Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

--=,SpeedMlay _ ..... Keith Larse n leads Brad Oxley and t he week 's w inningest rider, Sam Errnolenko, at Costa Mesa; Ermolenko won both Division One ma ins. Ermolenko wins Carlsbad Scratch main By Gordie Orr CA R LS BAD, CA. MAY 12 Red-ho t Sam Ermol enko o f Cypress, Ca lifornia, took hi s fourth main event in five da ys when he crossed th e line fir st in th e Scra tch main event at California Speedway in Carlsbad. Errnol enko was joi ned in the vict ory ce lebra tion by Brad O x ley w ho roa red a ll the way from th e 50-v.ard li n e 10 tak e home top honor s in a wi ld H andi cap ma in even I. T he la rgest crowd yet 10 wa tch a a race a t rhe new Iacil itv br ved a ch illv ni ght 10 witness some of th e m ost excitin g' races thus far. O xley showed th em ho w its done wi th th ree rh ri llin g rid es off th e 50 a nd he had defe n di ng Nati onal C ha m p io n Kell y Moran lurkin g 10 yards beh ind on everyo ne o f hi s sta rts . T he H andi cap main wa s a wild race 10 sav th e least, David H an cock look th e iea d o ff th e 20 on th e sta rt but h e park ed in the second Iurn. Andy Nort h rup. riding an in side line, drill ed H an cock a nd stra ig h tened h im O U I. N orthrup m oved into th e lead with H an cock chasi ng him as th ey entered turn three, Cornin g ou t o f four . H ancock recla im ed th e top spot when he shot by Northr up. "S howlime" Bobby Oil th en a ttem p ted 10 pa ss N orth rup o n th e inside as th ey went into turn o ne o n lap two . H e nailed Nort h ru p 's front ti re and bot h rider s went dow n a nd out of action . H ancock h ad a virtual lock o n fir st pl ace whe n he a mazi ngly looped it by himself i n turn o ne o n lap fo ur. H e tried 10 recov er but in sodoi n g ended up in th e in field grass g iving th e lead to Oxley (Co ors. D a kley/ S'T Pz H allman Weslak e). M ike Faria sha dowed Oxley a ll th e wa y to th e ch eckered but fell o ne bik elen grh short a t th e ch eckered . Moran fin ished thi rd as h e had to do dge a ll th e m ish aps. . Errn ol enko (P ick Your Part AUIO Sa lvage/ Pacific Coast Lam in ating/ Ar a i z j o n es G oggl e s /Am e r ican Mikun i/ STP /Q&E /R .K . Ra cing . Ch a in /AI Reed 's P olishing/Frame Sho p / Ca r T u nes / Ka l-Gard Weslake) dazzled th e crowd wh en he rocketed past Alan Chr istia n for seco n d in turn two o f th e Scra tch ma in. H e . th en immed ia tely dropped 10 th e pole and bla sted by S teve L ucero for th e lead . Chr istian look th e in side ro u te 2,4 to l;1el by L ucero for seco nd on la p .v"~ I\M !:Jut'lhere t'':;lsil' t'elfQ~Ji ~me: !i.lr , him 10 catch "Sudden Sam" who had it wired aga in. Ermo lenko took the win by ne arly a h a lf straightaway over Christi an with Lucero third , The enterta in ing rider th en wheelied around th e track with th e checke red flag mu ch 10 rhe del ight o f th e eru h usiasti c crowd. J eff J ones (U p Time/Lazer He!m ets/PJ IIRegina Chain Weslak e) took hi s first ever Carlsbad main with a co m forta ble win over J ordan Dunca n in th e Second Di vision medal race whil e Greg Nelson (Wesla ke) !1?tch ed !OP spot in the T hi rd Divrsron ma m . Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Sam Erm ol enko (Wes): 2. Alan Chr istian (GM I; 3 . Ste ve Luc ero (W es); 4 . Mike Faria (Jaw ). . HAND ICAP: 1. Brad Oxley (Wes); 2. M Ike Faria (jawl; 3. Kelly Moran (Gdn); 4 . Oavid Hancock (Wes); 5. Andy Nort hr up (Wesl; 6. Bob On (Gdn). SECOND DIV; 1. Jeff Jones (Wes); 2. Jorda n Duncan (Gdn); 3 . M ike Gol ig ht ly (M ae); 4 . Stev e Flanagan (W es l; 5. Doug Bowers (Jaw) . THIRD DIV; 1. Greg Nelson (Wes); 2. Tod Bert rand (Gdnl; 3. Va leri e Robledo IJ aw) ; 4 . Da na Dumond (Jawl. M ATCH RACE: 1. Kelly Moran (Gdn): 2. Steve Lu cer o (Wes). Pfetzing zings at South Bay Stadium By Scott Daloisio GARDENA , CA. MAY 9 Ro bert " Five Flavors" Pf etzing happen s to be one of th e ni cest guys in speedway and Thursday night at Ascot South Ba y St ad ium Pfetzin g prov ed th at ni ce g uys don 't a lways fini sh lasI as he gOI on th e p rogram as a reser ve a nd swe p t th e Scrat ch portion of th e show. For P fetzin g (Va lvo lin e/ O' N ea l US A/ST P /Si mpso n / Oa k le y/ K.a lGard/PRP/ H a ir Bv Bev/One Gra nd/ Z Weslak e) it was h is fir st Scra tch ma in since retu rning home fro m England a t the end of 1984 a nd he scor ed th e win in co nvi nci ng fashi on . After capt uring h is h eat over "S udden Sam " Errn ol enk o , Pfetzin g defeat ed Brad Oxlev to tak e hi s sem i a nd th at set th e stageIor th e main . Pfetzin g d rew gale o ne a nd look the lead a t th e o u tse t, Oxley got o u t second but he was quick ly passed by Ermo lenko in th e first bend. Errn o lenk o was a ll over Pfetzing for th e first two la ps but Pfetzing wa s eq ua l 10 all o f th e cha llen ges. Errnolenko bo bbled as he carne o ff four o n th e seco nd revo lut io n a llowing Ox ley 10 inh erit seco nd wi th a n inside pass. O x ley imm ed ia tely set o u t a fter Pfetzin g bu t it was clear to see that P fetzing was th e ' fast e t tri dell tha t (n igh t i nn Cl tll'a te s Eddie Ingles defeated Paul Orlandi and Pat Linn from the 50 in the Handicap consolation at Baylands' season opener, wou ld be no ca tching him. As he cam e off fo ur on the fina l circuit, P fetzing shot a clenched fist into the air as he crossed under the Mike Ca sey ch eckered flag with a fivelength adva nt age over Oxley. Errno. lenko took third with " Flyin'" Mike Faria fourth .' J eff Sp ringman (Bill 's P ipes/Troy Lee Desi gn/Seen Goggles/MolO Pro Lubricants Wesl ak e) co ntin ued to impress in First Division by winning th e main from th e zero. Springman led green to checke red . M ike Mazzaca ne a nd Andy N orthrup were h is p u rsu ers u t th e o u tset with T im MeCas la nd ge ll ing Northrup for thi rd befor e th e en d o f th e fir st ci rc u it. No one co u ld close o n S p ringman a nd it ap pea red th at th ey woul d fin ish with Mazzacane a nd McCasland seco n d a nd rh ird , McCa sland hit a hol e in tu rn o ne a fte r ta ki ng th e wh ite flag a nd viol ent lv hit th e turn two cras hwall. T he race wa s red -flagged with S p ri ng man d eclared th e winner. MeCa sland wa s down for qui re some tim e but fortunately he was a ble to walk o ff the track under hi s. own power. It shou ld be no ted that Scr at ch main winner Pfetzing so ld Handi cap main winner Springman h is first speedwa y bik e. Bryce Eik elberger (W ind lor d Perfonnan ce!J ones Goggl es/Comwell T o ol s /All o y Gr aphi cs /Qua lit y P rodu ct s/Art C arr Tran smission G odden ) receiv ed a co u p le o f big break s and won th e th oroughl y con fusing Second Division main . While runnin g seco n d Eik elberg er wa s passed by Jeff Jones. J ones had a pe g ' sna p off o ne lap lat er an d dropped back just a bo u t th e same tim e leader Ronnie Correy's muffler ca me flying o rr. Even th ough Correy crossed th e lin e fir st, h e was d isqual ified for losin g hi s muffl er. Eik elber g er was awa rded th e win with Louis Kossuth gelli ng seco nd and J ordan Du can th ird . S teve Furman (jawa ) took th e firstever-sp eedway main eve nt by su rvivin g the usu al Third Divi sion mas s co n fus io n 10 cross th e line fir st . Kurt Markham cooked it 10 seco n d with Kevin Krugh third . Ermolenk'o'doubles at Costa Mesa By Scott Daloisio " Sudden Sam" Ermolenko of Cypress became the first rider to win the Scratch and H andicap mains on the same night in Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Rob Pfetzin g (Wes); 2. Brad Oxl ey (W es); 3. Sam Erm ol enk o (Wes) ; 4. M ike Faria (Jaw). HA NDICAP: 1. Jeff Springman (Wesl; 2. Mike Mazz acane (Ja w) ; 3. Dubb Ferrell (Ja w); 4 . Andy Northrup (Wes); 5. Tim McCasland (Wes); 6. Dave DeTemple (Wes ). SECOND DIV; 1. Bryce Eikelberger (Gdn); 2. Lou is Kos suth (M ae); 3. Jordan Duncan (Gdn~; 4 . Jeff Jones (We s); 5. David Hancock (Wes); 6. Ronnie Ccrrev lJ aw ). THIRD DIV: 1. Steve Furman (Jawl; 2. Kurt Mark am (J aw); 3. Kev in Krugh (J aw); 4 . Rand v Skin ner (J aw); 5 _Da na DlJ ond (J aw L A n th ony Sa nch ez fWe 9p 1.'lJI :, ; O · ,11 e. , I~/J ~r,,)( i · . COSTA MESA, CA, MAY 10 I so u rhe rn' Ca lifo rn ia in 1985'when he turned th e tri ck a t th e O range County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa Friday ni ght. Ermol enko (P ick Your Part Auto Salvage/Pacifi c Coa st Laminating/ Ar ai / J on es G o g gl es /Am eri can Mikuni /STP /Q&E/R.K . R a cing C ha in / AI R eed 's Polish ing/Frame Sh op/ Car Tunes/Kal-Gard Weslak e), co mi n g off a nothe r Scrat ch main win a t IMS Wedn esd ay. was moved up from th e 5010 lh e 4Q a lo ng with all of th e othe r back yardage markers Friday n ig ht. J err Springman put his Wes lak e in th e lead at th e start over John Foster and " Flyin ' " Mike Faria. Ermolen ko , rim riding. blazed past Faria a n d FOSler for secon d out of turn four o n th e o pe n ing lap. The ex-Poole Pirat e th en put th e crowd on th eir feet when he look the lead from Springman o ne la p later whi le blazing a ro u nd on the outside. Faria dipped ins ide Springman for second in turn three o n th e th ird lap and was followed by Al an " C razy" Christian but by th e time it was too late to ca tch Ermolenko wh o look th e H andiap win by a half stra ig h ta wa y. The Scratch m ain got o ff 10 a bang .w hen Kell y Moran, Kei th Chrisco a n d Dubb Ferr ell a ll went down in turn on e. The o n ly on e left sta n ding wa s Ermolenko . On th e restart Ermalenko won a baili e with Moran to lead in the fir st corner. Ferrell a na Chrisco , wh o sta rted in th e tw o outside positions, tried 10 duck inside Moran in turn lWO for th e second SPOI but the diminutive rid er ba ttled th em back. Chrisco took ov er third a n d a lmost hit Moran in th e next bend. Chrisco recov ered but he was out of cont ention. Moran was then th e only rid erwith a cha nce of catching Ermol en ko but he didn't have enough to ca tch up in the remaining three laps. Ermolen ko wh eelied across th e line with a five-length victory . Doug Bowers (J awa ) cam e into the program as a reserve a nd went home with th e Seco nd Division trophy. Bow ers led th e ent ire five-lap distance but it was rid er Ri ch Sw eaney who ca p tu red th e cro wd's auention. Swea t1c~' " ~' hW;1s(2i Bb 11 ·reserv ef'hSd

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