Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Doug Chandler (10) led the Expert main event on his Freddie Spencer/ S u p erTrapp Racing Honda until pulling off the track after the third rest art. Pet e Hames (32) was the winner in the main on his Harley-Davidson . 13th annual Gardena Gold Cu~ : Hames hammers Ascot HM classic By Maureen Lee GA RDENA .CA. MA R .~ Pet e Hames overcame two restarts In the Expert m ain to take home the coveted Gardena Gold Cup at Ascot Park. Finishing second was Chris Carr (W -R) , with Mike G a rrison (H -D ) th ird. H ames' win gives him the di stinct ion of ha ving score d vic to ries in I mile classi . th e hal rru e claSSICas a NOVIce, 38 rison . Carr tried ha rd to get the lead , bu t at the end of ~he heat h~ bo bbled in tu rn three whi ch p ut h u~ ou t o f sha pe long enough to stop h im fro m making a nother pass a t Garriso n. Jun ior an d Expert. C urtis Can non (Yam ) was the w inner of the Jun ior main, a nd Bruce J ohnson (H -D) was to p No vice for th e evening. G arrison wo n the T ro ph y Dash . Track co ndit io ns for the ru n ni ng of th e 13th edi tion o f the G ol d C up were super b. Qu ickest Expert in time tr ial s was Ga rrison a t 2 1.38 , a nd th e Junior class fea tured severa l riders trail in g in u nd er t h e 22-seco n d bracket. U sua llv on lv th e to p J u n ior ea ch year w ill get close to a 22 seco n d lap. Garrison sho t in to th e lead o f the first and fastest of two Expert qua li fyin g heats. Fo llo wi ng him were Ran dy Go,s (Han). Ca rr a nd Steve Eklund (W-R) . Goss tried to pass Garrison , but the lead rider wasn ' t goi ng 10 let it happen . T he n Carr charged by G oss a nd went after G ar- . Th e secon~ h eat .had H ames (H- D) off and a.way ftrst.with .Doug Cha ndler (l:Ion ) right behind hu~ . Da ~ny Per kins (H- D) wa s next m third , Io llowed by Don H ow ar? (H- D) a nd Sa l H offman . C ha nd ler s ~ o~da then appar~ntly sta rted experrenc mg so me ~andhng p roblem s as h e be~n wea vm g a ll ove r th e track . .P erku~s t ~ok advan tage o f the sit uation, slip p in g by to ta ke over seco n d pl ace. By. the u :'l e th e fl a~ fell, Ham ~s had q u ite a m ce lead built u p for h im self . T he Expert sem i sta rte d wi th f loffman leading. fo llow ed by Ross Kla tt (H- D), l\Iik eArth ur (H -D )an d Randy G reen (H- D). H o ffm a n was in fron t fo rseveral laps, th en had th e bad luck 10 dump it in a tu rn , lea vin g th e o thers 10 jockey for posi tions . Steve Monger (I-I-D) was th e eventua l win - o • •• • _ • •• _ _ • • • _ _ __ • _ _ . _ • • _ _ _ _ _ • nero followed by Art hur. Green and C ha d Fel icia . For the Troph y Dash. th e lin eu p had G arrison , Chandl er and Perki ns - a ll w ith su b-22-seco nd lap times, with G oss fourt h fas test wit h a 22:03. G arrison was ready 10 go o n the sta rtin g lin e, a nd th e pack soon thu ndered off arou nd th e tra ck. Garriso n , G oss and Perkin s add ed a th rill to thi s even t by slidi ng righ t up 10 th e hayba les (wh ich lin e th e cras h wa ll ) a lmost every lap. T hey finis hed in th e order th ey sta rted: C ha nd ler was fourt h . G arrison leap ed off th e line a t the sta rt o f th e 25-lap Expert ma in , bu t then the red £lag came o ut just a s quickly. O n the restart , th e riders a ga in got off 10 a fast la u n ch with H a mes, C ha ndler and Goss bu nc hed toget he r in turn o ne . Chan d ler and H ames ra n side- by-side a t tim es, and Ga rrison was behind th em , riding wid e open . H oward pulled into the pi ts on lap five, and Chandler took th e lead o f a threesome th at now incl uded H ames and Goss. Three laps lat er G oss wa s behind Chandl er in seco n d, with Ham es th ird, C arr fourth , a nd G arrison in fifth. T he race was stop ped for the second tim e wh en Monger go t off in turn two . Track o fficia ls had riders form a sin g le line for th e restart, bu t th e red flag ca me o u t once more wh en G arrison got th e jump on everybody . On th e seco nd restart, G arri son d id it aga in , bu t track o fficia ls gave everybody th e green flag thi s tim e a n d th e race wa s in fu ll sw ing. T aking th e lead in qu ick o rde r wa s H ames, who wa s being ch ase d by Carr, Garrison, Ch andler and Ekl und. Coss a nd Chandler began slo wing do wn . th en they pulled in to th e pits as they ca me o ut of tur n fou r. T he -9:V;,tI}c;e. pJ .! . W~_. \"i1 ~ .cp m p lell:d. with H a mes cro ssin g the finis h lin e first , Carr seco nd a nd G arrison thi rd . J uni or tim e tri a ls had Brian At herro n . on a Wood-R ot ax. goi ng the qu ickest with a 22.7 l -second lap time - a nd this was th e firs t time th at th e Whi te Pi geon , Minn esot a , rider had ever been to Ascot. Lo ca l rider C urtis Ca n non (Ya rn), who is a n Asco t regular, wa s just off At h erton 's mark with a recorded lap time o f 22.75. The two o ther fastest Jun ior s were Winkie Frei tas (H a n) a nd Marty Zirbel (T ri), ea ch clocki ng in a t under 23 secon ds. Athe rton wo n th e first and fastest o f th e th ree Jun ior q ua lifying heats , ta kin g a fair lead over Donn ie H ar rell (H a n) and Aaron H ill (R tx). T he seco nd h ea t had Bryan McDow ell (H a n) lead in g into turn one , but Ca n non was by h im in a blink. Can non co nt in ued on to win th e hea t, lea vin g McDow ell to fight o ff Mearl Barnett (Han ); a t th e fin ish line, Barnett barel y bea t o u t McDowell for seco nd. The start o f h eat three was red flagged, and on th e restart, Freitas gra bbed th e lead. Don Rob ert s (H -D) tu ck ed in behind him, a nd th e pair quickl y pulled away from H arold Raggio in third . Roberts stuck with Frei tas a ll th e wav; wh en th e Hondamou nt ed rid er went 100 h igh in a tu rn , Ro berts went low an d slip ped by to w in th e heat. Th e semi was a th ree-way fight for fir st bet wen H arrell, McDow ell a nd Ri ck Albee (Han) . H arrell go t by McDow ell 10 capture th e lead , whi ch h e h eld a ll th e way to th e fini sh . McDo well hung o n to seco nd . Thi rd p lace was decided wh en Peter Goddard (C-A) pu lled out o f· the p ack to ca tch lip a nd pass Albee. In the open ing la p o f th e Junior main , Barnell was leading, followed by Atherton , Ca n non an d Hi ll. O n :. • • • • •• , \ I

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