Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126963
o en P:i <5 ...J g <{ 0 1= o ~ u rJl >- CO o le :r c.. r- 00 0") ... r- C'J ;>- ro ~ England's Phil Collins (leading) scored the victory in the Scratch main at Inland Motorcycle Speedway in San Bernardino . Bobby Schwartz claimed another southern California speedway win. taking the Scratch main victory at Costa Mesa. Schwartz bags Orange County Speedway win By Scott Daloisio COSTA MESA, CA, MAY 8 A crow d of close to 7000 speedway fans ja m med th e sta nds on Cycle News Nig,.h t a t th e Orange Co unty Fair gr ounds. T he big winners of the night were a wiley vetera n a nd a n u p a nd co m ing yo ungster. T he vetera n was Bobby Schwartz and he po sted a win in the four-lap Scra tch main event . Youth was served wh en teen ager Sco tt Brant got up after bein g run over a nd won the H andicap eight lapper. Schwa rtz was hopin g to pi ck up hi s second Ascot win of th e 1987 seaso n o n the famed dirt ova l. He scor ed a win in hi s heat race over . Scotty Brown and th en took th e pl ace spot in h is semi behind England 's Phil Collins. They both ea rned tickets to the main a nd they were joined by Brad Oxley and undefeated - o n th e ni ght - Alan Christian. Schwartz drew the pole for h is Sikolene/Malcolm Smith/C.T.I. Brace/Bell /Justice Brother s Weslake. H e then got a gate tha t had to be seen to be believed. By the time he reached the first turn he was alread y ahea d by one a nd a half bike lengths. Oxley was second a t th e o u tset with Collins third and Christia n, com ing ou t of gate four, in fourth. Christian p icked off Collins o n lap two for second a nd he th en went to work o n Oxley. Schwartz had parlayed hi s good start into a big lead a nd that left O xley a nd Christian to bump a nd ba ng for second. Ch ristian tr ied the inside off turn four o n la p o ne but Oxley slammed the door o n h im. In turn one on lap three they act ua lly ban ged kn ees but O x ley co nti n ued o n in eco n d. Coming off turn two on th e fin al lap Ch risti an 's tire rubbed Oxley's left leg but not for long. Christian got th e drive and powered by for second. It had been a grea t battle for second but th e m an o f th e h our wa s Schwartz. After David Perry defeated Duan e " P i n ky" Blake in a red -fl agged Support class main for the second co nsecu tive week , th e H andicap main rid ers made their way to the track. The fir st try to run th e eightlapper . got as fa r as th e back stra ig h t o n lap one. 'Sha wn McConnell and Jimm ie O 'Dell tan gl ed a nd tha t brought o ut the first red £lag. The restart never even made it to th e back chute before the fireworks eru p ted once agai n. Ban ging in the fir st bend sent·Brant sprawling to the grou nd a nd Brown ran d irectl y over th e top of him. It was tim e for a nother restart and th is tim e th in gs ran smooth ly a nd Randy Bedd ow j umped into the lead for the th ird ti me. Brain an d hi s Mesa Bea rin g /B r ant En g .v' Arai z Sco tt USA Weslak e started to apply the hea t on the second circuit. Brant co uld pull alongside o n the stra igh ts but Beddo w was driving harder into the corners. Brant fin all y . beat him to turn o ne o n la p four to take !.fte lead . Bedd o w fad ed wi th McConnell moving in to second o n th e sa me lap but it was far too late as Brant won by a wid e margin . McConnell maintained second to th e end with Brown edging Mike Faria for third. Results SCRATCH: 1. Bobby Schw artz (Wes); 2. Alan Christian (Wes ); 3. Alan Christian (We s). HDCP; 1. Scott Brant (Wes); 2. Shawn McConn ell (Wes); 3. Scotty Brown (Jaw). SUP: 1. David Perry (Wesl; 2. Duane Blake (Wes); 3. George Armas (Ja w). Collins scores at 'nland Speedway By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, MAY 6 Phil Collins, of En gland, made hi s first appea rance at Inl and Mo tor cycle Speedway in th e middle of Ap ril. This past week, on hi s fourth visi t to th e facility he turned back all of southern Ca liforn ia 's top chargers to wi n the Cycle Rid er, Inc. Scratch main even t. Who did Colli ns beat to co llect h is wi n o n the R o va zzin i E lectric/ Cir ello Racing/ J T /DM C ' Mufflers/ D&K Classics Weslake? Mike Faria, D ub b Fe rrell and "S howtim e" . Bob by Ott. Co lli ns drew the pole in the main event, but he had th e red- ho t Fa ria start ing just off hi s rig h t elbow. Coll in s go t a fantastic ga te a nd he had a bik e len gth lead over Ferrell , wh o was coming off of ga te four, by the tim e they arrived in turn one. Ferrell had been getting roc ket-like driv es off the corners all night long, but Co ll ins wouldn 't g ive him a cha nce to use th em o n th e in side. Faria was all over Ferrell a nd tryin g to for ce hi s front tire by o n the in side. Ferr ell was eq ua l to th e adva nces a nd he kept shutti ng th e door o n th e sle nde r rider from CoIton. Coll in's began to ope n it u p on lap three and th e fan s turned their a ttention to the torrid battle th at was raging for second. Ferrell was holding his ground and it appeared as though second was hi s, Collins took the wi n by th ree len gths, but as Ferrell and Fari a came off turn four the final ti me. Faria found th e lan e tha t he had been look ing for. H e th en got th e dr ive and he took seco nd by an eye lash . T he younger generation of rid ers conti n ued to sh ine o n ·Wednesday as SCOlt Br ant , fo r mer ly of R eno , Nevada, wo n the eigh t la p H andica p mai n event. After a red £lag d ue to a wi ld whee lie a nd su bsequent th ro w away by Greg Han cock , Jeff J ohnson powered into th e lead from the 20. J ohnson held o nto th e first pl ace spot until the end of lap three whe n Brant took over. Brant qu ickl y began to open up a lead on th e Mesa Bearing/Scott USA/ Arai /Brant Engineering Weslak e wh ile Scotty Brown put th e heat o n Johnson at the halfway mark. J ohnson held the former ice racing Nationa l champ io n at bay for two laps before -relenting to the pressure a t the end of lap five and allowing Brown by for second. It was too la te for Bro wn to catch the strea king Brant but he still had to watch hi s back door as O xley and Pfetzing had moved into third and fourth. About that time a baby rabbit scurried about the infield whil e track workers tried to herd it back into th e in field shru bbery before it ran o nto the tra ck surface. The chec kered £lag fell a nd it was Bran t by five len gths over Brown a nd Oxley. Results SCRATCH: 1. Phil Colli ns (Wos ); 2. M ike Faria (Jaw); 3 . Dubb Ferr ell (Wos). HDCP: 1. Scott Brant (Wes ); 2. Scotty Brown (Wes); 3. Brad Oxley (Wes). SUP; 1. Trinan Cirello (Wes); 2. Bernie Tusko (PPT) 3. Rod Saund 6rs (Gdn). ; Schwartz scores fifth straight win at Ascot Speedway By Scott Daloisio GARDE NA, CA, MAY 7 Bobb y Schwa rtz mad e it five win s in five starts by winning th e Scra tch ma in event at Ascot South Ba y Stadi um. T he win by the Weslak e jockey con tin ues th e longest winn in g strea k in th e hi story of the faci lity. Coming into the main Brit Ph il Collins had dra wn th e pole five straight tim es beginning the even ing before at IMS. Co ll ins had also wo n four of th ose five starts, but in th e So ut h Bay Stad ium main he p ulled ga te two. Mike Fari a, co ming from th e pol e, reacted first to th e gate bu t he did a small wh eeli e off th e line. Faria kept hi s front tir e in ches a head until turn o ne wh en Silkol en e/C.T.I. Brace/Malcolm Smith / Cirello Racing/O akl ey-sponsored Sch wartz sho t by on th e ou tside. Faria was hot after Schwartz a nd he was right on hi s rear tire until th ey came off' turn four on the o pe ning circuit. Schwartz momentarily bobbled a nd Faria had to take evasive ac tio n to avoid hi m. By th e tim e Faria recovered Oxley had raced past for second. Oxley had been runni ng wide over th e first lap, but he surveyed the situatio n on the inside o n lap two. No matter where he wanted to ride he was goi ng to have to get there soo n as Schwartz was adva nci ng his margin. Faria had go ne to th e ou tside in a n effort to adva nce hi s pos itio n and h e wa s bouncing through the cushion. It became apparent at the white £l ag that Schwartz had another one in th e bag. Faria tried a sweeping outside move out of turn two on the last circuit but he caught too much traction and wheelied down th e back straight. Schwartz did it ag ain wi th room to spare over O xley, Faria an d Collins. Greg Hancock set the pace from the zero in th e earl y going in the eig h t-la p Handicap main even t. Scott Brant was second a t the outset with Walt Farnum third but th e ride r to wat ch was 30-yard line starter Bill y Hamill on th e Sunrise O iIlJ 8cJ R ep a i r/ FO M R a cing/M onrovia DiesellDrive-In Liquor Weslak e. Hamill aggressively raced around Farnum as th ey ca me off turn two o n th e firs t la p for th e lead. Hamill im mediately moved up to Brant's rear tire to challenge for second and th ey both began to close in on leader H an cock. H amill used the outside to .ge t arou nd Brant o n the back straight o n la p th ree. One lap lat er he found the ra nge o n the leader a nd he moved into the poi nt posi tio n. Once o ut front H amill had the win un der lock a nd key. Coming from the long yardage was Rob ert Pfetzing a nd he go t into a war with Brant for third o n lap five. Pfetzin g was runn in g th e o u tside and as soo n as it look ed like he was goi ng to wrap up third Brant would come back at him, Hamill won it by three len gths o ver the impressive young H ancock a nd Pfetzin g who took third in a pho to fin ish . Results SCRATCH: 1. Bobby Schw artz (Wes); 2. Brad Oxley (Wes); 3. M ike Faria (Jaw) . HDCP; 1. Billy Hamill (Jaw l; 2. Greg Hancock (Wes); 3. Rob Pletzing (Wes). SUP: 1. Don Ambrose (Jaw); 2. Trinon Cirello (Wes); 3. Rod Saunders (Gdn).