Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bobby Schwartz (1) and D on Odom leave ~ h e line during t he U.S . Lon g Track Championship; Schwartz fin ished fourth in the f inal. Dennis Hawthorne split double-class w ins w ith Roy Schellenberger in t he first two rounds of the U.S . A renacross Series in Texas. (Left to right) Simon Cross (t hird). Greg Hancock (fi rst) and J o sh Larsen (second) celebrat e after t he surprising U.S . Long Track Champio nship. AMA Naf'l LongTrack Speedway ChamlJ;onsh;~ Hancock surprise at Ascot By Scott Da loisio GARD ENA , CA, NOV. 10 Speedway m ade it s a n n ua l pilgrimage to th e legendary Ascot H alf Mil e for th e United States Long Track Championsh ip. T he track wi th th e rich hi story, added a no ther page to it s 30-yea rlon g m ystique as upst arts Greg Hancock a nd J osh Larsen thrash ed a field of international stars to fini sh first a nd seco nd. Hancock , 19, and Larsen , 17, are. life-long fri ends. They ra ced agains t eac h o the r in Juniors (H a ncoc k won th e Junior National Championship in 1985 while Larsen won it in 1986 and 1987) a nd they joined each other in yictory circle after th e four-lap mam. Hancock spe nt most of th e 1989 season ra cing for th e Cradley H eath H eathens in th e British League. H e was in First Division from th e start on Friday. Larsen, on th e o the r hand, wa s on th e program in th e Support class. When Canadian rider Shawn Ven abl es ca ncell ed, Larsen moved up to Fir st Division. L ance Kin g was th e quickest ride r on th e track during the heat ra ces. Ac cording to his cre w , h e wa s' turning laps in th e 2 1:30 range. H e and Bobby Schwartz wer e th e only riders to go undefeated and pick up 20 o ne -p o int scores from the heats. Hanco ck wa s next in line with' 19 points followed by . Charles Ermolen ko , Mike Faria, Cary H icks. Tony Bienert and England 's im on Cross. Cross broke a cha in on th e line in h is firs t h eat . b ut the n came ba ck to wi n hi s fina l two to ea rn a spo t in th e sem is. Cro w d favo ri te " S ho w t im e " Bobb y Ott wa s making hi s o n ly sta tes ide a p pea ra nce in 1989, a nd it was a di sa p pointing o ne. Ou was o n a tw o-valv e J awa th a t dom in at ed th e Long T rac k Fin al s some 10 yea rs ago. U n for tu na tely, ti me a nd technol og y have pa ssed u p the a ncie n t machine. as Ott was o n ly able to muster four points. T hus, he d id not mak e th e sem is. H an cock h ad th e pole for th e first semi wi th Larsen sta tioned a t h is right elbo w. The rem a in der o f th e field had popul ar Bill y H amill. G ary Hicks, Scott Brant and Kin g. King wh eelied off th e line an d H ancock was th e fir st rider into turn o ne. Brant took ad va n tage of th e King wheeli e and pl aced h is GM into seco n d. The more experience d Kin g took seco nd back as th ey ca me off tw o th e fir st time. H e wa s th en ready to go after Hancock. Coming out of turn four o n th e seco n d lap , Kin g ra ced aro u n d H an co ck . That wa s pred ict abl e. What wa s not predi ctable, bu t it set th e tone for th e n ight , was the next co rner. Hancock , bea t Kin g back to turn one. King, winner o f th e Long Track titl e in 1983 and 1985. wo u ld not be den ied. H e p assed H ancock again out o f tu rn four for th e vic tory as th e fan s sere n aded both rid ers for th eir efforts . Larsen, wh o got by Brant on th e first lap , finished third. Brant finish ed fourth with Hicks fifth , Hamill, who earlier in th e ni ght hurt his sho u lder, dropped o u t. Coming all th e way from ga te six in the second semi. Schwartz beat Faria th rough th e first bend for th e lead . Cross, mak ing hi s fir st appearance o n th e legendary half mil e. smoked by Faria for seco nd. H e kept hi s m omentum up and bl ew by Sch wa rt z in turn two o n lap two . From th en o n it was all " Crossi," as he ea sily took th e w in. Sch wa rt z ma naged to hold o n to seco nd wi th Faria nipp ing Engla nd 's Peter Carr for th e fina l spot in the mai n . Before th e ch a mpio ns hip . Bu d Carro ll (Wesla ke) hamm er ed th e Support class field to wi n their ma in. Do n Am brose fin ish ed second wit h Mau toutenberg third. 1\Iike Bu ff. Chri s Casrin a n d Mike Steph an rounded o u t th e field. After a serio us lo oking crash in tu rn o ne that di sabled severa l motorcycles. o fficia ls can celled th e Sidecar mai n . The trick riders wi th the trick lo ng-track mo torcyc les pulled onto th e track for th e main . Then yo u had H an co ck a n d Larse n . Th e o n ly chan ge to H ancock 's bike was a gearbox . The rest of it w as strick ly spee d way . Larsen d id no t eve n ha ve that. H e was o n th e sam e bike he wo u ld be rid in g at tin y Costa Mesa o n you r ave rage Frida y n ig h t. No o ne in the ir righ t mind ga ve them m uch o f a cha nce . From ga te six, Sch wa rt z wa s th e firs t to react to th e tapes. It. was a mad scra m ble in th e first turn as th e pack jockeyed fo r posi tions, As th ey sorted the mse lves o u t off tu rn tw o , H ancock. o n the Ma lcol m Smi thl CPI S tee l S tockh ol d e rs /B el1 H'e lmet s/Founta in Vall ey Paintsl T&C Surf Designs/STPlTro y Lee Desi gn s/ Cirell o Racin g-sponsored G odden , emerged with th e lead. Sch wa rt z, Cross a nd Larsen were fighting for second. Cross, with a n in side pass, took Schwartz for seco n d o n lap two. Schwartz ca me backafter him but yo u ng Larsen starte d to move and he bl ew by all of th em in a shocking di splay. King meanwhile wa s ba ck in fifth and Faria 'was far o ff th e pace in sixth> Wh en th e checkered ca me o u t a t - th e end o f th e four lapper , H ancock had bagged a maj or spee d way title. Larsen nipped Cross for seco nd with Schwartz, King' and Faria rounding o u t th e field. " T ha t was th e fir st main event that I made (a t th e long track )," stated th e sm iling winner. " I was fortun at e to make so me good sta rts a nd get th e sh ift right. I didn't expect to get off the sta rt the way [ did. I just sat up on th e front of that thing and went for it. " As Larsen approached, Hancock spoke of his life long friend. " T ha t is pretty wild, " he said. " H e wa s on a regular speedway bike with no transmi ssion! Set up for a norma l speed way track . To loo k ba ck after th e fini sh line a nd see him ri glu th ere beating ;III th e top gu ys lik e Bobby Sch wart z, Lance Kin g a nd th e rest o f th em , you ca n ' t co m p la in abo u t th at. " Results LONG TRAC K: 1, Greg Hancock; 2. Josh Larsen ; 3. Simon Cross; 4. Bobby Schwartz; 5 . Lance King; 6 . M ike Faria . SUPPORT: 1. Bud Carro ll ; 2. Don Ambrose; 3 . Ma n Stoutenberg ; 4 . Mike Buff; 5. Chr is Casti nn; 6 . M ike Step hen . U.S. Arenacross Series: Rounds 1 & 2 r Hawthorne tops Texas double-header By Vince Guy. Jr. \V ACO , TX. NOV. 3-4 Team G reen riders Roy Schellenberger and Dennis H awth orne sp lit doub le-class victories in th e first two ro unds o f th e 1989 U.S. Are-narross Series a t the H eart O ' T exas. Fairg rounds. Sc he llen br-rg cr took th e 125 a nd 2S0cc class w ins ill ro u nd o ne o n Fr iday, bu t was u na ble to stop th e defe nd ing 125 a nd 2S0cc Nat io na l Cha m p io n. Dennis H awthorn e, o n Sa turday. Friday In th e fir st 125cc he a t rac e of th e 1989 series . Sche lle n be rger es ta blish ed himself as th e rider to beat by leading h is heat from wire-to -w ire. T he T eam Green /Pro Circuit l Grapevin e Ka wasaki/Pirell il A X O I Scott / Bel l-s ponsored rid er ea rned th e 125cc main pole posi tion with th e fastest heat race a head o f Brian McGary a n d Bill y Whitley. Oklahoma Honda 's Lane Norich won th e second [2 5cc heat after battling Cliff Palmer. Norich and Palmer co ll ided in th e whoops with two laps rem aining. Palmer went down a nd wa s forced into th e Last Chance Qualifier where he event ua lly qualified for th e main. H awth o rn e led th e third I25cc heat from wire-so -wire ah ead o f a fierc e three-wa y battl e b etween Eri c Pavelic, T erry Tinney, a nd Heath Kirk land, who event ua lly finish ed in ~ that order. . Jason Langford p ut h is Yama ha Motor Corp .lH i-Po i n t/B el 1lJ oJ 0 's /Be l- Ra y I S c o tt - s p o n so r e d YZI25 in th e mai n wi th a wire- towire win in th e 125cc Last Chance Qua lifi er. Other qua lifiers included Ar lingtonSuzuki 's C lay Hoenshel l, Fox/Scott-sponsored Matt C hapa and Fo x 's Jason Upshaw.

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