Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Eve"!tual winner Jim Sisemore leads Harlan Bast Jr. (left), Paul Orlandi (behmd) and Steve Crawford in the Scratch main at Cal Expo. Sisemore tops Cal Expo Speedway By R.C. Jones - Na t ional winner Kevin Atherton of Michigan told announcer Dave Despain and the crowd, " It was great a nd I'm th rilled. " Behr le had passed Tillson to take command of the event. R uss Crawford also got by T illson as he joined Behrle at the fro n t. Behrle sett led down and ran in the middle of the track while Crawford went around the banked oval on just about every line available in an attempt to get by. As the race wound down, heat race winner Danny Cahoon dropped Tillson to fourth and set out after Behr le and Crawford. But Behrle and his Western Hills Honda held off Crawford to take the win over Crawford with Cahoon finishing a lonely third. Tilson held off Harold Dorsey to fin ish fourth. " I would like to thank my sponsor, Hershel Benkert of Western Hills Honda, and wish him a quick recovery from a racing accident," said Queen City pilot Behrle. National ' Davis selected the inside pole for the start of the main bu t at the flash of the green starting light it was Carr leading the charge into tum one only to see Estep quickly ta ke the lead. With 19 laps to go in the 20-lap race it was Estep and Carr leading Kevin Atherton, Davis, Morehead, Ingram, Brian Atherton, Farris and Cornwell around the oval. T he racing li ne had been moving up all nigh t and the leaders were running inches from the hay bales. Kevin Atherton closed on Estep and Carr and moved on Carr with a stronger drive off of tum two, getting by Carr as they dove into tum three. With half of the race completed Atherton was "cutting the strings on the bal es" and he took the point from Estep and set sail. At the same time the J un ior class rider took over the lead spot, Canadian Cornwe ll 's night came to an end when his bike suffered a broken valve spring. With all of the action that was taking p lace up front, many on hand missed some fine raci ng for the midfield finishin~ posi tions. The elder Atherton, Brian, took over fourth place while Davis tried to say in front of Farris and Ingram. Right behind them Morehead was racing wheel-towheel with Durelle with Villella, Day, Estelle and Durkee following in the best seats in the house for spectating. With six laps to go, Carr closed on Atherton and put his " ren t-aracer" under Atherton a few times. The 17-year-old responded by going higher and gassing It to hold off Carr and score the win. " I was waiting for the white flag to come out. Either they didn 't give the five-lap signal or I didn 't see it, " said Atherton, who had made " hIStory in the hills. " He added, " Bu t it (the win) was great and I'm thrilled. " • Results 20 ·LAP.600 NATIONAL: 1. Kevin A therton (W . R); 2. Chros Carr (H· D); 3. Donn ie Estep (W· R); 4 . Brian Atherto n (W ·R); 5. Will Davis (H·D ); 6. Rodney Farris (Hon); 7. David Durell e (W· R); 8. St eve Mor ehead (W· R); 9. Craig Estelle (H· D); 10. Bryan Villella (W· R); 11. Keith Day (Hon); 12. Roger Durkee (Rtx); 13. Dan Ingram (H· D); 14. Ted Taylor (W·R); 15. Jon Cornwell (H· D). 600 NATIONAL POINT STANDINGS : 1. Chris Carr (151 ); 2. Kevin Ath arton (100); 3. W ill Davis (73 ); 4 . Pete Hames { 6 9~ 5. Don Estep (67); 6. Ricky Graham (65); 7. Dan Ingra m (64 ); 8. Bryan Ville lla (54); 9. David Durelle (52); 10. Ronn ie Jo nes (45 ). PRO·AM: 1. Pat Behrl e (Hon); 2. Russ Crawford (Rtx~ 3. Danny Cahoon ( Rtx~ 4 . Brian Tillson (W . R~ 5. Harold Dorsey ( Rtx~ 6. A.J. Snoop (W· R); 7. Mike Kloop (W·R); 8. David Morgan ( Hon~ 9. Jerry Steele{H·Dt 10 . Mik e ButJer (W·Rt 11. Devid Wa.. (Hon); 12 . Deve Duha ina (W·R ~ SACRAMENTO, CA, JULY 20 J im Sisemore won the Scratch main, Shawn Reppert picked up the trophy in the Handicap main, and Steve Martynse and Steve Arena blasted to victory in Division Two and Three at Cal Expo Speedway in Sacramento. It took two starts to get the Scratch main underway and for Sisemore either start was fine with him as he used his pole starting position to his advantage taking the lead at the first turn both times. On the first try Harlan Bast Jr. and Steve Crawford came together at the turn with Crawford taking the brunt of the force. Crawford could not get off the track fast enough and a restart was called. The second start was better for Crawford, but Sisemore put the race away quickly leaving the second spot up for grabs. Pa ul Orlandi spun out early leaving Bast and Crawford to battle. Bast cleared a path on the second lap past Crawford for the second position. At the finish it was Sisemore with the easy win, Bast second, Orlandi third, and Crawford fourth. Shawn Reppert, charging hardthe past few weeks, put it together tonight for his second Handicap main victory. The early leader was Rory R undle wtih Mark Squadrito in second. Reppert started making his move on the seco nd lap by passing Squadrito and moved in behind Rundle. As they crossed the start/finish line Reppert drove his Day Tech Auto/Ice Castles/Smith/ Carpenter Racing/Slick Art-sponsored Weslake past Rundle for the lead. Crawford working his way up moved past R undle for the second spot. Duane Yarrow, after getting past Bast and Curry, took over the third spot on .the last lap. Crawford closed up to pressure Rep pert during the last two laps. Reppert was in the groove and held off the late charge by Crawford. . Martynse raced to the lead after Jess Ochoa backed it in too far, then held off a late charge by Dereck Cole to wi n the Divisio n Two main. The early leader Ochoa loo ked as if he . had the main event locked up after !wo lal?s, but got careless and parked It commg out of tum two foregomg a chance at the win. Martynse took advantage of the mistake taking the lead for the rest of the race. Co le rode hard to close in on Martynse then tried to pass Martynse on the last lap. Martynse held on taking the win over Cole with Rick Swalley finishing third. Results SCRATCH: 1. Jim Sisemore (Wes); 2. Harlen Bast ' Jr. (Gdnt 3. Paul Orlandi (Wes); 4. Steve Crawford (Wes ). HDCP: 1. Shawn Reppert (Wes); 2. Ste ve Crawford (Wes); 3. Duane Yarrow (Wes); 4. Harlan Bast Jr. (We s). 0 ·2: 1. St eve Manynse (Jaw); 2. Dereck Cole (Jawt 3. Rick Sw elley(J aw t 4. Ron Porteo us (Wes). 0 · 3: 1. St eve Arena {Jawt 2. Bob Collier (Jawt 3. Jerome Heiberger (Jaw); 4. Tom castagnola (Jaw). Ott walks off with Ascot Speedway win By Scott Daloisio . GA R DENA, CA, JULY 21 On his second week back after a pain ful crushed heel inj ury, "Showtime" Bobby Ott won the Scratch main event at Ascot South Bay Stadium. " Boogaloo" Bobby Schwartz came off the pole on the freshly-watered track and used it to ga te the fourrider field . As th ey hit turn one, Schwartz made an effort to block Ott, and once Schwartz got to the dirt, Ott squared off the turn and bolted underneath him. Schwartz stayed close to Ott's Team Chip/STP/Cirello Racing Weslake but Ott stayed wide and forced Schwartz to momentarily park in turn four, giving Ott the lead for good. Schwartz didn't give up and took a look down low on lap three. Ott hooked up on the dirt line and for the second week in a row he had a win before the cameras of ESPN. Bart Bast and Scotty Brown rounded out the four-rider field. Kei th Larsen, who began the evening as a reserve, took the lead when the gate went up to begin the eight-lap, eight-rider Ha ndicap main. O tt had a mechanical problem in the first bend and by the time it was corrected he was far behind the field an d out of contention. P h i l Collins had been having success o n the outside all evening long, and at the end of the second lap the dirt line propelled him into the lead ahead of Larsen. Alan Christian, who was stalking third-place Scotty Brown , had his bike q u it on lap three and J im 25

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