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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127179
Winner Robbie Taylor (2 8 2 ) is pursued by second-place fi ni sher Steve
Childress (98) during the 250cc Pro class at Camp Coker M X .
"' ista ke never ca me as Taylo r sm oo th ly
m
cra nked out th e laps, pulling off fir st overall
for th e da y with Childress and Kennety second
and third overa ll, respect ivel y.
The 125cc Pro class flipped Childress into
the lead with serio us cha llenges [rom J im
Ch ester. Child ress' evasi ve pr owess and a
jammed clutch lever shot dow n Chester' s
chances [or victory, an d th e two pulled fir st
and second overalls.
Chuck Shirley too k his Kawasaki to a clea nsweep victory in th e 85cc 7 to 13-year ·old and
Super Min i classes.
Results
250 A M : 1. Chuck Blackm an (Ca g); 2. Brad Mills (Hon);
3. Phil Stu rm (Suzl.
250 PRO: 1. Robbie Taylor (Yam); 2. Steve Chii dr essISuz);
3. Shane Kennedy {Yam l.
500 AM: 1. Ricky Gard ner (Hon); 2. Frank Stroman (Hon);
3 . Ste ve Sta rnes (Kawl.
S/M INI: 1. Ch uclt Shi rley (Kaw ); 2. T.W . Mc la in (Kaw);
3. Paul Canada (Yaml
.
125 NOV; 1. Brian Thomas (Hon); 2. David Cant relll Honl;
3. Rhon Wh ite (Kaw l.
SCHBY: 1. Todd Bonnick (Hon); 2. J am es Byrd (Kaw l.
126 PRO: 1. Steve Childr ess (Suz); 2. Ji m Chester (Suz).
125 A M : 1. Todd Bennick (Han); 2. Char les Todd (Kawl;
3. Chuck Blackman (Cag ).
. 8 51 2- 15: 1. lee Todd (Kaw ); 2. Ja son Minor (Yam ); 3.
T.W. Mcla in (Kaw ).
250 NOV: 1. Larry Wh it e; 2. J ason Everhart (ya m); 3 .
.Chad W ind ham (lCawl.
4()i-: 1. Marc M inor (Suz): 2 . Harvey And rews (!Caw); 3 .
Herman Andrews (Hon ).
30+: 1. Robby Neeley (lCawl; 2. Steve Star nes (lCaw) 3.;
Stuart Engli sh (Suzl.
Church perfect on Phoenix
ice
By M ichael Ro ss
P HOEN IX. AZ, FE B. 10· 11
P hoen ix race fans got their first taste of ice
raci ng while wat ch ing Seth Ch urch take home
th e 1989 Na tio na l I.C.E. Cham pionsh ip a t the
Vetera ns Mem ori a l Coliseum in Ph oen ix ,
-spo nsored by KUPD radio .
.
Judging by their reactio n , the enthusias tic
. crowd of a pproxima tely 2500 fans .liked wha t
th ey saw as 25·year·o ld Churc h wo n all three
of his heat races and then was never headed
in the main even t. Ph oenix mark s the fourth
ice ra cin g cham pio ns hip Ch urch has wo n in
two years of racin g.
" It was aw esome: ' reco un ted th e Zep
Werk s-spo nsor ed rider after , the race. " I was
lucky enough 10 get th e pole and get into th e
turn o ne first bu t really felt the pressu re fro m
Bill y Hamm il. "
Ham mil finis hed a close second behind
Ch urch in on ly his seco nd ice race. H ammil
scored seconds in his heat races behi nd Church
in heat one , Pat Lin in hea t two and Geo rge
Lazor in heat three , the n tran sferred to th e
Las t Chance Q ua lifier which he wo n over Lit t,
H arnrnil 's poin ts to tal fro m the heats put him
o n th e ins ide of row two wh ich he used to
good advan tag e at the start.
. Hea t one was the best of the evening with
H am m il going down o n th e firs t lap and
co ll ecti ng Da n Bo rgm a n in the p rocess.
Official s th rew th e red flag wh ile Ch urch
banged his bike into alignmen t in time to
make the restart .
Church took th e holeshot wh ile Don nie
Od om diced wit h H ammil for seco nd . Ha m m il go t undern eath Od om on the last lap ,
wh ile third place wen t to George La zor.
. When the tape went up for the start of th e
six -lap, six-ma n ma in event, H am mi l follo wed Church through th e pa ck to ta ke a
secon d place positio n he never relinq u ish ed.
Church bo bb led com in& o ut of turn three on
lap five and H am m il tried to ta ke ad van tage
of his m istake but came up sho r t a t the line
by in ch es.
After the ma in event Hamm il was pleased
wi th hi s secon d-p lace finish. " I' m really
exci ted , T h is is on ly my second I.C. E. ra ce
and I !;et second in the cha mp io nship. I don 't
think i t's hit me yet," said the STP/Monrovia
Di es el/ Mr . T vShirtvCa n yo n Ci ty A utol
Denny's Fanning-sponsored racer.
Fu rt her back Lazo r [ou gh t 0 [[ La nce Kin g
in th e ear ly laps bu t pulled o u t a small, al bei t
com fo rta ble adva ntage over Kin g d uring the
last two laps to fin ish in third p lace.
" I' m happy with my fini sh ." said the 14
year veteran of speedway trac ks. " Anyo ne o n
th e fro nt row co uld have won it. It ca me'down
to whoever was th e smoothest."
~ The smoo th ness La zor referred to was
necessary because of th e lack of ice o n certain
spots on the trac k since the bikes and q uads
had gr ound dow n to the cement. By the end
of the ma in even t cemen t was aga in showi ng
in comers two and fOUT
_
La nce Kin g and Lit t diced heavily late in
the ra ce and King held Li tt 0 [[ to score fourth.
Kin g also took a fir st in Frida y night's Bob
Hetri ck Mem or ial during an evening marred
by scoring an d logistics problems.
Resul ts
.
Seth Church took home the 1989 National I.C.E. Championship with
a win at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona.
0 / A : 1. Seth Church; 2. Bill y Hammi l; 3. George Lazor;
4 . la nce ICing; 5. Pat Lin .
Johnson & Woo d victorious
at Willow Springs RR
By Richard D . Thompson
ROSAMOND. CA, FEB. 5
J o hnson & Wood 's Chuck Graves and Lee
'., Shi ert s posted an impressiv e co me- fro mbeh ind wi n in rou nd one of' the 500-Mi le
End uran ce Seri es ho sted by the Ameri can
Road Racin g Association.
Johnso n &- Wood got off to an ina uspicious
start as Graves was la te returni ng from the
warm -up lap and was left silti ng on the grid
as th e gree n flag dro p ped, A mere 10 minu tes
int o th e six-ho ur race, however, G raves , rid ing
a Suzu ki GSX R750 wit h an l loocc mo to r
spo nsor ed by AI Butts of J ohnson & Woods
and Lee's Cycle Service, ha d pa ssed th e en tire
field and amassed a fu ll straightaway lead.
An ear ly pit stop to correct suspensio n
p roblems cos t J oh nso n &:: Woods seven oreigh t ,
positions. bu t th e team co n tin ue d on
u ndau nte d.
T en nesseean Kevin Ren tzell , rid in g the
Coors Li ght Su zuki, assum ed the lead and
began to stretch his adva ntage o ver no w-second'place Mike Gosselaar of BMR Mo torsports, n d in g a stoc k 750cc Suzuk i.
Gra ves q uic kly worked h is way past th e lead
pack , using hi s power adva ntage to pass
Gosse laar a nd put him self in seco nd. With
Ren tzell now in' his sigh ts G ra ves made his
mo ve, passing Ren tzell and wav ing to him
as he rod e by on th e fro nt stra ight.
Nearing the one- ho ur mar k, Graves put a
lap on the seco nd -p lace Coo rs Light entry,
WIth Ken n y Kopecky no w substitu ting for
Rentzell . " Du e 10 the co ld, it was hard to tell
wha t kind of brake pressure [ was pu ttin g on ,"
said Ren tzell , add ing that at o ne point duri ng
th e da y it was 34 degr ees.
Graves' pit crew sig na led him to pit, but
as a tac tica l mo ve he decided to go on. Some
20 min utes la ter, Shi ert s too k over for Gr aves,
main taini ng their lead.
BMR 's Gosselaar pitted 10 hand 0 [[ to
team mat e Bruce Reimer , bu t lost som e time
refu elin g.
At the midway mark, Kopecky pitted and
Rentzel l aga in took over. " We were ha ving
prob lems in th e right- hand turns because we
were ru n ning an o ld Yoshi mu ra p ipe," said
Ko pec ky. "Every ti me we lea ned int o a right
hand er , the pipe wo uld drag."
Early in th e fifth ,ho ur, Shierts p ined [or
Johnson & W ood's Chuck Gra ves and Lee S hierts won round on e of
the ARRA 500-Mile Endurance S.er ies at Calif o rn ia' s W illow Springs,
a tire ch a nge . " We wore ou r fro n t tire a ll the
way to the cu rds in th e fo ur th hour ," sa id
Sh ier ts,
J o h nso n & Woo d' s Gra ves too k the check ered flag at the end of six ho urs, co mp leti ng
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