Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Team JBR riders George Lazor (left) and Gene Bonsignore (right) battle it out In the last-chance qualifier for the New Champion Speedway Track Championship main event. Lazor went on to win , but Lenny McBride (not shown) Ultimately scored the track title. Hot Harley Nights Short Track Meiring masters Lodi By Mike Law LOD!, CA, AUG. 22 ony Mei ring of Tracy won the 25lap Open A main eve nt as he rod e . wi re to wi re to vic to ry ove r rival s Toby Jo rgensen of Stockton an d Rob Damron of Morgan Hill a t th e Lod i Cy cle Bow l. Valley Ha rley-Dav ids on of Stock ton , the local Ha rley Owners Grou p , along w it h m an y o th e r loca l m erch a nt s, po nied up a 52000 purse, and the Lodi Cy cle Bow l played host to th e la rges t racing crowd this yea r. In w inn ing, the 14-yea r-old Meir in g pulled off the ride of h is yo u ng ca ree r, mu ch tothe su rprise of the legion s of loyal fans of both Jorgensen and Damron. Two hea ts and one sem i dete rmined th e starti ng p ositions for 13 Ex pe r ts , wit h Damron and Meiring top pin g the two hea t races an d Kevin Bricker crossing the line first in the semi. Mei rin g sho t fro m the outside pole position as the s tar ting light flashed to sta rt the mai n event. He was followed by a very fast and determined Damron . Meiring an d Da mron dueled in tensely for about eigh t laps before Damron fell wh ile exiting turn four and coming onto th e front s traight. Da m ron q uickly remounted, losin g only one position , w hich a llowed Jorgen se n to move u p from third to second . Meiring, Jor gensen and Damron soo n dis tanced them selv es from the pac k, lappin g man y riders some of them twice . " It was perfect," Meirin g sa id follow ing his mai n-eve nt vic tory . "1 h ad a good start in the heat race, then go t a little messed up in the first corner. I got it the way I wanted it and then rod e hard for the wi n." Al tho ug h not finishin g with a pod ium finis h, 14-yea r-old a nd fir s t-y ea r Expe rt Mick ey Lane of Vallejo showed 'grea t pot enti al, as he finished se ven th, behi nd Edd ie Dixon, w ho is no slouch by any stretch of the imagi nation. Lane tu rne d many heads as he ran midpack wi th the fast guys of Northern California for the en tire ma in eve nt. Last year's black-pla te number-tw o Pee Wee, Joe Hernandez, played gia ntkiller in the combined 60cc sho rt-tra ck main even t. Hernan d ez and Bobby Fong rocke te d o ff th e lin e a hea d o f Ste ve Bosn ay and s tayed ther e for the bet ter p art of a lap and a h alf be fore being blown away d own the back straig h t by Bosnay, Lap after lap , the lead of Bosnay wa s ero ded away by Hernandez, w ith Bosna y being d ispla ced to se co nd a t a bou t th e halfw a y p oint. H erna nd ez took th e checkered flag by a six-bikelen gth margin, with Fang han ging on to a solid third . "1 just listen to 'my da d and take his T New Champion Speedway Track Championship McBride wins the war By Larry McBride Photo by Russ Cornell OWEGO, NY, AUG. 22 lliott Ness wo u ld have been proud to ha ve Wa rren Diem on his staff Sa tur day n igh t a t C ha mpio n Speedway in O wego, as h e was abso lu tely u ntoucha ble. Mou nting a borrowed box-stock laydown [awa that appeared to be jet-fuelpowered, Diem totally do minated every one of his four heats, h is se mi, a nd a $200 Das h For Cas h - co-sponso red by Sou the rn Tie r Ha rley / Race Tools of Rochester an d JBR Racing - on his way to sco ring his th ird victo ry of the Eas t Coast speedway season. Wit h four rid ers al rea dy occupying starting positions for the Scra tch ma in, the fifth spo t was determ ined by a lastchance qu a li fie r. As in all pr evi ou s eve nts, this race again could have been billed as a main event. O n the starting grid we re Gene Bon signo re, Lenn y Dillon, George Lazo r a nd Fr ank Wa tson. Out of ga te o ne, Bon signore had th e lead off the sta rt until turn four. Dillon pulled alongside, w he re he rema ined until turn three , w her e he slid up near the wall , giv ing th e le ad b a ck to Bonsi gn o re . Dill on recovered quickly and aga in was wheel to w heel with Bon signore in turn tw o and thr ee on the ou tside. A third rider JBR Racing / NJK Leathers / Cod y-Iawasponsored Lazo r - d eci d ed to join the party and was also whee l to wheel with Bonsig no re o n th e in sid e . O u t oft urn tw o and down the back straight, CodyJaw a / Sna p -On Tools-sponsored Bonsignore san d wiched bet ween Lazo r an d Dill on a nd go t bu mped ba ck to third. N e ve r m o re th a n h al f a bike len g th a par t, Dill on valia nt ly tr ied to gai n grou nd on the outside of Lazor. Una ble to a dva nce th ere, Dillon di ved to th e inside of Lazo r on tu rn thre e, ge tting 'a lit tle too sideways a nd movin g Lazor ou t to w here he go t enough traction to E 44 beat Dillon by half a bike length to the finish line to secure the tran sfer spot to the main . Ge lling an equal s ta rt off the ga te with Lenny Mcbrid e, Lazor , Tom Sephton and Bru ce Ne lson, Diem w as two lengths ahea d of Mcb rid e going d own the back straight. All rider s stay ed fairly eq ua l on the first few turns; how ever , Diem had su ch su perior po wer on th e straights that it appea red to be a mat terof-fact race, with Diem easily taking the checkered flag. How ev er, alt hou g h Diem too k h is th ird vict ory of th e ye ar, the cove ted track cham pionsh ip eluded him . Entering the last regula r race' of the season, Diem found himself eight points beh ind leader McBride. The p oint spread changed quickly, however, when, af ter winning his firs t h eat , Anton's Pizzeria / To nv B Ti res spo nso red McBride was leading his second heat whe n his 13-yea r-old God den d ecided it need ed med ical att en tion. But the bik e kept going long enough for a third -p lace finis h and one point. Borro w ing a [ a w a from pro moter Ja son Bo n s ign o re , Mcllrid e kep t h is cha mpionship chances alive by finishing his heats with a second and a first. After m a kin g seve ra l setup adj ust me nts , McBrid e won his semi. With those finish es a nd a second place in the main , Mc Bri d e ca p tured th e track cha m pion ship for the second year by only th ree points. Ca m Raffer ty con tinued his assaul t on the Support A cla ss. Raffert y again took the check ere d flag in his heat, semi, and final eve n ts. At 14 yea rs old , the former flat-tr ack racer is d efin itely on track to a Division On e ride. Th e Su p po rt B-class w inner's cir cle was also occu pied by a convert from the flat- track ranks. Todd Hunter, in only his second appearance on a speedway bike , won tha t cla ss, as he d id in h is first showing at New Cha mp ion Speed1':\ wa y. New Champi,¥, Speedway Owego , New York Results: August 22, 1998 0·1: 1. Wa rren Diem (Ja w ); 2. Le nn y McBr id e (Cd n); 3. Bruce Ne lson (Cd n); 4. Tom Sephton (Cd n): 5. George Lazor (Jaw) , • SUP 8: 1. Todd Hunter (ja w); 2. Dave Smith Cl w); a 3. Stev e Sunder!.. d (Ja w); 4. Mike Robinso n (Jaw); 5. m An dy Yarwood (law). SUP A: 1. Ca m Raffe r ty (C d n): 2. Joe Ve n in sk y (Jaw ); 3. Joe G ree ne (ja w ); 4. je remiah Smith (jaw). D FC: 1. Warren Diem (jJ w ). 1998 TRACK CHAMPION: Len ny McBrid e (Gd n). ad vi ce ," Herna ndez sa id of h is d u e l w it h Bosn ay. "He showed me how to close in a nd p ass, then s tay a head to win." Pong's younger brother Antho ny, an A rider, had his hands full wi th a very d e te rm in ed Ryan La w, a B rid e r, on bot h the short track and IT. Law scored the per fect holesh ot to the first tu rn on the sho rt track, w ith Fang in hot pu rsu it. Fang follow ed his riva l for several laps a n d then clo se d in as Law bob b le d slightly in the mi ddl e of the north turn . Fang then bobb led at the same spo t on the following lap, allowing Law to pu ll aw a y and score th e victory . Back for revenge o n the TT, Fa n g ou tg u n ne d Law to the first turn and held the positio n to th e checke red flag . With Law tu rning Exper t after tonigh t, the intensi ty s ho u ld hea t up be tw een these two Pee Wees and ma ke for more good racing . Pee Wee C rivals Danielle Ca ldeira and Travis McCarthy ran 1-2 and then 21 on the short track and IT, setting the stage for a friendly rivalry . Back in thi rd in both races was Chad Cose in only his secon d ra ce as a Pee Wee . Ca se ~ode smooth ly as he s tayed w it hin 'sight of the lead ers. Local SO cc Exp e r t Bra nd on Irid erbitzin had his wor k cu t out for him as he ju mped the start, along with Mike Rush, on the sho rt tra ck, and was banish ed to Siberia (the third row ). Last week' s mu ltip le wi nn er, Jason Grewe, fou nd himse lf su d d enly ou t in fro n t for se vera l la ps before he was reeled in by Jar ed McWhirter and lnd erb itzin. Ind erbitzin continued to crank up the wick as the laps wou nd d own, bu t he had to se ttle for second as McW hir ter aced the win. A talented class of 250cc short-track rid ers brought the crow d to its feet, and Fred dy Poli ran up front for the bet ter par t of six lap s. Hisayoshi Kawaha ra waited in the wings , stalking the cra fty teen a ger, anticipating a bobb le . Poli slipped slightly coming out of turn two and the n bobbled big-time exiti ng tu rn four. Ka wah a ra po unced quick ly and the n won th e drag ra ce to the finis h, barely ah ead of Poli. Vin tage A riva ls Roger Ha milton an d John Eichelbaugh d iced around the ova l in the Vintage ma in in the battle of the 750cc Yama ha twins, with Ha milt on getti ng t h e n od , Eic helba ug h chased Ham ilton once again on the sho rt track in the Vintage Twi n class, with Ham ilton once aga in taki ng ho me the top ho nors at the finis h. In w ha t is fas t becom ing one of the la rger classes at th e Lodi Cy cle Bowl, Knobby short-track rid ers Joe Cu nnington an d Dar rin Gibso n once aga in bea t Knobby master Scott Taylor . . "It was a great race," Cunnington said a fte r th e ra ce . "We go toe to to e. My budd y g ot th e holes hot, and I had to catch him. I was a little wo rried, but it was good racing and a lot of fun." l~ Lodi Cycle Bowl Lodi, California Results: August 22, 1998 Short Track P P: 1. Reb e cca La w (V.1m ); 2. La ure n Wall a ce (Yam); 3. Alyssa Brio nez (Yam ). P/W STK A: 1. Anthu ny Fong (Ya m) : 2. La u ren Wa lla ce (Ya m ); 3. Alys sa Bri on c z (Ya m); 4. Da nny McDani el (Yam l. PIW STK B: 1. Ryan L.1W (Ya m). P!W STK C: 1. Danielle C ald ei ra (Yam); 2. Travis McCarthy (Ya m); 3. Chad Case (Yam ). prw M O D: 1. Lau re n Wa llace (Yam); 2. Sha ne Jones (KTM); 3. Dcrron Oh ls (KT M); 4. Ron Roberts (KTM1. 60 B: 1. Joe Hernandez (Ka w ): 2. Chris Borjas (Ka w ). 60 C: 1. Steve Bosnay (Kaw): 2. Sean Jones (Kaw): 3. Cody Anse lmi (Ka w). 80: 1. Ja re d M cW hi r te r ( Ho n ); 2. Br and on Ind e rb it zi n (Hen): 3. Jason C rewe (Ho n): 4. Stew a rt Barber (He n ): S. Mike Rus h (Kaw). 100: 1. Matt Cross IHo n): 2. Fred dy Poli (Hen). KN BY: 1. IoeCunni ngt on (Kaw): 2. Damn Gibso n

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