Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Track points leader Mike Faria (front) put it all A MAIProstarU M .S. otorcycle N ationals together to win the Scratch and Handicap ma in eve nt s at the Co sta Mesa Speedway in Californ ia. (Below) Speedway icon Bobby Schwartz gasp s in disbelief as he Ins pects the contesta nt s during Skirt Night at Costa Mesa Speedway. Clark cranks at Atco By Matt Polito ATCO, Nj, SEI'T. 57 he AMA /Prostar motorcycle drag racing series moved into the second half of its season w ith the running of th e pre s tig io u s U.S. Mo to rcycl e Na tionals at Atco Racew ay. The eve nt is the longest-running in the sport and has been held at Atco under nu merous sanctioning bodies for the last 33 years. The Ori ent Express Funnybike Showdown field was surpris ing ly light, wit h only eig ht bikes making qualifying runs. Tom Perry led q ua lifyi ng with a 6.88second charge o n his MRE Suzuki bu t failed to ma ke the final when his transmission broke in the semifinals against Keith Lyn n. Lynn, w ho has been ha mpere d by fuel-delivery and handlin g problems all season, d ropped his second final of th e yea r, losing to Ga ry Clark in the m o n ey rou n d . C la rk wa s off hi s usual 6.70-second pace throu gh out th e event but managed to cla im his fourth event win in a row . Cl ar k b rings a n almos t insurmountable 86-point ad van tage over Perry goi ng into the last two races of the seaso n. Ton y Sabino led the Fast by Gast Pro Modified field with a po le-sitting 6.97 elapsed time to take the top qualifying positi on fo r th e second race in a row. Sabi no looked to be the man to beat o n Sunday with low ela psed time of th e first two ro und s, but his Fran co's Pe rformance machine sputtered in the semifi nal s, allowing Rick Bunting to ad vance. On th e other s id e of th e la dd e r , p oints le a d e r and d efend in g se r ies champio n Billy Vose, who qualified second at 7.00, ran a pair of 7.020 and then caught a br eak w hen the resu rge nt Ed O senkows ki s tu m b le d . Vo se, w ho debu te d h is new Koenig b ike a t the event, ran a 7.21 and was there for the takin g. But Ose nko ws ki, who qu alified th ird at a caree r-best 7.06 and was runn in g co nsis te n t 7. I s in eli mi natio ns, broke an d coasted to an 8.47. In the final. Vose go t the hulesh ot but could n' t ho ld off Bunting's Fast by Gast Suzuki. Vose ran 7.18 a t a slowing 166 mph as Bunting pu t toge ther a 7.06/88 to take his first win since the '96 Thunder Nationals. Paul Gast has dominated the Lectron Pro Stock series this season, bu t he got some se rious co m pe titio n from some NHRA regulars at Atco. Gast ran a persona l-bes t 7.38 in qualifying but. had to settle for th e second s p ot as Dave Sch u ltz, ru nn ing a Greg Cope-built 1500cc four-valve engine, took the pole with a 7.37. Ca st, who is one of the best leavers in Pro Stock, suffered a rare holesh ot loss in round two when Stephanie Reaves, runnin g a n N H RA - Iega l two-valve mot or, used a .426 reacti on time to post a 7.4S and take out Gast's quicker 7.42. Rea ves lost to the Slick 50 bike of St eve Johnson in the se m if inals, and Schu ltz took out Dave Lang. who is second in the Prosta r points. jo hnson got the ho lesho t in the final but bogged and T Costa Mesa Speedway Faria doubles up By Elaine Jones COSTA MESA, CA, SEPT. 13 t took a lmost all of the season to do it, but current Costa Mesa point>; leader Mike Faria pu t it all toget her Satu rday night and won both the Scratch and I , ...... .... Q) ..a o ..... u o 30 Ha nd ica p ma in even ts at Costa Mesa Speedway. In the first Scratch heat, it was veteran Lance King who got the jump on the field as he o u tgated Gary Hicks and Cha rlie Cooley. Bobby Schwartz, who would have been a major player, lost hi s chain off th e line and could only watch from the infield as King and Hicks picked up the two transfer spots. Northern California's Bart Bast blasted off the pole in the second heat and went wire to wire for the win. Shawn McConnell was an easy second when bike problems sidelined both Rand y DiFrancesco and Ed Castro. Faria, out of gate four, held school in the th ird Scratch heat as he rea d the gate pe r fectly a nd showed th e boys ho w it's d o ne. Gary Ackroyd got by Jo hn Ad en on the white-flag lap a nd bea t him by the s limmest of margins for the seco nd transfer spot. -. Bra d Oxley and Charlie Venegas w ere a s tudy in co n trasts in the final Scratch hea t. Oxley, out of one, a nd, Venegas, out of two, ride Costa Mesa completely differently - and both make it wo rk. Oxley cut a grea t gate and dropped right down on the PVC lining of the track, w h ile Ve negas took the scenic ro ute, getting way outside in the d ir t and ma king that work . At Costa Mesa, that can get you into trouble, but Venegas had more tha n enough to outrun Steve Furman and Brian Pappalardo, and he finis hed second to Oxley. Ve negas took charge in the first Scratch semi as he totally outgated the field and went out o n top, never to be cha llenged. King. who has n' t been racing most of the season, was impressive as he pic ked up second and the direct transfer to the Scratch ma in. Th e o nly pass came when Ackroyd go t arou nd Bast on the second lap . Hicks, an other rider who has not been active most of the season, was also mak ing up for lost tim e - he ra n away wi th the second Scratch semi. Hicks got th e jump o n Faria - and once he is on top, not m ay people can get a ro un d Hicks. Faria was co ntent to take secon d and the transfer, as th ey wo uld go aga i n in the main. The last-ch an ce quali fier had the final spot, and it was Bast, off the po le, wh o put it all togeth er, wi th so me help fr om Oxley, who touc hed the tapes and ended up not even starting. Ac kroyd can i n to bike p rob lems, an d McConnell was the onl y one to take a ru n at Bast, bu t he just coul d n't get the job do ne. The luck of the draw put King on the pole; Faria d rew two , with Venegas in the middle of th e track, in three. Bast had the number-four slot and, on the far outside, in five, sa t Hicks. On th e firs t try at a go, it came down to too many people trying to get through th e first tum a t th e same tim e. Kin g end ed up sitting on his handlebars, and Hicks was up next to th e wa ll, checki ng ou t the fine print on the advertisements. Every one lined up to give it another try, and th is time it w as Veneg as who cut th e best gate, bu t it was Faria wh o dialed it up a notch and won the race to the first comer. Venegas tried to make the ou tside work, but this tim e all it did wa s drop him back a place eve ry tim e they made a lap . Hicks was the first to get by, and then King also took the low line and got through. On the whi te-flag lap, King and Bast both got by Hicks as he slipped off the groo ve, a nd it wa s Faria, King a n d t hen Bast in the winner's ci rcle. Venegas loo ked to have so m e kind of bike problem, as he was checking his pipe whe n the first red flag carne out on the first start - and if things a ren't righ t, he will not risk wreck in g an engine. Hicks may also have developed a problem afte r his crash , as he, too, is usually in the hunt. The lineup for the Handicap main had Brian Burch all alone on the l D-yard line, DiFrancesco with the 20 all to him self, and Ackroyd and King sharing the 3O-yard line . Schwartz and Bast, tw o very seasoned veterans, were on the 40, with McCo nn ell a nd Fa ria on th e 50. Burch had the ad va ntage and it wa s enough to give him a comforta ble lead for three laps. That was also all it took for Faria to sta rt kn ocking on his door, and the roo kie cracked under the pr essure, slipped off the groove and went down, caus ing the red flag to come out. It was a stagg ered restart, wi th Faria in the lead - a nd that was all he needed as he smelled a double win . When the gate came up, Faria said adios to the rest o f the field and, with a very quick four laps left, there was no doubt who would be the win ner. King wa s right there for second , wi th McConnell picking up the sho w mon ey. The fa ns got to se e the '96 and '97 ju nior National Cha mpion, " Flyi n ' " Ryan Fisher, in a match race with "flying" Mike Faria . Because Fisher only has a 250cc motor, Fa ria was handicapped appropriately. Th ey ran two th ree-la p races and - su rprise , surp rise - Fisher won both of them . With two more years as a Junior, FISher will be a major player when he tu rns 16. Th ere were three heats of si decars , and it came down to four teams. Loading into the main, it was Jeff Carr and Mike Moren o o n th e pole. Dean Stee le and Dwayne King, aboa rd th e Orange Cou n ty Harle y-Davidson-sponsored Go d d e n, wer e in two, w ith j oe Petrga lovic and Jack Straw in th ree. From th e o u ts ide ga te, it w a s th e Mis sion Ya ma ha team of John Ma therson a nd Scott Cole. The first try at a go had the red com e ou t before one lap went in the book s . Th e bullring is ju st n o t bi g enoug h for three rigs to com e out of a tum running side by side. This becam e ve ry evident when they were kissi ng the wall and shaking hands wi th each other. On the seco nd restart, Carr and Moreno • jumped in to the lead - but it was sho rtlived, as Matherso n and Col e ou tmotored th em and too k ove r the top spo t on the second lap . Steele and King had only gotten one lap in the books when it appeared that thei r throttle had broken. Petrgalovic and Straw filled the gap and picked up th e sho w money. Brad Saur p ick ed up the Support main when it was cut short. His bro ther Robbi e wa s sec ond, with David Lynch thi rd . Sea n Larned topped Mik e Lupo and Frank Pecce to win the Support B 0 : class. Costa Mesa Speedway Costa Mesa , california Results: september 13, 1997 SCR: 1. \t ike- Farid (G M); 2.. Lance King (W~); 3. fl.trt 1M (CM) ; 4. C.ary Hich (W~); 5. Charli£' Vt"!lI."8a-" '\f (CM) . nncr: 1. Mikl" Faria (G M); 2.. Lar'lCl" King (Wt"\); 3. Sha wn McConndl (C..In); 4. 8.lrt 8.lst (GM); 5. Bobby x hw.u tz (C M). s nCA K: 1. B. Math~non / S . Co l ~ (Ya m) ; 2. J. Carr j M. Mo re n o (Ya m); 3 . J. Pdrga lo vic /} . Str a w (Ka w); -t D. Sc:~ld D. King (Gd n). . SU P: 1. Brad s"u r (jaw); 2. Robble Sau r (jaw); 3. Dav id Lyn ch (jawa); 4. Do n Upton (jaw); 5 . Br ian lbomJ"lOn (ja w). SUP B: 1. St-an Larned (j dW); 2. Mike Lupo (jaw); 3. FMnk Pecce (jd W); 4. Peter Cu rti-" (W~).

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