Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

z « ~ ~ - ::l; 0 w a:: ... :I: U .... s > III ~I 51 <.0 00 O"l ~I - ~ <.0 ..... .... 0~ (Above) Pete Ham es (3 2) div es under wi nner Chris Carr in the Gardena Gold Cup. (Below) Pro -A m winner Steve Aseltine leads Tom Carriger. 14th Annual AMA Regional Gardena Gold Cup Half Mile: Carr wins at Ascot By Maureen Lee GA R DENA, CA, AP R. 4 The rivalry between top California talents Pete Hames, Chris Carr and Mike Garrison continued at the Gardena Gold Cup AMA Regi?nal Half Mile Friday ni~ht as HarleyDa vidson factory rider Chris Carr, last 'yea r's rookie of th e yea r, outdid the other tw o. Carr's win was in sp i te o f brake 14 p roblems a nd despite th a t o n th e ea rlier, faster track of the evening, Mik e Garrison h ad ti me -trialed th e fa stest (2 1.90), wo n th e trophy da sh a nd set a new five-lap track reco rd. T he tra ck h ad been so qui ck th at even th e jun iors timed in the 22-seco nd bracket. So it loo ked lik e it just might be Garrison's tu rn to win th e C up; he' s fin ished third three years in a row n ow and espec ia lly wi th th at heat perform an ce. He a nd Chris Ca rr were in h ea t o ne a n d flew to th e lead a lo ng .wi th Donn ie H owar d. Roger T hom pson and Dave Webb stayed wit h the m for a coup le of laps bu t it was q uick ly appa rent th at no o ne was going to stay wit h Ca rr an d G ar rison. They bo th ha d it a ll hangin g o u t a nd finis hed the race a lmost side-bv-side wi th Garrison less than a wheel ~'idt h in fro nt of Carr. G arrison sha tte red the 1979 five-la p record o f I:54. 16 set by Ra ndy Goss with a 1:53.56. T he other h eat went to Pete Hames, o n ly one of two rid ers to win th e Gold Cup as a Novice, junior a nd Expert a nd he was looking for a repeat. Io wan Ri ch Kin g tu cked in behind H ames cl osel y for the wh ol e ra ce bu t co u ld n't mak e a real cha llen ge. Fran Bro wn lost h is ea rly th ird p lace in th e last two laps as both Chad Feli cio a nd Keith Da y go t by. T he tro phy da sh line up was Garriso n. (2 1.90), H am es (22. 09). Ki n g (22.24) a nd Ca rr (22.4 1). Ca rr roll ed up to th e lin e but th en wa ved o ff a nd headed for th e pi t for Mert La wwi ll to work o n th e br ak es so me m ore a n d th e dash left o ne sh ort. Hames a n d G ar riso n passed th e lead back a n d forth q uick ly wit h Kin g stayi ng in th ird : then Garrison ro lled o ut into the lead and h is third . success of the eveni ng. In the Expert semi, Ra nd y G reen came flying up to the fro nt , fa st passi ng fro n t runner Kirk Strong, Carr celebrates a win in his debut on the lawwill Harley. Mike Garrison beat Hames t o win the Tro phy Dash, who p ro m p tly ove rcooked it in the north turn to let more riders by. Green went o n for th e wi n fo llowed by jcrr Ma rsh a , who had su dde n ly fou nd hi mself seco nd a nd last transfer ma n as he approached the fin ish £l ag . Always p art of Gold C up n ig ht is the award from the Gardena Valier Chamber o f Commerce to a Gardena citizen or businessma n who has ma de significant contributions to rnotosports a nd bro ught recognition to the city. T h is rear Ben Foote was the reci pient: a very popular choice. Foote has worked with the Agajanian fami ly for 40 rea rs in a ll facets of the fami ly's racing connections and being the la te j.C. Agajanian's righ t h and man [or much of them. Yo u na me anythi ng in rela tion to Ascot or other Agajanian racing promotions and Foote is al ways in the midd le of it keeping a million ends together. Up rumbled the Expert mai n, a nd almost as they left the lin e the red light popped on: Chad Felicio go t just a bit too much of a good start. Agai n they roa red for turn one with Ga rr iso n and Howard goi ng for the lead toget her. Garriso n got it a nd for a few laps it look ed great [or h im . Hames a nd Carr were goi ng fast, too. a nd came u p to cha lle nge a nd p ass Ho war d . Abo ut la p five it was Garriso n trying to ge t more of a cus hion between h im self and th e othe r two: whi le Ha mes a nd Carr well kn ew that to le t Garrison get too far a way from them wou ld be all she wrote. Suddenly Garrison backed off a li ttle a nd Hames really got a drive com ing o ut of the north tu rn with Carr behind hi m a nd they were bo th by Garrison. Garrison was o bviously slowi ng but still stayi ng competi tive, keepi ng h is p lace in the parade. Carr passed H ames coming ou t of turn two a nd cha rged o rr to stay th e leader. Still, th e th ree of th em conti n ued to p u ll away bi t-by-bit from fourth positio n being held alterna tely by H oward and Da ve Web b unti l Webb got the ha nd le o n it. U p fro nt th ey were la pping in the hi gh 22-second bra cket but slo wer _tha n th e fero cious pace G arri son had gone in hi s record h ea t. Carr wa s a ll sm iles as he received h is well -earn ed troph y, tha n ki ng Harley-Davidson an d Lawwill for th ei r help. H ames was a bi t more th oughtful a bo u t it a ll but th en h is name goes aga in into th e perpetual record o f the Gold C up a nd " there's next yea r." Ta lki ng to Garrison when all th e h oo pl a was over, he poi nted to his bad ly chu n ked rear tire. " I felt that sta rt to go away a nd wondered if it wo u ld la st the race," h e sai d. " I took a look to see j us t h ow far back th e o thers were a nd just tried to stay a head of them and finis h th e race. I kn ew I couldn't go after Chris and Pete." Bryan Villella, j ohn Munez and Mea rl Barn ett were the win ners of th e three jun io r h ea ts wit h Ville lla's by far the quickest. The semi was a good go between two riders who carry n umber II plates, Les Wa sh bon fro m New York and Curtis Cannon, who gre:-v up at Ascot. "" ash born gave it a good try bu t Ca n non, wh o kn ows Ascot like his own driveway, preva iled. The main was Villella's, start-to finis h. Riding the Wood- Rotax Chris Carr rode last year, Ville lla tore off . up front and stayed th ere. A j un ior to be watched for this year. Br yan McDo wel I kept second place the same way b ut cou ldn't get any closer to Villella,who just ke pt pulling ahead as the la ps fell. With the fro nt p laces firmly controlle d , the ac tio n was back in th e gro up. Soon, Barnett in third had Bru ce j o h nso n and Bob Dam ro n u p and swarming around him a nd they a ll swi tched the spot a ro u nd for a wh ile. The fin al sha kedown back th ere was Dam ron , j oh nson a nd Barnett , th en Munez a nd Ca n non. U nder the new ru le cha nges th e AMA has done away wi th th e No vice class and no w ca lls them the Pro-A m , a llowing a Sports ma n rider to sign up a nd ride wi th the riders wh o have already decided to go Pro . Friday night's turn ou t was n' t bad, although tha t class and th e j u n iors had their usual first-night case of the jitters with false starts and assorted crashes. T he Pro -Am semi had two restarts a nd fin a ll y th ey were orr a nd running. Stephen Aseltine became the front runner, lost it for a bit to Tom Carriger and the n go t it back agai n, keep in g it. Ken Netto stayed th ird the wh ol e race whi le T od Adams went th e la st th ree la ps wi th hi s p ip e d ra gging on th e gr o u nd. Would it co me o rr or wo ul dn' t it? It didn 't and Netto wasn ' t flagged in . - Results EX: 1. Chr is carr (H· D): 2. Pete Hames (H· D): 3. M ike Garrison (H· O); 4 . Dave Webb (H-D); 5. Donnie . Howard (H-D); 6. Chad Fel icia (H·D); 7. Keith Day (H-D); 8. Roger Thomp son (H·D); 9. Fran Brown (Vam); 10. Randy Green (Han): 11. Jeff Marsha (Yam): 12. Rich King (Han). RACE DISTANCE; 15 laps. 7.5 mil e. RACE TIME: 5:42.53 JR: 1. Bryan Villella (W·R); 2. Bryan McDowell (Rtx): 3. Robert Damron (Rtx): 4 . Bruce Johnson (Rtx); 5. Mea rl Barnett (Han): 6. Jon Munez (C-A); 7. Curt i. Cannon (C·AI : B. James Harrell (Rtxl: 9. Bobby McDowell (Han): 10. Frankie Garcia (Han). RACE DISTANCE; 10 lap. 5.0 mile s RACE TIME; 3:5 1.67 TROPHV DASH : 1. M ike Garr ison (H· D): 2. Pete Ham es IH-O); 3 . Rich King (Hon) . RACE DISTANCE; 3 laps. 1.5 miles RACE TIME; 1:08.85 PRO-AM : 1. St ephen · A selt ine (H-O); 2. Tom Carri ger (Rt s); 3 . Ken Netto fe- A); 4 . Tod Ada ms (Vern): 5. F. Lyle Dove (Han); 6. Eric Larson (Han); 7. Tony Harr ell (Han): B. Kevin Todd (Yam); 9. Craig Jo hnso n (Rtx); 10 . Ken King (H· D). RACE DISTANCE: B laps. 4.0 miles TIME OF RACE: 3:10 .94

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