Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS ay Championship EDrrED BY CAMERON C OATNEY Lucer o fell and collected ye t a no ther las t-p lace fini sh . Bennett s tay ed ahea d of Matt Becker to collect tw o points for second, his best finish of the event. Bast too k a much -n e eded win in th e next heat, and Castro shoc ked Kossuth and Venegas in even t 16 w he n he br ou gh t the crowd to its feet with a spe ctacu lar o uts ide swoop th at ca r rie d th e Ojai native to the win. Venegas held on to secon d, but Ko ssu th 's ch ances we re dealt a severe blow when he fell and failed to gather any points. At the end of fou r rou nd s, Sisemore led the wa y with 11 points out of a possible 12, whi le Venegas, Bast an d Hed den were all tied at 10 point s each. Hedd en ' s cha nces fo r th e cha m pi ons hip we nt down the d rain in the first race of th e fin al rou nd, whe n th e real Lucer o decided to sho w up: H e rode a quick ga te to vic to ry to score his on ly points of the meeti ng. Hedden held on to second place an d tallied up 12 points for the night. Hedden's onl y chance lay in the hope that Venegas, Sisemore and Bast would drop points in the next two heats. Sisem ore did drop a point when Venegas beat him in the next ride, but Bast he ld off Kossuth and Schwartz to forc e a three- way runoff fo r the title . Linn got into the victory column in the final sched uled heat and Castr o got second, which pushed his eve nt total to 10. That left Castro in a tie wit h Kossu th for fifth pl ace overall. Sisemore drew th e p ole for the runoff, but it was Venegas who got the holes hot ou t of starting lane three. Bast got out of the blocks last, but managed By M. Sober Photo by Ge n Moore AUBURN, CA,AUG. 29 harlie "The Edge" Venegas finally won a major Am erican S~d· way title when he ou td istan local Northern California riders Bart Bast and Jim my Sisemore to ta ke the 1997 California State Speedway Championship . "I had my.hands full with th ose gu ys all night," said Venegas, wh o has been rid ing in the British League for the bet ter part of the last couple of seasons. "I di d n' t know if my [awa had enough left in it to beat those lay-d owns tho se gu ys were runn in g. I brought a m ot or with me, but I swi tched to a backup when I saw what th ese other guys were riding ." In the opening heat of the first round, Bobby Hedden got the s tart, ahead of Bob Hicks a n d Nor thern California points champion Bart Bast . Bast ma naged to get pas t Hicks for se co nd but cou ld not catch th e fleeing Hed d e n . Sisemo re got out in fro nt in th e next heat, only to have Aubu rn track champi0 0 Louis Kossuth fly by on the inside to take over th e lead. Kossuth stayed u p front until tum four on lap three when he overslid, allo wing Sisemore to retake th e lead and th e th ree points. Venegas ma de a ni ce start in heat three, leaving se co nd place to speedway icon Bobby "Boog aloo" Schwartz . Seventeen-yearold Billy Janniro sto rmed past veteran Pat Linn to take the win in the fina l heat of the first round. Hedden op ened the secon d round w ith another win, while Venegas finished second and d ropped his first poi nt of the meeting. Kossuth dominated the next heat, ahead of Linn an d Dave Faria. The thi rd he at of round tw o proved to be up to its hot pre-race billing - and then some - as Sisemore and Bast met 30 for the first time. Sisem ore got the start a n d le d t he race unt il th e final turn, where he faltered ever so sligh tly. Bast (Above) Charlie Venegas (leade r) won hi s first maj or American Speedway title by bea ting Bart Bast (second) and J immy Sise mo re In a tie-breaker runoff to w in the California Stale Speedway Championship at the Auburn Speedway. (Right) Venegas (far left) gels the jump at the start of the title-decidln g runoff. tho ught he sa w the cha nce he had been looking for and dived for the winning pass, but Sisemore recovered his line and the two stubbo rn veterans ca m e togeth er as they hit on the front straightaway. Bast wen t across th e line first while Sisemore and his Jawa finished second, separately. Eddie Castro won the last heat of round two, ahead of the sp unky Janniro and Schwartz. Steve Lucero, 1996 state champion, contin ued his backwa rd s li de with h is second straight goose eg g. , . Hedden o pened up th e th ird rou nd with the only remaining perfe ct score, bu t fell p rey to th e quick-gati ng Kossuth. Hedden tried every trick he knew to pass Kossuth but could not ge t past th e s moo th-ridi ng veteran, d e s pite alm ost tak ing th em both out late in the race. Schwartz got his firs t win in th e next ride, besting the struggling Hicks and Chad Feli cio . Luce ro go t th e best start in even t 11, but cou ld only watch in amazeme nt as Venegas, Bast and, finally, Lin n passed him, leaving him with his third consecutive pointless ride. Venegas go t his se co nd w in , and the pre-race favo rite, Bast, took se co n d place, dropping another cha mpionship point in the process. Sisemore took the final win of the th ird round, reel ing in Kelly Bennett, who was off the starting line first but who eventually d ropped off the pace and ended up las t. Eddie Castro took second place. Sisemore m ade the most of bac k-toback rides, as he too k th e th ree-point win over Hedden despi te his insist ent aggress iveness that, at one point, saw hi s front wheel in sid e the p ole in a n attempt to avoid s lam ming into Sisemore. Sch wartz contin ue d h is su bpar perfonnance wi th a disqualification for touching the starting tapes after the rid ers were staged . In th e second heat of round four, Hicks got hi s first wi n of the night, taking over w hen race le a de r to slide into seco n d p lace when Sisemo re parked sligh tly in tu rn four on the o pening lap. Bast immedia te ly wen t after Venegas, but Bast had the rac e dia led . " M a n, I started (rid ing) he r e at Auburn and now I'm the state champ! I can't believe it," said the dearly overw helmed Ve negas. Bas t finished second, and the final podiu m spot went to th e luckless Si se mo re , w ho actua lly rode well enough to win the event but ca me up short. Hedden finished one p oint out of the runo ff and in fou rth pl ace. '" Auburn Speedway Auburn, Cal iforina Res ults: August 29. 1997 CALI FO RN IA STA TE CHA M PIONS HIP: 1. Ch arlir Vl!"nega" (Jaw) ; 2. Bar t Ba" l UolW ); 3. Jimmy SiM"mO~ Uaw); 4. Bobby Hedden craw}; 5. (TIE) LoW" Kossu th Oaw) / Eddie Castro Oaw); 7. Pat Linn (GM); S.(TIE) Bobby Schwartz (GM)/ Bob Hick~ Uaw) /Bill y Jann iro Oaw); 11. (TIE) Chad Felicia Uaw)/Matt Becker (Jaw); 13 .(T IE ) Ste ve Lu ce r o (GM) /David Faria Oaw) / Kelly Bennett Oaw ); 16. Gary Ackroyd Oaw },

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