Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

A Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - Ventura - Auburn - Napa - C_ta Mesa - San Bernardino - Ventura - Auburn - Napa - C_ta Mesa - San Be: ~ SPEEDWAY ""EEK ~ ....... ....... • (A bove) They like their speedway rac ing close in Denver. (Below) Dubb Ferrell leads eventual Scratch winner Alan Christian (outside) at San Bernardino. Pieper powers to Denver win By Ernie Ferguson DENVE R , CO, APR. 22 Kenny Pieper LOok the honors in th e Denver area's seco nd speedway race of 1983 by laking th e Firs tDivision Scratch ., 36 c m ain a t the National Western Aren a . En ro u te to th e main even t, Pieper raced to fir st- and seco n d- p lace finish es most o f th e ni ght. In th e sem i P ieper outraced Dan Weig um , Brian H oel and All en Rohr. The short tr ack didn 't leave much room for m istak es and Pi eper made fewer tha n a nyone else. In the main eve nt, however, he swu ng wid e i n the firs t turn o n th e last lap an d th e field p assed h im , but h e jumped back o n th e th rottle, regained th e lead a nd to ok th e flag , Great rac ing. Sco tt Orm iston took th e Fi rst Division H andicap over Dave Pi eper . All en Roh r a nd J im my Tro udt. In a race th at had to be rest arted because o f a bad pil e-up, O rmiston ca me from th e 30-ya rd hand icap posit ion 10 tak e th e even t. T he Second Division H andicap ma in was ca p tu red by yet anothe r Pi eper. J ack P iepe r took the even t o ver Dave McMillen, Bill Postillio an d J err y Eu cke. Brian Hoel was racing well until h e h it th e wall in Firs t Division H andicap sem i-main. Brian a nd Den n is Troudt both had bad crashes which kept them o u t o f co ntent io n , Dennis had 10 be carried from th e rrack o n a stre tcher with a badl y ' slas he d right leg, After a few st i tches and a walking cast, it was found th at Dennis will be back in ac tio n soon. T he F irst Di vi si on Conso lat ion main was taken by Dave Pi ep er. In th e Iour-Iapper, Dave m an aged to ge t in front o f Jimmy T roudt. All en Rohr a nd Brian H oel , wh o was lat er di squalfiied for a n infraction. Emolenko - 2, Everybody else : 0 By Bill Locey VEN T URA. CA . AP R. 26 As th e season 's first full moon emerged from beh ind th e clouds before a n n o u ncer Phil Fouke co u ld begin , regu la rs in th e sta nds mumb led " O h, no " o r "O h , bo y," recall in g th e long stri ng o f bizarr e events o n a ni ght just like th is a t th e Ventura Racewa y. As it turned o u t, th in gs were p re tty mundane for a full -m oon ni ght ; bu t for Sa m Errn ol enk o it was n irvana on wh eels a s he wo n both mai n events, All he need s now is a sponsor. Errnolenko , now into hi s th ird yea r o f spe ed way, passed birthda y boy Sha wn McConnell o n th e in side _to take h is.hear.race.Tn.ancther .heat featurin g the you th a nd th e fut ure o f speed way, Ste ve LUCCI:> bea t Tim Mc Cas la n d. Ed Cas tro a nd Andy North rup. The " Bud rna n" Bu dd y R obi n son won a sq e ea ker over Ermolen ko, and Lucero wo n th e o the r serru, ;\IcConn ell , a liv ing leg en d i n Ventura , got a good start in the main a nd seem ed head ed for a troph y an d a 24th birthday present, but Errn olenko kept cha rg in g a fte r him. On th e seco nd lap, McConnell went too wide, Ermolenko ca ug h t him on th e in sid e an d it became a mat ch race - without th eatrics. After a lap of Bru ce Lee ac tion th at saw both riders seeking to bump th e other o u t o f th e way, McConnell bumped o nce too hard and too often and sudden ly his bi ke wa s a fatalit y - a lte rin g his personal scenario from a happy birthday trophy 10 a la stp lace bummer. Ermolenko cru ised th e final la p uneventfu lly , with 1981 T rack Champion Lucero in second. Earlier , in the H andicap main, McCasland led th e race h andi ly o n ly to have his bike qui t a la p too soon. Errnol enko was th e benefi ciary o f th is good fortun e as he took th e lead after th ree laps o f p assing a nd bein g passed by McC onnell, Lucero, Mike Faria a n d Grant Sal yers. That 's three win s in three week s for Er molen ko - match ing hi s to tal fo r th e 22-wee k '82 season. In Second Division action, La rry W ill ey kep t h is a verage intact by wi n n ing h is th ird troph y in three week s with a flaw less ride . Th ere wa s a lso the re tu rn of legen dary fas t perso n Guv Wat erson : wh o made th e Nationah in 1973 but ha sn 't ridden in seven yea rs: It wa s just like th e good 0 1' da ys fo r two laps as Wat erso n bobbed a n d we a ved hi s wa y th rough traffic a nd took a n insurm ountab le lead moments before slid in g into th e immovable front-straight cras h wa ll. Alan Da vidson clipped him going by a nd went end ov er en d. Chris Mi stre tta then fell in an unrela ted m ish a p and was remo ved by a m bu lanc e wit h a foot injury. Both Wa terson and Davidso n survived, with Wat erson vowing to try it again nex t week . Ventura loca l Pat Smith wa s the clas s o f 0 -3 action , winning hi s h eat w ith a nifty holeshot and laki ng the main co n vinci ng ly, Smith's broth er, Dave, was second. fol lowed by another local, R icha rd Perkins. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Sam Ermo lenko; 2. Steve Lucero ; 3. Buddy Robinson; 4 . Shawn McConnell. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Ermole nko; 2. M cConnell ; 3. Grant Salyers; 4 . M ike Faria ; 5. lucero; 6 . Tim McCasland. SECOND DIV: 1. Larry W ile y; 2. Carlos Cardona; 3. M ike Con iglio; 4 . Joe Kre isberg; 5. Bent ley Bar . rett; 6. A lan Davidson. THIRD DIV: 1. Pat Smit h; 2. Dave Sm ith ; 3. Richard Perkins; 4 . J im Evans; 5, Joe Bishop; 6. Chuck Poner. MATCH RACE; 1. McConnell del . Rob P1etting . Christian, Robinson sweep San Berdoo By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO . CA, AP R . 27 Alan Christian made it two Scratch/main wi ns in a row Wednesday before another large crowd on a crash-filled ni g h t at Inland Motorcycle Speedway . R o n Preston got th e jump from the pole position o n th e Scratch main sta rt over C hri sti an , Du bb Ferrell , and Mike Curoso. Curoso quickly got by Ferrell a nd du cked to th e in side of P resto n with Christian pulI ing even on th e ou tside heading into • •t!l!P: ~J;.e~~)! . ~.~ .~-:.~,!q'!lf~~t:-!O- h andl ebar, th ree-a breast wa r until Christia n, sponsored by STP and First N at ional Monet a ry, asserted h imself at the end of th e seco nd la p for th e lead. Curoso kept the heat o n for th e fin al tw o laps but fell short by two lengths a t th e che ckered flag . Ferrell got by Preston on lap three a nd managed to tak e home third place m oney. . '" Concrete specia lis t Buddy Robin - so n (Shoei/ Hi-Po in t J aw) put it a ll ' together 10 sw eep th e H andicap portion o f th e program and sco re his fir st IMS main win of th e season. Coming from th e 20, Ro bin so nhad to baule a stubborn, rim-riding Jan Ballard in a wild d uel for th e lea d over the fir st three laps. The " Budrnan " forged a h ead by rocketing out of turn four o n lap three and wa lki ng a way from th e pack for an impressive win . Fer rell , off th e 30, claimed second with Bra d Oxley . also coming fro m the 30, fini sh ing th ird . Ex- First Divisio n rider G u y Wa terson ca m e out of retireme nt and quick ly made 'a shamb les of Second Di vis ion. Waterson, who eas ily won hi s h eat, was seco nd o ff the line from th e zero in th e m ain . behind rook ie se ns a tio n Larry Will ey. Waterson wa sted n o time a nd relegated Willey to secon d as th ey ca me o ff turn tw o o n the fir st go-rou nd. H ard- charging Ma rk Dw yer put Will ey back to th ird by the en d o f th e openi ng lap a nd set h is sigh ts o n Wat erson. The su rprise of th e ni ght ca me wh en Dw yer cou ld n ' t close the ga p o n Wat erso n a nd wa s forced to se tt le for a fru strat ing seco nd . Sco tt T a lk in gt on finish ed th ird in anothe r good- looking pe rformance. After fini sh in g seco nd for two weeks in a ro w, Tom my Walton fin all y got in th e winner 's g roove by ta ki ng th e Third Division main from th e 10ya rd line. On th e first circuit, R uss Bacca rella an d Mark Ro to ndo go t into a crash th at made most sp rint car flips look lik e ch ilds, p lay. Fortu- " nat el y Ro to ndo immediately wa lked away whi le Bacca rell a was hel ped from th e track a fter a few ten se min u tes. On th e rest art, Godden-riding Sh eldon Messick moved out front and immediately opened a huge lead. Messi ck had it set on cru ise with the ra ce in th e bad until his primary chain broke near th e end o f lap three placing Walton into the lead and ' eventua l win, " Cras h wa ll" Cardona wa s a close seco nd followed by J oel Windham (Wes) . First -year Juni or Tim G ewecke blitzed th e field a nd won h is fir st main event. G ew ecke did a fine job o ver th e final two laps holding off wiley veteran J ess Finch, who finished seco nd. with Jordan Duncan laking th ird. . Results SCRATCH MAIN : 1. AI,;n Christ ian (Godd); 2. Mike Curoso (Wes); 3. Dubb Ferrell (J aw); 4. Ron Preston (Godd). HANDICAP: 1. Buddy Robinson (Ja w); 2. Dubb Ferr ell (Jaw) ; 3. Brad Oxley (Wes ~ 4. Gene Woods (Wos); 5. Jan Ballard (Jawl; 6. Dave Sims (Jaw). SECOND DIV : 1. Guy Waterson (Jaw) ; 2. Marl< Dwy er (Jaw~ 3. Scott Talki ngton (Godd); 4. Andy Northrup (Jaw); 5. Larry W illey (Jawt; 6. Steve Mur · ray (Jaw) , THIRD DIV: 1. Tom Walton (Jaw); 2. " Crash waW' Cardona (Jawl; 3. Joel W indham (Wes); 4. Sheldon Messick (GOOdl; 5. Russ Baccarella (Jawl; 6. M arl< Rotondo (Jaw) . J R: 1. TIm Gewecke: 2. J ess Finch ; 3. J ordan Dunca n; 4, Scott Correy ; 5. Greg Hancock; 6. c nar lie Kolander. . Bast comes back to claim Costa Mesa win ByJim Brown COSTA MESA, CA , AP R. 29 Mike Bast came back to Costa Mesa for a nother win Fri day

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