Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA National H S Series ot hoe Round 7: Spokane Play/airRace Track (Lell) Andy Tresser (91) gal the jump on Ihe Tresser, Mayfield storm Spokane By Clay Light SPOKANE, WA, JULY26 ucati. mounted Andy Tress er rod e to a wire-t o-wire win in the 750c( Expert ma in event a t the Spokane Playfa ir Race Track round of the AMA Natio nal Hot Shoe Series , bu t it didn't come w ithout a bit of luck. The Californian from Redwood City took advantage of th e open ing -l ap crash of Spo ka ne's Lonnie Kopp, wh ich forced a r e sta rt an d dra stica lly improved Tresser's pos ition , ult imately enabli ng the National number-91 plate ho lder to take the wi n on the S/ s-mile track and ea rn the accompa nying $1000 payoff. Equally as impo rta nt, it marked th e first dirt track Na tional victo ry of any kind for the Italian Ducati marque. Kopp, the local favorite, ed ged Speedy Kell for second place. Californ ia's Steve Mayfield also used a sim ilar scena rio to take the lead position in the 600cc Expert main event after a restart, which was caused by an overen thus ias tic Mark Co rsetti. Ma yfi eld came from the middle of the front row in the shortened 12-lap, 12-rid er fina l to earn $1000 for his win. Following Mayfield o n the sa n d y h o r se tr a ck w a s Spo ka ne 's Steve Sm ith . Co rsett i o verca me a ro w-three d efi cit to fi nis h in th ird and nab a podium spot. The 34 600cc Expert contes tants were d iv id ed into fo u r heat r aces , w h ich would take the top tw o riders d irectly to the mai n even t on the track, w hich, un til last summer, had n't held mo torcycle races since aroun d 1919. jeff Ann en, O regon's Ryan And er son, Washingt onian Jerry Southworth and j .P. Simonsen were the front-runners in the first heat ra ce. An nen powered his way into an u n touchable lead that wou ld place him on the front row fo r the fina l. And erso n's performance was good en ough for second. Don Wilson, one of a sma ll hand ful D of seasoned riders with oval experience A ~ ~ ou tside of Western Wash ingt on, had a brutal battle wi th Mayfield in the second heat race, follow ed by ano ther tw oway swapfest between Jeff Harsha and Edd ie Dixon , both of whom wen t to the sem i. Mayfi eld and Wilson took transfers. Mickey Fa y, a no the r of th e ride rs best known as a IT specialist, displayed remarkable skills on the oval, as he led the third heat race until teammate Russ Yam amoto got a ro u nd Fay for a win. Robert Dameron ca me fro m w ell behind to close in on Fay, but it was all for naught. Smith led the way in the fourth and fina l heat r ac e. Fellow second-y ear Expert Christian Vernon and Corsetti who won the previous night's Pro-Am did all th ey cou ld to catch Sm ith, but the local rider fended off all com ers to post a win. Verno n s uffered a heart- field during the rest arted 750cc Expe rt main event and wen t on to pilot his Ducat; to Its fi rst Nati onal victory at the Spokane Hot Shoe Nati on al. breaking se tback, losing to Co rse tti, who too k the final d irect transfer at the finish line. Na tiona l number 49 Chris Fitzhug h and Dameron transferred out of the first se m i, w h ile th e sec on d IO-rid er se m i sa w Steve Amd t, w ho w as maki ng h is Expert debut, come from behind to close in on J.P. Simon sen for the win. Tresser' s win in the first of two 750cc Expert heat races was a runaway performanc e with an exclamation mark at the end of it, more than making up for his mid pack show ing the pr ev iou s ni gh t, and also improvin g upon his nas ty practice cras h. Spokane's Larry Marsh , Or ego n's Rex Fisher, an d National numberSI plate holder Kell ba ttled for staging pos itio n s behind Tre sse r , but it wa s Fis her, riding the Kr is KiserHo nda RS750, w ho landed th e number- tw o spo t, ahead of Kell. Kopp led Californian Mike lnderbitzin, Idaho' s Steve Liber ty, Mo nta na's Jeff Dietz, and N a tio na l number 50 Trapper McDaniel to th e fin ish lin e in heat two , earn ing the win. The evening's first main event on the d eep-cu shi on ed tra ck w a s th e 750 cc Expert final. The ra ce w as o r igi na lly sched uled as a 20-1apper, but becau se the program was already ru nni ng behind the tim e schedule, AMA Referee Bob Hill made the call to cu t the main to 12 laps. Liberty, w ho ro de impressivel y in 'q u ali fying, launched out fro nt in th e final, but wh en Kopp crashed , the race 'came to a prem ature halt on lap one. Liberty , th ou g h, couldn't repea t his perform ance on the seco nd take; however , pole-sitter Tresser did. Tresser capi ta Hzed by d a r ti ng o ut fron t o n th e restart with a horizontal hop tha t shut down th e competition, putting him in co mmand out of turn o ne. Liberty ran second , foll owed by Ma rsh and Kell ; Kopp ran mid pack. Ind erbitzin, who on the first staging ran second to Liberty, this time ran sixth behind Kopp - a pos itio n he wa s look ing to drastically improve upon - but he had Fisher br eathing do wn his neck. Kopp, tho ug h, forged ahead, passing by liberty an d then a fadi ng Marsh to join Kell who hadn ' t ridd en a 750cc for six yea rs in a squa bble o ve r seco nd, b r ingin g them closer to Tresser at one po int. Liberty m ai n ta ined the fourth pos itio n, ahead of the lnderbitzin /Fisher clash , w hich Jnd erbitzin would lat er con trol as the RS750 Ho nda of Fisher began smoking badl y, dropping him out of the race. As the sho rtened race wo und do wn, Tresser found himself wi th a tid y lead , a nd the Wirth /BSM Mfg./Har ry Ho ffman-backed rid er scored th e vi ctory· the machine' s fir st in AMA Na tio na l co mpetit ion - ahead of Kopp. Liberty rod e t6 fourth (h is best AMA fini sh ) whil e Inderbitzin nabbed the fifth spot, ahead of Dietz, Marsh and McDaniel. "It feels great to win: ' Tresser sa id from the winner's circle. "I'm glad I was able to win on the Du cati , and 1want to thank all of my spo nso rs . We cou ld n' t have done it wi thout them." Kop p, urged o n by th e hometo wn fans, held on for second "It was rough out there:' Kopp sa id . " 1 ju st kept following Andy . Instead, I sho uld have been a bit more crea tive." Kell was glad to la nd the final podium spot. Of the 12 finalists in the 600cc ma in eve nt, seven held Na tio na l nu m ber s. Co rse tti came off th e lin e wi th a com mand ing lead a t th e s tar t, b u t it w as determi ned by AMA officials - and the boo ing o f th e nearly 3000 specta to rs that he had jumped . May fie ld m ade sh o rt w ork o f th e resta rt by mo tor ing into the lead, ah ead o f Annen and Sm i th . Despite a thirdrow pen alty, Corsetti quickly d isplaced several rid ers to close in on th e tri o of front -runners, but it was Mayfield (after shaking off Annen ) who reeled off seve ra l fas t laps to e n joy a s li m lead . Annen, thou gh, began a descent backwards (this was later d iagn osed as du e to mechanical problems), moving Smith up a no tch. Co rse tti ran third ah ead of Annen and Yamamoto at the m idway po int . Fur th e r back in the p ack, a ba ttle bet ween Wilson and Fay brought them to within striking d istance of Yamamoto and th e ailing Annen, bu t the Sea ttlearea rid ers ran ou t of tim e. Late in the fi nal, Ma yfield m aintai ned a good -sized lead to th e finish, earning him his first AMA Na tiona! victory. "1 looked back at one poin t - someth in g I normall y d on 't d o - a nd there was n' t any bo dy th ere," Mayfield said . "50 I just pu t it on cru ise con trol." Sm ith 's finest Exper t perfo rma nce netted him a popular second- place finish , a hea d o f Cors e tt i - w h ic h was beyond w ha t the Sa n Fran ciscan ha d a nticipa ted , due to his startin g pos itio n. "After 1passed Annen, I had to really rid e hard to close in on Steve ," Corse tti said . "1 wo uld' ve liked to have been up fro nt, but they rod e a better race than I d id ." Annen nu rsed his a il ing Rot ax to fourth ah ead of Yamam ot o, while Wilso n got the nod for fifth ahead of Fay, And erson, Fitzhugh , Arnd t, Simo nsen and Dam eron . 4~ Spokane Playfalr Race Track Spokane, Wash ington Results: July 26, 1997 750 EX: l. Andy TI"CS6Cf (Due); 2. Lonnie Kopp (H· D); 3. Speedy Kell (H -D); 4. Steve Lib..'Tty(H -DI; 5. Mike In d crbi tz in (H -D); b. Jeff D ie tz (H -D ); 7 . La w r en ce r Marsh (H-D ); 8. Tra ppe r McDaniel (H -D); 9. Rex Fishe (Ho n). 600 EX: 1. Ste ve Ma yfiel d (W oK); 2. Stev e Smi th (Rtx); 3. Ma rk Co rse tti (W-R); 4. Jeff Ann en ( Wo K); 5. Russ Yama mo to (W-R); b. Don wilson (Rtx); 7. Mickey Fay (Rtx); 8. Rya n A nd erso n (W· R); Y C hris Fitz hug h . (Ktx); to. Steve Ar ndt (Rtx) ; 11. Joh n Pa ul Sim onse n (Ha n); 12. Robert Dameron (w -RJ. 600 PRO-AM: 1. Todd Ha gma n n (Rh ): 2 . Jim Mon egan (Rtx); 3. Joshua Cu rrey (Rtx); 4. Roo....Tt G rant ' -rma n (W-R); 7. (Rtx); 5. John G rant (Rtx); 6. Thomas Shc. Beau Brow n (W-R); 8. Fra nk Ma rk er (Ho n ); 9. Bria n Watson (Rtx); 10. Todd Somm('fS (Hon); 11. Kerry Kiser (Rtx); 12 Mich.1cl l..olcr. 2SO PR()..AM: I. Shawn Raggio; 2 Tod d Hagmann (Suz); 3. Matt Schweitze r (Ha n); 4. Bob Haskins (Hun); 5. Uan iel Ad kins (Ka w ); 6. Pete Me- eaH (Hon); 7. Jacob t Lati mer (Yam ); 8. Jeff Gabhart (Ho n ); 9. Doug Anne n (Yllm); 10. Brian r aul (Ho n). C ar of Speedway ivilW Victory for the North By M. Sober AUBURN, CA.JULY 25 or th e seco nd yea r in succession, th e Nort hern Cal ifornia speedway team took the win over its Sou thern Ca lifornia cou nterpar t in what is ga ining mom entum as o ne of the fines t races of the yea r : the a nn u a l Ci vil War of Speedway a t Auburn' s Go ld Co u ntry Fa ir g rounds. Afte r end uring the fir st thr ee years of the event in non -cornpetitive frustra tion, the No rthern team final ly ac hi eve d vic to ry in 1996, and th is yea r it fo ll owed w ith a no th er win despite the fact that the Southern team had fortified its ranks with the likes of tw o-time U.S. N at ional Speed way Cham p ion "Flyi n'" Mike Faria and 1987 U.S. National Ch ampion Brad Oxley. The event was s taged in five parts, with four rounds of four heat ra ces followed by a fina l round of two races: the B Main , and th e po in t-hea vy . A Ma in . Two rid ers from each team would comp ete i n e ve ry h eat, w it h indi vidu al poi nts awarded in the standard cha mp ionship format of three poi nts for a win, tw o for second, one for third , and no r e wa r d fo r la s t. The B M ain p o i nts would be worth d ouble what could be ea rned in the heat ra ce, whil e the A main was worth (ou r times the value of hea t-race scores. Afte r all the rid er s were introduced to th e en thus ias tic se llo u t crow ds, the o peni ng hea t got u nd erway in g ra nd fa s h io n as s peedway icon Bo b by "Boogaloo " Schwartz was th e firs t off the line from his insid e starting position, only to have local favorite Bart Bast pas s him on the inside line and take ove r the lead e a r ly in th e seco n d la p . Bas t' s N o rt h ern te amma te Bob 'H icks go t a ro und Gary Ac kroyd, a nd the North had its first hea t win, taking four points to th e Sou th' s two. Cu rrent N atio nal Speedway Cham pion Ste ve Luce ro got the South rollin g with a wi n in the seco nd heat, on ly to have Lo ui s Kossuth a nd Jim m y Sisemore ta ke th e second a nd t h ird s po ts , a h ead of Andy N or thru p, w hich resulted in a d raw three points for each team. In fact, the tea ms were so evenlJ! rnatched that the remaining two heats end ed with each team garnering three points. Mik e Faria won the third heat, ah ead of the No rth's Bobby Hedden a nd Dave Faria, while th e fourth heat went to former AMA Class C junio r N ational Cha m p io n Chad Fel icio, who took th e ch ec kers ahead of Brad O xley and Costa Me sa Fair Derby win ner Shawn McConnell. The N orth held a narrow lead after one round, I3-1O. F

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