Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 ,......; lo-< V ..0 o .... u o Steve Lucero was crowned California State Speedway Champion at IMS. Here, he leads Scotty Brown as Bobby Schwartz falls in the background. Steve Lucero celebrates his title with his fiancee, Wendy Brant. 22nd Annual California State Championship-' ~peedway Lucero crowned twotime champ at IMS By Scott Daloisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, SEPT. 23 GM- riding St eve Lu cero scored a lfi-p oint maximum to win th e 22nd Annual ' Budweiser California Sta te Sp eed- 32 way Ch am pionship before a packed house a t Inland Mo tor Speedway. The win mad e Lucero th e o rily double winner of the 1980s, having also won the ti tle in 1985. Thin gs d id not start o ut particu larl y well for Lucero , as his mech anic failed to show up at the year-anda- ha lf-o ld tra ck. That meant that in add itio n to raci ng, Lucero also had to do all of hi s own mechanical work. Pre-race favorit e Bobby " Booga10 0 " Sch wartz sa w his titl e asp irations evaporate in th e first turn of th e first heat. Sta rt ing fro m gate th ree, Sch wartz was beaten off the lin e by Lucero a nd Sco tty Brown. As th ey en te red th e first co rne r , Schwartz slid o u t. By th e tim e he go t back u p , the field was in turn three. > T he race carr ied on with Lucero opening u p hi s lead all the way while Brown fought off th e chargi ng Sco tt Bran t for seco nd pl ace a nd two po ints . In th e pits, Lucero pulled off hi s helm et and di spl a yed a wide grin. " When I ca me off the li ne I got nervous. I rea lized I had o ut-ga ted Bobb y," he sa id. Wh en Lu cero won th e 1988 Nat ional Cha mpionshi p , he simp ly outclassed the field off th e line. At the State Cha m pio ns h ip , he was doing th e sa me a nd the o the r con- tenders got a sinking feelin g as he made his round-two race look like ch ild's play. Lucero was hiding by th e end of lap one while th e rest of the field stru ggled. After two rounds, Lucero had a o ne-po int lead ' over " Flyin " Mike Faria, Billy Hamill a nd Charles Ermo len ko. Alan " Crazy" Christian , o n ly two points down, was still within striking distance of th e leader. Lucero bea t Christian off th e line in the ir third-round race with H amill running third. Wh en the race left th e lin e, Christian was still a maj or pl ayer in th e overa ll picture, but Hamill passed h im ear ly in the eve nt a n d severe ly l imited hi s cha nces. Wh ile Hamill was struggling wit h Christi an , Lucero built 'u p a lead. H a mill saw th e handwritin g - he knew he had to get past Lucero a nd he pu lled ou t all the stops. The 19year-old a ttac ked every corner wi th reckless aba ndo n. H e ca ug ht Lucero a t th e white £lag a nd with the fans on th eir feet cheeri ng fo r th eir resp ective favori tes, the last-la p war too k pl ace. Lucero pegged the th ro ttle a nd moved away to a two bikelen gth lead a t th e chec kered £lag. If Lucero won hi s fourth-round ride, th e titl e would be hi s for th e taking. Coming fro m ga te fo ur, L ucero left the line li ke he had been sho t ou t of a can no n. Eddie Castro was hot on his trail a nd tried to snea k between Lucero and th e wall. It did not work and Castro whee lied before backing off, Faria had an other terri ble sta rt a nd was mired in third. The race seemed to be Lucero 's, but Ca stro decided to throw in one last challe nge. H e came into turn o ne low a nd slid all the way across th e groove. For a sp lit second, it looked like Castro was goi ng to slide into Lucero. Castro fough t to avoid wh at wo uld have been a savage accident, a nd he slowed it down enough to avo id the impact just before he got to Lucero. By th e tim e Castro got back on the th rottle, . Lucero was go ne. For the mos t part, so were everyo ne's victory hopes. Event 20 pulled o nto the trac k. It was Lucero' s titl e for the askin g. If he finish ed third or better th e ti tle was hi s, but if he took last, he would have a run-o££ for th e cro wn wi th Schwartz, wh o won four straight after falling in the first rou nd, a nd Hami ll, who'd score d two wins and three seco nds. T here was no question abo ut it the Coors Light /Shoei/Epic Surf & Sk a te /Oi l zall / O ' N eal / O a k l e ysponsored machine perform ed perfectly and Lu cero had his seco nd Ca liforn ia State Ch ampionship. Wh il e H amill wa s beatin g Chris Carr won the Darell Davis Regional TT at Castle Rock. Schwartz in a run-o££ for second, a rather subdued Lucero re£lected on hi s win. " I won th e first race with Bobby (Sch wart z) inside of me. That is probably what got me going." As H amill took the checkered in the run-off, Lucero was asked wh y he always doe s well in the big races . "I think about it in a different way . People think abou t it too much (beforehand). I think about it when I get to the track, not when I'm in the garage I" Results CALIFORNIA STATE SPEEDWAY CHAMPION SHIP: 1. Steve Lucero (GM). 15; 2. BillY Ham ill IGdn) 12; 3. Bobby Schwanz (GM) 12; 4. (TIE) Mike Faria (Gdn)/ Ed Castro (Wesl 11; 6. Char les Ermolenko (Wesl 10; 7. (TIE) Scotty Brown (Jaw) / Jim Sisemore(WesI8; 9. (TIE)Steve Russell (Wes )/ Josh Larson (Wes)/ Allin Christian (Jaw) 5; 12. (TIE) Steve Manin (Wes}/Kevin Jordan (Wes~/Oon Odom (Wes) 4; 15. Scott Brant (GM) 3; 16 . (TIE) Tony Bienert (Wes)/Randy Beddow (Wes) 2. CALIFORNIA STATE SIDECAR SPEEDWAY CHAMP IONSHIP: 1. Craig Dempster /Peter Lewis (Kaw); 2. Randy Mcintyre/Robert Fox (Kaw); 3. Steve StantonlTom Tufts (Kaw );4 . Ken Ohrt/Doug Whi tson (H-D). CALIFORNIA STATE JUNIOR SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP: 1. Bren, W erner (Wes); 2. Fred Timberlake (W as); 3. Kev in Nicklas (We s); 4 . Chris W ern er (Wa s). Carr flies at Dare" Davis Western Regional TT By Derryl Anderson CASTLE ROCK, WA, SEPT. 22 Harl ey-Davidson factory rider Chris Carr ca me from an eigh th-p lace start to win the main even t on th e last lap over Cana dian Steve Aseltine at th e Darell Davis Western Regional TT Ch ampionship. Carr took home th e biggest ch unk of th e $5000 purse. Fast qual ifying ti me was set by Carr with a 22.58-second run. Next was Aseltine with a 22.86, follo wed by J ohn Wincewi cz with a 22.92. Marty Zirb el was th e o nly o the r rid er in th e 22s with a 22.98. Filling out th e rest of the top-10 qualifiers were Mickey Fay, Randy Roose, Steve Eklund, Rex Fish er, Ron Yam am oto a nd Aaron Hill. The form at for th e Regional had all main event transfer spots bein g ea rne d right o ut of th e heat races; T he re were no semis, just like the Jun ior Nati on al program. T he Castle Rock TT track mad e for some ultra-close raci ng o ££ of th e start ing line thro ug h turn s one and two and in to the right-hander. Kirk Stro ng go t the ini tial lead in heat one followed by Del Sch nitzer, J e££ Harsha , Troy Norris, Eklund a nd Carr, who was jam med back in traffi c. In the rig ht-ha nder, Eklund was sideways in fro m ' of Carr and it took Carr ano ther lap to get by. Carr th en started a charge that was absolutely fantastic. Coming into turn three, Carr passed three of the four riders in from of him on the inside , getting by everyone but Schnitzer, who had just p assed Strong for thelead, Within one lap, Carr slid under Schnitzer in turn four and went out to an uncatch able lead. At the chec kered flag , Carr had 40 yards on Eklund, foll owed by Norris, Strong, Schnitzer and Ri ck H ens on. . In heat two, Fay took o ££ on his Kni ght Frame/Bell/Works Pe rf .! Bel-Ra y/Tsubak ilBu££alo No. Pl ates-sp onsored Honda, and wasn 't to be caugh t as he led Mik e Sullivan, Fish er, Asel tine and Don Estep. On lap two , Fish er slid under Sullivan and a lap later, Aseltin e came up to do th e same. Aseltine was all over Fish er a nd the two of th em traded places back a nd forth several tim es before Aseltine took command. At th e finish it was Fay, Aseltine, Fisher, Estep, Dan McDonnell and Dave Bostrom. In the third and final heat race; Garth Mulkey-backed Chad Felicia got the scratch ah ead of Wincewitz, Zirb el, Hill, Jon Cornwell; HarleyDavidson's Kevin Atherton, Kit Farley and th e others. On lap two, Wincewicz took over the lead on the Lou Kinn ish Wood-Rotax and never looked back . At th e en d i t was Wincewi cz, Felicia, Zirbel , Hill, Ath erton , Yamamoto and John Clayton. In th e main event, Fay got th e holeshot follow ed b y Aseltine , Wincewicz , Feli cio, Eklund, Norris and Carr, who was once aga in stuc k behind a tight group of riders. After one lap, th e pack started to thin out and Carr went to work. Norris passed Eklund and Felicio with Carr in tow . On lap five, Carr went under Norris co mi ng out of turn four. Up from Fay had a sma ll lead while Aseltine and Wincewi cz battl ed back-andforth, excha nging positions twice a lap. On th e eig hth lap, Aseltine wem arou nd Fay go ing into turn one. They were side-by-side th rough turn two, wh en Aseltine went by Fay in the right-hander. Before Fa y hit th e jump, Carr went around th e ouside wh ile sliding to th e right and past Fay as well. . Coming out of turn four, Fay go t back by' Carr, but Carr repaid th e favor down th e straigh taway. A lap later , Carr passed Aseltine go ing down th e straightaway. By now , th e crowd was in total a mazmem as Carr pulled o u t a 40-yard lead. Mean while, Eklund, Norris, Stro ng a nd Schnitzer co uld be covered with a blanket as th ey fought tooth-andnail for third p lace. At the fini sh it was Carr with almost a straig h taway lead on Eklund, Norris, Strong, Schnitzer, Hen son and H arsh a. In th e Junior class, Riley's/Mike Camph ou sez'Sm itt ys v P J -I / KK/ Ar a i/ Ts u ba k i/ Je ££ Chi som /MJ , USA-backed Larry Pegram took the first heat race win after battling with Kris Kiser for severa l laps. Behind th em were J e££ Ru ssell , Troy Ro se, Steve Mayfield, Brian Miller, Jaime Ag u i la r, J e££ Hi att a n d Randy Bereman. . In the second a nd fin al Junior heat race, Speedy Kell took hi s Bak er Racing H arl ey-Da vid son wire-t ow ire foll owed by Andy T resser, Ricky Sm ith , J oe Kopp, Clint Vah sho ltz, T roy Yeo and Chris Sta ley. In th e ma in even t, Kell took th e initial lead ahea d of Kiser, Pegram, Russell , Tresser a nd the o ther Juniors. On lap two, Pegram pa ssed Kiser a nd went after Kell , wh o he got a lap la ter. At th e checkered £Jag it was Pegram , Kell , Kiser; Smi th, Tresser, Ru ssell , Ko pp , Ma yfield , Vahsho ltz, Miller, Yeo and Rose. T he Pro -Ams were q u ite fidge ty as severa l restarts were necessary in the

• Cover