Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

---=.SpeedlNay _ ~ 00 ..- -Ala n Ch rist ian le a ds Hand icap main w in ner Tony Briggs at San Bernardino . Ch ristian was second in the Scratch main and fourth in Handicap racing . Pfetzing, Briggs win IMS speedway By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPT. 4 A large crowd braved co ld temperatures on Fox Night at Jo hn LaDouceur 's Inland Motorcycle Speedway Wednes- 8 day and th ey wat ch ed two former British Leaguers win th e Div ision One main events. Rob Pfetzin g raced home wi th hi s first IMS Scrat ch ma in win o f th e season wh ile Tony Briggs emerged triumphant in the H andi cap main event. Pfetzing put th e Valv oline/O 'Neal USA/STP/NGK/S impson / Alpin e Star s/Oakl ey/ Kal-Gard/P RP/Tracksta r Equ ipment /2 Kin chu/Hai r By Bev/Z Leathers Weslak e in to th e lead in eac h o f his th ree Scrat ch rides. The o n ly time he wasn't in the lead came in h is heat wh en he was passed an d bea ten by Steve Lucero. In th e main he again faced Lucero a lo ng with Ala n Christi an and Keith Chrisco . Pfetzin g hop ped from th e number two spot on th e grid a nd into the lead o n th e start ahea d of Chrisco a nd Christi an. Chri sti an went to the outside and sho t past Chrisco for second in turn three. Chrisco kept battling with Christian for second until th e end of th e third go- 'round when he hooked-up an d did a wh eel ie, giving Christian contro l of second. Pfetzing h ad lengthened hi s lead to four lengths over " Cra zy" Christian. At th e checkered it was Pfetzing, cha sed by Christian an d Chrisco . T o ny Briggs (Ocean Pacifi c/Scott Goggl es/B&F Im ports GM) was engaged with Ri ch Sw ean ey in a n interestin g battle for th e lead for two la ps before he rod e awa y for th e win in the H andicap main. The race wa s red-fl agged on th e ori ginal go wh en leader Ronnie Correy hooked up and hit thefront chute wall. That bounced him ba ck across the tra ck a nd right into th e path o f five o ther riders. Sweaney had no wh ere to go and rearen ded Correy. Christian then made the laydow n of th e year in th e middle o f the stra ig h ta way, averti n g disaster. Somehow Correy managed not to go down but he was still disqualified for caus ing th e confusio n. The second try saw Sweaney in the lead over Briggs, who started th e n ight as a reserve. Briggs hounded Sweaney for two laps until he went underneath a t th e end o f lap two. Once out front it was a ll over an d Briggs took th e win by five lengths. Sweaney managed to stay in second with Mik e Mazzacane holding off Christian for third. . Young Gary Hi cks (Mi lne Bros. Weslake) pa ssed a stubborn Ken Bid ney in turn two on th e fin al lap to score th e win in th e Second Division main. Jim Peery (J aw a ) won hi s seco nd IMS Third Divi sion main o f th e yea r when h e d efeated Mark Bro oks a nd T om Settlemire. J essee Finch (Speedway Magazin e/ Aria /Jones Goggles/House of Suzuki Triumph/Mom & Dad/Sam Errnolenko ) won a furi ous battle with defending Junior Na tional Champion Trinon Cirello and went on to tak e th e Junior Speedway Fir st Division main while Ami Alva rez (Alvarez Racing Team) defeated Ton i Brewer to win their Handicap main. " Sh o w rirne" Bobby Ott (Cycle T ech / Ara i/ Jon es G oggles) didn't make ei ther o f th e First Divi sion ma in events but he did defeat Junior rider Tim Gewecke and referee Irw in Moon in a n intermission U nicycle Nati onal O pen Ch ampionship. Results SCRATCH MAIN; 1. Rob Pletz ing (Wes); 2 . A lan Christian IGM) ; 3. Keith Chrisco (Wes); 4 . St eve Lucero (Wes). HA NDICAP; 1. Tony Briggs (GM); 2. Rich Swea ney (Wes); 3 . M ike M azz8cane IJaw); 4 . A lan Chris tia n (GM); 5. Steve Lucero (Wes); 6. Ron nie Corr ey (Wes). SECOND DIV; 1. Gary Hicks (Wes); 2. Ken Bidney tJa w t; 3 . M ark M ill azo (Wes); 4. Norma n Neuman (Wes); 5. Don Butl er (We s); 6. Kevin Kr ugh (Jaw). THIRD D1V: 1. Jim Peery (Jaw); 2. M ark Brooks (Jaw); 3. Tom Settlemire (Jawl; 4 . M ark Coker (Jaw); 5. Dana Du mond (J aw ); 6. Tod Bertr and (Gdnl. J R OIVO NE: 1.Jessee Finc h; 2. Trin on Ctretlc ; 3. Tim Gewecke; 4 . Bill y Fe~s . J R OIV TWO : 1. Am i Alva rez; 2. Ton i Brew er; 3. Luke Cozart; 4 . Brent Werner; 5 . J ohn Nicklas; 6 . Kevin Nickla s. UNICYCLE: 1. Bob 0,,; 2. Tim Gew ecke; 3. Irwin Moon; 4 . Bill Hammill; 5. Phil Moo n: 6. Jessee Finch; 7. Steve Lucero. Yarrow again at Baylands By W.H. Spencer FR EMONT, CA, AUG. 29 Du ane Yarrow came back from th e National qualifier to win his l l th Scratch main in the two-year history of Baylands Racewa y Park's Class A speedway racing while Jeff Brown topped the H andicap show. Yarrow (Snooky Owens /MPE/San J o se Wh ee l/Can cilla T ens ioner Weslak e) didn't fare well in hi s H an di cap sem i as Mark Day won off th e zero ove r Mike Parsons a nd Scott Brant. Kid Curry topped th e o the r H andi cap sem i in a good show o ver Brown and Mark Zeiss ler. C u rry had litt le lu ck in th e Scratch sho w when he couldn't fire in th e fir st heat - Tom Ferris topped Parsons th ere . Pat L inn gated quickly to take the second hea t win over Brant. J ohn Houston, Jr. won Scra tch heat three over Steve Martin whi le Yarrow a n d Bart Bast put on a g reat show in th e last h eat just before intermission time. Going for his l l th match ra ce win, Kid Curry took on Parso ns (Ri chmond Yam aha /BMW Jawa) and ran o ff with th e first round, riding a borrowed Weslake from Greg Martz. In th e seco n d two-Iapper he had a troubled start tha t gave Parsons a win a n d a chance at th e upset. Curry consu lted for just a second at the pit ent ry before ga tin g well one more time an d go ing on to win. Tom Castagnola, at age 59, won th e crash-marred seco nd heat in Divisio n Three and then survived th e sa me onslaught to win the main. Da n Neilson worked hard , but fell to last wi th Sjostrand second a nd Scott Spivey th ird. Division Two has been a thriller of late wi th newcomers lik e Nick Geranio back in action. Bay Area Kawasaki-sponsored Geranio won the first heat whi le Ken Eggers topped heat two. Chris Pa u lso n a nd Van ce Felicia also transferred. In th e Division Two main it was a ll P au lson on th e R PM /Miller Aluminum/Foster Pa int-backed , Bill Knight-p repped Godden. T eammate Geranio took second over Eggers. Results SCRATCH MAIN : 1. Duane Yarrow; 2. M ike Par sons: 3. Bart Bast; 4. Pat Linn . HA NDICA P: 1. Je ff Brown; 2. Mi ke Parsons ; 3. Ma rk Zei ssler; 4 . Kid Curry; 5. Scott Bran t; 6. Ma rk Day. DIV . TWO: 1. Chris Paulson ; 2. Nick Geran io; 3. Ken Eggers; 4 . Ken Wedd ingfeld ; 5. Vanc e Felicio: 6. Derek Dorrestyn . DIV. THREE: 1. Tom Castagn ola Sr.; 2. Kenn Sio strand; 3. Gordon Rudy; 4. Scon Spivey; 5. Les Kars; 6. Dan Neilson. MATCH RA CE: 1. Kid Curry del . Mike Pars ons. Faria fine at Coors Auburn final By W.H. Spencer AU BURN, CA, AUG . 30 Having already wrapped-up the overall NorCa l Speedway title which ended in August, David Faria top ped Pa t Linn in a ru n-, off for the Coors Inv itational a t th e Gold Country Fai rgrounds in the foot hi lls of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Paul Orlandi and Tom Ferris got great starts in event one, bu t th ey both cras hed at the same time. John Volk scored three points with a win; Ferris was seco nd after Steve Crawford had the m isfortune o f blowing up his reg ular mount. Mike Delacy (Co ntin ued to page 12)

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