Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Mike Faria won ·his first National Speedway title after 12 years of trying. Alan Christian beat Mike Faria (center) and Lance King (outside) in heat four. Faria beat Christian in a runoff. Faria wins title in arunoff By Scott Daloisio COSTA MESA, CA, ocr. 6 p eedwa y veteran Mike Faria defeated Alan Christian in a climactic four-lap runoff to win the 1990 Coors U.S. National Speedway Championship at the Orange County Fairgrounds. It was Faria's first victory in the event after 12 years of trying. The venerable oval's grandstands were jammed with 8790 fans for America's premier speedway event. By the end of the night they had yelled themselves hoarse after watching spectacular crashes, controversial exclusions and Faria's popular win aboard his Craig Connors-tuned Weslake. The first race of the night needed four starts before the field completed a single lap. Defending champ Bobby Schwartz hit the ground three separate times, once on his own and twice from being hit from the rear, and along with the other competitors was sent to the pits to regroup and make repairs while the second race was run. But race two also brought out the red flag when all four riders hit the ground on the opening lap. Twenty minutes had passed since the tapes went up the first time and yet not one lap was in the books. A wild night was in the making. On the restart of race two, things went smoothly. Billy Hamill raced off the pole and never looked back, scoring an easy win and grabbing the night's first three points over Louis Kossuth, Mark Hannah and Rick Miller. The riders from race one were brought back out and they put their race in the books without incident. Steve Lucero, the 1988National Champion, led all the way with Schwartz a distant second and Charlie Venegas third. _ Event three saw Phil Collins dog S 8 leader Rob Pfetzing over the first two laps, but in turn two on the third lap, Collins's Weslake bogged and Pfetzing moved away to win while Collins dropped back to last. The first round ended when polesitter Christian scored the win after he held off an all-out assault from Faria. HamilIlet everyone know he meant business in event five. A few feet off the line, he and Pfetzing came together with a glancing blow and they remained side-by-side into turn on e where Hamill gave Pfetzing a shot that sent the GM rider to the crashwall. Pfetzing dropped to last, where he finished, and Hamill easily took the win and had six points after two rides. Christian, who will be 35 in Feb: ruary, took the lead at the start of event six. Louis Kossuth shot around him off turn two, but Christian had the lead back for good by the end of the lap and went on to win to put himself in a tie for first with Hamill. Schwartz gated from the outside in event seven and led all the way. The win kept him within a single point of the leaders. Faria brought the fans to their feet in the final race of round two. He got a sorry gate, but on lap two the 33year-old went to work. Miller parked while leading, causing the rest of the field except for Faria to slow. Faria left the throttle on and shot to second. - Faria went to the outside in a bid to get by Miller on the last lap, but his poor start cost him and he finished second. At the end of two rounds, he had four points and that was only good enough for fourth place. Faria finally posted his first win of the night in event nine. Coming off gate two, he commandeered the lead at the start and was gone, followed across the finish line by Brad Oxley. Hamill's easiest race was event 10 and he scored the most convincing win of the meeting, crossing the line with a half straightaway lead. Race II saw some controversy. Christian pushed at the starting tapes and got into them .. As he was rolling back, the tapes went up and Schwartz popped into the lead. Referee Phil Moon called for the red £lag and ruled an unfair start, much to the chagrin of the Schwartz fans in attendance. On the restart, Schwartz flew into the lead with Miller right behind him. Christian, who had to win to stay even with Hamill was third. With Schwartz inching away, Miller had a problem in turn two on lap two and Christian took advantage of it and pushed his Weslake through the hole for the number two spot _behind winner Schwartz. By finishing second, Christian dropped a point and Hamill had the overall lead to himself. The third round ended with Lucero winning his second race in three outings. That gave him seven points and he was still very much in the hunt, At that point, Hamill had nine points, Christian and Scwartz had eight, with _ Lucero and Faria on seven. Christian had his easiest race staring him in the face to start round four and he easily ran away from Hannah, Andy Northrup and Josh Larsen. Miller, having an up and down night, won event 14, holding off longtime friend Lance King. Event 15 matched Faria, Schwartz, Collins and Hamill against one another. Everyone but Collins was having a good night, Schwartz, Collins and Hamill got into the tapes and when Hamill pushed them a second time they broke on his front tire. Referee Moon, working his last race, looked at Hamill and pointed to the pits. Hamill was excluded. Hamill pleaded with Moon, but the referee would not budge. Hamill now had little chance of taking the championship. Reserve rider Brent Werner came in to replace Hamill. Faria and Schwartz clashed in the first turn and Schwartz got the _ orst of it, slamming into the w pit gate and bringing out the red flag. Moon told him to join Hamill in the pits. There would be a new champion. Restarted the second time, event 15 was all Faria. He guided his Warren Russell/ShoeilOff-Shore/Scott USAI TsubakilOilzall /Cirello Racingl Coast Grain Weslake to the win, scoring three more points and he would emerge from the round just one point behind Christian. A restart was required after Lucero and Kossuth went down in turn two in event 16. On the next try, Pfetzing took Kossuth and Lucero wide in turn two and Lucero had to back off. Pfetzing took an easy win with Hawley second. Lucero looked to have third after a frantic comeback, but officials gave it to Kossuth in a photo finish. Lucero's title hopes were gone and he was upset. On the slow-down lap, he caught up with Pfetzing on the back straight and pointed a finger in the winner's face. He then vented some anger at the referee in the pits. The last round held two key races, events 18 and 20, the final heats for Faria and Christian. Miller won his third race of the night to end up on nine . points in race 17, but nobody seemed to notice. They were looking twards heat 18which had Faria coming from the outside. Pfetzing was off the pole and he beat Faria off the line. Faria stayedwide and tried to go around Pfetzing. Pfetzing made it hard by leaving very little room against the back chute crashwall. But Faria was on a mission. He pegged the throttle and slid between the wall and Pfetzing with no room to spare. Faria had the lead in tum three and a party broke out in the stands. Faria closed the race with a wheelie and received a roar from the crowd. He had 13 points and would have to wait and see what Christian would do in event 20. Just before event 20 pushed out of the pits, Schwartz assured himself of at least fourth with a win in heat 20: The formula was simple. If Christian won, he would be the new National Champion. If he finished second, he and Faria would have to have a runoff for the crown. If he finished third, Faria was the champ. . Hamill was starting on the pole with Christian out of two. For good measure , former champ Oxley and Lucero were out of three and four. The tapes flew skyward and Christian took a slim lead into turn one. Hamill went hard into the comer and shoved Christian. Hamill then did a 180and threw his bike away, knocking down Christian and Lucero. Out came the red flag. Christian injured a finger and thumb and Hamill hurt his left thigh, but both got up for the restart. This time Christian came off the line first. - - - - - - Continued on page 15

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