Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Steve Lucero goes to the inside of Bobby Ott. Gary Hicks and Keith Larsen during opening-night action at Ascot. HDCP: 1. Kevin Krugh (Jaw); 2. Walt Farn um (Jaw ); 3. 1Bobby Schwanz (Wesl . 0 -2: 1. Craig Furman (Was); 2. Steve Russell (Wesl; 3. Kelly Inman (Wesl. 0 -3: 1. Kevin J ordan (Jaw); 2. Tony Gomez (Jaw); 3. Brian Pappalardo (Wes). Schwartz tops Costa Mesa Speedway By Scott Daloisio COSTA MESA, CA, APR. 6 It was a bi g ni ght for a certa in Costa Mesa street a t th e Orange County Fairgrounds on Friday night: Bobby Schwartz, wh o lives less than two miles from th e beach side o val , defeated Phil Collins to win th e Scratch main event. Less than five minutes later , Greg Hancock, who lives across th e stree t from Schwartz, won hi s first ever Costa Mesa Handi cap main. By th e time th e riders came onto the track for th e Handicap main, most of th e smashin~ and bashing had subsided. That IS, it subsided until the big pay check for th e main was up for grabs. The original attempt to run the. event lasted less than two circuits before. Brad Oxley and Kevin Krugh tangled. The event was restarted bUI it failed to get far. Bill y Gray hit the dirt in tum three and for the seco nd ti me in as many starts, Gary Hicks was forced to lay it down for red nag number two. H a ncock started on the 20 for the second restart and he led the seven remaining circuits. Jim Sisemore started outside Hancock and chased him all the way. Hancock had a small ~p but it dis appeared on lap five. Sisemore went after him and tried th e inside. Hancock fended off Sisemore' s adva nces for two laps before moving o ut a t th e white flag. Hancock cro ssed th e line two lengths ahead of Sisemore with Oxley third. Schwartz, wh o dom inated the 1987 season , was back on form Frida y eveni ng and he won two of his three Scratch rid es including th e main even t. Phil Coll in s, off th e pol e o n the PPT 500, and Schwartz, o ut of three, sa nd wiched Bobby Ott in th e first turn a nd went a t it for the lead. As th ey emerged fro m turn two, Schwartz poked the front tire of h is Weslak e in to th e poi nt position. Sch wartz q uic kly widened hi s advantage while Lucero found hi s way to second. Co ll ins hook ed up off turn two o n th e second circui t and did a sp ectacul ar full throttle wh eeli e th e leng th of th e back ch u te. Lucero was within striking distance o f Sch wa rt z but time wa s runnin g o ut. On the la st lap Schwartz was fin all y able to pull away a nd he won his first Costa Mesa main of th e year by seven len gths. Third spot went to Collins with Ott getting th e wrap up. Results SCRATCH: 1. Bobby Schw anz (Wes); 2. Steve Lucero (Gdn): 3. Phil Collins (PPT). HDCP: 1. Greg Hancock (Wes); 2. Jim Sisemore . (Wesl ; 3.. Brad Oxley (Wesl . 0. 2: 1. Kelcey Gordon (J aw ); 2. George Ar mas (Wesl; 3. Randy Beddow (Wes). 0 -3 : 1. Louie Trotechaud (Ja w); 2. Greg M olina (Jaw); 3. Karl Sell enthi n (Wess). MATCH RAC: 1. Phil Colli ns (PPT);2. Brad Oxley (Wes). Turner scores twice at Ascot MX opener By David Procida GARDEN A, CA, APR. 8 Ron Turner added to hi s co llectio n of overa ll win s a t Ascot Park by taki ng th e 250cc a nd Vet Pro classes a t th e Co nt ine ntal Mo tosport Club's Asco t Park mot ocross seaso n opener this evening. In the 250cc Pro class J ohn Posca h ol eshot m oto o ne wi th Mik e Hooker a nd Bob Kline right behind him. Kline was o n the gas and flew by Posca over the double a nd into th e lead with Turner going into third. On lap three Kline got sq uirrely, allowing Posca to slip back into the lead with Turner now pressuring Kline. The three stay ed tight for the next two laps before Kline stuffed Posca, taking the lead back. Turner was on Pos ca 's rear fender and powered by into second. The mota came to a n end wi th Kline tak ing the win and Turner second being chased to the checkers by Posca. Kline wa s first into the hairpin mota two with Turner and Posca in tow. Turner quickly shot by Kline and into the lead as Posca also went by on th e same lap. Turner pulled a way a nd scored the win and overall victo ry with Po sca edging out Kline for second overall. Po sca 's 3-2 ga ve him third overa ll. In 125cc Pro action , Brett Cahors put hi s Kaw asaki into th e lead and sta yed th ere in both motos for the top cas h. Mike H ooker holesh ot th e 500cc Pro class in mota one wit h T o m Webb a nd Posca in tow . A tan gle betw een Hook er and Posca allo wed Craig Hofmeister to go int o the lead with Welib now in second. H ofmeister too k the checkered n ag first on th e next lap a nd H ooker edged out Webb a t th e finish for second. In mota two Hook er roosted the pac k exiting the hai rp in. H ofmeister . qu ick ly p u lled up a n d p a ssed H ook er a nd held o n to the lead to th e checkers, taking th e wi n a nd the overa ll victo ry with H ooker pl ayin g bri desmaid . Posca's 4-3 mo ta scores were good eno ugh to ta ke home th ird overall honors. In th e 125cc In termedi a te class Sha ne T rittler had to overta ke a ha rd cha rg ing Dan Barnett, who grabbed th e hol eshot in mota one a nd led Todd Martin flew to fourth overall in 250cc Beginner Division One action during opening-night motocross action at Ascot Park. . H onda mounted David Dye, Dan Bush, T rittler a nd Bubba Eric kso n around o n th e opening laps. At midmoto, Bush dropped back a nd Dye inherited seco n d ah ead o f T ri ttler. T ri ttler thread ed hi s way u p through the ra n ks to cha llenge Barnett on th e last lap and went on to win by a bike len gth with Dye taki ng third. • In mota two Bubba Eri ckson was th e fir st rider to reach th e fir st corn er, but Barnett slipped inside a nd was the first rider to exit. Barnett o nce again led a tig h tly bunched pack of riders for most o f th e moto before Trittler came up to take th e lead away. Trittler finished up th e mota out in front and took the overa ll. In 250cc Intermediate action David Bendetti jumped out to an ea rly lead with Tad Sciacaua sta ying close behind. The pair pulled away from Perrin Perez and stayed that way throughout the race . When the ga te fell fo r mota two, Perez got h is tu rn to lead with Benedetti and Ed Vitelli followi ng. On lap four, Benedetti found a line around Perez and went in for the win and the overall victory. Perez's 3-2 edged out Sciacaua's 2-3 for second overa ll. Results 125 PRO: 1. Brett Cahors (Kaw ); 2. Levin Noble (Han). 250 PRO: 1. Ron Turner (Yam); 2. Bob Kline (Han); 3. John Posca (Kaw). 500 PRO: 1. Craig Hofmeister (Honl ; 2. M ike Hooker (Han); 3. John Posca (Kaw). 1251N T: 1. Shane Trittler (Yam); 2_Dan Barnett (Suzl; 3. David Dye (Han). 2501NT : 1. David Benedetti (Suz); 2. Perr in Perez (Han); 3. Tod Sciacaua (Han). 500 INT: 1. Greg Smith (Han). 125 JR 0-1 : 1. Chris Ridgwa y (Kaw); 2. Danny Fonteyn ( H on~ 3. Anthony Rose (Han). 125 JR 0 -2: 1. Nick Morgan (Yam); 2. Marc Bun ch (Han); 3. Marc Laidler (Kaw l. 250 250 JR 0 ·1 : 1. Keven Lopa (Han); 2. Chr is Ridgway (Han); 3. Gary Wagner (Yam). 250 JR 0 -2 : 1. Pete Rick-enson (Yam); 2. J ohn Str oup (Han); 3. J im Carley (Kaw ). 500 JR : 1. Bri an Anderson (Yam); 2. Pet e Loncarevich (Han); 3. Ron Gilben (Han). 125 BEG 0-1 : 1. Craig Merliss (Kaw); 2. Greg DeBind er (KTM); 3. Ji m Rice (Yam). 125 BEG 0 -2: 1. Jim Foster ( H on~ 2. Tom Bough ton (Honl; 3. Mark Vandewall e (Han). 125 BEG 0 ·3 : 1. Rich ie Sherman (Han); 2. Skip Early (Honl; 3. Rodney Osman (Kew). 250 BEG 0 -1 : 1. Komy Ratliff (Han); 2. Craig Wilkenson (Honl; 3. Tim Willi ams (Kaw l. 125 BEG 0 -2 : 1. Richi e Sherm an (Han); 2. Raben KongIYam); 3. Bryan Tenberg e (Kaw) . 500 BEG: 1. Ron Scanan (Han); 2. Frank Honan (Honl ; 3. Lou Gonzales (Han). . VET PRO: 1. Ron Turn er (Yam); 2. Ross Ma eda (Suzl; 3. An Olivier (ATK). VET INT: 1. Kelly My ers (Honl ; 2. Bob Bland (Han); 3. Rudy Chavez (Han). VET JR: 1. Brian Anderson (Yam); 2. Jo e Norkin (Yaml; 3. Tim William s (Kaw). 60: 1. Jason Shir ey (Kaw); 2. Regin ald Mitchell (Kawl; 3. Shawn Igercic (Yam). MINI BEG 0 -1 : 1. Johnny Kallio s (Suzl; 2. Pat Munchan (Kaw ); 3 . Brian Koester er (Kaw). MINI BEG 0 -2: 1. Armando Overland ( Kaw~ 2. Keno Deary (Kaw); 3. Mac inao Wh itlock IKaw). BOJR: 1. David Rasmossen (Suz]. BOOPEN: 1. Paul ita (Yam). A DULT MINI: 1. Brian Noll (Suzl; 2. Chris Overland (Kawl. Johnson shines at Wapella MX By Bill Holt WAPELLA, IL, AP R. 10 Jay J ohnson rode th rough eig ht motos in two da ys of racing and won seven of th e eigh t to sta nd alo ne as th e star of th e Bloomington-Normal M.C.'s back-to-ba ck weekend motocross at Wapella. Johnson scored th e overall victories both da ys in th e 250cc A and Senior clas ses. Johnson 's only loss came at the hands of Bill Bowman in th e first 250cc A mota on Saturday. Bowman looked unbeatable in the first mota but in the second he slammed the bars into his chest in the rockers and couldn't maintain the pa ce after that and watched Johnson pull away. j o h nso n co ntin ued hi s classy performance on Saturday aci ng bo th rnotos for the overall in the Senior class over Gray Gabbert and Pa u l Hofreiter. O n Su nday Johnson had found th e groove and aced both rnotos of th e 250cc A class to take th e overall over Bowman and David Brill, wh o was on his way to taking back-to-back mota wins in th e l25cc A class that had been combined wi th th e 250 A for th e da y. Brill put o n a spectacu lar show chasing Johnson in th e second moto but co u ld n' t ca tch him. Bowman took seco nd o vera ll for th e Sunday 250cc A and Da rren H ill grabbed th e second spot in th e 125cc A o n Sunday. Satu rday it was a lso Bowm an in seco nd in th e 250cc A class a nd Chuck Wh i tesell too k seco nd in the l25 cc A class after a first-mota wi n and a blo wn mot or o n th e last tum of th e fin al lap forced him to hustl e th e bi ke over th e fini sh jump by push ing it. J ohnson was kin g of th e hill both da ys in th e Senior cla ss, bestin g Gabbert both days for the overa ll. J ohnson ga ve 110% in the 250cc A cla ss and th en moved rig h t to th e line for th e Sen io r class motos a nd kept up th e torrid pa ce to hold off Gabb ert in both mot os. Gabbert ma y have lost four times to johnso n, bu t he aced a ll four 125cc B motos over the hard cha rgi ng T ony Parkhill, wh o was close on both da ys tak in g th e second overa lls. The Open class pro vided so me of 43

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