Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wh en he go t to hi s feet , blood co vered hi s chin. H e pulled hi s h elmet ba ck o n, p rom pting th e crowd nearb y to cheer a nd cha nt " Brow n, Brown , Bro wn ." T hat chant ing must hav e affected Brown. When th e heat restarted , he went to the front with Castro. They battled elbow-to-elbow whi le Sisemore tried to race o utside of them in the first bend. Comi ng o H turn tw o , Si sem ore's rear tire ca u g h t traction and he wh eel ied o u t of content io n. Brown pulled hi s J aw a down on Castro and took full control of the lead o n lap o ne. He went th e rest of th e wa y for what ma y have been hi s last heat race win in a National. Castro pl aced seco nd with Sisem ore third. Race number 10 pulled o ut of th e pit gate. This race match ed Lucero, Fa ria, H a mill and Ermo lenko. It wo uld mark the end of one, two, or three of th e ride rs' tit le hopes, as no rid er has ever won th e National with II points. To remain in co ntent io n, Fari a, Erm olenko a nd Lu cero all had to win. H amill had to finish at least second to stay in the hunt. If H amill won th e four-lap hea t, he would kn ock all three of the o ther riders o ut, since th e most points a ny of th em wou ld be a ble to score o n th e nig ht wo uld be I I. Wh en th e ga te went up, Faria n ew off th e po le in to th e lead . L ucero place hi s Godden in second a head of Hamill a nd roo kie Ermolenko. Wh en Lucero mom entaril y bobb led in turn two o n lap o ne, Hamill shot past. The teen ager slo wly but surely reeled in Fari a. As th ey raced by th e white n ag, Hamill a ttac ked , len gthening the trac k by rid ing th e wall th rough the fir st bend. H amill go t » a big drive off turn two, and with th e e nt ire cro wd s ta n d i n g and screa m ing, n ew a hea d of Far ia o n th e back ch u te. A half lap later, Ha m ill took the chec kered £lag. The cro wd ga ve him a sta nding ova tion as he circled the tin y oval. Simultaneously, so me were cheering for Lucero . They were thanking him for hi s year as Ch ampion. They kn ew th at a new Nat ion al Champi on would be cro wned. Collins took h ims elf o ut of th e titl e pi c ture whe n Ox ley, Brant a n d Correy left him beh ind in event II. Lat e in the race, Co llins went down in the first bend. H e was a half- lap behind at the fini sh. Oxley took th e win ahead of Brant. The thi rd round e n de d with Sc hwartz pos ti n g anoth e r win . Moran, still in the hunt a t th at point, got filled in on turn three o n the first circuit. H e dropped to th e back. H e only managed to ge t back to th ird wh en seco n d pl ace C hr is t ia n dropped out wi th mech a ni cal ills o n lap three. Tony Bien ert was a distant second to th e wi nner. At th e com pletion of the th ird ro und. Sch wa rtz had eigh t poi nts a nd th e lead. T ied for seco nd with seven points were H amill a nd Sisemore. T he o nly o ther riders with a cha nce to fin ish o n 12 points a t th at time were Oxley, Brown and Moran. Each wou ld have to win th eir last two rides. Moran stayed alive with a win in even t 13 over Collins and Faria. Brown 's last-place finish dropped him fro m any cha nce of finishing among the to p-three overa ll. Event 14 started with a bang when Ham ill and longti me veteran Christian slam med together in turn one. A shower of sp arks n ew th rough th e air and Christian went do wn. From tha t point o n it was a ll H am ill. H e kept th e heat o n Schwa rtz by win ning o ve r Oxle y and a fadi n g Sisemore. Schwartz ca me off th e line lik e a Championship runner-up Billy Hamill leads Scotty Brown. Scott Brant and Tony Bienert during event one . rock et in event 15. Lu cero was third until he went around Brant on lap o ne. Lu cero th en worked th e o ut side of th e lead er , but wh en th at didn 't work, he came to the in sid e on lap three. Lucero switched back to th e wid e line for a fin al-l ap assa ult. Lucero ga ve Schwartz a tough battl e, but th e " Booga loo Kid" was eq ual to a ll of it, and he pocketed his third win in a row. All he had to do to win his seco nd National was win hi s easies t race of th e night , event 17. Foll owing a brea k to prep the track after Correv's hea t 16 win , event 17 p ulled to th e line. Schwartz' o n ly drawback co u ld have co me from start ing in ga te four, however , it pro ved to be no problem a t all. Schwartz go t th e start a nd pu lled it down on the field in th e first bend. T he cro wd let o u t a big chee r wh en he led down th e back ch u te o n th e Budwei ser /CTi Brace/Promoti on P ro d u c ts / ST P/ Mal co l m Smith/ O ak ley /B el l/Cad illa c J ac ksp o nso re d Weslake. Ox le y took Ermol enko to the wa ll o n lap three a nd secured second. T here was no way h e co u ld ca tc h th e leader. Sch wa rt z rode a ca u tio us-bu t-fast lin e and a t th e end of four laps, he was Nat ional Ch ampion again. H e acce pted th e chec kered n ag a nd went for a victory la p. The p its em p tied as th e rid ers, led by L ucero , rus hed to co ngra tula te the new number o ne. After excha nging h ugs wi th him , they pic ked Schwartz up a nd tossed h im in the air in the tra ditional victory bum ps. Hamill ·sewed u p the number two spot with a win over Co rrey, Moran a nd Farnum in event 18. Correy a nd Ha m ill went at eac h other in a fierce fight a t the start. Correy tri ed to take him wid e on th e back ch ute. H a mill turned the throttle as far as it would go a nd outpowered Am eri ca's o nly 1989 World Finalist. Mo ran 's third p lace finish tied him o n 10 points with Oxley. A disappointed Faria easily won even t 19 but it was not enough to ga in a spot o n th e rostrum. A sad announcem ent ca me from HuHman before event 20, whe n he stun ned th e fans by tell ing th em that th is wou ld be the last race in Ph il Collin s' career. After tonigh t, he was retir ing. (left to right) Hamill. Schwartz and Phil Collins celebrate their top-three finishes. Collins won a runoff with Oxley and Moran for third. then retired . Collins led the four-lap go a ll th e way. It was Lucero 's fina l heat as number o ne a nd he closed o n Co ll ins lat e in th e race. That win put Collins in a runoff for thi rd wi th Ox ley and Mo ran. Sisem ore took third a nd aft er suc h a fin e sta rt o n th e ni ght, he ended up tied for six th. As Co lli ns wa lked o ut for th e ru noff, he received a n ice ro und of app lause from the. fans. Many of th em stood while they serenaded the reti ri ng star. The fina l four la ps of th e 1989 season at Costa Mesa wo u ld determine third, fo urt h a nd fifth. They co uld have sho rte ned it to o ne lap. Mu ch to the del ight of the fan s, Collins ran awa y a t the start a nd was still moving o u t a t th e chec kered. Moran was a distant second with Weslak e-riding Ox ley th ird . " I a m pl eased with second, but I wou ld hav e li ked fir st ," sa id a smiling Hamill after all th e post-race hoo p la di ed down. " I co uld n 't ask fo r an ybod y else to win besides Bobb y. H e w i l l m ak e a g rea t Nati onal Cham pion . I a m happy wit h it (second). I a m ha ppy wi th my seaso n. My crew has jus t been tremendou s." . When asked if he was goi ng to go o ne step h igh er in 1990, H a m ill s m i le d a n d nodd ed h is h ead: " Defin itel y!.. In th e dr essin g room. a su bd ued Lu cero shrugged whe n as ked if the deep track ca ug ht him by surp rise in hi s first race. " I never felt right a ll ni ght long. Even when I won my seco nd heat . I 'did n 'i feel right ." The new Nat ion al C ha m pio n spo ke while stand ing next to th e van ill the parking lo t: " We d iscovered tha t we had a cracked pi sto n a nd a broken valve spring. We fixed that thi s week wit h another p isto n from a nother engine. I ra n the new Kenda tires and th ey rea lly help ed me o ut." Bein g 33 years o ld, th e questi on ca me up as to how lon g Schwartz wou ld keep racing. " At least a no the r yea r," he resp onded. "I j ust hav e to co n vi nce Cra ig C u m m i ng, m y mecha ni c, to co me back from Scotland nex t year. Everyth ing else is just wo nd erful a nd I a m sure I will be riding a ll th e tracks next year again. " _ Results FINAL : 1. Bobby Schw art z (Wes) 14: 2. Bill y Hamill (Wesl 13; 3 . Phil Coll in s (Wes l l 0; 4. Shawn M oran (GM J 10 ; 5 . Brad Oxley (Wes) 10; 6 . (TIEl M ike Far ia (Gdn)/ J im Si semore (Wes) 9; 8 . Steve Lucero (Gdn) 8; 9 . Ronni e Corr ey (Wes) 7; 10 . (TIE) Scotty Brown (Ja w) / Ed Castro (Wes}/Scon Brant (Wesl 6; 13. (TIE) A lan Chri sti an (J aw)/ Char les Ermo lenko (W as) 4 ; 15 . Ton y Bien ert (Wes) 3; 15 . W alt Farnum (Gdn) 1. 17

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