Faria controls
Speedway USA
By Scott Daloisio
VICTORVILLE, CA, JUNE 20
Speedway USA played host to the
I first round of the three race $10,000
Budweiser Series and misfortunes
left three riders tied for the early point
lead. Mike Faria, who won the main,
Alan Christian and Bobby Schwartz
will all find themselves level as they
head into the second round.
Christian could have been the
point leader, but he had a chain
break while comfortably leading
event 10. That cost Christian two
points and left him on eighteen at
the evening's end. Fortunately, for
C hristian, John Sandona h a d
already dropped from the four lap per
and Christian ended up third instead
of fourth.
Like Christian, misfortune beset
Faria when he was leading a heat
race. "Flyin" Mike was be sting
Schwartz, Jimmie O'Dell and
"Showtime" Bobby O tt in the final
p relim ina ry event. Co ming into tu m
three on the third circuit, the left fork
leg snapped. Faria couldn't steer the
machine and was forced to drop out.
That cost him a total of three points.
Schwartz also had some misfortu ne, but his wai ted until the main
event.
.
. Christian captured the first semi
while Steve Lucero took the second
over a determined "Fast" Eddie
Castro. The third semi went to
Schwartz over young charger Scott
Bran t.
The final semi featured Faria and
Brad Oxley. Oxley came into the
event having scored a perfect nine
i n the qualifying round. Faria
copped the win over youngster Billy
Ha mill and Andy Northrup. O xley
missed the start and was on a furious
charge trying to get through the field
wh en he fell and only collected a
single point.
The consolation, made up of the
four riders who too k second in the
semis, was a young riders' affair.
Hamill won over Bra nt, Castro and
Walt Farnum.
T he top four riders made their way
onto the track for the final four- lap
race of the evening. Christian drew
first and pulled position four. Faria
was next up and he had the luck of
the draw. He pulled an ace and that
set the STPlTsu baki Chain /Sh oei
H elmet/Oilzall/ Bill 's Pipes Jawa on
th e pole. The final two spots were
filled with Lucero in two and
Schwartz in three.
. Faria arid Schwartz were first off
the line. Faria got the drive going
down the back straight and held a
slight advantage into turn three, but
Schwartz was on ' the move. The
"Boogaloo Kid" was going by Faria
when Christian went down. That
caused Lucero to lay it down and out
came the red flag.
.
It was a complete restart and again
Faria and Schwartz came out even.
Like the first start, Faria got the drive
on the inside as they came off turn
two, but this time he got a bike
length in front. Schwartz crossed
back and tried to come underneath
as they hit turn three. The two riders
came together, but both kept it on
two wheels. Faria wheelied down the
front chute, but he stayed in the point
position and would go unchall enged
the remainder of the way.
Christian came after Schwartz and
he raced inside him for th e spot as
they went down the back stra i~ht on
lap two. Schwartz tried to reclaim the
spot a lap later bu t he cou ld.n't ~t
. the job done and he was mired in
third for the duration. The fans stood
and cheered as Faria went down the
back chute on the final lap ana when
he came aro und for the checkered,
he had a four-len g th lead over
Christian.
Trinon Cirello (Hawaiian P unch /
Bobby Schwartz/Oakley/Kal-Gardl
Cirello Racing/Bell Weslake) won
the Support class main over Scott
Hodgson and Jon Boyers.
Results
MAIN: 1. Mike Faria (Jaw); 2. Alan Christian
(Wes~ 3. Bobby Schwertz (Wes~ 4. Steve Lucero
(Gdn).
SUP: 1. Trin on Cirello (Wes~ 2. Scott Hodgson
(Jawl; 3. Jon Boyer (Wes).
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O'Dell dominates Costa
Mesa Speedway
By Scott Daloisio
COSTA MESA, CA JUNE 19
There is a group of speedway fans
in England who attend races wearing
t-shirts with the words "bash 'em,
smash 'em, crash 'em" emb lazoned
on the front. They would have felt
right at home at the Orange County
Fairgrounds on Fnday night, while
watching the Handicap main event.
J immie O 'Dell eventually came o ut
on top in the crash-filled race.
Early in the evening, the riders
were having problems with a track
surface that had been changed from
the week before by officials. The
track had been dug u p and re-packed,
but that was no excuse by the ti me
the eight lap Handicap main was
run. The problems in the main were
due to riders ramming each other.
Jim Sisemore got a piece of Jimmie O 'D ell in the first bend. The
Northern California rider did everything possible to avoid O'Dell, but
when he hit him he did a one-eighty
and wheelied back at the on rushing
pack. Sisemore came face to face with
Brad Oxley and they came together.
Oxley went down and Sisemore came
down on top of him. Out came the
red for a complete restart.
Nobody was penalized but Oxley
and Sismore were clearly hurting. It
was a good break for Andy Northrup
who had problems on the original
start. That gave him time to fix them
and be competive for the restart.
Northrup was out second, but this
time they only made it as far as turn
four. A massive pile up saw Sisemore, Bill y Hamill, Northrup, Rob
Pfetzing a nd Scotty Brown hit the
dirt. Brown got the worst of it.
Pfetzing laid his bike down to avoid
the mess, but h is right foot peg
ca ught Brown in the small of the .
back.
Somehow everyone managed to
restart includi ng Brown, who could
barely walk, and nobody was deemed
the cause and there were no penalties.
The final attempt made it all the way
to the final lap before the rough and
tumble action took over once again.
As they came off turn two the final
time, Brown, who was aching, but
still in second, tried to push O' Dell
out of the way. O'Dell held his
ground and Brown parked. Oxley
caught a piece of Brown and that sent
him flying. Sisemore, with nowhere
to go a lso bit the dust. The race
mercifully ended with O' Dell on the
Kansas City Millwrights Local 1529/
Arai/Frame Shop/Silkolene/ Racers
Choice Jawa winning over Oxley
and Sisemore.
For the third consecutive week,
"Flyin" Mike Faria, on the STP / '
Shoei Helrnet/Tsubaki Chain/Scott
Goggles/Geo rge Wenn j a wa , won
the Scratch main. Faria go t the gate
o u t of two and p ulled his bi ke down
to the pole in front of Rob Pfetzing,
" Da ngero us" Dub b Fe rrell and
Sisemore. Fa ria had the lead, but he
could o nly open it u p to about 10
. feet over Pfetzing. Ferrell and Sisemore came together as they came off
turn four on the second lap and
Sisemore went flying through the
infield.
Jimmie O'Dell led Louis Kossoth during Handicap main event action
at Costa Mesa Speedway. O'Dell eventually came out on top at the
end of the crash-marred main, beating Brad Oxley and Jim Sisemore,
Faria maintained his lead the
remainder of the way to the check"
ered flag and took the win with a
clenched fist. Pfetzing main tained
second with Ferrell third, and the
battered Sisemore, fourth.
Archie Perez guided the On Line
Godden to a win in the Support class
main over Jeff Brown (Scotty's older
brother) and Karl Sellenthin. It was
the first Southern California victory
of 1987 for Perez.
Resu lts
SCRATCH: 1. Mike Faria (Jawl; 2.Rob P1etting
(Wes~ 3. Dubb Ferrell (Jaw): 4. Jim Sisemore
(Wesl .
HNDCP: 1. Ji mmie O'Dell (Jaw); 2. Brad Oxley
(Wesl; 3. Ji m Sisemore (Wes).
SUP: 1. Archie Perez (Gdnl: 2. Jeff Brow n (Wes);
3. Karl Sellenthin (Wesl .
Faria scores at IMS
Speedway
By Scott Daloisio
SAN BER NARDIN O , CA,JUNE 17
Mike Faria is riding the crest of a
wave. In his last six appearances on
Southern California short tracks,
"Flyin" Mike has posted a .total of
six wi ns. The latest of the SIX came
in the Cycle Rider, Inc. Scratch main
event at John La Douceur's Inland
Motorcycle Speedway.
To coin a common phrase in
England, Faria is " O ver the Moon"
about his recent qualification to the
Overseas Final at Bradford, England,
on July 5. That showed Wednesday
evening as he was clearly the class
of the field on the Scratch side of
the IMS program.
Coming into the Cycle Rider, Inc.
main event, "Flyin" Mike and the
STP/ Sh oei HelmetlTsubaki/Oil·
zall/MJB Plating Jawa were undefeated in Scratch competition. For
the main, Faria drew gate three and
he would have his work cut out for
him. Brad Oxley was off the pole
with Bobby Schwartz out of two. 17year-old Billy Hamill, in his first ever
Scratch main, started in gate four.
Schwartz a nd Oxley were first out
of the gate and when they arrived
in the first bend, Oxley took th e
defending National Cham pion wide.
That left the pole wi de open a nd
Faria raced underneath both of them
wi th the p rettiest move of the night
to take the lead.
Schwartz and Oxley were not done
and they chased Faria for the entire
four laps. Coming off turn four on
lap one, Schwartz go t a wi ld drive
that saw him rocket down the chute
and bang his rear tire off the crashwall. Faria maintained a precarious
lead with Oxley and Schwartz snapping his rear tire all the way through
the four lapper.
.
Schwartz continued to find the
drive out in the dirt and twice moved
into second, but Oxley, using the
shorter line, always took it back. At
the checkered it was Faria narrowly
edging Oxley and Schwartz.
For the third time in the last six
nights of IMS racing, Greg Hancock,
the 1985Junior National Champion,
won the Handicap main event.
Hancock was a~in forced to come
from the q ualifiers in the Bru ce
Pen h a ll /O ff Shore/Thunderwear
Gloves / Malco lm Smith/ Dadsponsored Weslake and he proceeded
to win all four of his races.
The main was Hancock all the way
as he led fro m the 20 over another
for mer J unior superstar, Scott Bra n t.
The early ba ttl e was for third
between H a m ill and Andy Northrup. Northrup took the spot for
keeps on lap two using an inside
move that allowed Scotty Brown to
get by Hamill as well for the number
four spot.
California State Champions, in
1985 and 1986, Steve Lucero and
"Showtirne" Bobby Ott, along with
Faria, were trapped at the back of
the pack behind slower traffic and
they were not having an impact on
the event. Faria gave the outside a
try and went backwards so he immediately pulled it back down to the
pole.
Hancock had a comfortable three
bike length lead over Brant and
Northrup and even though he wasn't
len gthen ing it out, they were not
making up much ground on him.
Brant closed the gap slightly in the
final circuit but it wasn't enough.
Hancock had his third IMS win of
the season.
John McCaughey won his first
ever speedway main by defeating
Archie Perez ani! Jim Blan in the
Support class main event. ' Early
challenger Tony Bien ert went down
and was eliminated from the
'com pe tition ,
Results
SCRATCH: 1. M ike Fari a (Jaw); 2. Brad Oxley
(Wes); 3. Bobby Schwartz (Wes).
HNDCP: 1. Greg Hancock (Wes ~ 2. Scott Brant
(Wes); 3. An dy Northrup (Wes).
SUP: 1. John McCa ughey (Wes~ 2. Archie Perez
( G dn~ 3. Jim Blan (Wes).
49
