Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1982 06 23

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Dennis Sigalas. shown here leading runner-up Shawn Moran. went undefeated in his five races for the overall win._ American Speedway Final Sigalos, Moran b.rothers advance to Ooerseas Final . By Dale Brown Photos by Dennis Greene, Gary Hoffman and Ken Kellogg LONG BEACH , CA. J UNE 12 Dennis Sigalos swept undefeated through his five races to take top honors in the American Speedway Final in the Long Beach Veterans Memorial Stadium. And in a dramatic conclusion to the evening's racing, the Moran brothers, Shawn and Kelly , topped a run-off with Scott Autrey for second and thi rd places. The top three, along with directl yseeded World Champion Bruce Penhall, now adva nce to th e next ro und of qualifying for the World Individual Speedway Championship, the Overseas Final in White Cit y. England on July 4. Penhall did not compete a t Long Beach, but worked as telecast of th e event. This event. which pined th e top - eigh t U.S.-based rid ers, as determined by qualifying for last year's Nat ional Championship, against th e top eight British League Americans. played to a near capacity house of 10,000. The race was promoted by World Class Speedway, promoters of the Aug. 28 World Speedway Final a t th e Los Angeles Coliseum. and sponsored by UP Sports. The racing took place on a 440-yard track that held up well all . on. ' . Sigalos began his domi nation of the event in race two of th e 20-race n igh t. H e wa s up against Brad Oxley. Mike Bast and Steve Gresham. but the first start was red-nagged and Bast was excl uded for breaking th e starting gate tapes. 'O n the restart, Sigalos grabbed th e lead immediately a nd stre tched it out to win over Oxley, Gresham and John Sandona , the reserve rider who rep laced Bast. Sigalos' second appearance found him up aga ins t Shawn Moran (who had earlier fini shed seco nd in a close race to his brother Kelly), Mike Faria and Steve Lucero. Into th e first turn Sigalos and Moran were as close as the end gap on a fresh set of rings, but Sigalos had the lead and he stretched ·it out slightly over th e four laps to take his second win. Moran was seco nd, well ahead of Faria and Lucero. After the first eight events. Sigalos was undefeated. as were Bobb Sch- waru and Scon Autrey. Siga los met Sch war tz in event I I, along with Kelly Mo ran an d Pa ul Orla nd i. Again Sigalos ga ted well, ru nning into the fir st turn ahea d of Mo ran a nd Schwam. They comp leted th e firs t lap in that order, wh ile Orlandi crashed going into turn one on the second lap. He was OK and the race was not stopped. Moran closed on th e last lap, but was unable to threaten Sigalos. Autrey won the very next event, leading Faria and John Cook all the way. So when Sigalos and Autrey met in event 14, they were th e only undefeated riders. As he had done in his firs t three races, Sigalos was first to the first turn, and Autrey could not make up th e ea rly def icit. Mike Curoso and Dave Sims (a reserve rider riding in Lance King's slot after King broke his collarbone at Ventura June 7) finished !l-4.

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