Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. . . . . . - V ••n.a - Aa.a•• - Napa - C ' " 11_ - Robinson, Griffith take the cake at Visalia By Bill Locey VISALIA, CA, JUL Y 9 Buddy Robinson and Randy Griffith won the high dollars as well as the main events at the 10th round of Saturday sideways action in venerable Visalia. In Scratch racing, the Budman, as usual, swept through the preliminaries, but found himself in an unaccustomed third place by tum two of the main after a poor start. Meanwhile, up front, Griffith and his Taft neigh· bor, Grant Salyers, were wheel to wheel around turn two after equally awesome gates. Gri££ith used his inside poSItion to muscle Salyers to the outside by tum three and never looked back. The Budman had to battle for two laps to work his way around Salyers and a finish a heartbeat away from the glory. Bakersfield rider Ron Hardin came out of retrrement, then came on strong enough to make the main on Mike Heath's bike, finishing fourth. In Handicap racing the Budman, who logs more miles and rides more tracks than anyone else, could not be denied in the main. Hard-riding Steve Martin led for 411laps off the lO-yard line until the Budman last-turned him to take a close one at the line. Some entrepreneur could make a fortune selling Budman t-shirts at Visalia, he has that many fans here. Kinsburg local Todd Varner took the Challenger main over Roben Fairchild, Jim Blan and others to please the home folks. Think three's a crowd? Six, for sure? Then how about seven? With 14 riders on hand to vie for the Challenger trophy, a pair of seven-man heats were run, sending the first three to the main. In the Owie Department: Dave "The Commander" Cox fell and broke a bone in his foot in turn three, moments before Jim Gravance slammed into the fallen bike and rider, breaking his own collarbone. In the King of the Hill match race to see who the Budman gets to thrash next week, Griffith beat Salyers two out of three. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. R.ndy Griffith; 2. Buddy Robinson; 3. Grant Salyers; 4. Ron Hardin. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Robinson; 2. St_ M.rtin; 3. Griffith; 4. Salyers; 5. R.ndy Blevinl; 6. H.rdin. CHAUENGER MAIN: 1. Todd V.rner; 2. Robert F.irchild; 3. Jim BI.n: 4. .Jeff Brown; 5. Rod Pi.....: 6. K.n Shirley. MATCH RACE: 1. Griffith del. Salywrl. Ermolenko wins wild IMS Scratch main By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDI 0, CA, JULY I!I Sam Ermolenko captured his first Inland Motorcycle Speedway Scratch main Wednesday night, but his big moment was overshadowed by a controversy that raged on after the race had ended. Ermolenko (Sinisalo/Oakley/ f)'Neill Jaw) came off the pole to lead the pack, consisting of Mike Bast, John Cook and Gene Woods, into the first bend. Cook and Bast swung wide coming off of two, with Cook hitting the dirt after he got into the marbJes. Ermolenko led the remainder of the first circuit, fighting off Bast and Woods. The fun then started in tum two on_ the_ se~0!1d _go-'rou?d; . _. _ - V ••tara - Aa1J1lra - Napa - Ceeta 11_ - Cook remounted, although he was slow getting back into the action. By the time he gOt up to speed again he was next to leader Ermolenko, but one lap down. Bast had swung wide in hope of going by Ermolenko when he encountered a corner worker standing in his path. Bast slowed to avoid a collision. He immediately pulled off and began to plead his case to referee Irwin Moon. Meanwhile back on the track, Ermolenko managed to hole onto the lead to the checkered with Cook coming across next to him. Gene Woods finished close behind in second (Cook being one lap down). After the checkered, Cook approached the growing argument and sided with Bast, saying Bast should have gotten a restart. Next into the picture came Woods. He was there to call Cook a few choice names for racing alongside Ermolenko when he was a lap down, leaving Woods with no room to make a pass. The crowd was upset and chanted for a restart, but referee Moon stuck to his guns and called it over. The final outcome had Ermolenko over Woods, Cook and Bast. The Handicap main was a lillie more under control and featured Dennis Briggs (Jim Busby Racing Good) taking the win after being the bridesmaid the past two weeks. Briggs, coming from the zero on the start, had a 20-yard advantage over his closest pursuers, Denny ScopeLlite and Mark Dwyer. Jim Lawson, who had captured his heat and semi made it to the first corner where he was taken to the outside and dumped. The top three spots stayed the same until the fourth lap when Kelly Moran took Dwyer for third in turn two and Scopellite in turn three for second. Moran, the number four rider in the world, tried desperately to catch Briggs afer coming off the !lO, but he fell three lengths short at the checkered. Dwyer scrambled back into third when he passed Scopellite on the final lap. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. S.m Ermol.nko (J.w); 2. Gene Woodl (Wei); 3. John Cook (J.w); 4. Mike B.st (Wea). HANDICAP: 1. D.nnis Briggs (Godd); 2. K.lly Moran (Godd); 3. Mark Dwyer (Jaw); 4. Danny Sco· pellita (Wei); 5. Ron BI.nton (Godd); 6. Jim Lawson (Jaw). SECOND DIV: 1. Ed Castro (J.w); 2. Soon T.I· kington (Godd); 3. Bently B.rratt (Godd); 4. R.ndy Bennan (Godd); 5. Ken H.nsen (Godd); 6. R.ndy Blevins (Godd). THIRD DIV: 1. Mik. Golightly (Wea); 2. Ronni. Correy (Jaw); 3. Ron Willi.ml (Jaw); 4. Bri.n Speakl (Jaw); 5. Stainer (Wea); 6. R.ndy BanMtl (Godd). JR: 1. Bobby Cody; 2. Greg H.ncod<; 3. J.yma Finch; 4. Scott Correy: 5. Jordan Duncan; 6. J_ Finch. Fr.,. Billy Meister leeda 0..- Varrow in N8pe ScI'8tCh 8Ction. impossible at times to call.' In the meantime, David Faria, th~ .. KiJ'!g of NorCaI Scratch mains," was left to sellle for fourth. At the finish it was Yarrow, Orlandi and Linn. In the Handicap main, Ken Gray did a rerun of opening night in May and slid past everyone for the win. Rocky Robinson got past John Volk in the last tum to take second, as Volk settled for third. Ron Combs got past Rory Rundle on the second lap and held on to win the Second Division main. However, the action was behind Rundle in an unusually exciting main race. David Chaidez and Jim Brenner traded off positions with every lap. At the checkered flag Rundle took the win, followed by Chaidez, Jim Brenner, and Harlan Bast. In the Division Three main, Ross Eichelberger held off last week's winner Bill Thomas for the honors. Thomas was second and Mark Zeissler was third. In the Junior Division, ScOll Brant lOok Darrell Anderson in a lastminute drive, to once again win the Junior main. Brant's smooth, inside riding style is a winner almost every time. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Du.n. Y.rrow; 2. P.ul Orl.ndi; Pat Linn; 4. David F.ri. Jr. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Ken Gray; 2. RocI

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