Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

------=SpeedlNay _ "Storrnin' Norman " Neumann, too good for th e 10-yard-line, won twice to tak e home Second Division honors. Nex t time Neumann will get to race Gary H icks, wh o esca ped Third Division by taking th e trophy for the second stra ig h t week. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Steve Lucer o; 2 . A la n Chris tian; 3 . Bob On ; 4. Brad Oxley. HANDICAP; 1. Jeff Jo hnson; 2. Keit h Larsen; 3 . Mi ke M azzacane ; 4 , M ark Dwy er; 5. Bob On ; 6. Ala n Christian . SECOND DIV; 1. Norman Neumann; 2. Steve Furma n; 3. Joe Krie sberg; 4. Lou Kreisberg; 5. Ji m my Gen til e; 6 . Arc hie Perez. THIRD DIV; 1. Gary Hicks; 2. Ken Bidn ey; 3 . Mark Kariy a; 4 . Ken Berry; 5. A ndy Johns on : 6. Joe Bishop. . MATCH RA CE; 1. David Hancock det . Ronn i e Corr ey. Tony Briggs f inished second in the Handicap race at IMS. Amazing Kid Bast does it at Napa By Jann Houston NAPA, CA, J ULY 6 Results POINTS : 1. A lan Ch rist ian (GM) 15 ; 2. MikeFar ia (Wes ) 12; 3. Steve Lucero (Wes) 11 ; 4 . Robert Ptetz ing (Wes) 1 1; 5. (TIE) Mark Dw yer {J aw l/Bob On (Gdn I B; 7. (TIE) Ed Castro{Jaw)/Tom Burba (Jaw)/ Shawn McConnell (Wes )/ A ndy Northrup (W esI 7; 11 . Gene Woods (JawI6; 12 . (TIEl Brad Oxley (We sll Tim M cCasland (We sI5; 14 .( TIEI Mike Mauacane (J aw )/ Tony Briggs {GMI / Doug Nicol (Wes) 4; 17 . (TIEl Davi d Hanocok (Wesl /Mark Weaver IGdn) O. Lucero wins at Ventura At Ve ntura Raceway, Steve Lucero t o ok t he Scratch ma in win after di ci ng w ith A lan Christian. Bob Ott and Brad Oxley. Speedway (Co n tinued fr om pag e 20) Results SCRATCH MAIN : 1. Alan Chr ist ian (GM ); 2. Bob On (Gdnl ; 3 . Mike Faria (We sl; 4 . Tom Burba (Jawl. HANDICAP : 1. Doug Nicol (W es); 2. Tony Br iggs (GM O; 3. M ike Far ia (W es); 4 . Ed Castr o (Wesl; 5 . Brad Oxle y (We s); 6 . A lan Chr ist ian (GM) . SECON D DIV; 1. Joe Krei sberg (Wesl; 2. Steve Donov an (W es); 3. Don Bu tl er (W es); 4 . M ike Dwyer (Ja w ); 5 . Bryce Eikelberg er (Gdn); 6 . Ke vin Kru gh (Jaw ). THIRD DIV : 1. Kent Bow ser IGdn l; 2. J ohn Dunn (We sl; 3 . Greg Nelson (Wes l; 4. Mark Brooks (Jawl; 5. Gary Hicks (Jaw); 6. Marty Vanblargen (J aw l. JR FIRST OIV: 1. Jessee Finch; 2. Tim Gew ecke: 3 . Trinan Cirello . 4. Bill y Felt s. JR SECOND DIV: 1. Warren Wi lso n; 2. Bren t W ern er . Christian wins Freedom Cup at Carlsbad By Gordie Orr CA RLS BAD, CA, J ULY 7 Ala n " Crazy" C h ris tia n of Huntington Beach, California turned in a n impeccabl e 15p oint maximum a bo a rd his 30 Italian -mad e GM to take top honor s a t the first Annual Freedom Cu p a t th e Ca rls bad Ra ceway Su nday ni gh t. Christian (ST P/ Va lvo lineiCha mpion /Bell /Circell Racing/Hi-Po int/ PB IIK&N/Fiberglass Concepts.'Advantage Boots GM ) ca me o ff a fru stra ting week where he fini shed second to " Flyin' " Mike Faria three co nsec utive times. Sunday was a d ifferent story. From th e outset it was clear that Christian, who leads Carlsbad with four Scratch main wins, was th e man to beat. Christian 's main challen ger was o bvio us ly Faria and he came out and destroyed the competition in event three. Christian then came out in event four and took a seven-length win over Mik e Mazzacane wh o con tinues to impress most speedwa y insiders. Christi an took h is seco nd voyage in event six. Former Bri tish Leaguer Sha w n McConnell sta yed close o ver th e first circu it but th en he wa tched as C h ristia n ro de a way for h is second huge victory of th e even ing. Faria th en faced Rob ert Pfetzin g in even t seven . Pletzin g got the ga te from sta rti ng spot fou r a nd th en d ro pped down to th e po le wi th Faria in close pu rsuit. It was four laps o f Faria tryin g to get by o n the o u tside wi th Pfetzin gdo wn low , gas sing it as ha rd a s he could. T he win went to Pfetzin g a n d Fa ria dro p ped his first point o f th e even ing. Chri stian 's toughest qua Iifying race o f th e meeting ca me in even t 18 w hen he faced T im l\IcCasland , Mark Weaver a nd " Show rime" Bobbv O tt. On o u tg a ted Ch ristia n but fell beh ind o n the back ch u te. On co n tin ued to cha lle nge usin g th e o u tside li ne but co u ldn 't muster eno ug h spe ed . On th e fina l circu it he bla zed thro ugh th e first bend and tri ed to slingsh ot pa st Ch ris tian a s th ey ca me o ff two. Ch ris tia n blocked h im off a nd that was a ll she wrote. Faria took hi s next ride an d th at set up a n event 20 showdow n featuring Christian , Faria and Steve Lucero . Christi an en tered th e event with 12, while Faria had I I a nd Lucero nine. Rookie Doug Ni col , wh o was reserving for the inju red Kell y Moran, wa s thrown in for good measure. Christian got th e gate out of two over Faria, Lu cero and Ni col. Fari a hooked up an d did a wh eelie out of two and almost shot by C hristian for the lead . Faria cou ldn 't quite ho ld it down and by the time he recover ed Lucero had slip ped pa st and into second. Lucero stayed close and looked for th e opening to get past Christi an but it never happen ed. Faria in the meantime ca ugh t back up to Lucero with a mad last-lap cha rge but he ran out of time and fini shed j ust behind Christian and Lucero. By Bill Locey VENT URA , CA, J ULY II Steve Lucero, back for a n en co re, won the Scratch m ain at th e Ventura Racewa y Tuesda y night. That's two for Lucero in five yea rs. H e doesn ' t always win , but he's usu all y close as he moves up to third in track points. And J eff J ohnson o f Fo ntana th oro ug h ly enjoyed hi s First Divi sion deb u t a s he took th e Handicap main event. Hand icap rac ing featured the usual a mo u nt of passing - p lenty . Seven back-ya rdage riders transferr ed, including th ree of th e four on th e 50. In h is first ride , J ohnson looked co m forta ble, rode smooth ly as he led h is race fro m sta rt -to-finis h, an d even Ronn ie Correy a n d Greg Ayer s cou ld not ca tch h im . T he ini tia l sem i started two o n th e 50, th ree o n th e 40. a nd th e win ner, eith Larsen , o ff th e 30. T he 1978 Track Cha mp, Alan C hr istian , flyin g o n the o utside, nearl y ca ugh t Mar k Dwyer for seco nd. T he o ther semi was red-fl agged a fter th ree laps when Co rr ey took a non-injury soil sam ple a ro u nd turn fou r with J ohnson agai n winning big. For th e main, Johnson shou ld've been moved back 10 yards, because it turned o ut to be th e most boring mains a t Ventura in yea rs, exce p t of co urs e, for Johnson , wh o led from sta n -to-fin ish . None o f th e fast guys behind mad e up any ground whatsoever in a race free of passing. Yaw n. Johnson joins David Hancock , Doug Nicol , Jeff Springman and Correy as five solid First Divisio n riders who have been promoted a t Ventura this year. The 1981 Tra ck Champ, Steve Lu cero m ade sh o rt wor k of h is opponents three times in Scratch ra cing wi th outstanding gates. The program cover boy, wh o has missed two Tuesda ys in five years , blasted Christian to tak e his heat. Then he thrashed Bobby Ott, then C hristian again in th e main. "T he Amazing Kid " , IS-yearold Bart Bast, is ea rn in g a reputation for himself in northern California ; h e's cu rren tly third in NorCa I point sta nd ings , with only nine and a half points betw een him a nd lead er David Faria , Jr. He proved wh y tonigh t in the Scrat ch main event which he ca me into with wins in both is ea rlier Scratch event s. R id in g from th e number two position with Far ia, sta rti n g from the number four spot , 1984 NorCal Champion Duane Yarrow from th e third position and Steve C rawford on the pole, th ere wa s no qu esti on from turn one o u t of th e ga te th at Bast was sure to take th e chec kered fla g. H e was close to the inside, smooth, a nd o h-soo ooo fast. Steve Crawford took second and Fari a bested Yarrow by a few inches for third. As is o ften the case, th e most actio npa cked event o f th e even in g was the H andicap main. Mark Zeissler, new o n th e NorCal circu it last seaso n , got a good lead a t th e sta rt, after winnin g hi s heat an d -p lacing seco n d in th e semi. J im Sisemore wa s down and o u t on th e fir st turn, reducing the field to five. Going in to th e secon d lap, la st ni gh t' s win ner a t Auburn, Mik e Par sons, ended th e event a few laps early exact ly wh ere Sisemore did. In th e meantime, Rocky Robinso n had moved into seco nd spo t com ing o ff th ~ back- yardage becoming a rea l th rea t to Zeissler, wh o managed to su rviv e the pressu re and tak e h ome hi s fir st tro ph y o f th e 1985 seaso n. Robinson was second and Ron McG i II was third. In Division T h ree actio n , Kenn Sjostrand , a Napa hometown boy , took home th e gold, foll owed by Doug Mign an o, a nd Chris Paulson in that order. It wa s a weekend th at Second Division rider Jeff H olmes wi ll never forget. He mi ssed the ac tio n at Auburn because hi s wife presented him with a so n abo u t 30 minutes before rac etime. And tonight he was obviousl y still o n top of th e world as he won the Second Division main, his second of the 1985 Napa season. Stuart McDan iel and Derek Dorresteyn finis hed second and third, respectively. In Junior action, Ken Wagner looked like one of the big boys as he took the win in th e main event, fo llowed by Dustin Sch roeder in second and newcomer Eric Cham bers a close third. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Bart Bast; 2 . Steve Crawford; 3. David Far ia. J r .; 4 . Duane arrow.

• Cover