Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EVENTS (Left) Andy Northrup (front) cam e alive to win the Scratc h main ev ent at the final race of th e regu lar Costa Mesa Speedway season in California. (Above) Shawn McConnell (front) overcame a bad crash to w in the Handi cap main In Costa Mesa. Costa MsaSpeedway e Northrup & McConnell end season on top By Elaine Jones Photos by Mike Basso COSTAMESA, CA, SEPT.20 n the fi nal night of the regu lar speedway season at Cos ta Mesa, the firs t-divis ion rid ers were ge tting their final tuneu ps for the Nati on al in tw o weeks. And y ort hru p ha s reall y co me alive th is last mon th , and he ca me away th e winner o f th e richest race of th e night - th e Scr a tch mai n . Sha w n McConnell came fr om lon g ya rdage ti> finish up his very successfu l se aso n with th e Hand icap m ain O w in . r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... 00 .... QJ .0 a .... u o 60 The first Scratch heat sa w Faria, ou t of the num ber-tw o gat e, ge t the d rop on th e rest of the field and win the qui ck four-Iapper. Northru p cam e from the o uts ide a n d go t und erneath Ja son Chis m on the second lap to come away wi th second, w hic h was all he needed to transfer to the Semi . It was Bart Bas t who came out of the number-two ga te a nd led th e second heat fro m start to finish. Steve Lucero, th e reig ning National Cha m pion w ho m o ved to Northern California a few mo nths ago, had the second spot from the ge t-go an d he a lso mo ved up the ladder . Bobby Schwa rtz, " The Master of the Gate," again proved he is as he came off the po le in the third heat , and tha t was all she wrote - he went wire to wire for th e w in . Cha rlie Ve negas, the newly crow ne d Ca lifo rn ia Sta te Cha m pion, had no trouble pickin g u p second and he moved to the next level. The final round b el onged to McConnell . McConnell drew th e pole and outga ted Brad O xley . Th ey both ride the low line and we re heel to toe all four laps, wit h McConnell holding his position to the chec kered . Ox ley finis he d second a nd a lso moved up the program. The first Scra tch semi had Bast still o n a roll as he ca me off the pole and rode the same line tha t Schwartz has foun d SO successful. It worked for Bast he led from start to finish : Oxley, aga in out of two , went down low an d picked up the second spo t and both riders went to the main. Faria and Venegas were trying to make the ou tside work and settled fo r thir d a nd fo urth, and would have to hope the las t-chance q ua lifier would ge t them into the main. Northru p was like a ma n possessed as he blasted out of gat e two in the second semi and held the position for the win. McConnell gave it a good try but had to settle for seco nd , whic h wa s all he need ed to make the main. The lineu p fo r th e LCQ would be a m a i n event a nywhere, any ti me. Schwartz d rew the pole, Faria was in tw o, Lucero had three, and on th e fa r outside was Veneg as. The bes t talent in th e co un try were abo ut to go head to head, with o nly o ne able to go to th e main. It was Venegas who cu t the bes t ga te, w i th Lu ce r o h ot on h is heels . Schwar tz an d Fari a got real up dose an d personal comi ng out of tw o on the first lap as th ey litera lly elbowed for position . Schwartz won the battl e and came away w ith th ird . Un fortun ately, o nly one wo uld go to the main - and that was Veneg as. It was No rt hru p wh o drew the pole for the Scra tch main. McConnell was in two and Venegas in three. Oxley was in four and Bast was on the far outside, in five. The first try at a start saw Venegas touch the tapes, and his ma in-e vent ho pes were over. Th e second try saw Bast get the bes t gate, but it w a s Northrup who fought him for position, moving Bas t out into the marbles as he took ove r the lead. Bast ran secon d but tried to ma ke the outsi de work, and that was all McConnell need ed to get underneath and work the po le, whi ch he does so we ll. Bast dosed the door o n Ox ley and was able to come away wit h a third . A ltho ug h McCo n nell tried to m o ve No rthrup out , it was not to be and th e "Enforcer" ( orthrup) had hi s Scratch main win. Brian Pappal ardo and Paul Binnquist shared the l o-yard line in the Handicap main and no one was on the 20. Castro an d No rthru p claimed the 30 and O xley and Bast had the 40. Back on the 50 were Faria a nd McConnell. Eve ryo ne w ondered if Faria could win the main from the 50 for the th ird time in a row. Th e answe r came q uickly. Pappal ard o broke out o n top. with Binnq u is t in second and Northrup third . Northru p mo ved Binnquist off the groove an d beg an to put the pressure on Pappalardo. Meanwhile. Bast, McCo nnell and Faria had all moved to within striking d istance. On the fifth lap, the fi rst tu rn got ve ry cro wded as North rup, McConnell and O xley all tr ied to ru n the sa me line. It ended up with everyone on the ground and McConnell d oi ng a serious parts check on his bnd y. Wh en a ll was said and done, No rthru p was deemed the cause and not allowed to restart. It was a single-file resta rt , w it h Pa ppalardo first, McConnell seco nd and Faria third. It only took McConn ell one lap to catch and p ass Pa p pala r do; Far ia a nd Ba st took foil advantage of the situa tion and moved in to second a nd third , respecti vel y. With o ne lap to go ; McConnell made the low line wo rk and he was the firs t o ne to th e chec ke re d, wit h Faria pickin g up the pla ce spot and Bast the show money. T he Sid eca rs were not even sc heduled to race, bu t when a dozen showed u p , th e p ro mo ter s g racio u s ly added them to the show. They also gave them an eight-lap main event that turned out to be a free- for-all. Off the line, it was Duane Ca rm o n t an d Rich ard Ta il in g wit h the lead, and they held on for tw o laps b e fore Bo b Bra yto n a nd Pa r ke Weaver took over by going undern eath o u t of tu rn four. O ne la p late r, John Matherson and Scott Cole d id the sa me thing an d th ey were running o n to p . Brayton and Weaver came right back at the m and reclaim ed the top spot as they got the drive out of four, and the y held it to the checkered flag. Matherson and Co le got the seco nd, with Carmont and Tailing in third. Tim Tucker go t his first main-event win as he won the Su pport class, to pping Bob by C a m p bell a n d To m Winchell. Su p port B honors w ent to Rick Bish op, w ith Kevin Ward sec ond and Scott Mersereau thi rd . ." cesta Mesa Speedway Costa Mesa . California Resu Rs: September 20, 1997 SCK: I. And y Northrup Uaw}; 2. Shawn McConnell (e M) ; 3. B.trt &e.i (CM) ; 4. Brad Oxley (W es), S. Charl~ Vent>g.b (CM). HDCP: 1. Sh.wn McCon nell (GM); 2. Mike F.uia (e M ); 3. Bart B. t (GM ); 4. Brad Oxley (Wes); 5. Ed Ca!Otru (Jaw). ·S DC A R: I. B. Bray to n/P. Wea ver (Ho n); 2. J. Mdlhl'f"SOn/ S. Cole (Yam); 3. D. Cl rmo nt /R. Tail ing (Hon); 4. S. Mo rrow rc:Cha pma n (Suz). SU P: 1. Tim Tu cker t wes). 2. Bobby Ca mp be ll (Wes); 3. Tom Winchdl (jaw); 4. Marvin Sonn~ (Ja w ); 5. Brya n lbomp!OOn (jaw). SUP B: 1. Rid. Bi..hup (\'Ves); 2. Kevin Wan! (j.I w ); . 3. Scott Men;l."I"\"il U (JolW 4. Tim Reilly (Ja w ). ); G AFallM otocrossSeries,Round 2 Preston pulls through i By Greg Robertson PALMDALE, CA, SEPT. 21 he s hi fti ng sands of Los Angeles Cou nty Ra ce w a y played host to rou nd two of the G FI Fall Series, and Suzuki rider Travis Pres ton ca me from out of the pack to wi n the singlemoto combined Pro dass to collect the la rgest s ha re of Suzu ki m oney. along wit h the 200 percent Pr o pay back offered by GFI. Th e lu re of Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha factory contingency mon ey made for a good tu rnout of bo th Ama teurs and Pros. When the gate dropped for the oneshot, 30-minu te Pro race, it was rook ie Pr o Coli n Couto na ili ng the hol eshot ove r Donald Up ton, Pat Foster and Tim lJeatty. Upton followed Cou to for half a la p before putting his national number84 YZ2 50 i n to th e top s pot . Fo st e r pu shed Co u to back to third the followin g ci r cuit a nd ze roed in o n U p to n . Cou to and Beatty argued over third for a lap untillJeatty plowed into Co ut o in a corner and pretty mu ch took them both ou t of th e ra ce . Tony Su le k inher ited th ird , bu t wa s o ver ta ken by Prest on , w ho was wo rk ing toward the fron t after a nin th-pl ace start. Fos ter p asse d Upto n co ming ou t of the over-and- unde r section, with Upton runni ng off the track temporarily a nd giv ing Foster some breathing room. Preston the n ha mmered throug h a series of w hoo ps to p a ss U p to n fo r sec o nd . Upton go t him back a turn later, but Prest on za p ped him aga in half a lap later, this time making it stick. Prest on reeled in Foster and, by lap seven, made the pass for the lead. Upton dosed in on Fos ter for second place and then go t a break when Foster got o u t of sha pe i n th e w hoo ps a nd went down. Sulek was now third, with YZI25-mounted Doug Parsons slipping into fou rth. Prest on held a I fl-second lead over Upton wit h abo u t five m in utes rema in i ng i n the race when he d evel oped a flat rear ti re. Up ton cho pped Preston's lead in ha lf and , at the w hit e fla g, had him in hi s sigh ts . Preston kep t th e thrott le on, thou gh , and slid his RM sideways through the turns to keep Upton a t bay for the win. "I kn ew it was a long race so I just took my tim e, o ne rider after another," T

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