Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

z -c c w :::!: ~ u. :I: := ~ c z <:{ Q In 9 <:{ c 5 u In ~ In o o :I: >0. (Above) Lance King. Kelly Moran. Rick M iller and Bobby Schwartz in the runoff. Moran crashed. King and Miller finished '-2. (Below) Winner John Cook (inset) and Brad Oxley tangle in event three. ' Nissan American SReedwa'l Final Cook victorious in Long Beach By Scott Daloisio LO NG BEACH . CA, J UNE 8 The "American Cowboy" J o h n Cook scored 15 points with five perfect rides to take home first spot in the Nissan American Speedway Final a t L ong Beach Veterans Stadiu m Sa turda y n ight. Cook's victory adva nc es him to the Overseas F' l to be s ta d df d in a to e stage at Bra or , Engla nd on Jul y 14 where h e wi ll be joine d by fellow Am eri cans Sa m E r mo le n ko. S ha w n Mo ran , La nce Kin g a nd Ri ck Mill er. Cook's win ca n not be descr ibed as a shock but th e elim ina tio nof defending cha m p io n Bobby Schwartz and cu rr ent number four in th e world Kell y Moran ca n . Both were expected to mak e it through to th e next round. Moran has been eliminated co m p leteIy whil e Sch wa rtz goes to Bradford as a reserve. Ermolenko got thefestivities underway in event o ne with his first win of th e even in g , Mike Faria led Irom the pol e on th e sta rt but Ermolenko shot , by o n the outside a s they exited rum two.' Faria dosed the gap.on the final lap as th ey ca me o fft he s~co n d co rner but Ermol enko opene d II up to four len gths a t th e checkered. Event two mar ch ed Sch wa rtz and Shawn Moran. Sch wa rtz. who sco red IS p oints to win last yea r's event, lea p t int o th e lead from th e ga te a head o f Moran , Keith Larsen an d Keith Chrisco . Moran tri ed th e in sid e as they ca me off turn four every lap but every tim e Sc h wart z wa s th ere to bl ock him. As th ey 'ca me off fou r on th e last lap, Moran went to th e o u ts ide but Schwartz was read y a nd he beat him to th e checkered flag. Co ok 's (Bell / AME G ogg les/Hi Point/K&N /Grin /Just ice Brothersl T RS Tuning/PJS Ignitionsl Alpine Star Boots/Jeff Collard Weslak e) even ing started off as a disaster in event three. Brad Oxley got th e ga te from . th ree with . Cook wheelieing down . the.fro n chute.rOxlev.Ied .into wrn three where Cook tried to cu t across. Cook and Oxley we n t down forcing Jim Lawson to la y it down a nd bringing out a red flag. Since it was half th e pack on the fir st lap. everyo ne made th e second sta rt. This time Co ok go t a marvelous gate a nd was wavin g back to th e o the r riders as th ey h eaded for turn o ne . H e ra n a way for th e win a nd look ed into th e crowd as he went down th e front ch u te every lap until he received th e J erry King checkered . Ox ley fin ish ed a distant seco nd. Event four pull ed in th e first sh oc k of the n ight. Lan ce Kin g , rid ing with a severely injured finger, got the gat e a nd ra n awa y with i t. Th e shock was Kell y Mo ran who was m ired in th ird far behind Ri ck Mill er. Moran closed th e ga p o n th e final la p and was a ttem p ting to pass Miller o n th e o u tside. After Kin g too k th e chec kered , Moran got close to Mill er 's rear tire bu t co u ld n' t get by as th ey crossed the line. That left him with a disappointing on e point after hi s first rid e. After hi s rid e, Moran said , " It is so slick ou t th ere . I wou ld have thought that th ey could have more dirt on it. It' s slick like this and we still have 16 heats to go. I should have known things were going to get weird. They ran out of fuel (T h e tra ck sup p lies all the fuel for this ra ce.) a nd they had to go to ge t my 55 gall on drum . Let's hope things improve." Mill er def eat ed Schwartz in eve n t five. Schwartz was a ble to challenge o n th e fir st lap but from th ere on it was all Miller. King m ad e it tw o in a row with a n easy win o ver Alan Christian in event six. Moran ca me back -in event seven a nd hi s woes cont in ued as he got a terrible ga te and was third behind Errnolen ko a nd Chrisco . Ermol enk o ran a wa v a n d hid wh il e Moran tried to find wa y pa st Chri sco . H e tri ed the insi de in turn o ne o n lap three but he was m et by a n aggressive block from Ch ris co th at kept him in third. Errnolenko cru ised ac ross th e line with a huge lead ; Mo ran was fin all y able to sa lvage seco nd wh en he swe p t past Chrisco a t th e ch eckered. Co ok g ra bbed th e ga te from th ree over Sh awn Moran in event eight. Moran tried him a ll th e wa y but Cook cleverl y took a way hi s line each time Moran got read y to make a cha rge. It, was a o ne-length victory for Cook ov er a determined Moran. Gene Woods dropped out of the heat with front end troubles and sa id , " My bike is a to ilet. It needs so me serio us fin e-tuning. " Keith Larsen took event nine after Faria dropped o u t on lap three while leading. After the ra ce Faria's me- a chanic sa id, " We think it was the lower end. There was metal shavings in the oil and it wouldn 't move." Cook was in the line to face Schwartz and Kelly Moran in event 10. Moran 's luck co nti n ued to run bad" While warming up h is tire o n the front ch u te prior to th e sta rt he snap pe d a ch ain. Brother S ha wn rode Kell y's back-up bike out to him. Cook aga in to ok off from th e ga te chased by Moran . Mark Dwyer a n d Schwartz who got a terrible gate. It took Schwartz two laps to get past Dw yer for third a nd th at proved to be hi s downfall on th e night. Cook was n ever seriousl y challe nged a nd he took th e win by fiv e lengths over Moran with Schwartz a distant third. Moran did a fantasti c job co n sidering th e fact th at h e was on a brand n ew bike. " We hadn't even set it up yet. We didn 't get a chance to change the gear or adjust th e bars, " h e laughed. " It 's li ke it wa s setup for Brad (Ox ley, who is about n ine inches ta ller) the way the bars are." _ Eve nt I I was the bes t race of the night. Before it started, King (who was sta rt ing in four) had Ermolenko (who wa s starting in three ) moved over in th e grid by th e officials as Ermolenko was g ivin g him no room. On th e sta rt Shawn Moran blasted away from th e pole while Ermolenko to ok Kin g to th e fence. King d ropped to th e insid e as th ey ca me off turn two and he moved into seco nd. Moran was running a way w ith i t whil e Ermol enko wa s a ll ov er King. The cro wd went wild a n d th en on th e final revo lution, Er molen ko went to th e inside o n th e back ch u te and pow ered by Kin g for seco n d. Moran took th e win by eight len gths but it was Ermol enko wh o left hi s mark on th e cro wd with hi s determined ride to a pop u la r seco nd-p lace fin ish . Mill er made i t look easy aga in with a bi g win in even t 12 o ver Christian. That gave h im ei gh t points a nd hi s ch a nces look ed good for being o ne of th e five to transfer. While he was happy in th e pits, Chrisco returned in a dejected mood. His bike. which h ad been bogging earlier . di ed at the line. A despondent Chrisco growled, " It just totally died. The damn thing to ta ll y died wh e n I dro pped the clutch." Cook was making it look easy as he scored a no ther convincing win by some eight lengths over King in the 13th ra ce. One more ride a nd h e had th e perfect 15 but hi s 12 a lready qualified him for th e next round. Shawn Moran m ad e it tw o in a row when he defeated Mill er in event 14. Miller tried th e insid e ea rly but was forced to settle for seco nd in th e en d. Event 15 had thrill merchant Ermolenko ba ck o n th e track to do battle with Schwartz. Schwartz got th e gate over Christian a n d Ermol enko , who qu ickl y rel egated Christian to third a nd th e battle wa s o n with Schwartz, On lap two Er molen ko tried th e inside but th en sw itche d to th e OUlside and took th e lead as th ey ca me off fo u r. One lap lat er Schwartz went by on th e o u tside but Ermolenko came ri ght ba ck by. Coming off turn four for the la st time, Schwartz got the drive a nd it wa s a battle to th e chec kered with Ermol enko getting th e nod while th e cro wd ga ve them both a standing ovation. In th e pits following hea t 15 Ermolen ko as ked , " H ow man y points do I have?" When to ld II and tha t was enough Ermolenko said, " I want to win th e next on e or get second and th en m y goa l, n ext year is to score 15. I have done nothing all week except work on m y bik e - th ey're flying. In that last race Schwartz was slo wing me down . Ever yone has been aski ng me if I'm running Dunlops. I ask (Continued 10 page 11 )

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