Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SPEEDWAY California State Championship a.; """ ,.0 .o ..., REDUCES FORK SEAL DAMAGE Only u o Stylish colors available for HONDA KAWASAKI SUZUKI YAMAHA Made in the USA Dealer Inquiries In vited P O Box 3208 Bloonun qton IN 47402 Mike" Fa ri a dives to th e insid e of Alan Christi an at IMS Spe edway. Faria roosted away and cap tu red the 23rd Annual Ca li fornia Stat e Ch a mp ionsh ip win. DTX - CONVERS IONS .21 " Rims to 19" Rims • 1 a" Rims to 19" Rims • 19" Wide Rims U PS Shlppmg ( 714) 530.6681 12787 NutwGOd St. Conlon e'G'O. CA 92640 Ma s1ercard & Vi sa TEAM CALAMARI YSR SWING AR M BRAC ING $69 .9 5 CALLORWAITEFOR DETAILS SWING AR M NEED LE BEA RIN G KIT 839 .95 FORK AIR CAPS 829.9 5 FORK SPRI NG KIT •• ••••.. .. . .. . . .• . . . . . . . .. *29 .9 6 BILLET ALU MI NUM FORK BRA CE •.... . . . . . . . ' 59 .95 2 FIN GER LEVERS ...... .. . . •. .. ... . .... S19 .9 5PR. HEAVY DUTY CLUTCH KIT WIT H SPRINGS . . . 021 .96 COW U NG GRA PHICS SET •... .. . . .. . . ••• . .. '49 .96 Specify Color FLUORESC ENT COWLIN G GRAP HICS 869 .96 TEAM CALAMARI RACING P.O. BOll 99 1 Marina , CA 9393 3 FA X 408-899 -0444 A LL MAJOR CA RD S M R. SQUI D SAYS : DOUBLE CROSS RAC ING OCT. 14 Termina tor GP Perris '_~ 40 % Trophy Oay INFO: (7 14) 37 1-6333 KNIGHT BOSS CH4MPION G nmec a Br ak p S YSIPms . f rame s o r ro l li ng cb ass.s tr ent spoo l QUick c h a n g e rea r w he e ls , sp roc ket s c am s. ca rb s . pIp es . spr ong k tl S m st o n s. gla ss , forks spa res K&N , Mar lO cch , PERFORMANCE ACCESSORIES NeMKeen 314/426-6959 .,'7i~ Oakland · , . . " . Sport Center PARTS IN STOCK 4232 D ixie Hwy . Watarlord. MI 48329 . (3 ' 3) 673 ·3366 (3' 3) 673-8'44 FAX 22 Speedway title By Sco tt Daloisio P h oto by J im Thorn SAN BERNARDINO, CA. SEPT. 23 hirt y-th ree year old " Flyin ' Mike" Faria took his GM -powered speedway motorcycle to a convincing win in the 23rd Annual Miller Gen ui ne Dra ft/Yama ha Ca lifornia State Speedway Championship at In land Motor Speedway . The slen der rider from near by Colton won each of his races an d scored an impeccabl e 15 point maximum. Fari a 's rotten big race lu ck is no torious to fans around th e globe, but on this night it did no t rear its ugly head. Wh ile others struggled to overcom e th e muddy cond itio n s. Fari a adap ted quickly and was never headed. It was the second time that the former Belle Vue Piccad ill y Ace won th e state crow n: H e also too k the title in 1987 at the or igi nal In lan d Motorcycle Speedway in th e heart of Sa n Bern ard in o. Six tee n-year-old rookie Bre n t Werner started the nigh t off wit h a win in event .one. The two-time Junior National Ch am pion led the race all the way after a restart due to Bart Bast sliding ou t and falling in the turn one mud. Faria 's first appearance of th e nigh t came in even t two. T he track was still m uddy. but Faria , on the Warren Ru ssell /O ff Sho re/Shoei/Tsu bak i/ Sco tt USA/ O ilzall /Craig Co n nerstuned GM had few p roblem s. H e passed teena ge sensa tion Chris Man chester in the first tu rn and wen t T 408·899·'300 /~~~~L_ F takes California aria UPS Daily unopposed the rest of the way. J osh Larse n. Faria's Russell Racin g . teamma te, too k Man chester on the fin al lap for second . Alan " Crazy" Christia n , 1980 State Champion, h it the mu d in turn on e on lap two and fell. He finished last. Defending champ Steve Lu cero took his first step toward s defense of h is cro wn in race th ree and th ings did not go the way he wanted. Whi le tryi ng to . get in side Brad Oxley on lap one, they mad e con tact and Lucero hit the inside pipe and fell. He p icked his mount up an d took off aga in, but hi s problems were not over. Bob Bech told , a rookie in state competition, fell in turn on e on the last lap. He got up directly in L ucero's path. L ucero had nowhere to go . hit Bech told and was knocked do wn. Lucero kept on chugging. but he had to be conte nt with a third-p lace fin ish beh ind Bobb y Schwartz and Ox ley. . T he openi ng ro u nd ended with Robert Pfetzin g goi ng pas t Ch arl ie Venegas to post h is first win of th e meeting. After a round of sideca r raci ng and a track drag, L ucero came ou t for his second ride of the ni ght. The track was sti ll extre mely slick. bu t Lucero had no prob lems. Starting from ga te four, he launched off the line and pulled it dow n on Bast in turn one. They were .side by side down the back ch ute the first tim e and the y made contact in turn ----'-- _ three. Lucero held it on longer and took the lead . Bast. making only h is fourth IMS appearance of the year, stayed on Lucero. He dogg ed the leader inside and ou t, but in the end, Lucero had eno ugh for the win. He was back in th e title pi cture. Schw artz won event nine with Christian a distant secon d. T hat gave. Schwartz two win s in two outings.i Faria won the very next race and he was also two for two. When Pfetzing wo n event II , he was two for two as wel l. T hat left the three of them tied ' j for first with six points each. Pfetzing stayed perfect with a win to start rou nd three. T hat gave the 30-yearold star at least a tie with eit her Faria . or Sch wartz when th e third round was over. Venegas po sted his first and final . win of the night in even t 16. Lucero's victory aspirations su ffered a major blow in event 17. Coming from ga te two, he lost the race off the line to Larsen. Larsen then too k h im wide in the first turn and that forced rimriding Steve Martin to go down. . Lucero tried to cu t u nder Lars en in turn three on lap on e, but Larsen slam med th e door in his face. Lu cero stayed close to Larsen u ntil th e final lap when Larsen inc hed away for a hard foug ht victory . The third round ended with the race most insiders·predicted as the one that would decide the title. Don Od om and Scott Bra nt took their spots on the line, but ou tside of them were the GM s of Schwartz and Faria. From gat e four , Fari a launched his Warren Russell G M into first dra wing a roa r from the crow d. In the first bend, Schw artz go t pinched off and found himself in last. . That was the kiss of deat h. While he was tryin g to fight his way through the field . Faria was at the head of the pack. Schwartz fina lly took thi rd, bu t he was not goi ng to get near Brant an d Far ia. Brant, who sat out mu ch of the year, did not give up. H e chased Faria all th e way to the line to fin ish second. After three rou nds, Faria and Pfetzin g were tied for first with nin e points. After the heat , Fari a praised Brant, "I wasn 't sur e who was beh ind me," he said whi le he was pulling off his helm et. '~ I th ou ght it cou ld be eit her Bobby or Scot t, bu t I did not have time to check. H e was mak ing me work too hard." Far ia was back 'on th e track to start the fourt h round and th e resu lts were the same. Another victory and another thr ee po ints . T h is time Faria won by 10 lengths over Bast and th e overa ll victory was loo ming so close he cou ld smell it. . Brant too k his aniy win of . the . meeting in event 23 when he beat Josh Larsen. It was a sweet victory for Brant as La rsen rid es for the same owner who fired Brant in early June. T he on ly rider sta nding in Faria's way headin g into ro und four was Pfetzin g. If Pfetzing won his fou rth ro und ride, their race in event 30 would decide the title. Unfort unately, that j uicy plot never developed. Pfetzin g wheelied off th e line in event 24 and Sch wartz sho t into first. Before Pfetzing kn ew what happe nedMan chester also went by and Pfetzin g was mired in th ird. As the four-lap race pro gr essed . Schwartz moved away whil e Pfetzin g tried everything to get by Man chester. Nothing worked. Manchester h eld Pfetzing at bay and drop ped him from a tie for first into a tie for second overall with Schwartz. L ucero close d th e fourt h round with a we ll-earned vict ory in heat 25. Christian ra n second all the way and did not gai n much on L ucero. T hat made Lucero's win mo re impressive as

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