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Joe Pittman won t he Open Production an d 750 Superbike races in the
OMRRA season opener at Portland In ternational Raceway.
.
seconds. Everyone was well awa re of
the limi ted tra ction, so th ere were few
crashes and no serio us injuries.
Results
OPEN PROD: 1. Jo e Pitt man (Suz); 2. Keit h
Pinkstaff (Suz); 3. eraig Trinder (Suz).
750 PROD: 1. Craig Trinder (Suz); 2. Joe Pitt man
(Suz); 3. Mike Sullivan (Suz).
GOD PROD: 1. Craig Trinder (Suz); 2. Gene Brow n
(Han); 3. Arnold Andrews (Han).
450 PROD: 1. Alan Schwen (Vam); 2. Raben
Hinojosa (Yam); 3. M ike Correll (Yam).
750 S/ BK: 1. Joe Pittman (Suz); 2. Keith
Pinkstaff (Suz); 3. Steve uttlejoh n (Yam).
GOD S/BK: 1. Gene Brown (Hon t, 2. Devin
Seferos (Han); 3. Terry Williams (Yam).
450 S/B K: 1. Gary Crenshaw (Yam); 2. M ike
Given (Yamt. 3. Alan Schwan (Yam).
F-l : 1. Keith Pinkstaff (Suz); 2. Dan Zlock (Suz);
3. Steve Unlejohn (Yam).
F-2 : 1. Terry W illiams (Yam); 2. Devin Seferos
(Hon); 3. M ike Ruedebusch (Han).
F-3: 1. Cliff Baker (HVH); 2. Andy Crane (Han);
3. Greg Gaulke (Han).
OPEN BOTT: 1. Brian Wynne (M -G): 2. Steve
Sanders (M -Gt. 3. Rob Mains (BMW).
. 650 BOTT: 1. Don Peters (Kaw); 2. Christian
Nina ud (Kaw); 3. George Schwan (Kaw ).
' OPEN SGL: 1. Jerry J ones (Yam); 2. Brad
Pinkstaff (Yam); 3. J im Bi.el (C·A) .
OPEN YlNT: 1. Ward Rodgers (Kaw ).
GOD YlNT: 1. Mik e Rivelli (Duct. 2. Tim Marek
(BSA); 3. Chris Kerber (Aer).
250 VINT: 1. Ron Johnson (Suz); 2. Anthony
Rive lli (Due); 3. Bill Brown (Due).
NOV: 1. Re. Fisher (Rt.); 2. Rick George (Kaw );
3. Russ Garr ison (Hon).
Ermolenko cruises at
Costa Mesa Speedway
By Scott Daloisio
CO ST A MESA, CA, APR. 15
Apri l 15 is a gloomy da y for man y
Americans as th ey. face th e facts of
Income Tax. T h is year, on April 15,
it was a gloo my day for qui te a few
American spe edwa y rid ers. It was th e
day th a t Sam Erm olenko came to
town a nd before he left the beach side
community of Cos ta Mesa, he took
the check for winning the Scra tch
main with him.
A da y of rain proceeded th e even t.
Showers a nd ch illy temperatures
abounded around th e fam ed Orange
&>unty oval on race night but th ey
stayed away from the tra ck itself and
the fans witnessed a night of spectacular sideways ac tion.
Keith ' La rsen , who turned in a
great rid e to edge Gary Hicks for th e
final transfer spo t in th eir sem i, ca me
off the pole and edge d Steve Lucero
into the fir st turn. Northern California's Jim Sisemore and Errnolenko
came from the back in spectacular
style and they raced around L ucero
and Larsen as they went down th e
back ch ute on the.first go around.
Sisemore was on th e inside but
Ermolenko's Pacific Coast Lamina ting! Q&E !ShoeilSmith G o gg les!
Kal-Gard P PT 500 won the race to
the third turn. Lucero, with an
a~gressive maneuver , went inside
Sisemore for seco nd as they slid
through the first bend on the second
circuit. Ermolenko had a slight
ad vantage bu t Lucero q uickly ate it
up a nd went to work on th e th ird
lap. Lucero tried the inside bu t
Ermo lenko fought him back. As they
went past the J erry King checkered,
Ermolenko pulled a whee lie a nd
took th e win by o ne len g th. Chasing
th e lead duo home were Sisemore a nd
Larsen .
Errn ol enko's P PT was hooked up
in the Scra tch main but it di ed a
qu ick death in the Handicap main.
As the field a pproached tum one on
the open ing lap, Dubb Verrell gave
Larsen a shot. Larsen went down as
did Ferrell , Ermolenko and Eddie
Ingels. Larsen went down so hard
he sna pped the handlebar at the grip .
Errno lenko was down for quite so me
ti me but he was prepared to restart
his PPT. That is, he was read y to
restart until Bobby Sch wartz ' large
m echani c decided to straig h te n
Er mole nko's handlebar with hi s
hands. The big gu y broke one of the
handlebars off and Ermolenko had
to borrow th e Schwaru Weslak e.
La rsen didn 't hav e hi s back-up
bike ready fo r the restart a nd he had
to watch as No rthern Californ ian 's
Ba rt Bast a nd Ingels took u p residen ce in th e first two spo ts. Ferrell ,
wh o had to switch from a GM to
a Weslak e after th e tangle, came off
the 40 yard line in third. H e pressured In gels a nd took him wide off
of turn two on th e second lap for
th e number two spot.
Ferrell 's JR Concrete Pumping!
Pu ente Ready Mix! Arai!Handy's
T subaki machine was hooked u p
and he chopped do wn Bast 's lead o n
lap three. Bast was gi ving the wily
veteran the in side line and for three
laps, he had eno ug h power to ho ld
him back. At the end of the six th
revolu tion , Ferrell ducked ins ide
Bast a nd wen t to the point. Froin that
point o n, it was a Ferrell main and
it was hi s first of th e 1988 seaso n.
Sisem ore, who wa s extrem ely fas t,
upped hi s paycheck on th e final lap
wh en he passed Bast for second.
Resu lts
SCRATCH: 1. Sam Ermolenko (ppn; 2. Steve
Lucero (Gdn); 3. J im Sisemore (Wes).
HDCP: 1. Dubb Ferrell (Wes); 2. J im Sisemore
(Wes); 3. Ban Bast (Wes).
0 ·2: 1. Kelcey Gordon (Wes); 2. Tony Gomez
(J aw); 3. Shane Hawley (GM ).
0 ·3 : 1. Louis Trotechaud (Jaw); 2. Mark Powers
IGdn); 3. James Bond (Jaw) .
.
MATCH: 1. Bobby On (Gdn); 2. Sam Ermole nko
(PPn·
Stratton, Rice win
at Frozen Ocean MX
By Dave De nman
AU BU RN , NY, AP R. 17
Tom Rice and Bru ce Stra tton battled
to th e front in the 125 and 250cc
Expert classes, respectively then held
off challenges late in their motos for
the wins at Frozen Ocean Motocross
Park.
In th e 125s Stratton pulled the
holeshot wi th Rice and Mike Dries
Dubb Ferrell cam e from third to first to w in the Handicap main at Costa
Mesa. The w in was hi s first of the season .
in the second and third spots. Dri es
ducked to th e inside to move into
second, th en he and Stratton fell
while taking outside lines and Rice
slip ped out fron t and ran up an
eight-second lead by midrace. After
th e fall Dries tried to find a li ne that
would put him by Stratton and o n
the fourth lap Dries made the move
then went to work on Rice. By lap
six Dri es had pulled up behind th e
leader , but Rice dug down and
opened up a one second lead on th e
last lap to win th e moto.
.
In th e second moto, Rice jumped
o ut front on th e first lap and won
easi ly with Stratton holding down
the number two spot.
Stra tton racked up both motos in
the 250cc Expert class . with Troy
Bradshawand Rich Clark battling
over second. Clark made hi s move
a t th e right time in th e seco ndrnoto
to ta ke seco nd . o vera ll. Stratton
stormed o ut front with efficient lines
and didn 't let off until he had safe
leads in bo th motos.
Brad sh aw came hack in the Open
Expert class , took cha rge and th en
cru ised to the win. Scott Pinney went
4-2 for seco nd overall.
Kell y O 'Hara opened things up in
th e second 125cc Amateur moto with
some real impressive riding. Once
ou t front O 'Hara vanished o u t of
sight o f th e battle fo r second.
Anthony Crown won it and took
second, Steve Dapson took third a nd
Ken Sheerer was fourth .
Results
125 EX: 1. Tom Rice (Kaw); 2. Br uce Stratton
(Yamt. 3. Greg Dye (Kaw).
SR MINI NOV: 1. Rick Haysen (Kaw ); 2. Doug
Dwane(Kaw); 3. Jon Rightmire (Yam).
JR MI NI BO: 1. Bob Brown (Yam); 2. Kun
Sodorholh (Han); 3. Jeff Bonanno (Suz).
250 AM : 1. Charl ie Coleman (Kaw); 2. Gene
Mighan (Kaw); 3. David Burnett (Kaw ).
OPEN NOV: 1. Bob Lynch (Suz); 2. A. Peebles
(Kaw); 3. Dave May (Yam).
250 EX: 1. Bruce Str att on (Yamt, 2. Richard Clark
(Han); 3. Troy Bradshaw (Han).
+25: 1. M ike Doughetty (KTM); 2. Ed Down ing
(Han); 3. Paul Carpenter (Yam).
200 NOV; 1. Neil Platt (Suz); 2. Ken Longcar
(Kaw); 3. Dan Ballard (Kaw).
SR MINI A: 1. Chad Brown (Kawl.
SR M INI B; 1. Shane Lipe (Yam); 2. Joh n Blake
(Kaw); 3. J ason Bowman (Hon).
OPEN AM: 1. Roben Alfred (Han); 2. Larry Loudis
(Han); 3. Bill Cheney IKaw).
.
VINT: 1. Jim SmIth (Yam); 2. J oe Br illo (Kaw );
3. Peul Grima ldi (Yam).
OPEN EX: 1. Troy Bradshaw (Han); 2. Scott
Pin ney (Han); 3. Mi ke Dough etty (KTM).
125 AM : 1. Kelly O'Hara (Yam); 2. Anthony
Crown (Kaw ); 3. Steve Dapson (Yam).
SR EX: 1. George Sheldra ke (Han); 2. Paul
Carpent er (Vam); 3. Ed Down in g (Han).
SR AM : 1. Darryl u pe (Han); 2. W endell Little
(Kawt. 3. Raben Brown (Kaw).
OPEN AM : 1. Raben A lfred (Han); 2. Larry Loudi.
(Han); 3. Bill Chene y (Kaw) .
VINT: 1. Ji m Smil h (Yam); 2. J oe Brill o (Kaw);
3. Paul Gr ima ldi (Yam).
OPEN EX; 1. Troy Bradsh aw (Han); 2. Scott
Pinney (Hon t. 3. M ike Dougherty (KTM).
126 AM : 1. Kelly O'Hara (Yam); 2. An thon y
Crown (Kaw); 3. Steve Dapson (Yem).
SR EX: 1. George Sheldrake (Han); 2. Paul
Carpenter (Vamt. 3. Ed Down ing (Han).
SR AM : 1. Darryl Lipe (Hont. 2. Wendell Little
(Kaw ); 3. Raben Brown (Kaw).
S/S R OVER 40: 1. Jim Smith (Yam); 2. Bruce
R. Stratton (Yam); 3. Ray Gou let (Kaw).
SCHBY: 1. Chad Brow n (Kaw); 2. Bret Laonard
(Kaw); 3. Andy Brooks (Yam).
Childress cashes in
at COCRMX
By Susa n Willian
SUGAR G ROVE, OH, APR. 10
The 4th Annual Budweiser Motocro ss was held a t Central Ohio's
Compe tition Ra cewa y (CO CR) with
Kawasaki-mounted Stevie Ch ildress
aci ng the 250cc A class a nd H ondamounted J oseph Maurer ta king th e
overall in the 125cc A cla ss.
Cliff Walker sho t off th e ga te in
. front of the pack in mo to o ne of the
250cc A clas s with Child ress a nd
Chuck Reed in pursui t. Childress
moved in to first by the second lap
to p ull from Walker's reach by lap
th ree. Reed closed th e gap to Walker '
wh ile Childress went down in the
.ba ck sectio n to lose th e lead as
Walker went back in to first. Childress; in fourt h, tried everywhere on
th e co urse to ge t by th ird place
Maurer. By th e white flag lap, Reed
had moved in to fir st with Walker ,
Maurer and Childress fo llowing.
After battling with Wal ker, Childress
gassed it into th ird and charged for
Maurer, wh o had moved in to second.
Reed filed by the chec kered flag with
th e win over Maurer, Childress and
Walker.
Childress and Reed slid together
in moto two and dropped to third
and fo urt h, respectively. Maurer took
th e lead followed by Wa lker, Reed
and then Childress. Childress made
a midair pass by Reed to go into third
and th en he moved into second by
Walker. Childress then went to th e
in side before the double jumps and
took the lead from Maurer. Reed
pressured Maurer for second through
the whoops bu t lost control slightly
fof Ma urer to keep th e edge ' in
seco nd. Ch ild ress took the win
followe d by Maurer wit h Reed
droppi ng off the pace and taki ng
third.
Maurer returned in the ·125cc A
class to ba ttle with Jon Agin and
Chi ldress . On th e second lap of
action Ch ildress moved by Agi n to
go for Maurer then ha mmered at
Maurer's rear fender. Childress
swung wi de in a n attempt to pass
Maurer bu t Maurer sped away to
keep the from sIX?t. Childress finally
39
