. Tom Nields (3 7 ) drove hard and fast to top the 1OOcc Amateur Light Class at Corona. Bohle's dash for cash at Corona By Rob Frazier CO RONA. CA. FE B. 21 A beautiful sunny Sunday and $1500 in cash was all that was needed to bring in speedway karters for the first running of the " Dash for Cash," put on by Corona Raceway, near Riverside. The entry li st incl uded 91 drivers in fo ur classes th a t read lik e th e " Who's Who " of d in kart racing. Names like Mik e Berg , Lee H at ch, P hil Passal acq ua , Da vid Sa ndiford, Donny Sm all woo d a nd C huck Pir renger we re see n throughou t the bus y pi ts. Bu t of all th e superb dr ivers on th e tra ck, Ra y Boh le certai n ly deserves cre dit for hi s great perfor mances in bo th Ama teur Li gh t an d Amateur H eavy. In a grea t d i ~ l a y of sports mans hi p a nd co nsisTene}', Boh le dr ove arou nd p eopl e a ll day 10 tak e home first pl ace m oney in Ligh t a n d third in H ea vy. T he program included four classes - Am at eur Light (38 entries), Juniors ( 15), Amat eur H ea vy (24) an d Dual s ( 15). The first h eat was run ba sed o n a two-l ap time tri al with th e fastest at th e front a nd th e fin ishing order inverted, 10 set th e gri d order for th e semi, The lin e-up for th e main event was det ermined by the drivers' fini shing positions in th e first two races wi th th e top fin ish ers in front. 20 The first class wa s div ided into three races , th e first of wh ich was a bailie betwee n Steve Greenland and Da ve Gang. After the fourth lap, Gang p icked off Greenland and Steve Hamilton. Skip Lee and John Car- bone foll owed th em 10 th e chec kered . Don Scha fer a n d Dal e Durbin were fir st a nd seco nd for a lmost th e entire seco nd race, wi th Dan Lizardo coming from wa y back and tak in g third fro m Tom Nields, wit h fifth go ing to G ary Fer guson o f th e Desert Kart Works. Dirt racing is not without its ro llove rs with th e th ird race bei ng resta rted for th e firs t tim e of th e day. T racy Van Blar gen wa s th e sta r of this race as h e drov e hard fro m a rear pack sta rt, gelling all but th e first three karts. Only Pa ssal acqua and Ron McQuillin beat him 10 th e flag. . Nex t were the super hot J u niors. Bridgestone's H a tch led for th e firs t few laps but wa s passed by Ber g as th ev both went into turn one under the yello w. Hatch 's feelin gs were mad e known to th e flagman o n th e next lap but the ra ce went on . Both drivers were running way a head o f th e rest of th e pa ck and as th ey both ov ertook a lapped kart, Berg pressed a lillie hard go ing for the inside line in turn three and h eading wide into th e marbles. H at ch was abl e 10 stay down low with just en o ugh tim e 10 slip into fir st. Berg wa s d isqualified for passin g under the yellow, as Darren La w drove the beau tiful La w Im p o rt s Special into second, followed by Bryan Mo ren o , J ames Bu nce a nd Mike Casteel. Twenty-two karts sta rted in Amateur H eav y as Chuck Pittenger. fro m Pi u s Performance, smoked almost every body in th is class. Ra y Bohle wa s hot after h im in seco n d, foll owed by Duncan " La nds ha rk" Emmons, J oe Granatell i an d CUSlOm painter Pete Santini. T he Du al s fire d up nex t with th e ni cel y set up kart o f David "Snake " Sa nd iford bei n g th e sto ry this time. Small wood was charging h ard in seco nd a n d ac tua lly seemed 10 have mor e sp eed every lap go ing into turn three, but Sandiford 's lin e kept him from go ing in as hard as he co u ld have. Sm allwood was going in so hard tha t he rear- ended San difor d severa l tim es tryin g to set up his drift. T he " Sna ke" from Speedwa y Supply held o n wit h broth er Donn v Sm allwood in third, with Jim Porter a nd Ron DiD onat o fourth a nd fifth . T he semi in Am at eu r Li ght wa s firs t led by Debbie Pitten ger, but Bohle m ad e an in side m ove o n her in turn one a nd had a su bsta nt ia l lead on th e p ack by th e fifth lap. Don ovan Faust followed in th ird, with J im Kirkpatrick a nd fl yin ' Rod H etrick close behind. Kirkpatrick n osed out Faust in side turn one, then moved ou tside o f Piuen ger o n the next lap. As th e checkers came o u t, it wa s Bohle, Kirk patrick, Faust , Pitten ger. Jeff J ohnson , from th e Kart Sh op, led th e com p lete J un ior Semi after th e inverted sta rt a nd was pressed th e whole way by Super Dyn e's Pa ssa lacqua. Berg drove sp len didly from h is last starting spot into third , with Ta m my Montgomery and Mik e Casteel in hot pursuit. H at ch wa s o u t for a bit with a broken throttl e ca ble, but was a ble to fini sh 10th . The invert ed 'start' order for the Amateur H eavy semi was a zoo . First pl ace finishers were sup posed to be in th e back, but cha m p io ns ca n ' t handl e that kind o f cha lle n ge as Pittenger sn uck into mid-p ack on th e lin e-up laps, ca us in g a restart. Th e idea is to give everybo dy a n eq ua l chance , a nd it d id , as Dal e Fi lkins led for a wh il e. J ohn Ti p ps. Pete Santin i an d Bob Alder ma n were right th ere unti l Bill Plum lee a nd Bohl e started work ing th eir wa y into th e fron t spots. Pi tten ger was fast , bu t Sa nt in i, Plumlee an d Bohle bea t h im 10 the flag , fol low ed by Duncan Em mons, Filkins a nd T i p ps . Before th e karts co uld get lin ed up for th e Du al sem i, so meo ne lost both front wh eels! So th at 's wh at th ose COlle r p in s are for! Ron DrDonaro led th e wa y with David Go od will , Sm all wood , Malcol m Smi th a n d Mik e Ja mes chas ing hi s beautiful Bu g Wasp. The stage was set fo r th e heads-u p battles in th e m ain events, with Amateu r Light go ing off first. T hese boys had dollar signs in th eir eyes a nd weren 't gi ving any breaks . Sm allwood was o u t in front, bu t he co u ldn' t co nvince Steve H am ilton of it , as he wa s right th ere. Goin g into turn three, th ey go t ta ngled with Sm allwood gell in g bounced o n h is head. T om Nields from Motiv e Systems a nd Bohle had been trailer in g through th e p ack a n d were in th ird a nd fourth at th e red flag. With Sma ll wood ou t, th at left Bohl e, N ields a nd H am ilton leading th e restar t. Don Schafer had ' gotten a ro u n d Tracy Van Blargen for a fou rth wit h Ski p Lee fin ishi ng sixth . The Junio r main was obvio us ly goi ng to be a lilli e hi gh stru ng as every body was j um p in g the start. Aft er th e fifth pace lap , the sta rter threw th e flag a t th e line-u p. This ca use d a huge pile-u p wit h karts going in every d irection. Out ca me th e red an d o ut ca me the drivers for so me very ser io us words abou t how to sta rt a race. By now motors were h ea tin g up, not to mention the dads. H at ch shot out in fro nt of th e pacing pa ck a nd ra ced to th e sta rt line, sli d side ways off th e track, and furio us ly tip ped th e kart up on th e side pointin g ou t som e mech ani cal problem . Working feverishly, th e p ack ca me aroun d again. This tim e no on e antici p a ted a sta rt a nd ou t went th e g reen. Bryan Moren o led with Jeff Johnson from th e Kart Shop, Passalacqua , Mik e Casteel, Berg and Darren Law selling th e pace. Quite a bailie was going on for the first four places as Passalacqua had moved into second, with Berg dri ving into fourth behind Johnson. Berg wa s cru is ing but Passalacqua was in first and Johnson by now had edged into seco nd. Berg was bl ack-nagged o n lap three fo r rough dr iving but staved o n th e track. It was a wild race and ended with Passal acq ua, Moren o, Johnson, Ca steel an d Law. Amat eur H eav y was fired. a nd Pi ttenger led from fla g to fla g. Santini wasn 't far behind, th en Bohle, Mik e D ickeson , Dun can Emmons a n d Tipps. Dickeson go t a ro u nd Bohle th en Santini. The order under th e £lag wa s Pitts, Santini , Bohl e , Emmons, Plumlee, J oe Granarell i. Tipps and Dick eson . DiDona lO copied Pittenger's form in Du als with Smallwood, Goodwill a n d Sm ith following in th e ea rly laps. Mik e Beam was running very stro ng but wasn 't a ble to fini sh well all da y. Wh en th e chec kered flag ca me o u t Smith had cha n ged places with Goodwill for third , with Jim Porter fifth . It wa s a grea t da y on th e dirt, a n d the event was well run by the staff of Corona Racew a y, including Ray Weisberg. As the season opener and the first annual " Dash For Cash," this even t clearly showed why such interest has developed in speedwa y karting. A'" Results AMATEUR LIGHT: 1. Ray Bohle : 2. Tom Nield.; 3 . Steve Hamilton; 4. Skip Lee. JUNIOR: 1. Jeff Johnson; 2. Keith Spangler; 3 . Tammy Montgomery; 4 . M ike caste el. AMATEUR HEAVY: 1. Chuck Pittenger; 2. MIke Dic keson; 3 . Ray Bohle; 4 . Pete Santini . DUALS : 1. Ron OiOoanto ; 2. David Sandiford; 3. Davi d Goodwill ; 4 . M ike Beam.

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