Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Flint Me Indoor Ice Races (Ab ove) Perennial rivals: Once agai n, Chuck Springsteen (1) held off the advance s of AMA Grand Nat ional regu lar Dan But ler (22) in the main eve nt. Spr ings teen led It f rom start to fin is h to remain undefeated on th e night. (Left) Spr ingsteen (1) came away with a record-tying fifth AMA Indoor Ice Racing Champ ionship at t he 38th ann ual Big Bro therslBlg Sisters of Greater Flint Indoor Motorcycle Ice Races at the IMA Sports Arena. Springsteen tokes the fifth By Jody O'Hara Photos by Susa n Butle r ... FLINT, MI,JAN. 24 his is the stu ff of w hich legends are mad e: th e champion on the ice , h is famous brother in th e stands, and recor ds being set. Ch u ck Sp ri ngsteen ea rned hi s fif th co nsecu tive AMA Indoor Ice nu mbe rone p lat e w ith a convincing p erfo rman ce on the IMA Sports Arena ice su rface, w inni ng a ll five of h is heat races and leading the ma in from green light to checkered flag. While Springst een took his victo ry lap, h is brothe r Ja y - th e th ree-ti me AM A Grand Na tional Ch ampion and a . legend in his own righ t - w hoo ped it up in sect ion 20, celebra ting just a little bit more than those aro und him . "I th in k it's so coo l he ca n co me in here year a fter year a nd bea t eve ryb od y, " Jay Springs teen sa id. "Those other guys 'come in he re with all that tec hnolog y , and he ' s still rid ing th e same old bike, without nothi ng fancy, and he jus t kicks the ir asses." Jay Spri ngsteen sai d that a couple of tu ners eve n tried to ge t him to compete on their bikes against his bro ther. " Byro n (Molloseau) an d Do n Schopieray wanted me to come and race a nd I asked them why," he said. "They to ld me, 'Because yo u' re th e only one that can beat yo ur brother .''' Springe r polit ely refused . Chuck Springs teen a nd hi s tuner, Rick Kessler, celebra ted hard in the pits af ter the wi n, and "Long Live the King!" co u ld be heard ec hoing th rou gh th e bowels of the arena long after th e fan s had go tten their autogra phs and hea ded home. . "This feels good - it feels god d amn good ," Sp rings tee n sa id . "We gave it everything we had, and it w orked it out I for US." . It wo rked ou t to the tune of an AMA record -tying fifth championship for the you ngest of the Springsteen brothers. On ly bad boy Garth Brow ha s won mo re. "Now I want that sixth one," Springsteen said. On a more so m be r note , Chu ck Springsteen wa s also the first to have his name engraved on the Melinda Springsteen Memo rial Troph y . Melinda, Chuck's late wife, died in October 1997 after a thr ee-year battle with breast cancer. I n an emotional ceremony befo re the races, the Flint Motorcycle Club and Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of Greater Flint p resented th e new tro p hy , wh ich will bear th e name of future race w in ners. The trophy reads, "In Mem ory of Melinda Sprin gsteen, a Frien d to Mot orc yclin g, from the Fli nt Mot orcycle Clu b and the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of this Co mmu nity." Chuck Springs teen sai d a few words . at the dedication. "I'd like to thank everybody for this," h e sai d . "Yo u know, w e' r e going through so me tough tim es righ t now, but we're going to make it." As for the racing, fellow Michigander . Danny Butler d id all he co ul d to give Springstee n a tough time on the night, winning every heat race excep t the one in which he faced the champion, and taki ng second in the main. Butler, who is looking for a new ride for fhe Grand Natio nal circuit in the wake of his departure from Ga rdner Racing, pushed his Byron Molloseau-built Honda as far as it wo uld go. "The reason I didn' t win this ra ce was, I spun the tire on the ho leshot of our heat race," Butler said. "If I ge t tha t one, I' m on the pole instead of him." Butler h a d his front wheel hard agains t Springs teen's back one in every turn, b ut co ul d n' t find a way to get arou nd . "The ice was getting soft toward the e n d, a nd it wa s a ni ght w he re you could n' t make up any grou nd ," Bu tler said . And Butler d id n' t wan t a repeat of Dece mber's Kold Kutter Indoor Ice Racing Championships at the Sports Are na, when he spent considerable time slid ing across the ice as opposed to racing on it. "I tonked him on every lap - you saw it," Butler said . '1 didn't want to take us both ou t. I spen t enough time on m y butt the last race." On e rider who spent too mu ch time on his butt this time was Breckinridge, Michigan's Eric O'Boyle, wh o wa s rid ing for First Klass Glass. O'Boyle real ized every ice racer's worst nigh tmare when his leg got caught between the rea r tir e and th e framew ork of Brian Hard in's bike. After battling for position in turn four d uri ng the 18th hea t of the nigh t, Ha rdin took the chec kered flag before th e two rid ers came together in turn one. As they went d own, Bryan Ville lla had nowhere else to go and ran over Har d in's back. Track person n el a tte m p ted to drag the bikes out of the pile befor e rea lizing O'Boyle was trapped. AMA officia l John Zwerkin held O'Boy le's upper body off the ice as mechanics worked feverishly with wrenches , a ham mer and a hacksaw to free his leg. A silence fell over the pits as O 'Boyle was loa ded in to a n ambulance and taken to Hurl ey Medical Center in Flint. The las t word was tha t O'Boyle had been admitted with multiple fractu res to his lower left leg and was in satisfactory condition, awaiting su rgery. Hardin eve ntually took third place in th e ma in, albeit missing a little meat from his back, lost to the studs of Villella's bike. "I got'down u nder O'Boyle there in turn four ," Hardin sa id . "The nex t thing I knew, my back tire was locking up, we went d own an d Villella d idn' t have anywhere else to go; and he went over my back." Eric O' Boyle's brother, Dou g, was at the ga tes to the track, wa iting to run in the next heat. He ma d e a mad, slid ing ru n across the ice to come to his bro the r' s ai d, a n d h e sai d later it wasn' t something that cou ld 've been help ed . "There wasn' t anybody at fau lt," he said . "That's just ice racing." Chad Selvig of Flu shing, Michigan , w on the 50cc Junior main , a hea d of Robby Lapeen of Clio, Michigan, a nd Stephen Shands of Otisville; Michigan . In the 50cc Seni or main, Flint' s own Tiffan y " Taz" Lon g on ce ag ain showed th e b oys n othing but th e Ta zmanian Devil doll on the back of her flak jacket. "Ta z Tiff" m ad e a not he r bid fo r th e hearts of the crowd this yea r, on ce again givi ng her prize mon ey back to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters. However, this time aro u nd, Tiffany insisted it was for the little sisters and little brothers - sisters coming first. It was a d ouble cham p io ns hi p d ay fo r Tiffa ny, as she had a lso won th e AMA Na tional title on the ou tdoo r ice at Albright Shor es, Michigan, earlier in the da y. Chaz Yat es of Gra nd Blan c, Michiga n, an d Brian Mercer of Farwell, Michiga n, too k seco nd and third, respectively, in the Senior class. Ni ne-y ear-old Corey Slavek of Birch Run, Mich igan , tw isted th e wick a nd never let off, getting sidewa ys and wo bbly, but never dumping it as he lapped several riders to win the 65cc race. The same approach had cost Corey a trip to the penalty line when he fell in his heat race . "(AMA Offi cia l John Zwerkin) to ld me not to fall off, " said Slavek, "b u t I did." ot that it mattered, as Slavek came off the pe nalty line, passed the other rid ers and won the heat and the po le for the m a in . H e c redited h is su mmer motocross traini ng with hel p in g hi m stay up front in the main. Nick Cummin gs, son of TCR owner and ge neral ma nager Tom Cu mmings, finis hed second, and Eric Miller of Flint 0 was third. IMA Sports Arena Flint, Michigan Results: January 24, 1998 50 JR : 1. C had Se lvi g (Ka w) ; 2. Rob by Lapee n ( Ka w) ; 3. Step hen Sha nds (Ka w ); 4. Cody Ra bid ea u (Ka w l; 5. Lawren ce _Zietz ( Ka w). 50 SR: 1. Tiffany Long (}(aw); 2. Ch.u Y.lles Uv,w); 3. Bria n Mercer (Ka w) ; 4. Krista Queen CKaw) ; 5. JOt. Boulis (Kaw). ')' 65: 1. Co rey Slave k (Kaw); 2. Nick Cum mings (Ka w ); 3. Eric Miller (Ka w ); 4. Kyle Rothgeb (Ka w); 5. Kurtis Lee ( Ka w ). 2SOrRO: 1. Chu ck Sprin~tt."eJ\ (Hon); 2. Dan Butk-r

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