Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Costa Mna - San Bernardino - Ventura - Auburn - Napa - Costa Mna - Sa. Be Resu lts SCRATCH MAIN : 1. A lan Chri st ian (Good!; 2. Bobb y Schwartz (Jawl; 3 . M ike Bast (Wes ); 4 . Dave DeTample (J aw) . HA NDICAP: 1.John Sand ona (Wes); 2 . Dubb Fer rell (J aw! : 3 . Bobby Schwartz (J aw! ; 4. J im Lawson lJaw ); 5 Denn is Bransford (J aw ); 6. Dave DeTem ple (Godd!. SECOND DIV: 1. Scott Talkington (GOOd !: 2. Ken Hanse n {Gooc 3 . Mark We aver (J awt; 4 . Greg H; Ayers (Wes); 5. W ayn e Leutz (J aw ); 6 , Ken Ben check (W~S ) THIRD DIV : 1. Larry W ille y (J aw); 2. Tom Walton (J aw); 3. Bria n Speaks (J aw); 4. " Crashw aU" Car dona IJdwl; 5. Joel Wmdham (Wes); 6. Joe Kr eis berg (J aw! M ATCH RACE: 1. Joh n Cook (W es): 2. Bobby Schwa rtz (Jaw ). - ..... .... 0. -< Bast, Abbott round up Costa Mesa wins ByJim Bro w n CO ST A MESA. CA, AP R . 15 (Above ) Alan Christian dazzled specta tors at San Bernardino . (File photo.) (Below) Bobby Schw a rtz. leading. took bot h wins at Ventura. Christian, Sandona roll to San Berdoo wins By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, APR. 13 Alan Christian put on a dazzling display of his racing skills as he swept the Scratch side of the program and earned h is 22 first big pay check of 1983 at Inland Motorcycle Speedwa y Wednesd a y n ight. Coming off a last-place fin ish the previous week, Ch ris tia n (ST P/ Su per Seer Godd )wa s seco nd out of th e ga te from th e number th ree slot behind pole-sitt er Bobby Schwaru (BeI-R a y/ Sin isalo Jaw ). Christian immediat ely went to the cush ion and a p p lied the heat to the " Boogaloo Kid " until he rel ieved h im of th e lead at th e end o f th e second circu it. Mike Bast (]. B.I River sid e Mitsubishi Wes) mo ved ou tside Sch wartz in an a ttem pt to take over th e number two spot. Both Sch wa rt z a nd Bast were ta ki ng th eir best sho ts a t Christian for the lead in clud in g Schwartz trying in va in to force Ch ri stian wid e com ing ou t of fo ur as th ey headed to the wh ite flag. Ch ristian was able to hold o ffone last charge by his two pursuer s on the final lap a nd took th e narrow victo ry over Schwartz a nd Bast. Dave DeT emple (Dondero Goodyear]aw ) was sufferi ng from ignition problems and finished fourth. J ohn Sandona (Oa k ley/Es p ri t/ Spec tro Wes) backed up la st week 's Scratch main win wi th a ster ling perfor man ce to capture this week 's Handi cap ma in fro m th e 30-yard line. After winning hi s first two rides of the even ing, Dennis Bransford (Techton ic Speed Tuning ]a,,:) was moved bac k from the 10 to the 20 for th e main wh ere he was the in itia l leader o ver Dubb Ferrell (Ara i/Vera 's/STP J aw ) and Sandona. Bransford's lead wa s short- lived as he a nd Ferrell made co ntact in th e first comer, sending Bransford to the d irt. Ferr ell led until the th ird comer wh ere Sandona replaced him as the " lea der of the pack." The two veteran riders went at it tooth a nd na il for th e lead over th e final four laps. Ferr ell went to the pole a nd was a ble to inc h a hea d severa l ti mes com ing out of th e comers, o nly to have Sa n do na ease bac k by on the straigh ts. Sa ndona had the lead o n th e a ll importa n t fina l straigh ta way a nd took the wi n. Ferrell hung on to second one bi kelength back with fast-closin g Schwartz ta king home th ird. Scott Ta lki ngton (U NO / KaI-Gard Godd ) rode the two very smooth races to win his heat a nd the main in Di vision Two ac tion. O ff the zero , Talki ngto n wa s first into the com er ahead of Ken n y Ha nsen (] ohar/ MXL Godd). Mark Wea ver, who started the eveni ng off as a reserve, tried in vain to ca tch the streaki ng lea d d uo bu t was forced to sett le for third behi nd " L o n g G on e " T a lk in g to n a nd Hansen . La rry Willey (F.R. Miller J aw ) remai ned undefea ted in T hird Division ac tion as he won both o f h is races for th e secon d week in a row. Willey wa s aga in for ced to deal with Tom Wal ton (2 Kenchu /Wa lton Roo fing Jaw ) in wh at tu rne d o u t to be a close, bike-ban ging co ntest. The lead cha nged hands several times between the two future stars with Willey ma kin g the final pass comi ng off tum four a nd taki ng th e checkered by a mere four inches in a p hoto finish. Mike Bast stormed across th e fin ish line a t Costa Mesa Friday ni ght to mak e th ree con secu tiveScra tch main wins. The sta nds were packed a nd th e raci ng was intense. A good exa m p le was the Scra tch consolation race . T he cro wd 's roar a lmost m uffled the thunder of th e bi kes as John Cook. Mike Faria , Ala n Ch ristian a nd Bobby Sch wartz p ut on, withou t question, o ne of the most thrill in g scratch races ever witnessed at the O range County Fai rgrounds. T he lead cha nged so fast a nd o ften , th e fans co u ldn't keep trac k. The four riders stayed in a tig ht group fro m the start to the finis h. with Christian slightly ahead at the checkered flag. T he tra ck was in good sha pe a nd very fast, which a llowed more speed a nd wa s responsible for the close ness of th e raci ng . Keith Chrisco won the fir st H andicap heat a nd a lso led h is Handicap semi-final a ll the way for th e win . T he Handicap ma in was n 't so kind to him as he wa tched th e checkered flag drop for the fo ur riders in front o f h im. T he third Handicap h ad to be restarted twice as Sterling Cogar a nd Shawn McConnell co u ld n' t seem to make it aro u n d turn four without end ing up in a pile. Dave Sims was in jured a nd un able to res ta rt . so th e event wa s run with . fivc rid ers and Craig Scha efer took the win. Mike Faria won h is Handicap heat and Handicap consola tion, but his Scra tch rac in g wa sn ' t so successfu l. Denn is Abbott ca me in seco nd in th e H and ica p heat a nd came back to wi n th e Handicap semi-fina l a nd th en the SuperSeer/ KaI-Gard-sponsored rider capped the evening by win ni ng the Ha nd icap main . Scratch raci ng was dom ina ted by Mike Bast. He wo n his hea t race, semi -fina l a nd the Scra tch main. Brad Oxley too k second in th e sem i a nd mai n a nd p ro ved to be the on ly threat to Bast in the eveni ng . Scra tch hea t wi n ners ot her tha n Bast were John Co ok , Bo bby Sc hwartz a nd Da ve DeTem pl e. Cook co uldn 't seem to hook-u p a fter h is heat race a nd dropped back to fo urth in the semi and main. Bobby Sch wanz h ad p roblems with hi s ca rbureto r in th e Scra tch semi and H andi cap co nso la tio n, but in the Scra tch consola tio n ga ve Alan Ch ristian, in hi s red STP lea thers, a run for hi s money as h e fini shed second. Seco nd Division ran harder an d faster than usu al as Ch ris Mistret ta , J im T u rner and Greg Ayers took th e wi ns. The ma in event was won by Mistretta and Andy Northrup hot o n h is tra il. Third Div ision raci ng was di sap- pointing for Larry Will cy who , af r winning hi s heal race, fell down III th e ma in event a nd fini shed fifth . r Randy Blevins. a reserv e rid er. even ing wa s a thrille r. He won-h is heat race a nd had a steady rid e in t e ma in event for the win . Blevins, sponsored by Ma rker Co ns t.. Bill Ha ncoc k a nd Grin products, had a slow sta rt this year. but is showing steaQy im provemen t, At inte rm ission, Bo y Schwartz a nd J ohn Cook pa ire5I f 1 for a mat ch race a nd gave the cr owQ th eir monev' s worth. Cook wasa t 'ttie wide on turn four a nd Sch~' riz J took the chec kered flag. :l~ Res ults nl J SCRATCH MAIN : 1. M ike Bast; 2. Brad Oxley;"3. Dave DeTemple; 4. Kelly Moran. " \f 12 HA NDICAP MAIN: 1. Dennis Abb on; 2. Dubb Fet ren. 3. Bra d Oxl ey; 4 . Bud dy Robinson ; 5: ICe h ' Chrisco; 6, Dave DeTempl e. ., SECOND DIV: 1. Chris M istr ett a; 2. Andy Nor t hr up; 3. Ron Blanton; 4. Jim Turner; 5. Scot t Tal· kington; 6. Greg A yers. VlJ THIRD DIV: 1. Randy Blevins; 2. Tom Wal ton; 3. Ron W illi ams; 4 . Ken Hanse n; 5 . Larry Willey ' 6. Ru ssell Romero. ~ J R SPWY : 1. Jess ie Finch ; 2. Greg Hancock; 3. Jo rdan Duncan; 4. Tim Geweck.e; 5. Gene Topping; 6. Trion Cire lla. ~ MATCH RACE: 1. Bobby Schwartz; 2. John Cook. I Bast turns up the at Hemet ByJim Brown HEM ET . CA, AP R . 17 heat ~ ... . H emet held its seco nd race .o f the sea son under su n ny ski es, alt hough the weatherman had threatened 60% chance of ra in. Mike Bast proved to Justice Bro~ , R iverside Mitsubish i a nd Pre-Fab Erectors that they have, in fact. sponsored the right rider as he took the win. T he vetera n Bast seems to be abl e to race on a ny su rface, a nd al though some of the rider s had p roblems wi th ru ts th at developed on the track. Bast ra n so fas t an d stea dy on th e inside a n d o u tside that you wo u ld th in k lie had a specia l map to follow. H e rac ked up a perfect score of 15 points in h is five rides a nd then went off to win th e ma in event. The win s increased Bast' s strea k as he came to - H em et Su nday with three main event victories in a row a t Cos ta Mesa. .ill Sam Errnolenko had a perfect score go ing but in eve n t 20 as he faced Bast for th e needed win , but got excited, broke the tapes a nd had to waich from th e p its. He came back in tlie ma in event, but fell in tu rn one In fro n t o f G en e Woods a n d ended u p fourth. Dave DeTemple gai ned 13 points for second place in po in ts and also finished seco nd in th e main event. Gen e Woods earned 12 points an d fin ish ed th ird in th e main. Reserve riders got more rid es tha n they plan ned on with so me program cha nges that had to be made a s Kelly Moran and Mike Faria were in England to represent American speed way in test races. J ohn Sa ndonna slid into DeT em p le in event n u m ber two an d they bo th went into the wall . Sa ndofma was d isq ual ified and Mike Mazza. cane, a reserve, took h is pl a ce and p ro ceed ed to loop o ut in th e same pl ace. Tom Co nrad, wi th mech anica l p roblems, ended up ha ving a very poor da y. Denn is Bransford werll dow n a nd hit th e fen ce ha rd in tu rn four a nd to the su rp rise of everyone ju mped up a nd wa lked away. ,m,3 Results I 1. M ike Bast (15); 2. Dave DeTemple (1 3); 3. (TIE) Gene Woods/Sam Ermolenko (12); 4 . Craig Sch aefer (91 5 . Tom Burba (B); 6 . (TIE) J im Lawson/ ; Roben Pletting / Scott Talki ngton (7); 7. (TIEl Dubb Ferrell /Keith Chr isco /M ike Mausesne (6); B. (TIE) Dennis Bransf ordlWayne Leutz (4); 9. mE) Dennis Br iggs/ John Foster ( 2~ 1D. (TIE) Tom Conrad /John Sandona (01 .

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