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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126645
(Top) Dennis Sigalos put together five near-perfect rides to win the American Final. (Inset) Shawn Moran. on Sigalos' bik6. finished fourth. (Above) Mike Faria leading lance King in their run-off for second and third places. Sigalos sails at American Final By David Edwards Photos by Karel Kramer. Dennis Greene and Jim Brown LONG BEACH, CA, JUNE II Dennis Sagalos - the man they call "Siggy Stardust" - put his four years of European long-track experience to good use and waltzed his 500cc methanol-burning Weslake to the top sh o w in g at th e Ni ssan American Speedway Final, held in Long Beach 's Veteran s Stadium. 12 T he even t, held to de termine the four Ame rican riders who wi ll advance to th e Overseas Fin al in Eng la nd on J ul y 3, pi tted the eigh t highest scoring Americans cu rrent ly com pe ti ng in Br itish Leag ue raci ng agains t eight U.S .-based riders chose n afte r quali fying ro u nds last Au gust. The sandy, 440-yard track, long by Am er ican standards, put a premium on good starts and Sigal os, as usual, was nearly flawless at the gate. In a repeat performance of last year's win , th e 23-year-old interna tio na l sta r, gene rally consi dered to be Ameri ca 's best speedway rider, wo n a ll five o f his races to pos t a perfect score o f 15. " It's very hard to pass on th is trac k, so ge tti ng the lead of f the start is cri ti cal," Sigalos sai d. "T hat's wha t I conce ntrated o n and I got pretty good starts a ll nigh t." Sigalos ' o n ly spot of bo ther came in his fourth race when a hard-starti ng Kell y Mo ran thrust his Godden into th e lead and h eld Sigal o s o ff for th e better part o f two la ps. The race was stopped, however, when Mo ran got a bit too much traction coming out of tu rn two and flipped his bike backwa rds at 60 mi les an hour. The resulting end -over-end tumble left Moran on th e ground for a few anxious mo ments, but he was abl e to ge t up under his own power. On the restart, Sigal os ass umed h is front-running pos ition a n d breezed to th e win, throwing in a strai g h ta way -lo ng wh eeli e to keep th e 8000 .fans in a ttenda nce happy. Wh il e Sigal os' win wa s a relatively strai g h t-forward a ffai r, th e battle for th e coveted seco nd, th ird and fourth qualifyin g spots p ro vid ed a ll th e dram a a hard-cor e speedway fan could ask for. Seven riders were wi th in stri king d istan ce a nd it took a combi nat io n o f cras hes , last-minute bik e swi tch es, run-o ffs and a contro versial disq ua lif ication to determine wh o wou ld join Siga los on th e victory rostrum . After a ll th e shou ti ng was over, a surp risi ng Mike Far ia had put himself into second, Lance Kin g was in th ird and Shawn Mo ran had eeked ou t th e fou rt h a nd fina l quali fyin g position . Faria, considered a dark ho rse hecause of h is lack of long -track experien ce, noneth eless p u t together two wins, two seco nds a nd a thi rd in his ' five races for a n I I-point ta lly . Also scoring II points an d causing a runoff to see who would finish in second, King at first seemed to.be out of the running. In his first race, he fin ished last. scoring no points and di gging himself into a hol e that wo uld be har d to get o ut of. H e man aged it th ough , wit h th ree wi ns a nd a second in hi s next four races. In th e run-off race, Faria jumped into th e lead and pulled aw ay as Kin g bo bbled in turn two. Kin g soon had th ings sorted o u t, th rough , and set ou t to ca tch Faria. In a determined charge that had King exp lor ing th e far o u tside lin e and even doing a mot ocross-style berm shot off the turn two re tai n ing wall , the 19-year- old Weslake rider was abl e to ga in some gr o und on Faria, bu t not eno ugh . Faria, th e o nly U .S. -based rider to make th e top four, had put his recent English T est Series expe r ience to good use and a fin ished in second, a head of all th e more seasoned European veterans, excep t for Sigalos. " O ne of the reasons I went over to England wa s to ga in experience for this race. " a happy Faria sa id afterwards. " I went over there to get dialed in . I studied hard - even went to a co u p le of races just to watch the riders - a nd came back determined to do it. " Kin g, whose luck in previous American Fin als ha s been all bad, didn 't let his poor beginning get him down. " In the first race, I didn't get a good start and thought I could go around on th e outside. I was wrong." Kin g said. " I thought it was all over after that, but th en I real ized it had tak en me four years to ge t this far a nd I wasn't a bo u t to give up. That's some th ing I never do. " With th e top three positions set, on ly the number four spo t rem ained up for gra bs. It too would be decided by a run-off. Sh awn Moran ass ured him self a pl ace in the run-off wi th cons istent rides . scoring 10 points. J ohn Cook, o n a new sho rt -stroke ] aw a, had a lso tota lled 10 points a nd would be in th e run-o ff. Event 20, th e last sched uled ra ce, would decide if an other rider would join Moran a nd Cook. Bobby Sch wa rtz, Ri ck Miller a nd Mike Bast a ll ro lled to start ing tapes with seven po ints. With a first-place fin ish worth three points, a win would move one of the seven- point riders into the run-