Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Left) Expert w inner Pete Hames grabs the flag after taking his first whiteplate w in at Ascot. (A bove) Junior v ictor Mike Kirby (7 6 R) leads Derek Land (3Z ) and others. (Below ) Darren Hu lbert heads up Novice w inner Jeff Springman. Hames hauls to hometown Ascot opener By Maureen Lee Photos by Dan Mahony _ G AR DEN A, CA, MAR. 25 Rookie Expert P ete H am es did what he does best, flat trackin', as he opened the Ascot season by winning both the Trophy Dash and the Expert main event. Ri ch Arnaiz time trialed th e quickest with a 23.33 on a slow tra ck, but got off hard in th e fir st heat. The lower ranks had 31 I;( . • a ll run th eir heats without a n y p roblems, but th e Experts were hot to tro t, a nd the starter had to put a co u p le o f the m o n row three right off th e ba t. T hey hauled in to th e south turn with Don Howard leading and Arn aiz a nd Mik e Garrison right with them. Ho ward and Arn aiz were disputing first pl ace until, co m in g o u t o f turn two, Ri ch got into trouble an d ended up pa ra lle ling hi s bike until -it sp it him hard int o the wall , th e machine cras hi ng down an d ca tch ing on fire, It too k some tim e to ru n a n ex tingu isher fro m the turn to the fire scene . . ,,:ith the rider gell in g a tte n tio n righ t _ _ & .~ ~ • • ~ ~C •• ~ ••• • ~ ~~ . • • • a way. He got a ride to H arbor Genera l to chec k things o ut, a nd. as the heat wa s over half comp leted , th ere was no restart, H eat two was a sta rt -to -finish runaway for Pete Hames as he quickly put space betw een h im self a nd Steve O ort. Oort th en tri ed to hold off Mike Hal e a nd J eff J ohnson , but it wa s n o go, a nd they both go t h im . In th e sem i Oort a nd Sa l H offman did some bum ping arou nd with Hoffma n lak ing h old o f first spot for awh ile. Co ming fast was Rod Su ll iva n, a nd by the time the race wa s over, he'd go ne all the way from a last p lace start to first at the finis h flag. SCOll Podergois replaced the inj ured Arnaiz for the Trophy Dash , a nd the li ne -up was Ham es. How ar d , Hal e ' . and Pod ergo is. After a bad sta rtJ·l l J.·h., whVl 1 • ~ _~ ~~~ .~ ~ . ~ 4 ~ ~~ . ~ __ wa s red Ilagged , a way th ey went agai n . H al e go t a great sta rt , but got into troubles with th e north turn whil e Hames wa s com ing full bore a n d heading for th e in sid e and th e lead , a move which ea rned him a kiss from the tro p hy girl and th e trophy from Walker En gin e and Fram eworks. The Experts were sti ll difficult to sta rt for their main, and th ere were four o f 'em o n th e pen alty line aft er the fir st red fla g start. H oward had th e lead bri efly wh en th ey did get un derway, but H ames went by o u tside a nd took o ff, not to be cha llenged again. H oward held seco nd for a w h ile, but dropped o u t with mechan ical woes. Podergois, H offman , Garrison and Rod Su lli van were all in a gaggle ha vin g a good mai n event beh ind th e fleeter Hames wi th Sull ivan eventua lly getting a good gri p o n second pl ace. In th e closing laps it wa s H ames, Su ll iva n , th en Pod ergois, Steve Oort a nd Garrison squa bbling over third. Oort go t in to turn four too lo w, got into the rough stuff ri ght o n the in side a nd ba iled off, removing h im self fro m the finish , No rea l da mage but some good bru ises, With a Junior Invitati on al com ing up befor e the half-mile Nati onal (bu t n ot th e National TT), that bri gad e were even more an xio us to show their stuff. Eddie San Roman trialed the fa stest an d ended second in hi s heat by a squeak as Bob Land dragged him to th e fin ish. Seco nd heat went to Jim T aves, w ho gra bbed a big handful o f throttle o n the sta rt a n d staye d o u t front a hea d o f Mike Kirb y on a Triumph. From th e sem i, Paul Iwana ga, Bud rf V rn - selves into that finishing order and it was on to th e main. By a few laps, Kirby had put that sto u t old Triumph up front a n d he kept it th ere to th e fin ish in spite of good efforts from Bob Land. Bud Carroll moved on up through th e pack taking third, leaving J oel Green to pip Jim Taves for fourth o n th e last lap. JeffSpringman won the first Novice main o f th e yea r. Transfers from the three heats were Bob Beer an d Dan McD onnell , McDonnell leading it to th e last lap. Greg Nel son a n d Randy Bird with Bird doing a la st place to second rid e a nd Mike Arthur and Darren Hulbert , wh ose heat was th e q u ickest. Springman led th e sem i until th e en d wh en he had p roblem s with turn fou r, a n d Frank Wi sh am got h im a t th e finis h line. In the ma in the re was handleb ar bangin g on severa l occa sio ns. Hulbert grabbed th e - lead a way from Art h u r, but Sp ring ma n was com ing o n stro ng turning in a good rid e for hi s win. • Results rR OPHV DA SH: 1. Pet e Hames (H-D); 2. Don Howard (H-D); 3. M ike Hale (H-DI; 4. Scott Podergois (H-D). TIME: 1:10.47 NOV M AIN : 1. Jeff Springman (Yam ); 2. Darren Hulben (Kaw); 3 . Mike Anh ur (Yam); 4 . Frank Wisha m (VarnI; 5. Randy Bir d (Yam); 6 . Greg Nel son (Yam); 7. Bob Beer (Vaml; B. Chad Felicia (Kaw); 9. Greg Beloit (Suz); 10. Dan Mc Donnell (Han). TIME: 3:19.02 JR MAI N: 1. M ike Kirby ITri); 2. Bob Land (H-D); 3. Bud Carroll (H-O); 4 . Joel Green (H- Dl ; 5. Jim Taves (C-A); 6. Eddie San Roman (C·AI ; 7. Ross Klatt (HOI; B. Don Roberts (H·DI; 9. PauJlw anaga (Han); 10. M earl Bar nett (Yaml . TIME: 4:00 .41 EX MAIN : 1. Pete Hames (H-D); 2. Rod Sull ivan (H-D); 3. Scott Podergois (H· D); 4. Mike Garr ison (H-D); 5. Sal Hoffman (H-D); 6. Steve Monger (Vam); 7. Steve Oort (H-D); B. Mike Hale (H· D); 9. Don Howard (H-D); 10. Chris Cannon (Yaml DNS. TIM E: 5:56.26 . - . _. • • • • • _ - • • ,' f ;, !f ~~. ~ •. E ~ f ': l f !I ) I 'J ) • )0 ,.

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