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/126987
,......; CAr .... (1) ..0 .o .., u o Seth Church wheelies off the pole in the Tacoma Dome, wh ile Shawn Venables. Bill Hilland and Tony Briggs grab traction. Oh io's Scotty Brown won both nights in Division One action during United Speedway of America ice racing in Washington's Tacoma Dome. Scotty Brown (inside) gets a rocket gate during a heat race. Brown's brother Jeff took second in the ma in on Saturday. George Lazor wheel ies between two competitors. Lazor came all the way from New York to ride. but finished just out of the ma in both nights. United Speedway of America Ice Race Series: Round 1 Brown dominates Tacoma ice By Scott Da loisio Photos by Vic Ebutt TACOMA. WA. ocr. 2-3 For the first time i n history, United Speedway of America brought some of the top speedway ice racing stars to the Great Northwest. The venue was th e beautiful Tacoma Dome and by the time the two n ig h t shows had Ohi S B e~ d ed , l O S cotty rown V Irtually owned the place. This was the first race of an ambitious 1987-88 season for United ?~d",,:ay and if the opener was any ind ication, fans around the country are gomg to be thoroughly entertained. A crowd of 4500 fans gave up the beautiful weather outside to come inside for the Friday show and they were introduced to Brown and a number of ice racing heros from the USA, Canada, England and New Zealand. All of the Division One riders contested four heat races. The top fOUT in points at the end of the evening moved on to the main event. On Friday Brown and northern California's Steve Martin were deadloc ked for the first place spot with II points each. Ironically, the only rider to defeat Brown and his Justice Brothera/Tom Bell ChevroletlK&N/ RK Chain/JT Racing USAJawa was his older brother-Jeff. As the night wore on officials moved the pole in and shortened the track. P roblems' with- the ice forced the moving of the pole, but the shorter track proved better for the fans and racers. There was a four-ri der log jam at the end of the heat races for the th ird place spot. Ken Peiper, who wi ll be contesting q ual ifying rounds for the Wor ld Ice Racing Championship (long spikes), Robert Curry, Bill Hilland and local star Seth Church all had nine points. They would have to contest a four-lap runoff that would send the two first place finishers on to the fOUT lap main event. Friday's show was peppered by a number of wild crashes, but the wildest took p lace in the runoff. Curry was at the point when he and Church tangled. Both went down hard with Curry drilling the crashwall. The northern California rider was down1"or a good 10 minutes and even though he got up. he was severely shaken. Officials decided to bring out the Division Two main event before staging the rerun on the runoff. John Grant paced the field and won the main over Gary Stewart and Rory R undle. The rerum of the runoff came up next and Peiper took advantage of his second chance and won the four lappe r ahead of Church. Both of them earned tickets to join Brown and Martin in the main. Scotty Bro wn proved to be on h is ga me for the main. He got a rocke t like gate fro m position fOUT and wasn't a bout to be passed. Four q uick laps la ter Brown had garnered his first win of the winter season. Peiper took the second place position with Seattle's Church third with Martin in the wrap-up spot. The riders returned for the second nigh t of ac tion and they mus t have