Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ewta Mesa - San Bernardino - Ventura - -'a"arn - Na. . - eWg M_ - San ....nardlno - Ventura - -'abarn - Na. . - e-U M_ - Sa ....... ..... ... 0- < Dave DeTemple led Mike Bast briefly Bast, Christian split Costa Mesa wins By Kenneth R. Kellogg COSTA MESA , CA, APR. 9 The consistent top competitive battle between Mike Bast and Alan Christian was resumed tonight at the Orange County 24 Fairgrounds as eac h of th ese gr eat s won a main event over the other. Christian won the Handicap main in th e most thrilling cliffhanger of th e cu rre nt seaso n. Ba st won the Scrat ch main, an event many say he is practically unbea tabl e in . Bast led the entire race, a nd a fin e rid e by Gen e Wood s gave him a strong secon d place. As is the case on most Frid ay nights, th e stadi u m was fill ed with a near capacity crowd. Number on e north ern Cal ifornia rider Mik e Fari a has moved to sou thern Californ ia so he ca n com pete with th e best. T onight was not Faria's night, although he made th e co nsy. He will be back, a nd he will win . The future greats of speedway, or as they ar e called, the Junior speedwavers, raced tonight. T hese yo un g men are gett in g better every year, a nd tonight's winners were no excep tio n. The gr and winner was Bobby Cody. The Third Div ision main, or th e nov ice di vision, had a few mi shaps .... T race Will es went down but bounced right ba ck up to fin ish th e race . and Ra y Ortega (in one of the ni cest looking sets of leathers) was o u t with a dead bik e. On lap one Steve Flanigan had th e lead but soo n would relinquish it to Kenny Bench eck , who went on to victory on lap four. Movin g up to tak e the secon d spot was Dar cy Johnson with Flanigan endi n g up third. In the Second Divi sion main , J eff H avacko and Pat Hawley ta ng led bik es ca usi ng a restart. On the restart , Mark Weaver took second with #261 takin g th e lead a fter start ing in third place. That forced Guy Ermol enko in to third pl ace. The First Division Handicap consolation event saw J an Ball ard , sport ing a new number, 42, win. Ball ard, a long time speedwa yer, led th e race from start to fin ish . The H andicap ma in event was fill ed with th e best - Dann y Becker , the co me bac ker Dan McN eill Jim Law son , Mike Bast a n d Al an Christian . Becker took th e lead for the fir st three laps. At th e end of the third la p, McNeill moved under to tak e the lead. On the last lap, Christian, wh o at San Bernardino. had been working his way th rough traffi c, made hi s fin al effort to save th e win. In th e la st turn , Christian gave it hi s a ll and mov ed into second place. Then, just in che s from th e finish , hi s bike seem ed to just float past McNeill, and miraculously, Christian had the win ! McNeill was second with Becker third. The big banana, the Scra tch Main, was finall y up. By now, an no u ncer Bru ce Flanders had this full house crowd on its feet a n d read y for more speed way actio n. The co m pe tito rs Gen e Woods, Mik e Curoso , Alan Christian an d Mik e Bast. Wh en th e ga te went up, all th e bikes seemed to leave th e sta rt ing line together, but by onl y turn one it was c1earl y Bast in the lead, Curoso second , Woods and Christian behind. On lap two, Woods mov ed ins ide under Curoso and took second place where he remained for the remainder of the race. Curoso tri ed everyth in g possibl e but was un abl e to repa ss Woods. At the wire with uncanny ease, it was Bast, Woods, Curoso and Christian. Next week will feature World, U.S. and Stat e Champion Bru ce Penhall . Racing begins at 8 p .m. Bransford, Bast fast at IMS opener By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, APR. 7 A large opening night crowd braved a cold 42 degree night to watch Michael Bast ride th e Justice Brothers Jawa to victory in the Scratch main a t John La Douceur's Inland Motorcycle Speedway tonight. Bast got th e gate from th e number three starting spot over Gene Woods (7-U p Godden ), Mike Curoso (KEZY Westlake) and polesitter Alan Christian on the STP Godden. Ba st opened up a sma ll lead with Curoso slip ping by Woods for seco n d in turn four o n the ope ni ng circu it. Ch ristian got Woods, wh ose ig nition plug began to slip ou t, on lap two . Bast h ad matters under co ntro l an d made it two in a row at IMS (he also cap tu red th e IMS end of the Spring Classic). Curoso hun g on , for seco n d followed by Christian and Woods, who dropped o u t on th e fin al lap wh en th e ignition plug fin ally ca me a ll the way out. Twenty-year-old Dennis Bransford con tin ue d to ride lik e a house on fire as he won all three of hi s rac es and repeatedhis win of Tuesdav night a t Ventura in th e Handi cap main. Bransford (H ome Vid eo Specialties Jawa) sta rt ed on th e IO-yard line with Kurt Strommer (Mt. View For eign A u to Weslake ) and Jim Lawson (D.J.'s T icket Service/Hair by Bev J a wa ). Strommer got th e edge a t th e gate with Law son a nd Bransford pulling even before they entered turn one. The trio rode elbow to elbow until Strommerdropped back in tu rn four on lap one. Lawson a n d Bransford contin ued to batl e for th e lead a nd th e braggi ng rig h ts in River sid e until Bransford took the lead for keeps in turn two o n lap three. Popular John Sandona (Ma rq u is Lounge/Rialto Truck Parts J awa ) 'wor ked his way up from th e 40-yard line to tak e third from Strommer on lap four. Sa ndon a wasn 't d one as h e chased down Lawson a nd wrestled seco nd spot away as th ey took th e ch ecker ed flag. For Bransford, it was hi s seventh victory in eight sta rts (incl ud ing heats a nd sem is) in 1982. Following th e top three riders were Mike Fari a (Cycle Gear J awa ), Strommer a n d Dave DeTemple (Da le 's Modern Cycle jawa ), Guy Ermolenko (Gas to n & Dillon Jawa ), who won the Third Divi sion main Tuesda y a t Ventura, moved up a step a nd won the Second Division main a t th e IMS opener. Ed Castro (R idin' High Jawa ) took the lead from the zero on the start o ver Don Bovee (O 'Nea ls 76 Jawa) . Errnolenko, who sta rted on th e 10, moved by Bovee with a wild mov e out of turn four on lap one. Bovee momentarily rega ined seco n d as Ermolenko took a little time to co llec t his thoughts and then repass Bovee. Ermolenko began to close th e gap little by little on the stubborn Castro and mov ed by for the lead with an inside move in turn four on lap three. Once out front , ther e is usu all y no catching the rising star from Buena Park, and tonight was no different. Last year's rookie sensa tio n, Rob Pf etzing (Va lvo li ne/ Mo re Ph otography Weslake) moved from the 30 to battle Castro for second over th e fin al lap. Unfortunately, it was too little too lat e, a nd Pfetzing had to settle for third. Following Ermolenko, Castro and Pfetzing to starte r Sid Sutton 's checkered were Dennis Briggs ( Bus by R acing/Han cock De si gn Godden ), Mark Weaver (Jaw a) a nd Bovee. Da rcy Johnson (G MG Jawa ) led wire to wire to capture the victory in th e Th ird Div ision main. Johnson 's on ly serious cha llenge came from Ron Blanton (Castrol Jawa) in turn four on the final lap. Impressive first night rider Bob Ott (Jawa) came home third followed by Mark Rotondo (J awa ), Russell Baccarella (Jawa )and Kenny Hansen (God ), who was un abl e to restart after a first lap tangle. April 14 will mark the return of World Champion Bru ce Penhall to IMS. Everyone who purchases a progr am will receive a co upo n redeem able for a Bruce Penhall poster. On April 21, " T he Wh eeli e Kin g" Doug Domokos will make his initi al a p pea ra nce of th e season a t IMS. On th e sa me night , a ll children 12 yea rs a n d yo u nger will be admi tted free when acco mpa n ied by a n adult. Results SCRATCH M AIN : 1. Mike Bast ; 2. Mike Curosa ; 3 . Alan Christian; 4. Gene Woods. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Dennis Bransford; 2. John Sandon.; 3 . Jim Lawson; 4 . Mike Faria ; 5. Kurt Strom mer; 6. Cave DeTem ple. SECOND DIV : 1. Guy Erm olenko; 2 . Ed Castro ; 3. Rob Pfetzing; 4 . Dennis Briggs ; 5 . Mark Weaver; 6. Oon Bovee . THIRD DIV; 1. Darcy Johnson; 2. Ron Blanton; 3 . Bob Ott ; 4. Mark Rotondo; 5. Russell Baccarella; 6. Kennv Hansen. ~ ""ATCH ~CE; 1 Rqn,f'!'est0n; 2. Dubb Ferrell. .. Faria, Bransford take opening night wins in Ventura By Bill Locey VENTURA, CA, APR. 6 Mike Bast won the Scratch main on th e first night that speedway was ever held in Ventura. On Opening Night 1982 when he drew the pole in the Scratch main , it seeme d a good bet that th e multitime ch am p io n would win just as he did 11 seasons ago in 1971. But the ma in Mike turned out to be Faria who outgated Mik e Curoso and pa ssed Mike Bast going around turn two and won th e main comforta bly. Dennis Brans ford, lookin g too good for th e 10-yard lin e, won all three Handicap rides including the main. It was Bran sford's first Handicap win here an d hi s first appearance since break ing hi s ankl e in turn four here las t su m mer. . Almost as consistent as Bransford was Curoso in th e Handicap races. Curoso won his first two races off the 40-yard line, but by the time he got around Faria in th e main , Bransford was long gone. Also notable was th e return of that ex- Ventura Shark, Scott Sivadge. 'It 's been a t least four years since Sivadge has ridden here. Sivadge, who made the Nationals from 1973-77, didn 't let anyone pass him in hi s first two races, logged a pair of seconds and made th e main. And "The Red Fox," Ron Preston, coming off kn ee surgery and looking better each outing, won both consolation events. It's too bad for us he went back to Europe; " Ra pid" Ron would've won plenty of new fans and money in sou thern California this year. In Scratch racing, Faria proved to be th e most proficient rough track rider, winning all of his rides .· Ventura County local Bobby McLain beat Bast two races too early in his heat, passed Preston on the third lap in the semi for the transfer and scored a third pl ace finish in the -main. Second Division racing was pretty ordinary, a t least until the main. Ed Castro, Mik e Mazzacane and George Armas won uneventful heat races. In th e main , Castro had a big lead until his cha in came off, and everybody passed him. Colorado rider Len Peiper enjoyed th e lead for only a quarter of a lap as he crashed in the final turn. Recipient of this good fortune was Ri ck Miller-, whose certain third place finish a lap before became a trophy. The Joke-of-th e-Night was putting Guy Ermolenko in Third Division. H e won th e main by about 14 miles doing wheelies down the straightawa y, apparently enjoyin g his lastever Third Divi sion ride. The evening's bummer came in the initial Third Division heat when Bob Moore crashed near the turn one crash wall and was tak en to th e ho spital with possible rib and back in juries. All in a ll, too mu ch rain th e week before and too many bumps made for lame speedway. • Results SCRATCH M AIN ; 1. Mike Faria ; 2. Mike Bast 3. Bobby M clain; 4 . Mike Cur osa. HANDICAP M A IN: 1. Dennis Bran sfo rd; 2 . Mike Curoso; 3. Mike Faria; 4 . Moose Kennedy; 5. Scott Sivadge; 6 . Charlie Morse. SECOND DIVISION ; 1. Rick Miller; 2. Mike Ma.zacane ; 3. George Armas. THIRD DIVISION: 1. Guy Erm olenko; 2 . Tim McCa.land; 3. Bart Onasch.

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