Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Roy recover ed to finish the mot o in th e se co nd sp ot beh ind th e Suzuk i of Dube , Mor gan had to se ttle for third in the moto a nd th ird overa ll whil e Roy ' and Dube took the top tw o podium finishes. Bu rr has shown tha t he has fu lly re co vere d fr o m h i s sho u lder -b la de inju ry of last yea r, finishing fourth overall in the 125cc class , as well as taking a' s olid fourth in th e p oints . Lange fin ished co ns is te n tly to tak e th e ov era ll fifth sp ot. ' 250cc CLASS In the 250cc class, there were so me new faces appearing for the first time of the seaso n. Th e first moto follow ed the regul ar ro u ti ne with Ro y, Du be a nd Mor gan ta kin g first , second and th ird . Bu t in the second moto, Machine Racing Hond a rid er Bill Wallin shoc ked all .by pu tting on an incred ible perfor mance to finis h seco nd . His 11-2 mo to fini shes were en ou gh to p u t him into fo urth ov e rall . U lve r to n w as a lso th e fi rs t rou nd of th e se ries for Dou g DeH aan . Th e H onda rid er ha s been ou t of the series since the beginni ng due to injuries but came out strong at Ulverton, finishing third in the fina l moto w ith an overa ll fift h fo r th e d a y . Roy a n d Marco aga in took first and second, with Lange finishing third . Morgan finishe d back in six th after hi s 3-9 rna to finishes. Wit h one round le ft to g o in th e se r ie s, it lo ok s li k e Morgan w ill be hand in g his num be rone p late over to Dube or the 1999 season . Roy unfortuna tely sacrificed the titl e aft e r h e m is sed th e la st t wo rounds, but h e will probably pick up th e number-two s pot a s well as the reputation as bein g th e fast est Ca nad i..:an rider . Results 125 PRO: 1. j ean -Seb a s tien Ro y (Ka w) : 2. Ma rco DuM (Su z ): 3. Bla ir Morgan (K.1W). 2S0 PRO: 1. j eaa-Sebasti e n Roy (K.1w); 2. Mar co Du be (Suz); 3. Dar cy Lange (Kaw): 4. Marty Burr (Yam); 5. Doug DeHa an (Hen) . Point Sta nd ings (Afte r 6 ro unds): 1. Marco Du be (436); 2. Blair Morga n (399); 3. jea n-Se bastie n Roy (394); 4. Ma rty Burr (326); S, Da rcy Lange (284 ). Can·Am Speedway Challenge u.s. takes Canada (Right) Marco Dub'; led the canadian Nationa l MX Series by 42 po ints after round six. (Bel ow) Len ny McB ride (left) barely held off a ch arg ing War ren Diem to win the Scratc h main even t during th e can-Am Challenge at New Champion Speedway. progr am and a Division Two Handicap di vision that brought the total races to 39. Division One Scratch racing saw the Diem's Cycle/ Bennett Used Aut o Salesspo ns ored Diem easily outdi stan ce the field in.both h is h eat an d sem i ra ces. McBrid e, how ever, had a mor e diff icult tim e qu a lify i n g for th e m ain. Th e An ton's Piz za /Ton y B. Tires- ba cked' Mcbride, who rod e on a borrowed bike due to a hard cras h in the Dash For Cash race, wa s pu t to the test by Bruce N elson , who was also on a borrow ed bike but w ho gated perfectly in both his hea t a n d sem i fo r tw o co n se cu tive w ins. McBrid e's seco nd place in the semis was s till en ou gh to place him and the JBR Ra cing-s p onsored N elson in the main even t. McBrid e wou ld ga te from the inside pole position in the main, wi th the next four spots go ing to Ge ne Bon signor e, Nelso n, Die m a n d To m my Sep h ton , who sa t on the outside by virtue of w inning the last-chan ce qua lifier. When the ga te went up, McBride led th e pa ck ou t o f turn tw o, w hil e Die m p owe red a ro u nd the field to seco nd . McBride, now back on his rep air ed Godd en, clung to the pole in turns thr ee an d four, while Diem , only inches away, go t a little too sideways and had to straighten it ou t as he drifted to th e ou ts ide. McBride rod e a near-perfect line, affording Diem li ttl e chance of passing . On laps three and four, McBride found even more traction and took a com ma nd ing lead to the finis h line. Wit h McBrid e and Diem taking first and s e co n d , a' s p ir i te d e nc o u n te r ens ue d for third place. Bons ignore had ma in tain ed the th ird sp ot for 3 1/2 circu its, with Nelson in close pursuit. Dr iving d e ep into turn thr e e , N elson moved Bonsignore out jus t enough to exit tu rn four only slightly a head, but enough to gr ab th e lead for a thirdplace fini sh . With one regul ar event remaining to be run before the AM A Open Cha mpionshi p on August 29 and 30, Diem and M cBrid e w ill su rely be goi ng head to head on Aug us t 22 for the tra ck champi- onsh ip. McBrid e (who is the defend in g tra ck cha m p ion ) a nd Diem have been the onl y winners of the main even ts this yea r at Ne w Cham pion Speedway, having scored tw o victories each . The Support A Handicap ma in was taken by Cam Rafferty. By vi rtue of p revio us victories, Rafferty ga ted from the 10-yard line, with thr ee riders on th e zero line. Entering turn three on the first go-around, Rafferty had already taken the number-on e spot, and he cruised to the w in. Th e Support B main w as ga th ere d in by veteran flat -track racer Tod d Hunter, who in his first speedway race took the lead off the zero -ya rd lin e and h eld off Ru ssell H a rtke fo r two laps befo re H artke mo ved to th e insid e of Hunter for fir st, onl y to fall in turn tw o. This gave the lead ba ck to Hunter, who carried the ch eckered flag as he took his firs t victory lap on a sp eedway bik e. . Tha nks to two crashes, the Dash For Cash was s ta r ted three times be for e comp letion. Sponsored by Race Tools of Rochester, the six-ride r race wa s a'hand icap-type event. The Das h wa s eventually won by Mike Buman, w ho go t reacq u a i n t e d with s peed way durin g Old-Tim ers Ni ght and d ecided to park his s tock ca r in the gara ge a nd again I~ 'moun t a speed way bike. New Champion Speedway Owego, New York Results: August 8, 1998 CAN-A M CHALLEN GE: 1. US A so ( Le n ny Mcbride, 9; Warren Diem . 9; Gene Bonsignore, 8; Tom Sep hton, 8; Bru ce Ne lson, 7; Geo rge Lazor, 4; Kelvin Herr ala. 3; Mike Corte se. 2); 2. Ca nada 22 (Nick Fafard. 4; Jeff O rosz. 4; Dave Oa kden, 3; Gary Hosmer, 3; Matt Otto, 2; Guy Fafa rd, 2; An dy Ho ris. 2; Freddy Legault, u 2), SCR: 1. Le nn y McBride (C d n): 2. Wa rr en Diem (Gd n): 3. Bruce Nelson (G dn ): 4, Ge ne Bo ns ig nore (Cd n): S, Tom Sephton (Gd n). SUP A: 1. Cam Raff er ty (Gdn) : 2, Jo hn Me rcie r (Jaw); 3, Jerem iah Smith (Jaw ); 4. Tim Mathe wson (Ja w); 5. Joe Veninsk i Oaw ), SUP B: 1. Tcxid Hunt er (Jaw); 2. Karl Hum ph reys (Jaw) ; 3. Russ ell Hart ke (Jaw); 4. Jerry Ha rma n (Jaw ); 5. Jay Stalma (la w). . D FC: 1. Mi ke Buma n. By Larry McBride Photo by Russ Corn ell OWEGO,NY, AUG. 8 h e u.s. Spee dway team totall y do mi na ted the Ca n-Am Cha lle nge a t N ew Cha m pio n Sp eed w a y in Owego , ta ll y in g a to ta l sco re of"5 0 points, while the Ca nadian tea m scored only 22. Th e abs en ce o f 12-ti m e Ca na dia n N ati on al Cham pio n Lenny Dillon was e viden t in the Ca nad ia ns' low score. A lso, t he M uszy nski b r o th ers were absent, ad d ing to the Ca na d ian tea m's woes. The top point s riders from Canad a were Nick F afard a nd Jeff O rosz, with fou r poi nts eac h, while the U.S. po in ts lead er s were Warren Die m and Len ny Mcbrid e, both of whom won all three ,of their heat starts to score a per fect n ine-poin t total. Alt ho ugh th e Canad ian con tinge nt wasn' t as solid as in previou s yea rs, a full night of raci ng was presen ted ..With a s ig n-u p of more than 40 rid ers, th e Ca n-Am Cha llenge hosted a full Scratch T A El ~ ~

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