Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

R u 4: Watsonville S o nd peedw ay' WEST COAST FLAT TRACK SERIES win ahead of Hlebo, San chez, Mayfi eld and Ritchie . . Sou z a led h ea t fo ur w ire to w ir e , with Noyes lookin g high and low for ,a way arou nd . N on e was fo und. Kev in Bricker, Ran d y Bere rna n an d Rober t Seay fell in line. Mike Gonzales put his Yamaha ou t fron t of the firs t Vintage heat, ahead of Thiebaud, Mark Lega rra and a limping Cobb. David Nance and Eddie Mul d er joined the race in the mid dle of the pack. Mulder soon was picking off riders, first Na nce, th en Co bb on th e back st re tch a n d thro u gh tu rn thre e. Thi eb au d pulled along on the insi de of Gon zales, and the pair locked elbows for se vera l laps before Thieb au d g o t th e b ett er d rive onto the front straight to take the lead . Mu lder passed Legar ra for thir d, and Cobb , later diagnosed wi th a fractured hip, hung on in fifth . Spen ce r , Rick Reed a n d Da v e Maxwell l ed he at tw o on a tri o of Tri- (Left to right) West Coast Flat Track Series title winn er Brown, promoter Gene Rom ero and Open Vintage champion Jeff Johnson share a smile. At Brown's feet is a $1000 check from the ser ies points fund. into fourth, runnin g in h igh in tu rn tw o, bu t squarin g th e co rn er and cu tt ing inside of Sou za for third . Hlebo mad e th e last p ass before th e fini sh, ge tt ing aro u nd Sou za for fou rt h. Corsetti was push in g hard to cat ch lwanaga - pu shing so hard the front tire was alternately sk id d ing over th e top of th e bra ki ng bumps and hopping as it caught traction . Brown mot or ed to the win, w hile lw anaga stayed ou t in front of Corse tti. Hlebo, Souza and Noy es com ple ted the d ash. I Jesse Sanchez an d Pauley fini shed one, two in the first semi, earning direct transfer s to the main event, w hile John Hl eb o took th e seco n d sem i victory, towing Damro n a nd Bricker to th e A Main. . 1 Clyde Dennen had his No rton twi n ou t fro nt of th e O pen Vintage B Ma in for a while, but was shortly dropped to th ird , a s G a ry Ritchi e a n d Butch Coc hran both went by in the fight for th e lead. Coc hra n held on to take the win on his Triumph twin over Ritchie's Ya ma ha si ng le , Denn en, Ch ris Rud y an d David Na nce. Mayfield was' defi nitely having an off nigh t, eve n getting suckered into jumpingthe start in the B main. With Mal I 6 J By Fred Windum en en en ~ u; ::J g> .q: 32 WATSONVILLE, CA, JULY17 on Brown sm oked the troops in , eve ry race h e ran a t th e fin al J _-i round of Ge ne Romero' s West Co ast Fla t Tr a ck Series on th e Wat sonville Speedway ov al , taking horne the hon ors from a main event wi n, and gaining enough po int s to su rpass the '98 cha m p Lon nie Pau ley fo r the ove rall po ints champion ship, and the new West Co a s t Fla t Trac k Seri es n umber-on e p late, Early in th e eve nin g it look ed as if Mark Cors etti might get his first victory of the so phomore series , tak ing fast time of the night on his Co rsetti Racing/Jim H o d ge s /Ron Woo d Wood-R ota x . Brown was seco nd, ahea d of Rod Lake Racin g's Pau l Iwa naga, freshm an Kenny Noyes on the lone L&M Hu saberg in the dash, and Tony Souza, wit h the top six riders in the Trophy Das h lat er in th e evening . Lonnie Pau ley, Steve Johnson, Jeff Joh nson and Rob Dam ron filled ou t the fas tes t 10 O pen rid ers, Jeff Jo h nson chosi ng to run the Open class only , after sewing up the Vin tage cha mpio nship at th e previo us round in San Jose. Th is ga v e th e ol d er crowd someth ing fo r wh ich to sh oo t. Ken Thieba ud put his Triumph twin at the top of the time trials li st, w ith fe llow tw in ra cer Rod Sp en cer se co n d . Jo e C arr era a n d roundy-rou nd philant hropist Rod Lake proved that the singles still had a sho t at a win, takin g the final two spots in th e Oregon Cascad e Water Vintage Das h for Cash . Jeff Johnson read the sta rter 's min d in the firs t heat , leading Steve Johnso n and An tho ny Gia mmanco into the first turn. Bob Cobb sto pped the heat wit h a hard getoff in the first corn er, takin g his time to ge t up. He did not retu rn to the lin eup. Stev e Jo hnson led th e res ta r t o ver Co rse tti and Gi a mmanco , w ith Corsetti tak ing over on the back stre tch. Jeff Johns on p ass ed Gi a m ma nco fo r third and pulled in behind Steve Johnson, head ing after Corse tti. Steve Hlebo, on a DTX Honda CRSOO and Paul San, burn joined in wi th the front fou r rid ers. Cor setti pu lled away, leaving Johnson and Johnson to ta ng le. Steve held th e advan ta ge , w it h Jeff th ird , a h ea d of Giammanco. Sanburn passed Hlebo for fifth. Brown and Pauley co n tinued th eir se ries du el in th e secon d h ea t, wit h Bro w n timing th e s tarter perfectl y to lea d the field . Paul ey pulled in behind him, with Dann y Casey on his tail. Bob Grant and Don Hart add ed to the bat tle, bu t Rob Dam ron d ropped a ll of them back with an ou tside pass on the wide groove to move up to third spot. Brown finis hed the heat a stra ightaway ahead of Paule y and Damron, with Hart ge tting past Casey on the last lap . Only the win ner transfers d irectly to the ma in fro m th e h ea ts, a nd Paul Iw anaga mad e it clea r that he wa sn't about to ride a semi as he blasted off the li n e in h e a t th r ee . Jo h n H le bo a n d Dann y Ritch ie , on Ronni e Brown 's Yama ha , gave chase. Jesse Sanch ez , Steve Mayfield an d Frank Sanchez also pulled in line. Jesse San chez ran it inside Rit ch ie in turn one a t th e sa me time M ayfield go t th e id ea , a nd th e tw o began trading rubber, Jesse Sanchez losing the rh ythm lon g eno ugh for Mayfield to take fourt h and start working on Rit ch ie. Je ss e Sanchez la ter tri ed to return the favor , sliding inside Mayfield, wit h no luck . Th e pair con tin u ed to bang on each othe r in the best tradi tion of short track racin g. Both rid ers upped ' the pace, ca tching Ritchie on the fro n t straight an d go ing three-wide int o turn one. Sanchez held the insid e, May field went the lon g way and Ritchie we nt to fifth . Iwana ga cruised to the third heat um ph tw ins, followed by Chris Rudy on an "i ron XR" Harley . Ru d y was so on left beh in d, as Jim Stee t and Ga ry Ritch ie both we n t around on a pair of Yam a h a si ngles . Stee t co n ti n ue d to ch a rge, p a s s in g Ma xwe ll for thi r d . Sp encer held on for the win ahea d of Reed , Steet, Ma xwell and Ritchie . The con tinu ing battle between Ca rrera and Lake was featu red yet again in the third and final Open Vint age he at. Lake had to grab his ba ckup bik e wh en his primary ride refu sed to start. With everyone now running, th e green light flash ed, and Daryl Mu sto launched into turn one with the lead, followed by Ca rrera , Lake, Keith Bra d ford a nd Clyde Denn en . Ca r re ra qu ic k ly we n t a ro und Mu sto's Ho nd a single, while Lake also started look ing for a way aro und , passing for secon d on the front straight. Carrera held the lead ahead of Lake, Musto a nd Bra dfo rd , wh il e Butc h Coc h ra n moved past Clyde Dennen for fifth. In the Open Vintage dash for cas h for the four fastest vin tage bike / rid er comb os, Sp encer jumped ou t to a n ea rly lead , with p ol esitter Th ieb au d on his rear tire. Th iebaud ch ose a low lin e through one and tw o, pulling alon gsid e Spe ncer, but not soo n eno ug h to drive pas t. Ca rrera and Lake continue d their riva lry, racing for the third place sp ot. Lake came into turn one d own low to pull alongs ide Carre ra in tu rn two and d ow n the ba ck straig ht. Thiebaud ran into th r ee and four high , loo king to square off four in an attem p t to d ri ve un d ern eath Spencer, but cam e up sho rt. Spencer took the win , Thi ebau d was second and Ca rrera held off Lake for thi rd . Brown took to the point im med iately in the Open tro phy dash, with Iwanaga and Sou za right behi nd hi m. Co rs etti, after a horrible start, passed both Noyes a nd John H leb o on th e insid e .to pull fi eld s a fely m o ved to th e ba ck r ow , Gran t go t the ju mp on the race, followed by H art an d Jeff Jo h nso n . John s o n qu ickly go t past Ha rt and Gran t for the lea d , leaving th e pair to bang ,elbows: Mayfield had also made up ground, takin g ove r fourth an d looking a fte r the leaders. . V Giammanco pulled up on Grant, fa lowed by Ste ve Hleb o and Pa ul Sanbu rn . Johnson was ru nn ing low, protecting his lead , leaving Hart and Mayfield no cho ice bu t to ru n the high line to try and pa ss. All th ree rid ers ran side by si de d ow n th e fro n t stra ig h t and in to. turn one, where Mayfield pulled a slight lead , w ith Hart a lso sl ip ping p a st to d rop Johnson back to third. After saving the tanks lap per of the night, Hart u ltimately finis he d thi rd , beh ind Joh nson, but Ma y field ma d e up th e necess ary ground to take the win in the B main . Ca r r era led th e JRC Enginee ri ng O pen Vin tage A mai n with hi s u su al qu ick r eac tio ns on his s tock fr amed TT500, but Spen cer powered pa st on a Tri umph twin on the back s tra igh t to take the lead . Thie baud, also Triumphmounted , was the last to pass Carrera, who picked up the pace and pulled in beh ind Thiebaud to make it a race. Singles and Twins mi xed it up, with Triumph-m ounted Rick Reed sna g g in g fou rth. Mike Go nza les a nd Rod Lake, almos t cli ppin g a ca m eraman in turn one, both ran around on Yama ha singles. Ed d ie Muld er , s till sti ff from his Pikes Peak advent ure, ra n seventh on a vintage XR Ha rley. Lake be ga n to work on Gon zales, diving in to both on e and thr ee trying to ma ke th e insid e lin e work, but los in g momen tum in the mid dl e of the corn er a s Go nza les p in ched off hi s lin e . Spencer , Thi eb au d , Carre ra a nd Reed h eld th eir sp ots to the fla g, but Lak e wasn't giving u p, try ing once more on

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