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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126778
SPEEDWAY WEEK (Above) Bart Bast leads John Volk and Duane Yarrow at Auburn. (Below) John Sandona inside Mike Faria and Gene Woods at Costa Mesa. - earn his ticket to the main with I 1 points. Moran closed out the preliminaries with a win in event 20, giving him 10 points on the evening. The main matched top point scorers Ferrell, Faria, Lawson and Sandona. Ferrell, by virtue of scoring the most points had his choice of the gate positions and took one. It was from there that he blazed into the lead over Faria, Lawson and Sandona. At that point most people thought the victory was Ferrell's but Faria had other ideas. Lawson raced by Faria in turn two for second with Sandona relegating him to last before the end of lap one. Sandona seemed ready to pass Lawson for second in turn two on lap twO when Faria blasted by on the inside for third. He then charged by Lawson as they exited turn four and he immediately began to chop down Ferrell's lead. Faria continued to cia e the gap until he pulled to the inside and got the drive coming out of turn four on the last circuit. They flashed across the line handlebar to handlebar. The crowd went wild as they awaited the scorers" verdict. They gave it a 2-1 decision to Faria, and Ferrell was livid. He approached referee Irwin Moon and angrily stated, "I won the thing, I know I won." However, the deci ion was made and there wasn't much Ferrell could do. A Faria was waiting for the picture on the infield, which was to be taken with Ferrell and Sandona, Ferrell came over and got his second-place plaque from a trophy girl and stomped back to the pits. Ferrell's early departure prompted Faria to comment, "I didn't call the shot against him." Results Faria takes explosive IMS Firecracker Derby By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, JULY 4 A packed house watched as "Flyin' Mike" Faria took a controversial decision to capture the Firecracker Derby on _. 30 july 4th at john LaDouceur's Inland Motorcycle Speedway. In the all-Scratch program, Kelly Moran was the first of the major contenders to make an appearance, joining another of the IMS stars, john Sandona in event two. The National Champion got the gate and led all the way, but he had Sandona breathing down his neck to the checkered. Alan Christian simply ran away from the pack in event three while "Dangerous Dubb" Ferrell pulled off a major upset when he held IMS specialist Faria all the way to win event four. Faria had a back-to-back ride and defeated Moran in event five. Sandona got the gate in event six but was passed by Mike Curoso before the end of the first lap. Sandona then roared back into the lead and proceeded to make it a runaway for his first win on the night. Ferrell stayed perfect by winning event seven with jim Lawson Pilssing Keith Chrisco on lap two to win event eight. Sandona made it look easy by taking .his .second win of the night in. event nine which was followed up by Ferrell out-maneuvering Woods to lay claim to event 10. This event also spelled more disaster for Moran as he fell and was excl uded from the restart. He went down as he was battling with Woods and Ferrell for the point position. Lawson, who seemed to be going faster with-each ride, raced by Christian to win event II in convincing style. Faria then closed out the third round by putting the Budweiserl Shoei/Kal-Gard/STPIOakley IRiverside Mitsubishi Weslake back in the winner's column with a narrow victory over Chrisco. Faria took event 14 over Lawson and then came the wild one. Andy Northrup, coming in as a reserve, got the gate over Moran in event IS. Moran momentarily snuck ahead on lap three but the unheralded Northrup quickly streaked back by. At the checkered it was an elated Northrup by one length over Moran as the crowd gave both riders a standing ovation. Ferrell closed out the fourth round with another fine win over Christian. Ferrell came into event 17 with a perfect score but he had to face Lawson who was hot. 1£ Lawson got the gate it would be hard to catch him. That's what happened and it not only proved hard it turned out to be impossible and Ferrell suffered his first setback of the night. Christian won event 18, giving him 10 points but it proved to be too little as Sandona capwcCi'd event 19 over Faria to MAIN EVENT: 1. Mike Faria (Wesl; 2. Dubb Ferrell (Jaw); 3. John Sandona (Wesl; 4. Jim Lawson (Jaw). PRELIMINARY SCORING: ,. Dubb Ferrell (Jewl 14; 2. Mike Faria (Wes) 13; 3. John Sandona (Wes) 12; 3.Jim Lawscn (Jaw) 12; 5. Alan Chris,ian (Gdnl 11; 6. Kelly Moran (Gdn) 10; 7. Gene Woods (Gdn) 8; 7. Keith Larsen (WesI8; 7. Keith Chrisco (JawI8; 10. Mike Curoso (Wes) 5; 1.1. Brad Oxley (Wes) 3; 11. Tom 8urba (Jaw) 3; 11. Craig Schaeffer (Wes) 3; 11. Dennis Branslord (Wes) 3; 11. Andy Northrup (Wes) 3; 16. Mike Mazzacane (Mae) 2; 17. Mark Dwyer (Wesll; 17. Lennart Bengtsson (Jawll; 19. Dave DeTemple (Jaw) O. JR MAIN: 1. Jessee Finch; 2. Trinon Cirello; 3. Tim Gewecke; 4. Steve Eson. Moran masters Costa Mesa Fair Derby By Scott Daloisio COSTA MESA, CA, JULY 6 Defending Fair Derby Champion Kelly Moran took an early advantage, winning the first leg of the 1984 edition of the event on Coors Western Night at the Orange' County Fairgrounds. The big story of the evening may be that of Alan Christian, who ended the three-year reign of Margo King-Sandona when he pushed his ass across the line to win the annual Donkey Derby. A huge crowd of Moran supporters jammed the stadium on the opening night of the Orange County Fair and the "Wizard of Balance" dido"t dissapoint them. After winning his two qualifying heats he then salted away the checkered in his semi and entered the main event undefeated in the Scratch sideof the program. Once the tapes Dew up Moran (STP I Arai/Oakley/UNO/Kal-Gard Gdn) rocketed into the first bend ahead of the pack. Christian was fourth out of the gate. but he quickly jumped up two positions as the field exited turn two. That move put john Sandona in last just behind Dubb Ferrell. Sandona quickly exited the last place spot and found himself in second chasing Moran. Thats all he or any other rider could do all night on the Scratch side of the program, chase Moran. The diminutive rider took the win some six lengths ahead of Sandona. Christian charged home in third with Ferrell rounding out the field. Mike Mazzacane (NKj/Pig Irani Parts Plus/OakleyIHair by Bev jawa) swept the Handicap side of the program from the 20-yard line. In the Donkey Derby Christian defeated famous mule jockey Margo King-Sandona at intermission. As usual, King-Sandona and her steed charged into the first corner ahead of the pack. Christian however had a secret weapon, a carrot tied to the end of the stick which he held in front of his mule. It worked like turning up the boost on an Indy car and he charged away to score an easy win. King-Sandona had second in the bag until she high-sided a few feet before the line, allowing Ferrell and his mule to stroll by for second. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Kelly Moran (Gdnl; 2. John Sandona (Wes); 3. Alan Christian (Gdnl; 4. Dubb Ferrell (Jaw). HANDICAP: 1. Mike Mazzacane (Jaw); 2. Dave DeTemple (Jawl; 3. Keith Chrisco (Jawl; 4. John Sandona (Wes); 5. Kelly Moran (Gdn); 6. Alan Chris· tian (Gdn). DONKEY DERBY: 1. Alan Christian; 2. Dubb Fer· rell; 3. Margo King·Sandona; 4. Kelly Moran; 5. Mike Faria; 6. Brad Oxley. 'Rocket' blasts off at Ventura By Bill Locey VENTURA, CA, JULY 3 Well, the rocket didn't leave a whole lot of red glare, just a lot of people wondering "Who was that guy?" as "Rocket Rodney" Sullivan won the Handicap main at his debut at the Ventura Raceway. And Mike Faria surprised absolutely no one as he matched the number on his back when hewon the Scratch main for the ninth time this year. Sullivan, all the way from Riverside (near Fresno), just started riding speedway on May 12, but he's had plenty of fiat track experience. In his first heat race, he smoked everybody, and even Faria couldn't catch "Rocket Rodney." In the main, Sullivan put together another fiawless ride even as Faria got around Ed Castro on the final lap and got the crowd screaming as he SlaTted to make up ground fast, only to end up three lengths behind Sullivan at the end. Sullivan is going to be real good. As for Kelly Moran, he reverted to his previous Tuesday night form as a sick bike kept him out of both mains after he had won three of four rides. Without Moran, there was no one to challenge Faria who won all of his Scratch rides, including the Scratch main over Castro. Overall, that's ten wins for Faria as he closes in on Lance King's track record of 16 victories. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Mike Faria; 2. Ed Castro; 3. Keith Larsen; 4. Kelly Moran. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Rod Sullivan; 2. Mike Faria; 3. Ed Castro; 4. Pat Hawley; 5. Don Butler; 6. Kelly Moran. SEC DIV: 1. Jeff Jones; 2. Rick Vanderham; 3. Mike McCarthy; 4. Bill Gray; 5. Steve Murray; 6. Wayne LeulZ. THIRD DIV: 1. Ken Bidney; 2. Mike Dwyer; 3. Rick Hicks; 4. Joe Bishop; 5. Marty Van Blargen; 6. Jason Chism. MATCH RACE: Walt Farnum del. Rich Sweaney. BIKINI CONTEST: 1. Leslie Brenner; 2. Judy Smalley.