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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127954
(Ab o ve) Bob Sweeten (82) le a d s Ja ke Jo hnson (3A) and Dam ian
Kocovinos (26) In the 250cc A c lass at the Trail-Way Short Track in
Hanover, Pennsylvania .
(Left) Re igning World Speedway Champion Greg Hancock put in a
superb come-Iro m-behlnd ride to win th e S c ra tc h ma in event at
Fast Fr idays Speedway on Ju ly 10.
Dwyer and Chuck Clayton. Horton hu gged the
pole in one and two , slid ing ahead of Cro mmc t to
take the top spo t. Dwy er stalled in three and four ,
se tt ing th e fini sh o rd er o f Horton, C ro rnme t,
Reynolds, Clay ton and Loren Bjorkman, who was
competing in his firs t race in qu ite a while .
H orton , s witc hi ng to a H onda , al so took
top ho nors in the Vintage 600cc cla ss, a hea d of
Frauenber ger. Brad Spencer a nd Rich ar d Polloc k, w ho, with Spencer, narro wl y mi ssed a
pileu p when Jim Ga rdner los t tr action w hile
chasing Fra ue n be rger. Ga rd ne r ca reened in to
t he wall a nd collected Bru ce Rev nolds. Bot h
rid ers wa lked away. while Ho rt on, Fr a u enberger, Spe ncer a nd Polloc k took the chec kered
flag .
The trend for the even ing continued as Hor to n climbed o n his Ossa a nd led the br ak eless
Cla ss ic 25 0c( race , a hea d of Ji m McM u rren ,
Vince Graves a nd Rich Trait. w ho sh ot und er
G rav es and McMurren bef or e losing tractio n
and slid ing out directly und er McMurren. Th e
incident put both riders on th e g ro u nd hard ,
bringing out the red flag. They we re up and run ning shortly, with a re play of the first start.
First Graves and then Trait passed MeMu rren an d latched on to Horton 's fende r, the trio
run nin g nose to tail to the finis h, trail ed by
McMurren and Cecil Oswald .
Du rin g a break in the progra m, speed way
ra cer Eddie Castro, o n Bob Nichols' beautiful
1940 Ind ia n tw in racer, ha d a match race with
speed legend Don Vesco, who w as aboa rd Cordo n Menzies' im maculate Roya l Enf ield sing le.
Castro had a bit of trouble wi th th e backw ard
hand -sh ift / foot-clu tch d ir t tracker, giving the
star t to Vesco. Castro caught u p a nd made it a
race , just as Vesco low-sided in turn one. On the
restart, Vesco once ag a in got the upper hand,
bu t Castro wa s soon pushing him and pa ssed
with a cla ssic slide job in turn t\VO to tak e th e
lead. Cas tro then slid " ride, allowing Vesco the
roo m he ne
eded to retake the lead and hold on
for the win.
Results
VINT 250 : 1. Tom Horton (Yilm) ; 2. Mann y Crom me t: 3.
Brn C1!' ReynoId ~; 4. Ch uck G ayton (Bul); S. loren Bjorkman (Yam) .
VI~ 600: 1. Tom Ho rton (Hu n); 2. Don Frau enberger (Yam);
3. Brad Spt.-nnT; 4. Ridldrd r ollock (Y" m).
.....
VL r r o rsx. L M..lOny Cro mm rl; 2. Gydt.' [Aon..-W (Nor ); 3.
Paul Tomlinson L'tuz); 4. Chris WakuLt (Tri).
CLSSC 250: 1. Tom Ho rton ({)s,;); 2. Vince Graves ( Bun ; 3.
>J1
Rich Trai l (Qs..·d; 4. Jim \ fcMurT\. (H·D) ; 5. Cecil Oswa ld (Bull.
ClSSC i'SO /DI:"JO; 1. Tom Horton (Tri) ; 2. Rick Rockhold
tBSAl; 3. Ouis C.l mptl!> ITri); 4. C"'-'TT')' Du tw ciller; 5. Jeff Tulinius
(BSAl.
SR 50+ : 1. Dick Fox (Hun); 2. james Conno llv; 3. Jim Mc\lur·
non Hi-D) ; 4. Cordon Menzi e (R-E); 5. Cl'CiIOiwa id.
VET 35+: 1. Tom Hort un; 2. Brad Spo-ncl'!' (Yilm); 3. Elliolt
Iverson Ui ·O); 4. Keith Bradf ord (Yam); 5. Cly de Den ew (.'\l"(lrl.
BMBR: I. Richard Pollu( k (Yam); 2. Tom Ferguson (Yam); 3.
Dick Fox (Hun); 4. Pau l Tomlinso n (Suz) .
PRO SGL: 1. Brad Spe ncer (Ya m); 2. Brad Ox lt')' (Yam ); 3.
Don Fraut"nhl'r gl"r (Y,l ml; 4. J~lh n Dup ree tSuz); 5. Rich.Jrd Pnllu~:1.
(Y.1m).
r RO TW: I. Tom Hurtun (T ri ); 2. K~n Thil"b.lud (Tri); J. Rid
Ro<:khold tBSA); 4. W'ly nc Wilrnn~tCtn (Tri>; 5. Ch ris C" mpos
(Tri).
Hancock handles
Fast Fridays Speedway
By M. Sober
P hoto b y Gen Mo ore
AUBURN, CA JULY 10
,
Current Speedway World Cha mpio n Greg Han cock mad e his annual return to the Go ld Cou ntry Fairgro und s and sho wed the regu la'Ts the
fastes t way around the track , taking the Scratch
main even t a he ad of U.s. Na tional Cham pio n
Mike Fa ria . Jimm y "T h e Ja m mer " Sisemore
ma de his ne w s po nsor, Rose Racing, happy
wh en he claimed the wi n in the Han d icap main,
while the Se con d and T h ird Divisio n m a in
events were won by T ed Tayl or and Ga r y
Moranville, respecti vely.
H a n cock took the victory in t he Sc ratch
main fro m sta rting position num be r fo u r
despit e no t bei ng read y an d completely missing
the s tart. Faria go t the best gate out of lane two,
w ith Sise mo re ge tti ng the second-quickest jum p
from his grid- three draw. Bobby Hedden, who
ea rlier in the night had experienced a horrible-looking cras h wit h Faria at the finish line in the
second Handicap semi, began the race fro m the
p ol e b ut , a long wi th H an cock , comple te ly
missed the sta rt a nd trai led both Faria and SiS(.~
mor e as the two d rove dow n the back straig ht
on the first lap.
Meanwhile, Hancock put his head down and
was on the gas, driving hard on the outsi de line.
"I couldn't believ e it w hen the gate we nt u p,"
Hancock said aft er the race. "'I knew I had to
make so me near -p refect laps to ge t back in the
fight."
Perfect laps were exac tly what H an cock pro-duced , ge tt ing around Hedden o n lap one, Sisemore on la p tw o, and finally Faria rig ht af ter
the last-lap white flag.
"1 haven' t raced this track in 10 years, bu t I
really like it," Hancock said . "'I grew up riding
these s ho rter tracks in Southern Ca liforn ia, so it
d id n' t take me that lon g to remember how I had
to ride them. Thi s Auburn track is bigger than it
used to be • lo nger straightaways ma ke it a lot
faste r. I love it. I' m looking forward to return ing
for the National here in September."
Once i n front , H anco ck rod e h is
PowerBar /Exid e Battery / Shoei /Troy Lee GM
cleanl y to the chec kered flag. Fari a held on to
seco nd p lace. Bob by Hedden was t hi rd, a nd
Sisemo re did an impressi ve 360 in tu rn four of
lap three and was credited with fourth.
Sisemore fared much better in th e nig ht's
other First Division main event; as the ve tera n
rid er from w eodlend rod e the insi de lint:'to victory in th e Handicap ma in . Starting from his
usual p lace on the back yardage, Sisemore o utgate d fellow 50-ya rders Bart Bast an d Cha rlie
Venegas, fall ing in behin d Faria as the pair set
off to tr ack down 4O-vard starters Ch ad Felicio
and Tommy Hedd en. Felicia took the initi al lead
bu t gave way to Hedden by the end of lap two.
Sisemore wo rked inside Faria midway through
lap tw o an d set o u t to run after Hedd en . Sisemore disp laced Hedden by the end of three full
revolutions and then had smoo th sailing to the
win ab oa rd his Rose Racing / Sisemore T ruckingl Auburn Hond a jawa. Hedden held off Faria
for seco nd . Fourth went to Bast an d fifth to Felicia . Th e sixth spot was credited. to a very rig ht·
fully up set Venegas, wh o displayed his dis pleasure over wha t he co nside red to be a prema tur e
s tart with impressi ve in field d ou ghnuts th.1 t
prod uced exci teme nt for the fan s and di spleasure for the Fast Fridays promot ers.
.
Numb er-one Ju ni or Speedway rid er Ryan
Fisher, w ho s tarted the Ha nd icap-style ma in
even t in the midd le of the hack s tra ighta way,
mad e the trip up from Sou thern Californ ia bu t
fell short of the win in th e Jun io r main ev ent,
finishing a very close th ird beh ind winner A.J.
Jon es and runner -up Eric Ca rillo. Former Class
C sta nd out Ted Taylor, who so me ma y recall
finished on the pod ium at the 1993 Sacram ento
Mile, won the Second Divisi on main, while the
Thi rd Divis ion fina l we nt to Orangevale's Gary
Moranville.
Results
SCR: 1. Gres Hancock (GM); 2. Mike Faria (GM); 3. S...lbby
Hed den O,1w) 4. Jimmy Stsemon- (jaw ).
;
HOC P: L Jimmy Sisemore (jaw); 2. Tom my Hedden (jaw) ; '3.
JdWI.
Mike Fa ri.. (G\tl; 4 . Bart Bds t (J.Jw); 5 . Chad Fdiciu C
l
D-2: 1. Too Taylor (jaw); 2. Eric Vl'.tll· (Jaw); 3. [).l\-id Boot h
(j,J. Ylil .
0.3: L Gary
~()I"an\'i1ll' ( W~);
Bradwell (W e!l).
[)..J JR: 1. A.J. JUf\4:'5
l"r(jilW).
(\r\ 'l'!i);
0..2 ' R: 1. \tart Bro WTIl'
2. G1l;"f1n Scott (Jaw); 3. Harry
2. Ene Carillo (jaw) ; 3. Rya n Fish·
(\\'~);
2. J.1 Hedt { W~); J. Jona than
Y
Curry (l'l;e;)
0- 3 'R : I. All'" Mar cucci (Tri); 2. Roly unn (Wl"' ); 3. Brenton
&. 1 ( 85A ).
...
Libhart and Sweeten triple
ay
atTrail-W Short Track
By Len and Ben Breech
HANOVER, PA,jULY 11
Phil Libhart and Bob Sweeten took advant age of
reduced rider turnout - du e to the Amateu r
. Nationals occu rring during the same time in
Ind y - to claim three w ins eac h at Tra il-Wa y
Speed way. Libhart took easy wi ns in the 600cc
Pro and Spo rts man classes, an d fought Nick Taylor for the 750 w in. Sweeten eas ily outdistanced
the Over 30 and Over 40 field s, and also kep t
you ngs ter Jake Johnson at bay for the 250cc win.
With mo re than 30 regu lar riders attend ing
th e Ind y event, all classes had red uced turnouts,
w ith a few classes com bined with other class es,
and so me not run at all.
Libhart eas ily w on th e combi ned 600
Pro / 600 A on his Howell' s Harl ey-David son /
Triumph Rotax over a no ther Pro, John Winsett ,
and 600cc A rid ers Jake john so n a nd Ed Hvd e.
He a lso easily w on t he Sports man class over
250cc ride r Raun Wood .
The 750cc A race had N ick Taylor lead ing
Libhart, Win se tt, Mike Keane a nd Rick Price .
Wh en Winsett's bike bro ke a nd he raised his
a rm, those behind him checked up and rea lly let
the front duo get furthe r away than they no rmall y would have . Libhart took the lead off the
fourth turn a nd kept Taylor's Yamaha several
length> behind.
Wh ile he's well over 40, Sweeten is s till a facto r in a ny class in which he runs. Whil e Sweeten
ea sily di sposed of his simila rly aged co rnpe titors, jake 'The Kid" joh nso n kept up wi th him
thr oughout the 250cc A final. Dami an K(lCO \; n~
ran third off the second turn, with Dave Smith
and Raun Wood close behi nd him. Kocovi nos
slipped off the g roove at the end of the seco nd
la p, letting Smith by. While john son is extremely
fast w hen leading, he does have tro uble passi ng
rid ers - m uch less o ne wi th the am ou nt of experie nce Sweeten has at making a bike \ovid e.
With the front·ru nne rs sta ndi ng pa t, Woo d
sta rted movin g, dis p lacing Kocovi nos fo r four th
on the fourth l