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2~~CrA~RACK' Round 1: Second annual Big Valley Ford Spring Classic
FLAT TRACK SERIES .
By Mike Law
Photos by Stewart Barber
LODI, CA, MAY 9
espite cloudy kies and an eventual rain delay of almost an hour,
Mayfield/Carr Promotions and
the Lodi Motorcycle Club pulled out all
of the stops and delivered a perfect
evening of short track racing with the
second annual Big Valley Ford Spring
Classic, round one of the West Coast
Fla t Track Series.
AMA Grand National number 41
Brett Landes was the big winner, as he
claimed the 25-lap main event after
overtaking early leader J.P. Simonsen
and then cruised to victory smoothly
and comfortably, He also won the fivelap Andy Tresser Memorial Dash For
Cash, pocketing $750 of the $1500 purse,
For Landes, patience was the name of
the game.
"It's 25 laps; that's a long time," the
soft-spoken Landes said from the victory podium, "Be patient, be patient I was
just conserving energy, He (J.P, Simonsen) made a bobble down there in three,
and I got around him,"
Finishing second behind Landes was
Simonsen, who scored the holeshot and
then led for several laps as Landes whittled away at his lead, Landes played it
coyly and waited for the fatal mistake as
he glued himself to the rear wheel of
Simonsen,
"I made a bobble and knew he was
there," Simonsen said. "I left tlie door
open, and he took advantage of it, and
that was it. There's no catching Brett.
He's a good rider,"
The final podium position went to
another Washingtonian, Rex Fisher,
who had his work cut out for him as he
took off the line midpack and was mired
in traffic with a quartet that included
Mark Key, Billy Martin and Lonnie
Pauley.
"There's not much you can do on a
short track like this," Fisher said. "I got
lucky, and they (Martin and Pauley)
kind of ran into each other, and I was
able to get underneath them:'
Four scratch heats determined the
starting positions in the regular heat
races, as the specta tors were trea ted to a
preview of the main event on the rainsoaked track The most exciting scratcl1
heat was the second race as Lonnie
Pauley pressured John Grant with an
outside move, which brought down
Fisher, Ronnie Reimer and Pauley. In
the process, Justin Ownby took the lead
and then fell immediately upon taking
the cl1eckered flag,
HEATS
Stockton vs. Stockton was the deal as
Key and Martin slugged it o.ut in the
first of four 10-lap heat races, Key led
the firs t race wire to wire despite the
hard cl1arges of Martin. The third and
final direct-transfer position went to
Geramy Rackley, who was several bike
lengths behind tlce leaders.
"I hooked up, got a holeshot," Key
said. "That's the strategy. I'll do it again
in the main and we'll see what hap-
pens."
Simonsen and Landes gave a sneak
preview of things to come in the main
event as they battled in the second heat,
with Simonsen sneaking away with the
win,
"I kind of got a bad start," Sin10nsen
said with a smile, "but Beau Brown
helped me out a little bit as he pushed
everybody out, and I snuck underneath
'em, and that was pretty much it"
Local hotshoe Levi German monopolized the third heat, as he outgunned the
likes of fellow Lodi stars Mark Corsetti
and Allan McClellen, and cruised to a
nawless win,
"I just got out front," renected German. "I got a good pace and held it for
the 10 laps. It really went good."
The fourth and final heat race placed
the local talent of Justin Ownby against
Grand National numbers Fisher and
Pauley, Fisher had the advantage of
horsepower and experience, while
Pauley was capable of being able to pass
just about anywhere on the track with
relative ease, Despite the two obstacles,
Ownby rode perfectly and won by a
narrow margin,
"I got out front and held it down
low," Ownby said of his race. "I borrowed a bike from Randy German, so
I'm not sure of the setup, but aU in all it
ran great."
SEMI
Riders who finished out of the top
three in the heat races lined up for one
last chance at the main event Only the
top three finishers in the even t would
get the honor of lining up on the back
row of the starting grid for the main
even t. Local track favorite Dana Perri
made his 600cc Expert debut at Lodi
aboard a beautifully prepared Rotax,
and dusted the ~ of Ja1