Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Local boy made good: Bast climbed directly Into the cha mpions hip finale A Main by s coring 12 points . After he finished second only to Hancock, many ins iders were already tabbing him as a favorite for the U.S. National title at Costa Mesa. (Right) Charlie Venegas (left) and Bobby Hedden (right) race In tight quarters. Venegas, too , scored 12 points for a d irect seed to the A main, while Hedden had to come throu gh the B main. Hedden wound up taking fourth in the A, and Venegas was fifth. quick sta rte r Bast , who led all th e way ahead of Sise more and the poor-starting Bob Hicks . Faria finished off the second round with the wi re-to-wire win out of ga te three. Bobby Hed d en was second o ut of the blocks and second at the flag, as Manchest er pulled off with a mech anica l failure, leavi ng third place to Curry. After tw o complet e rou nds, Bast and Larsen were tied for th e lead with s ix points, while Hancock and Ven egas sat just one point back. Bast's perfect sco re w as sho rt-lived , as janniro surprised eve ryone but hi mself by taking an impressive w in fro m the pole in heat ni ne . Bast pressured the · youngster fo r a ll fou r laps, bu t janniro rod e flawlessly to his first ational heat victory . "1 waited for him to make so me kind · of mistake, but he nev er d id ," a so mewhat frustra ted Bast said . Hancock lo cked up an oth er three points in heat 10, takin g th e v icto ry · ahead of Fari a and th e p oo r-starting Venega s, who had to ge t arou nd Pat Linn lat e in th e rac e to sa lvage the single third-place point. In event 11, Manchester was th e first a way w hen th e starting ta p es rose , but the red fl ag came out when Hicks and Schwartz got together in the turn-tw o di rt. Schwartz was rep laced by reserve rider Ian Fer ris, and M an ch e ster o nce a gain put hims elf out in front. H icks claimed seco nd a ft er a brief lap-two battle wi th Diem, who fad ed and was a lso passed by Ferris. Lar sen watched his perfect sco re go by the wa ysid e in the ne xt heat, when his quick start propelled him wide into turn two, all owi ng Tommy Hedden and th en Bobby Hedd en to w ork ahead of him on the insid e line. Bobby th en con tinued int o the lead ahea d of his bro th er by s taying ti g ht o n the pol e . Tommy had seco nd place wrapped u p until the last lap, wher e he swapped in turn two, a llowing Larsen to stea l ba ck se co nd place. Aft er three complete round s, Bast , Ha ncock and Larsen w ere all tied for the lead with eig ht points. Faria opened round four w ith a wi n over Sisemore a nd Sh awn McConnell. In heat 14, Ven egas used his insi de starting positi on to good advantage, getting a hea d e a r ly a n d h olding off th e adva nce s of Bast , w ho go t h is w orst sta rt of the meeting, but he was abl e to slide his way into second place ea rly in the even t after Manchester o nce again wa s th e vic tim of mechanical frus tr a· tions. Larsen also saw his ove ra ll sco re deteriorate when he wa s un ab le to work back after a poor start and he had to set-: tie for third place. Hancock m ade sh ort w ork of th e field in his next ride, leaving Tommy Hedden to hold off Hicks and claim the second- place po ints . Schwa rtz led eve nt 16 fo r th e first 3';, la p s , bu t w he n he drifted wi de in tu rn two on the last la p to bl o ck Bobby Hedde n 's outsi de advances, jan niro jumped on the opportunity to ta ke th e lead, blasting down th e ba c k st raight with a d eft ins ide m o ve . H edd en shed Schwa rtz a t th e sa me tim e a nd was all over janniro as th e tw o ne gotiated the fin al turns, bu t" the young star man aged to hold off the elder H edden to get his second w in of the meeting. Aft er fou r com ple te ro unds, Hancock now sa t alone at the top with 11 po in ts. Bast was a mere poin t behind, and Faria, La r se n a n d Ve negas w ere ju st t w o p oints o ff the p a ce with ni ne poi n ts eac h. M anch ester co nt in ued h is up-anddown nig h t with another win to o pe n the fina l round . Shawn McConnell ran second for 2", laps, o nly to ha ve Linn a n d Tomm y H edd en work in sid e o f him, pushing him back to fourth. Linn tried to block the advancin g H edd en, lea vin g To m my sp ra w led in th e turnfour du st and a llo w ing th e alert McConn ell to retake second place. Althoug h no call was made by referee John G ra nt a t t he time, later in the evening, Linn admitted to his fault in Hedden's downfall , and the third-p lace point was awarded to Hedden. Venega s continued his winning ways in heat 18, taking the top spo t ah ead of Si s em ore, w ho wo rke d h imself p a s t Schwartz as th e two ne g ot iat ed turn three on the second lap. Faria ke pt pace w ith Ven ega s in the night's penultimate' h e at r ac e , wh en h e le d Lar sen and Hicks from the sta rt . Hicks fell to fourth when [anniro got past after the white flag waved. H an coc k g o t o ne of hi s te xtbook sta rts in th e fina l hea t, leavi ng Bast to work the insi de line and Bobby Hedden the outsid e as the y looked for a way to catch the leader. Bast' s second-place finish left him in a fla t- footed ti e with Ven e ga s and Faria for seco n d place ove rall at 12 points apiece. With th ree rid ers sched uled to trans fer straight into the A main, and Hancock already- th ere with hi s 14- poin t n ight, much di scu ssi on ensued about how to resolve the tie. Since none of the riders wished to part icip at e in a ru n-off to see who would ha ve to cont es t the B main , it wa s decided that all thr ee rid ers would ind eed tran sfer directly to the A, and the wi nner of the B would join them fo r what would be come a five-rid er main to d et ermine th e AMA National Champion. D etermi n in g th e fo u r r iders that w ould m ake up t he B ma in crea te d an other matter to resol ve . Larsen was already in with 11 points, as wa s Bobby Hedd en with his n ine-point to ta l. Tommy Hedden was also seeded direct ly int o the B with nine points . That left Sisemore and [anniro with eight po ints each and in a runoff for the last spot in the B, w hich in itself w basically a lastcha nce qu alifier for a chan ce to run fo r th e N atio nal Championship. Sisemo re d re w ga te tw o a nd beat [a nniro in th e ens ui ng four-tapper . La rsen had the m ost points goi ng into the B m ain and thus had the choice o f starting positions; he predictab ly picked th e p o le. Bobby H edden to ok lan e tw o, w hile Tommy Hedden opted fo r the outside, which left Sisemore in starting g rid three. Lars en go t out firs t, but Bobbv Hedden wa s not to be den ied an d swept around th e lead er and on to a spot in th e A m ain, w it h a cha nce to claim all the marbles. H ancock had fir st pi ck of s ta r ting positi on s for the A ma in and , to Bast ' s su rprise, he picked lane three. " I w as a mazed when he w anted to sta rt from lane three," Bast sa id lat er. "I would have picked the pole to not be at anyone's m ercy. 1 g uess th at's why he was the World Cha mpion." Venegas came away with the usu ally coveted pole pos ition, with Fari a next to him in lan e tw o and Bast in four . B-main qualifier Hedden assumed th e outside spot. Hancock turned w hat should hav e been a very busy first tum into a rout as he perfo rm ed s tarti ng-ga te surgery on the rest of the field . Saving his best for last, the British League veteran launched him self into a tw o-b ike -len gth lead by th e time th e finali sts en tered th e fir st turn. Th e ra ce was immed ia tely on for (Above, left to right) Bast, Hancock and Faria enloy the spoils of finish ing on the podiu m. seco nd pl ace, as Faria w as off the lin e next and in pu rsuit mode, wi th Bast close beh ind . Venegas and Hedden weren 't as fortunate on their starts and fou nd themselves a rgu ing ov er fourth place. Bast s oo n worked past Fa ri a a nd mad e a valia nt try to reel in H a ncock , but the d eed was all bu t d one . H ancock rode flawlessly to th e Nati onal Ch ampionship a boa rd h is d ial ed - in Exi de / Power Bar/Troy Lee Designs /Silkolene GM. " I managed a co u ple of peeks back durin g th e m ain, 'ca use I kn ew it w ouldn 't be easy aga inst th ese g uys tonight," Hancock said. "I'm just lu cky 1 go t a good start . My good sta rts pa id off all ni ght. This is eve n a better . fee ling than winning th e (U .s .) Nationa l th e firs t time. I guess it just proves that firs t one was no fluk e." Bas t fini sh ed in second and Faria held third , w hile Bobby Hedden held off Venegas to claim the fourth spot. l~ Gold Country Fairgro unds AUburn, California Res ults : Sep te mber 25, 1998 OIA: 1. Greg Ha ncock (14); 2. Bar t Bast (I2); 3. Mike Faria (2); 4. Cha rlie Venegas ( 2); 5. jvs h Larsen (11); 6. Bob by H edd e n (9); 7. ,To mmy H.. d d en (9); B. Jimm y Sisemore (9); 9. Billy Ianniro (9); 10. Bob H icks (9); 11. Ch ris Ma nchest er (9); 12. Shawn McCon ndl (4); 13. eriE) Bobby Schwartz/Robert Cu rry / Wa rre n Diem (2); 15. m E) Pat U nn /Ian Ferris (n B MAIN: 1. Bobby Hed den (jaw ); 2. Jim Sisem ore Uaw ); 3. Josh Larsen (G M); 4. Tommy Hedden (Jaw ). A MA IN: I. Creg Han cock (eM ); 2. & rt Bast (Jaw); 3. Milt' F.u Y (GM); 4. Bobby Hed de n Uaw ); 5. Charlie Venegas (eM). . 00 0\ 0\ ,..... <:1" ,..... l-o Q) .o o ..... u o 59

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