Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

----=,SpeedlNay _ CPSC staffers disagree ATVinjury numbers ~ "a guesstimate"? ::!; fil By John Ulrich ~ \VASHINGTON . D.C.. MAR. 26 Sources inside the Consumer ~ ~ Prod ucts Safety Commission i;i to ld reporters conflicting ~ • stories of the basis for recently:I: ...... o :I: 11. John Fo ster (left) slid int o the history books. w in ning t he Ha nd icap ma in at t he new Ascot South Bay Stadium. Steve Lucero (in back) won the Scratch main. . 18 St eve Lucero slo w ly closed in on Ferrell a nd knifed his way inside on th e back straightaway for seco nd spot on th e la st lap. As th e checkered flew, it wa s th e sa me story for th e third co n secu tive week with Ermolenko ta k- . . ing a com forta ble win. Mark Weaver, who won the Second Division main a t 'Ca rl sbad Sunday night, proved he shou ld not be in Second Division when h e swept th e Handicap portion of th e program from th e zero-ya rd-l ine. Weaver (Jones Goggles/Kal-Gard/Hi-Point/ K&N/ Alan Christian R a ci n g / S im p so n Godden ) slowly len gth ened his lead th ro ugh o u t the main whi le Mike Mazza cane and Wayne Leutz had a war for second. Their duel lasted until the fourth lap when they both went down letting L ucero take second. There was no time for Lucero to catch Weaver and he finished some seven bikelengths back with Eddie Ingels racing home in third spot. Impressive rooki e Doug Nicol (Pe dco Eng./Coast Grain Co./FMF/ Carlisle Tires/ Arai / Ascot Thursdav Night Speedway/Be l- Ra y/Champi on /Immediato &Associates/Bates/ T a ylor Concret e Pumping/Oakl ey Weslak e) turned in a masterful perform ance to win th e Second Division m ain. Ni col cha sed Don Butler from th e o u tset u sing th e o u tside line, but h e was unable to get by. Entering turn three on th e final lap, Ni co l dropped to th e in side a nd breezed by for th e lead an d th e win one turn la ter. Butler held on to second with Ri ch Sweaney third. Jeff J ohnson (Fontana Radiator/ But ch's Grinders /Simpson /jo lly Farm sWeslake) took the lead on la p two a nd went o n to win his second IMS Divi sion Three main in a row. Ri ch ard Perkins took second for the second straight week with Ken Bidnev third . Billy Felts led from green to checkered for his first-ever junior speed- way main event win. Following Felts (Crest Chevrolet/M.j.B. Pl ating/Ski Works/Scott Gogg les ) was Kelcey Gordon and Billy Hamill. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Sam Ermolenko (We s); 2. St eve Lucero (Wes); 3. Dubb Ferrell (Jaw); 4. Jim Lawson (GM ). HAN DICAP; 1. Ma rk Weaver (Gdn); 2 . Steva Lucero (Wes ); 3. Eddie Ingels (Wes); 4 . Dann y Scopell ita (Wes); 5. Wayne Leutz (We s); 6. M ike Ma..acane (Jaw ). SECOND DIV: 1. Doug Nicol (Wes); 2. Don Butl er (Wes); 3. Rich Sweaney (Wes); 4. Rick Vanderham (Mae ); 5. Mark Dwy er (Jaw); 6. Jimm y Odell (Jaw ). "HIRD DIV; 1. Jeff John son (Wes ); 2. Richard Perkins (Jaw) ; 3. Ken Bidney (Jaw); 4. John ny Wa lker (J aw); 5. Don Jack son (Jaw); 6. Dana Dumond (Jaw). JR; 1. Bill Feltz; 2. Kelcey Gordon; 3. Bill Ham ill ; 4. Jessee Finch; 5. Josh Larsen; 6. Greg Hancock. Springman springs to Ventura win By Bill locey VENTU RA , CA, APR. 16 Second D ivisio n rider Jeff Springman got a chance to run. with the big boys in First Division tonight at Ventura when severa l of th e top speedway stars failed to sh ow. Springman took adv antage of hi s big ch ance and won th e H andica p ma in from th e l O-yurd-l ine. .. Kell y Moran m ad e it four stra ig h t by taking a thrilling Scrat ch main -good for the big bu cks and a trophy girl kiss. That's eig h t win s in nine Scra tch rid es for Moran so far thi s : seaso n at Ventura. . H andi cap racing wa s thoroughly unpleasant for th e in itia l four h eat ra ces as everyone rook jurns falling. Ton y Briggs went down in turn one and Andy Northrup slid in to him. In the next heat, "Sudden Sam" Ermo- · lenko hit a hole that put him down hard for a soil samp le. H eat four was restarted three times. The first time, local rider "Wonderous Walt" Farn um went down hard in turn three and Eddie Ingels hit him: Farnum su ffered a broken ankle and a possi ble concussion; In gels bruised his tailbone. In take two, Lance King un loaded big-time coming into turn one. R acing improved after that. Da vid H ancock , g lad Moose Ken ned y didn't show u p , smoked everyone twice, w in ni ng h is heat and semi. Moran flew by Springman for a wi n in th e ot her semi. In the Handicap main, Springman ' got the good start and took a lead h e never rel inquished, motori ng h is way int o th e First Division. Mike Mazzacane, flyi ng off the 40-yard-line, was second. The Scratch main was the bes t race of the year, so far. Moran, Steve Lucero, Alan Christian and King we n around turn two, four-wide, wheel-to-wheel. King then . dropped back as they came around turn th ree, three wide. Then L ucero got a better drive and burst ahead of Moran, then blocked the cha m p for another lap. Lucero, appeared to have it locked up, but went too wide around turn four on th e third lap. Moran got by, and it was four wins in a row . The Second Division main was typicall y franti c. Doug Bowers and former flat tra cker Kent Bowser took turns passing each other for three laps before Bowers fin ally pulled away . Fla t tra cker J eff Johnson made everyone look slow by winning the Division Three main by a comfortable margin. • Results SCRATC MAI N: 1. Kelly Mora n; 2. Steve Lucero; H Alan Chris ti an; 4 . Lance King. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Jeff Springman; 2. Mi ke M azzacane; 3 . Greg Avers; 4 . Alan Christian; 5 . Kelly Moran; 6. David Hancock. SECOND OIV: 1. Doug Bow ers; 2. Kent Bow ers; 3 . Louis Kossut h; 4 . Doug Nicol; 5. Bobb y Tocco; 6 . Kevin Kru gh . THIRD DIV; 1. Jeff Johnson; 2. Norman Neu· man n; 3. Steve Furman; 4 . Osca r Sa linas; 5. Vala rie Robledo; 6. Jim Peery. MATCH RACE; 1. Hancock del . Nicol . released ATV injury statistics while revealing that the: numbers do not represent an actual co u nt of reported inj uries. . In a telephone interview with a Cycle News reporter, Priscilla Martinez of th e CPSC information officein Washington said that the CS PC's claim tha t 66,956 peop le were inj ured using ATVs in 1984 was based on a statistical model formed after investigation of 40 ATV accidents. " I can imagine you can say it's a guess timate, an approxima tio n ," said Martinez. Martinez said th a t the CPSC does not have a comprehe nsive nationwide reporting system for ATV injuries, and tha t rep orts from a ttorneys suing for crash damages are a ma jor source of CPSC ATV information. " We have a reporting system, but it doesn 't cover everything," Marti nez ' said. "We get leuers from requestors, fro m attorneys, representing people i njured, and we ask them to provide more information so we can include it in our files ." Bu t according to Martinez, the primary source for the CPSC figures was its investigation of 40 ATV crashes from january 1981 through Ma rch 1984; information from those investigations was compiled to construct the statis tica l model that led to figures on injuries and deaths released by the CPSC. Bu t shortly after spea ki ng to Mar- . ti nez, Cycle News wa s ca lled back by N ick Marchica, who described h im self as "one of the program managers" working o n ATV safe ty for th e C PS C. March ica sa id tha t the CP SC's 1984 figure of 66,956 ATV-rel ated i nj uries in 1984 was projected fro m a sta tistically-va lid sam pl ing of in juries treated in h o spi tal emergency rooms. Acco rding to Marchica, th e C PSC contracts a number of ernerge ncy rooms across the U.S. to provide da ta on ATV accident inj uries, and their reports form th e ba sis fo r the C PSC's estimates of inj uries nationwide . Marchica a lso sai d that the C PSC has investigated 169 cases of ATVrelated inj uries between May 1984 and February 1985, and that the fi ndings from those cases do not form a statist ically valid basis for conclusions. "These fi ndings are related to those 169 cases on Iy and can't be extrapoated to the entire universe of ATV injuries," Marchica said. According to Marchica, CPSC investigations are co nducted by CP SC people, " . . . some by phone, some on site. We ta lk to the victim, the victim and other people, sometimes ta lk to a parent, sometimes talk to a lawyer. It dep ends on who's availa ble or who we 're allowed to talk to . . . " Looking a t th e 169 not-statistica llyva lid cases a lo ne, CPSC inves tigators fo u nd tha t abo u t 50% of th e cras hes involved riding on gravel or paved roads; th a t 40% of injured riders were n ot wearing helmets; that 17%of the injury cases an d 20% of fata lities . involved ri di ng dou ble; that 7% of injuries a nd 15%of fata lities invo lved • a lco hol.

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