Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.. B SPEEDWAY ~ wEii': ... Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - V.ntar e C'<":l A b N -C_M_- ...........,•• -V....r.-A•••~-N_-e:-.M_... - Don Purdy. JR: 1. Darrell Ander son; 2. Scott Brant ; 3. Bobby Hedden ; 4 , Coors Wright; 5. Tommy He dden . Faria stays hot at Napa opener 00 0') ....... ....... By Jann Ho uston NAPA, CA, MAY 14 The odds were aga ins t Napa speedway prom ot er Denni s Robinson. H e was u na ble to lake possession of the track until - , (Top) Scra~ch w i!1ner Kelly Moran lead s A lan Christ ia n at Cost a M esa. (A bo ve) M Ike Faria. Gene Woods and Ch ris t ian in San Bernardi no action . Faria takes Auburn premier win By Jann Houston AUBU RN CA, MAY 13 It was a lucky Friday th e 13th for Auburn speedway promoter john Hous ton, as the wintery ral!! which brought north- 30 10 da ys before the openi ng da te, a nd he took possession, it looked like " Na pa Lake" ra ther than wh at was to be a speed way track in just a few ~ hort da ys. And then th ere was th e CI rcus that was schedu led to interrupt everyth ing two da ys before th e opene r, bu.t in spi te of it all -Na pa ope ned tonight wah a smooth , bigger a nd Wider track. . Dav.id Faria. still hot from hi s big night ~n Au~urn. ca me to Napa read y to .do It a.gam. In a n exact repl a y of Frida y night, he wo n h is heat a rid took. secon~ (th is time to promo ter Robinson ) m the sem i. Wh en the po siti on draw was made for ~h e Scrat ch main event, it was R o~ m so n wi th th e po le position . Far ia drew second, Pa ul Orl and i was th ird, a nd Duan e Yarrow was o n th e' wal!. Agai n it was the start where Faria excelled, and let' s face it . in Scratch compeition what else is the re' Far~a wa~ int o th e lead, however', un lik e Frida y ni ght, Ro binso n and Yarrow ga ve him no room for erro r. At th e flag it was Fari a cla imi ng his second ?cratch m ~m victory in as many nights, Robin son was second and Yarrow third by inch es. In th e H andicap main Ron Sweet~n , ~ ho has o bvio usly been usin g h is privat e I?racti ce track th rough th e lon e. wet Winter, ca me down to Na pa re~d y a nd ? etermin ed to go fast a nd w.m. H ~ did both. He won his heat , h is sem i, a nd wh en th e ga te went up o n the D-l Handicap main it was Sweet.on in th e lead , fast, ~mooth , a nd Sideway s. H e held th e lead and never lost it, while th e " race" continued behind him between Gary S te wa rt, R o n McGill, a n d Bo b Holmes, who just could not catch Sweeton. Somehow, Ken Gray, who won th e D-I H andicap ma in at Auburn on Friday night, ended up in Division Two at N.apa. He figured he'd prove o nce agam th at D-l was where he belongs. H e won his heat with no problem . and th en th e D-2 main by at least half a lap. Dennis Davis was se. ond 3;ndSteve Hill third by inches . c Bill Cal icura, returning to the speedwa y scene after a two- year absence won the D-3 main. Mark Lindsay wa~ second, Joe Anderson third. ~ h en ern California th e wettest year in more th an. a century finally ended, and beautiful late spring weather brought out the largest opening night crowd of speedway fan s in northern California hi story to th e Gold Country Fairgrounds. Pre-season rumor had it that Dave Fa.ria. Jr., was out.to really do som e!h ll~g I~ 83. a.nd I~ t~.>night was any indication, he isl Riding the bik e that he bought from brother Mike he literally flew into the lead in ' his ~tch heat. as Bobby Holmes made him work for the win. In the Scratch semi. young Steve Crawford impressed everyone as he held Faria off in one of !he fastest, tightest heats of the even mg. forcing Faria to settle for a second. A!1?y Gi~bertson drew the pole posrnon , wtth Faria second Crawford third and Pa t L in n on the wall. In a repeat of his Scratch heat Faria ju~ped into the lead in turn ~ne, in a single shot that would 'ha ve been m.issed with a single blink of the eye. LIOn was down on tu rn two, and it became a three-man race. Faria clearly had the number one spot, asGilbertson and Crawford added the excitement with a tire-to-tire baule for second and third. At the checkered f1a~, it was Faria with the Scratch main victory. Gilbertson was second Crawford th ird , and Linn. alrea dy i~ th e pus, settled for fourth. Ken Gray go t his firs t cha nce in Division One tonight , after endi ng th e 1982 seaso n , his first year of Speedwa y, as a successful Division T wo co mpetito r. It was o bvious th at ~ e was not ab~utto let th e o pport un tty to pro,,:e himself worthy slip by as he won his heat, hi s sem i, and went on to t,ake ho~ e th e troph y in th e D-l Handicap main by holding off Pa u l Orl andi and Ron Sweeton, who made him work for it in wh at was, without any doubt, th e closest event of th e evening. In Division Two, Dennis Da vis won hi~ heat, and th en did it again in th e rnam, as he worked h is way from ~ourth at t~t: end of th e first lap, ga in109 a posrnon on eac h lap. Kevin Krugh was second and Harlan Bast third. Sixteen-year-old Brett Flory made the decision to try speedway a few mo~ths ag? ~e had his first go at it tonight, wmmng both hi s heat and th e D-3 main. Someone better tell Brett that in speedway. so metimes you don 't win! His timein D-3 was short. he 's been moved into D-2 on next week's program. O n the Junior side of the program Darrell Anderson and northern Cali: fornia 's number on e Junior, SCOll Brant, gave the crowd some of the best speedway.racing of the evening, the ki nd yo u Jus t don 't expect from the Juniors. Anderson won both the J unior hea ts, and went on to claim !he c~eckered.f1ag in the Junior mai n 10 a side-by-side battle all the way. Robinson steals win at San Berdoo Resu lts By Scott Daloisio SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Dava Faria Jr.; 2. Andy Gil bertso n; 3. Steve Crawford; 4, Pat Linn. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Kan Gray; 2. Paul Orlandi; 3. Ron S~ a ton; 4 . Steve Crawford; 5.John Volk; 6. SAN BER NARDINO , CA, MAY 18 Steve Elstlns. SECOND DIV: 1. Dennis Davis; 2. Kevin Krugh ' 3 Har lan Bast. • . THIRD DIV: 1.. Brett Flory; 2. Donn is Phillips; 3. Results . SCRATCH M AIN : 1. David Faria Jr.; 2. Dennis Robmson; 3. Dua ne Yarrow; 4 . Pa ul Orla nd i. ~N DI CAP MAIN: 1. Ron Sw eeton; 2. Gory Stewort. 3. Ron McG Ill; 4. Bob Holmes; 5 St ove Elstins; 6: Kevin Frenell. . SECOND DIV; 1. Kan Gray; 2. Dennis Devis' 3 . • . Stovtt Hili . THIRD DIV: 1. Bill Calicura; 2. Mark Undsay; 3 Joe Anderson . • . JR: 1. Scon Brant; 2. Coors Wright; 3. Tommy Haddon; 4. Dorr ell Anda rson. " Partners Night " was full of surp rises Wednesday at Inland Motorcycle Speedway. Retired World Cham p io n Bruce Pen - hall ma de a n a p pea rance, popular a n no uncer Bruce Flanders returned to the m icrophon e and Buddv Robi nson defea ted a field of speedway heavies to win h is first -ever IMS Scratch mai n. Gene Woods was firs t o ut a t the tapes ~ollowed by Ro bin son (Shoe i/ H i-Point j aw), who was comi ng from two , and Ala n Christian. Robinson slid undern eath Woods coming Gil t of turn two o n la p o ne a nd was by for th e lead . As.Rob in son was putting some breathin g room between himself a nd Wood s. Christai n, who was usin g th e o u tside. charged up to chal len ge for second . On a night wh en th ere was pl enty of o utside action th ere was no den yin g Ch ristian as he pa ssed W?Ods, se!ting up a dramati c clima x wah Ro binso n . On the final lap, th e " Big Gu y" pulled up behind th e Visal ia track cha mp ion several · umes, but was unabl e to ge t th e job don e a nd was forced to settle for seco nd as R obin son rece ived th e acco lades from the huge cro wd. " Da ngero us" Dubb Ferre ll got a . t ~em endous . sta rt from th e 30-yard li ne a nd eas ily rod e to th e victo ry in th e Ha ndica p mai n. Kurt Stro m mer beat Bill y Meister from the 10 to the first corne r on th e sta rt. Meister, in o n ly his seco nd ni gh t since com ing out o f retirem ent. duck ed u nder Strom mer for th e lead in turn four on the first lap. Meister's lead was short lived as he th en wheelied o ut of control at the end of the lap, allo wing Ferrell to shoot by for the lead. Rob inso n moved into second at the same time a nd sta yed there for the d uratio n . finis hing five len gt hs behi nd the ela ted Ferrell. tromme r clai med the show spot at th e checkered. Larry \\~ ill ey (F.R. Miller Jaw ) W~:ll~ !he hl g~l y compe titive Second : DIVISion mam , which had to be cu t short du e to a spectacular cra sh in th e final corne r. Will ey com ing from th e zero, was th e in itial lead er over Mark Dwyer a nd T om Wahon. Walton ~ I i m i na ted himself wh en he dumped in turn. two .wh ile running second. Dwyer inherited second but gave it to G uy Waterson wh en the latter breezed by on la p thre e. Wat erson the n reeled in Willey to set up a battle for the glory. The two leaders made contact severa l tim es down th e backchute on th e fin al circuit. In th e final bend, Wat erson. tried to knife his way between WIll ey and th e in side pipe. ~ n fort una tel y he na iled Willey send 109 both hard to th e dirt where th ey were nailed by Dwyer and Pat Hawley. Luckil y no one was injured in th e torrid pil e-up and th e race was b~cked up one lap. giving Willey the wm over Waterson and Dwyer. Reserve rider Jim Clausman won his heat and the Third Division main in convincing style. Mark Dwyer's father MIke took second in the main with Cliff Cod y racing home third. Jordan Duncan (ACR/STP) passed Scott Correy on the third lap to win his first Junior main of the season !rinon Cirello and Dave Busby fin : ished second and third respectively making it a . b ig day for Bobby Schwartz Racing. . J unior rider Greg Ha ncock received th e thrill of his life and thrilled the big cro wd when he " defeated " Bru ce Penh all in the two intermission ma tch races. Results SCRATCH M AI N: 1. Buddy Robin son (Jow)' 2 Al an Chr ist ian (Godd); 3. Gene Wood s (Wes,: 4' M ,ke Bast (Wes). • . HANDICAP: 1. Dubb Ferrell (J aw t 2. Buddy Robin son (Jaw); 3. Kurt Stro mmer 'Wes); 4. Tom Burbo (J aw ); 5. Gene Woods (Wes); 6. Bill vMeiste r (Jaw). SECOND DIV: 1. Lorry Willey IJaw k 2. Guy Waterson (Jow): 3. Mark Dwyer (Jow)~ 4 . PO Hawl

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