Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GICE RACE Big Brothers Charity Indoorlce Race ~ Dan Ingram was disqualified in the main even t after a cras h and a false start. Chuck Springsteen won every race that he competed in. Sprin stenmelts Flint ice g e By G race Di'Benedetto P h otos by Pat Mc Knee FLI/'oo'T, MI, JAN. 25 h uck Spri ngs teen enjoyed a perfect ni gh t of racing a t th e Flint M,C"promoted 32nd Annual Pro Invitational Charity Ice Ra ce, held in the Industrial Mutual Asso ciation SpOTtS Arena. The Big Brothers/ Big Sis ters benefi t event dr ew a nearca pacity cro wd of 3876. This yea r's race marked the 12th tim e th e event has been held indoors. The first of 20 heat races req uired two restarts, as first J ack Mayer, then Tom Daniell e went down in turn two. On the third try, Dan In gram bolted off the line a nd fended off th e racelong charges of Bryan Villella to scor e the win. Chuck Spri ngsteen made his first appearance of the night in hea t two, and grabbed the hol eshot from the outside pole posit ion. Once into th e lead, Springsteen was never cha llenged and cruised to the wi n. Doug O' Boyle lost h is chain in turn th ree on the open ing lap of hea t three and brought out th e red flag. Brian Atherton was fastest off the line at the restart and ro mped away to th e win. Mark Wyskiel missed a traffi c jam in the fourth hea t race a nd scored his first win of th e night, while Vill ell a scored his on ly win in the fifth heat. Ingram scor ed his second win of th e evening in the sixth heat race, as did Wyskiel in hea t number seven. Springsteen was two for two after topping the eighth hea t, while Ingram edged o ut Wyskiel in heat 10 to score his th ird win. Springsteen ma tched In gr a m 's third win by running away with heat I I. In round 12, Gordon Schopiera y rear-en ded leader Greg Sims and sent both of th em to the ground as they headed for the checkers. Tom Danielle was ha ppy to in herit the lead and went on to score the win. Sims and Erik Kinsey jumped th e start in the next race and were sent to the penalty lin e. That left the door wide open lor Larry Pegram, wh o sped off the li ne a nd gree ted the chec kered flag first. Spri ngsteen a nd Ingram faced off in the 14th hea t, but Ingram 's luck ran ou t as he was involved in a first-lap C Greg Sims (10) lost traction and slid out in front of Gordon Schopieray (64). (Le ft to righ t) Randy Goss, Bart Markel , Jay Springsteen , Co rk y Keener and Scott Parker participated in the Race of Champions exhibi tion. Parker (1) passed Springsteen (9) for the exhibition main event win. 26 crash. In gram charged through the pack after restarting on the penalty line, but co uldn' t find a way pas t Springsteen , who scored th e win . Jack Mayer blasted past Camel Pro Series Rookie of the Year Ian Segedy and Brad Lowe in turn two to scor e the win in heat race 15, whi le T om Anderson and Atherton crashed into the wall in the next race, causing a restart. Estep took over on the restart and scored hi s second win of th e night. Springsteen and Vill ell a gated dead even in the next race , but Springsteen was able to slide in to the lead a nd notch yet another victory. Ingram , Estep and Brad L owe topped the final three heats of the night, a nd th e stage was set for the final. Ingram proved a bi t too anxio us a t the start, a nd was sent to the fourthrow penalty line. On the secon d star t, Ingram tangled with Wyski el a nd brought o ut another red flag . Ingram sa t ou t the rest of th e program, as h e was disqualified for ca us i ng tw o restarts. With th at, the race was all Spring·steen 's. Springsteen as sumed co rnmand at th e third start and slid to an uncontested win aboard his Rick Kessler/Bell/Pro ffers Ho n da/Byron Mollosea u /Cu mming's H -D/ Dad· sponsored machine. . A 600cc Ra ce of Ch ampions brought th e crowd to its feet, as a star-studded field h igh lighted the eveni ng's pro gram . Four-time a nd defending Grand National Cham p ion Scoit Pa rker wa s joined by three-time Grand National Champions Jay Springsteen and Bart Markel, two- time Grand National Cham p ion Ra ndy Goss and formerfactory Harley -Da vidso n ri der and Na tio nal winner Co rky Keener. P arker score d the wi n in the exhi bi tio n main even t, and donated his winnings to th e Big Bro thers orga nizatio n. Parker provided a $175 purse for th e 50cc class, and presented six-year-old Cory McDermitt a $100 check for scoring the win. Robbie Wheeler and Brya n Smith were awarded $50 and $25, respectively, for their second and third-place finishes . f:I'I

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