Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SPEEDWAY AMA u.s. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 18 "I knew [ ha d to run d own th ere, beca use I know 'Boogaloo ' is the on ly guy w ho could p ass me on th e pole," Manches ter said. "It was rea lly ge ttin g ro ugh, bu t I had to hang in there and take the beating. It was cool. th ough, because I could hear him outside of me, and I kn ew that I could race close with him, because he's a great rider. I tru st Bobby 100 percent. " Lazor quietly grabbed another win in heat nine, over Dillon, Harris and Oakd en . Diem wo n heat 10 from gate four to remain just one p oint off the lead pace, while Ma nches ter came back and won hea t 11 to re main p er fect, w it h n ine points from thr ee rid es. Heat 12 was filled wit h con trov ersy, as three of the four riders rolled into the tapes, causing a d elay in th e sta rt. As they rolled back, the lower tape br ok e over Schwartz's fron t fen d er , but th e refer ee allow-ed all four to res tart without penalty. Then Larsen and Sephton we re (again) involved in a gnarly firsttum pileup in hea t 12, with bo th tak ing several minutes to ge t up. Mean while, the crowd - an d so me of his fellow riders - began to grumble abou t Schwartz bein g allowed to pa rticipa te fro m th e scra tch line, which so incensed Schwartz th a t he threa tened to pull ou t of the mee tin g . Schwartz did re turn to the track, and scored the win over Nel son , Sephton and Lar sen (w hose bike was spu ttering) befo re returning to the pit s, where the re wa s more verbal rumbling even among the Californians - be for e cooler heads pr evailed. Battered and bruised from a ll th e time that he had spe n t on the ground, Seph ton finally scored a win in hea t 13, as he exited from the pol e starting spot an d ou tra n Mc Bride, H a r r is a nd a gro u nd-loo pi ng Hesmer. "I do n't kn ow wha t my problem is," a d isap p oin ted Sep h to n said . "Maybe I' m jus t tryi ng too hard ." Heat 14 wa s und oubtedly th e best -race of the night , as Manch ester a nd Diem raged around the track , wh eel to wheel. for 3 'f, laps. Diem cam e off the pole and got the better of Manchester (w ho came from ga te three) when the tapes wen t u p. But Manches ter tou ghed it and ou t pulled al on gs id e Diem, con teni to u se w ha t little room th at Die m was givin g him on th e ou tside to se t u p an attack . The crowd roared as the tw o ran side by s id e in' the tums and on the straights, before Diem finally made a fatal m istake . Diem hooked up in front of Manchester on the exit of tum tw o and s ho t acro ss the track in fro n t of him , allowing Manny to park it, squa re it off and drive up the inside to take the poi nt, which he held through out the final two tu rns for the victory. The crowd loved it. "Tha t was grea t," Manchester said . "I was al ready pa rking it whe n he hooked up and came across in front of me. I just made tha t park wo rk for me." Larsen rebou nded and won heat 15, but onl y after a red fla g , as C od y hooked up and wheelied into Mus zynzki coming o ff turn two in a g ri nding crash which se riou sly shook up both rid ers . Both eventually go t up, but Cody decid ed enough was e no ugh, a nd he pu lled out of the meeting. "I hurt my hand again in that earli er crash, and I was just tellin g Jason (Bonsignore) that if the holes got any wo rse, it was going to be har d to hang on, so I guess I just jin xed myself," Cody said. "It's not worth hu rting myself, and I d on' t want to hu rt a ny bo dy else. I'm d on e. Th at 's it . So d on 't w orr y, Mom, there a re no plans for some so r t o f comeback. Any th ou gh ts that I might have had are gone now ." The meeting continued , wit h Dillon scoring a much-needed win in heat 16 to propel him toward the elite eight. In the final round, Manch ester fini shed on a IS-point maximum, when he to pp ed Bons ign o r e, w hi le a d is a p p o in ted La rs en drop p e d to thi rd in hea t 17. Diem wo n his fina l he a t, heat 18, to fini sh o n 13 poin ts . Nelson p ick ed u p the win in hea11 9, to finish up with 11, while Dillon finished secon d for a fin al score of eig h t. Schwartz d efe ated a n off-pace McBride , Oakd en and reserve rid er Cam Raffer ty to close ou t the heat races. The n the rai n ca me in force. SEMIS After tallying up the points; Ma nchester led all sco rers with 18, while Dillon had ju st m ad e the cut, with eight. Th a t duo wa s joined by Nels on and Lazor for the first semi, as the rain came down even hard er. The damage was alread y done to the racin g su rface, an d Manches ter pl ayed it smart by findi ng wha t traction he could in the deep d irt to run ahea d of Dillon , who followed him . Lazor did the sa me, while Nelson gambled ' on the icy groove and woun d up crashing twice during the race. In the end, Ma nchester and Dillon were through to the final. " I didn' t know w he re I was s u p posed to line up ou t there, and when [ saw that they had left me gate fou r, it was like, 'Thank you, thank yo u, thank vou.:" Manchester said. , Diem, Schwartz, Larsen and Sephton loaded into the gates for the second semi, wit h Diem getting the jump and follow ing Manc hes ter's cue to ru n the outside an d take th e w in, with La r se n a n d Schwa rtz shado wi ng him to the finish. By the time the last chance qu ali fier took to the track, it was "cou ples only:' Schwart z knew the wa ltz, and claimed the win to become the fina l entrant in the Ll.S, Op en mai n event. And that's where it end ed, u nfortuna tely, for the fans, the rid ers and the promo ter . But 35 minu tes of rain could not wash away the ren ew ed good will and sens e of camaraderie felt am on g the ea stern an d wes te rn ri ders . Perha p s Man chester, the new U.s. Open Ch am p ion put it best. "At the end of the day, I had a lot of fu n:' Manch est er sa id . "Th a t's what co u n ts a ny w ay, be cau s e we su re weren' t doing this for the money!" .~ New Champion Speedway Owego, NewYork Results : August 29-30 , 1998 Satu rday A POOL (17 ri ders, top 8 qu ,",lify for U.s. Oprn.: t . Bobby Schwartz (G M ) 12 poi n ts; 2 (11E) Jos h Larsen (C M )/ Warr en Die m (Jaw) 11; 4. Bobby Muszynski (GMI 8; 5. Bobby Cod y (Jaw ) 8; 6. Bruce Nelson (C d n) 7; 7. (fIE> Tom Sephto n (Gd n) /1£n Dillon (Jaw) 6; 9. Ca m Raffe rty . 6; 10. (TIE) Fred Legault (Jaw) /G uy Fafard (Ja w) 5; 12 . Mike Co rtese (Cd n) 3; 13. (TIE) Fra n k w a tson (Gd n)lJere m iah Smith (Jaw ) 2; 15. (TIE) Tim (Left) Josh larsen scored 10 points via steady riding and lightning gates to take home fourth place. (Above) Nu Yalkstyle : (left to right) New Champion Speedway regulars Bruce "The Mongoose" Nelson, George "Lazor Beam" Lazor, Lenny McBrideand "M ean" Gene Bonsignore leap from the gate . (Below) Bobby Cody (far left). son of Jawa speedway bike importer Bill Cody, launched his speedway comeback • literally - dur ing Saturday's qualifiers. Cody looped out here but came back to make Sunday's program , and then promptly retired again. Matthewson (Gd n )/Gaeton Carig nan (Jaw)/Patrick AhIund (GMJ 1. B POOL (16 r id e r s, to p e ig h t qua lify fo r U.S. Open ): 1. George Lazor (Jaw) 11 po ints; 2. (TIE) Chris Ma ncheste r (Ja w )/ Lenny Mc Brid e (C d n) 9; 4. (TIE) Kelvin Her ral a (Gd n ) / C h ri s Hesmer (CM ) / Andy Harris (Ja w) 8; 7. D.1W Oa kden (jaw )/ Cenc Bonsignore (Jaw) 7; 9. Ken Piepe r (Cdn) /Tom Burge (Gdn )/Howie Oakden (Jaw ) 6; 12. N ick Fafard (Jaw) 4; 13. Kelsey Go rdon (Wes) 3; 14. Gary Hesm er (Jaw) 2; 15 (TIE) Mike Buman /Ma tt Otto (Jaw ) 1. ' SUP A (4 tap s; 4 rid ers): 1. Joe Vinins ky (Wes); 2. Joe Green (Wes); 3. Dav e C reenie r (jaw) ; 4. Dave Smith (jaw) . sur B (4 laps; 6 rid ers ): 1. Tod d Hunter (Wes); 2. Kendall Brookes (ja w) ; 3. Ja y Sta lma (Ja w ); 4. Kar l Humphreys (jaw); 5. Mike Rob inson (jaw); 6. Aa ro n Hesmer ITri). Sunday OIA POI NTS (16 ri de rs + 1 reserv e, lop eig ht on poi nts qu a lify for se misk 1. Chris Man chester (Ja w) 15 pts; 2. Warren Di em (Ja w) 13; 3. (TIE) Bobby Schwartz

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