Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SPEEDWAY COORS LIGHT U NATIONAL .S. S PEED AYCHAMPIONSHIP W By Elaine Jones Photos by Mike Ba sso COSTA MESA, CA, ocr. 3 art Bast finished a highly success ful speedway season by taking on a ll co mers and emergi ng as th e cha m pio n in the Coo rs Ligh t Un i te d St a tes N ati o na l Speed way C h a m p io ns h ip, h el d a t th e O ran ge Coun ty Fairgro unds. The format for the National featured fou r rounds of Scra tch racing: fou r laps, four rid er s. Poi nts were earned by finishi ng position, wi th three going to the wi nner, tw o to second place, etc. At the end of four rounds, the top 10 in points wo uld go to the two semis, in which the first two wo uld get a direct transfer to the main event. The next two would get one mor e shot a t g lory by racing in a last -chan ce qualifier. The fifth -p laced rider would be d on e for the night. The winner of the main - well, he wo uld be crowned National Champion. ~ ROUND ONE ..... ~ N l-< (jJ ..0 o ..... u o 34 Bast drew the p ole, with John "Ice Man " Aden in the seco nd spo t for the first race of the nigh t. Current National Champion "Fl yin' " Mike Faria , who was ' return ing to action after recovering from a broken collarbone an d shoulder blad e, was in three, and C ha rles "Du k ie" Er molenko d rew four. It wa s Bas t, kn o wn for hi s gat ing abili ty , wh o showed the tro op s th e way as he flew off the line and had a very easy time of it in go ing wi re to wire. Fa ria was off seco nd and h ad no trouble finishing in that spot, with Ermolenko and Aden finishing third and four th, resp ectively. "Fas t" Ed Cas tro d re w the pole in h ea t t w o , with Cha r lie "The Ed g e " Venegas in two and Shawn "Mad Dog" McConnell in three; Nor thern Californ ia rid er "[ arnrniri' " Jim Sisemor e w as in four. Vene gas cut a great ga te and was gone. Sisemo re we nt to second and had his hands full trying to hold off Castro. McCo nriell ran into trouble ea rly on when he slid ou t in four on the first lap . Cas tro coul d n' t find a way aro un d Sisemo re and settled for the third. Gary "Acky" Ackroyd drew the pole in hea t three , with Bobb y "Booga loo" Schwa rtz in two, Tommy "Mr. O utside" H edd e n in three a n d Josh Lars en in four . Sch w a rtz w en t ou t o n top , bui Larsen took the ou tside rou te and came ou t ahead on the exit of tu rn one. Th is was th e wa y it wou ld pl ay ou t in the quic k fou r-tappe r. Ackroyd held Hed d en at bay for the third . Reserve rider David "Mota " Ta ylor was ab le to fiII in for Warren Diem in hea t four, as Diem d id n't make the trek fro m New York . Robi n "Nitro" Nicolaid es was in tw o, w ith Chri s "Ma nny" Manches te r in th ree an d "R ad" Bra d Ox ley in fou r. It was Man chester who launched off th e line a nd wen t to the head of the pack . Running a very close seco n d wa s Oxl ey , b ut Ma n ch est e r gave no gro u nd and left no openings as he re pea ted ly clo s ed th e door o n Oxley to come away wit h the w in . Taylor was good for third , with N icolaid es fourth. The final heat of the first round saw Randy "Rocke t" Difrancesco "on po le. And y "Th e Enforcer" Northrup was in tw o, wit h Gary "G .T." Hicks in thr ee and Bobby Hed d en in four . Hed den cu t the best ga te and took the lead . Hic ks went to wo rk on the ou tside and go t a break when DiFran cisco lost a chain on th e w hi te- fl ag la p . Ti me ra n o u t for H icks, and he se ttled for second , with Northru p picking up third . ROUND TWO The first tr y at a sta rt in hea t one had Venegas getting ou t on top , with Larsen second and Bast thi rd . On the second lap, Bast ran into the back of Venegas in turn th ree and bo th went down. With now here to go , Larsen laid it down. The red came out, with Bast being DQed as the cause. A complete restar t wa s called and it was reserve Kon Baur who came in for Bast. On the rest art , it was Larsen wh o got the ga te and the lead . Even tho ug h Ven egas ran at him hard, Larsen was able to hold him off, goi ng tw o for two on the nigh t. Venegas was by no means ou t of it, as he had a first and a seconli to his cred it. Baur put himself on th e board , earni ng a p oint for h is thi rd ri place finish over Tay lor. . . The racing was taking on some major intensity as the first try at race two saw Hedden and Sisemore get up close and pe rson al, a nd a com plete restart wa ~ called. The seco nd time aro u nd , it was Faria who sho wed the folks why he is Na tional Champio n. He wen t ou t on top and never looked back. Sisemo re locked a . (Above) It all came down to thi s: Bart Bast leads t he way in the main event ove r Brad : Oxley. Bast we nt on to earn the vic to ry afte r an even ing of exciting racing at Costa Mesa Speedway in California. i1 (Left ) Bart Bast : U.S. Speedway Nationa l.Jj Champion in act ion at Costa Mesa. r' a

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