Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS -~~[ti!l(ffJth~~f' .~ way S idecar Championship .~ .'-~. • Miss ion Yamaha riders Pete r Lewis and Jamie Macy powered to l!II perfect 1S-polnt score on the ir way to winn ing the U.S, National Speedway Sideca r Champ ionship at Fast Fridays Speedway on the Gold Country Fair gro unds In Au burn. Call1ornla. By M. Sober Photo by Gen Moore 36 AUBURN, CA. sm. 5 eteran Kiwi Sidehack rider Peter Lewi s team ed up with American Jamie Ma cy to win the 1997 U.S. National Speedway Sidecar Champ ionship for their M is si on Yamaha sponsor at the Fast Fridays speedway oval on the Gold Country Fairgrounds in Auburn. The N ew Zealand team of Duane Carmont and Richard Taling wa s strong throughout the event, but fell two points off ,the p erfect p ace se t by Lewis and Macy and had to settl e for second place . Kiwi s dominated the podium spots, as third place went to the team of Chubby Morrow and Slip Chapman, who fin ished just a single point shy of se cond place, despite ope rating on a borrowed bike in their last heat. Alth ough the sidecars circle the track in the opposite direction of thei r speedway-b ike count erp a rt s, th e sideca r championship points system works the sa me: four rig s pe r heat, with three p o ints to the winner, two for secon d place, one for third an d zero for last. Le w is and M a cy o pened th e fi r s t round wi th a perfect ga te, leaving the 911 te am o f Struan Glass and Deio n Stokes to battle with O yde Dennen an d Scott Cole for second place. Dennen and Cole moved clear in the second lap and too k the tw o points for second place. In th e secon d h e at, Dirk Gardner a n d Dou g Lynch go t out of the starting lanes first but got moved back to second place w hen the Kiwi te a m of M o rrow a nd Chapman m oved th em off th e in side line in lap number tw o. T-shirt baron s Carmont a n d Tal in g owned th e fina l heat of the opening ro u nd whe n th ey w ent wire to wire on their Fit zg erald Pub /Technic Leather s /Cycle Rider / Bikers Dream Honda. Bob Brayton and Parke Weaver followed in second, wh ile third place went to Allen Hall and Dirk Votaw. Glass and Stokes jumped out to the earl y lead in the first heat of round two, onl y to have Brayton and Weaver take the front-running spo t away from them down on the in side line as the pair of teams exited tu rn two in the opening lap. The jeff Carr / Mike Moreno team sco red it s only points of the meeting when it took starter Mark joiner's checkered flag for thi rd place. "1 knew whoever wins the secon d h eat of round two wou ld win th e night," said Richard Taling, and he was right: Lewis and Macy won th e battle over Taling and his driver, Duane Carm ont, to maintain their perfect s core. Th e Am erican team of Dirk Gardner and Doug Lynch were first away at the start, but were di spl aced from th e lead by Lewis and Macy before one revolution was complete. Carmont and Taling got a poor start but quickly made up for lost time, fo llowing Lewis a nd M acy in si de Gard ne r a n d Lync h and th en attacking the triple seve n of Lewis and Macy to assume th e lead at th e en d of lap two. Lewis and Macy would have none of it and they bullied th eir way forward again, retaking the lea d at the thre e- la p m a rk. Mean w hile, Gar d ne r and Lynch had won the battl e for third over Morrow and Lynola, and were still within striking distance of the lea ders when the laws of physics intervened they cou ld n' t contai n th eir momentum in the final tum and ended up spi nni ng in tum three with no points . Hall a nd Vo ta w rode the Sammy Tanner-Arai / Mesa M u ffle r / Technic Leather s / 3 Broth ers Kawasaki to the win to d ose ou t the second round, win- rung despite trading the lead wi th Dennen and Cole on tw o occasions. Czech d river josef Petragl o vic teamed with former sp eed w ay rider Brian Sei p to ta ke th i rd p la ce . A ft er tw o r ounds, Lewis and Macy led th e w ay wi th six points, th e Brayt on /Weaver and Carmon t / Taling teams were each one point back w ith five, an d th e Hall / Votaw, Morrow / Chapman and Dennen / Cole teams were at four points apiece. Morrow and Chapman got back to winning i n th e th ird-round opener when they took the lead from the beginn ing, holding off a serio u s ch all enge from Gardner and Lync h that saw one of the closest finishes of the nig ht. Hall and Votaw were third, and fourth went to Glass and Stokes, who garnered their firs t goose egg o f the m eeting. Lewis and Macy took their th ird win of th e night in the next heat, as Dennen and Cole maintained a close vigil but could find no way around th e di aled -in triple seven and sett led for second place. The closing ride of ro u n d three featured Brayton an d Weaver in battle with Ca rm ont and Tailing· bo th team s sa t o n five points coming in to the ro und and didn' t want to fall any fu rther back of Lewis and Macy a t th is p oint in th e night. Brayton and Weave r go t th e holeshot, but Carmont and Talin g got another poor start and had to contend with spoilers Petraglovic and Seip, who ' got off the blocks in a hurry and were running in second behind Brayt on and Weaver. By the end of the second lap, Cannont and Tali ng had bumped their wa y around Petraglovic and Seip, and were sitting on the rear bumper of Brayton and Weaver. As the two teams made their way to ward th e checkere d flag. Carmon t drove his rig deep into the final tum and took the good insid e line away fr om Brayton and Wea ver · as w ell as th e three po ints and th e wi n. Lewis and Macy's lead s to od at nine points, one ahead of Carmont and Taling and tw o a h e a d of th e Brayton /Weaver an d Morro w / Cha pman teams. Dennen and Cole were in first place when th e first heat of th e fourth round ran th ro ug h th e first se t o f tu rn s, but Marrow an d Chapman had the bette r lo w line a nd pushed thro u gh to the fro nt to s lay by th e close o f la p two. Dennen a n d Col e had the ir fo u rth s t ra ig h t seco n d-p la ce fi nis h. Glass/ Stokes battled handlin g prob lems and stro lled across the line in third pl ace. The team of Brayton an d Weaver m issed the s tart w ith mechanical ill s and sa w their cham pionship total drop five p oints o ff th e pace. Lewis and Ma cy co n tin u ed to forge ahead with their pe rfect score, taking a win on their Mission Yam aha/ Cy cle Rid er / Continental Radiator Yam aha over Hall and Vot aw and the Petraglovic /Seip team. Gard ner and Lyn ch gol their first wi n of th e meeting in th e ne xt heat, tak in g . va luable points from Cannont and Taling in th e process. Gardner and Lynch assumed the initial lead, o nly to have the Cannont/Taling team take the lead back on lap two . Gardner a nd Lynch then pu lled o ut all the ir tricks, staying within a few fee! of th e front-runners and then pulling out a daring last -lap p ass that ne tt ed them th e o ne-bikelength win. With one round still to go, Lewis an d Macy had increased th eir s lim points lead to two over the Carmont /Taling a nd Morro w / Ch ap m an teams, 12-10. For the fourth straight tim e, the Kiwi team of Ca nnon t and Taling go t ou tga ted at the start, only to come back this time to cla im th e win ahea d of Petraglovi c and Seip and origi nal race,leaders Glass and Stokes. Cannont and Taling fin ished their n ight's w ork wi th 13 po ints and had to sit back and hope that so meone co u ld kn ock off Lewis a n d Macy in their final healBut Lewi s and Macy put all the upset speculation to rest in the next heat, taking th e s ta r t and the three-point w in against the Gardner/Lynch and Hall /Votaw teams. Glenn McClellan and Chris jones br oke into the winner's column in the fin al heat, and in th e process they re legated Morrow and Chapman to the runner-up spot, which pushed the m to 12 points for the event. Morrow and Chapman fin ished in the third spo t overall, despite having to ride the Gardner/Lynch rig after th eir own ride came up with a flat tire . With their perfect score, the team of Peter Lewis and Jamie Macy wer e crow ned a s the 1997 U .S. N a ti onal Speedway Sidecar Champions, an hon or that Peter Lewis also share d with Craig Dempst er whe n th ey rod e together in the 1989 season , "Two years ago, w e h it th e wall in o ur fi rs t ride a nd it m essed u s u p a ll n ig ht," th e p leased Peter Le wis said after the race as he sip ped his victory cha m pagne. "I wa tched the video of that race before we carne up here and, after I saw th e shape of the track during the introductions, I knew what gear to run, and it sure worked out good for us." 'C' Gold Country Fairgrounds Auburn, California Results, Sept embe r 5, 1997 OIA: 1. Peter l...wi~ lJ.amie Mary (Yam ) 15; 2. 0u.aJw0 Cumont / Ric h.ard Tollin g (H on ) 13; .1. Ch u b by Ma rrow I Slip ChapmAn (Ka w) 12; 4. Dirk G4t'd n~ r l Doug Lynch (Kaw) 9; 5. (TIE) Allen Hall /Dirk vo ta w (Ka w), Cl yde De nnen / Sco tt Cole (Ya m) 8; 7. Bob Bra yt on /Puke Wea ver (Ho n) 7; 8. (TI E) j Ol'l l'f Petragl ovic /Brbn Sel p (J(a w ), Struan Glur;. / Deion Stokes {Kaw } 5; 10. Glenn McCJt.lI.;m /dtri!i j0nt'5 (Kaw) 4; 11. I..1fC",rr/ MiM> MOWflO (Kaw ).

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