Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/142443
a Mna - San Bernardino - Ventura - Auburn - N.pa - C.t. Mna - Sa son took the win and made a clean sweep of the night. Stephens tied down second with Reichardt taking third. Nifty night moves for Faria, McConnell at Ventura By Bill Locey VENTURA, CA, JULY 6 Round 13 of the Commotion By The Ocean - under a full moon yet - proved to be a lucky combination for a rider Dave Sims put heavy pressure on IMS Handicap main winner Warren Diem. Cook annihilates Auburn By Jann Houston AU BURN, CA,JULY 2 The fans a t th e Gold Coun try Fairgrounds will have something to talk about for a long time to come, and for good rea- 22 . son. Most of the m had never seen the . kind of speedway riding skill that John Cook brought home to his native northern California ton ight. They ma y call him " Cowboy" in Europe, but " Sh owman" is th e only word that can possibly begin to describe the breathtaking thrills he gave the aud ience every tim e he put his bike on the track. He is a fine yo ung man, and an out-standing am bassador to the sport of speedw ay. In his first heat race he took the lead on the second lap and from that point on, he wheelied down the straightaways on every lap right down to th e checkered flag, making it look easy, leaving the crowd literally in shock! In his Handicap semi, Cook expe rienced more of a "race," held off by Dave Norman and John Volk until lap three, and then it was show tim e again , as th e crowd gave h im the first of many standing ovations. They loved it! By now th ey were beginning to rea lize wh a t all th e fuss was abo u t! In the Handicap m ain, Cook had the lead by th e second lap, with John Volk in second giving him the closest race of the eveni ng. Tom Ferris and Ron McG ill battled behind them for th ird and fourth . There was less room for error in this event, with Volk putting on the pressure to the end. Ferris was third and McGill fourth. On the Scratch side of the program, Cook won both his heat and semi. In the main, he took the lead off the line, as he had done in both previous Scratch events, with Paul Orlandi second, Bert Stephens th ird and Marc Prince fourth . As the four laps, of what had to be one of the fastest Scratch main events in history, continued, Cook again felt the pressure, this time from Buddy Robinson. However, this did not prevent the exciting climax to the evening, as Cook took the checkered flag from the wheelie position. The crowd was treated to an extra attraction during intermission , as Cook and northern California's number one, Robinson , battled it out in a match race. Cook wheelied to victory in that one as well! T hank you, John Cook, for the best nigh t of northern California speedwa y...ever! It was a night of firsts in the other divisions. Ken Gray won h is first D-2 main, and Hal Sch eetz took home h is fir st D-3 troph y. " L ittle" Bobby Hedden, who I ha ve often ca lled the " World' s Smallest Spe edway Racer ," (and who not so lo ng ago ra n up to me after the race and said, " T on ig h t I finished th e whole ra ce and didn 't get lapped!" ), wo n hi s J un ior hea t and the main, holding off th e best of them - Bart Bast, Scott Brant and John Houston, Jr. To quote one of his more experienced competitors, "T he little guy was really cookin'. " Napa opens on Saturday, July 17at the Town and Country Fairgrounds. Racing at 7:30 p.m. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. John Cook; 2. Buddy Robinson; 3. Paul Orlandi; 4. Ron McGill. HAN DICAP MAIN: 1. John Cook; 2. John Volk; 3. Tom Ferr is; 4 . Ron McGill; 5. Bert Stephens; 6. Dave Norman. SECOND DIV: 1. Ken Gray; 2. Steve Crawford; 3. Mike lelia. THIRD DIV: 1. Hal Scheetz; 2. Jim Brenner; 3. Ron Porteous. JR SPDWY: 1. Bobby Hedden; 2. John Houston, Jr.; 3 . Scott Brant; 4 . Darrell Anderson; 5. Bart Bast; 6. Coors Wright. Bud Man sweeps Visalia By Jerry Parsons VISALIA, CA, JUNE 26 Buddy " Bud Man" Robinson smoked again as he took home all the gold in the Handicap main and the Scratch main tonight at the Visa lia Auto Plaza. Kevin French snatched an earl y lead from the zero as the Handicap main event blasted off the line. Robert Curry and Duane Yarrow diced hard for the second place spot, while the " Bud Man" was jamming to make up for his 50-yard-line start. Robinson was quick to close the gap as he moved past Yarrow for third. French was fighting hard to hold his lead as the battle for second became fierce . Curry's runner-up spot was gone as Robinson and Yarrow jetted by. French was soon in trouble as Robinson and Yarrow cut under him for the lead . Robinson took the win with Yarrow taking second. Curry also made h is move on French and snatched third. Robinson wasted no time in taking the lead away from Chris Reichardt · in the Scratch main. Reichard t pulled the holeshot but was unable to hold off the " Bud Man." BertStephens had his hands full in third with Yarrow knocking hard at h is door. Stephens pushed ha rd and managed to overtake Reichardt for second. Robin- too good to need any such help. Transla tion: Mik e Faria wins again. His business-as-usual Scratch main win gives him seven wins in 13 tri es. If Fa ria was a ballplayer , he 'd be hitting .538, an all-star for sure. And Shawn McConnell , the only rider to enter the '80s (he's #88 now), provided some dela yed reaction fireworks and also inspired the lion's sh are of th e leers , th e che ers and the oh dear s by pulling speedway's neatest tri ck - winning the Handicap main by passing five guys from the back. McConnell, smart enough to save his best rid e for the main event, . has now won three Handicap mains here so far , tripling his en tire output of 1981. The hot guys that made the main co uld not have been much hotter. Rob Pfetzing and Denny Scopellite were both unbeaten going in, and Warren Diem and Sterling Cogar had notched 'a win and a second place finish each . Meanwhile, McConnell had knocked himself out and still just barely survived with a pair of third place finishes. In the main, McConnell got a decent start, passed all the slower guys and was in third after two laps. On lap three Shawn did something that few others have done - he passed Diem from behind. Four down and one to go . In a textbook Night Move, McConnell pushed Scopellite to th e o u tside in turn four, then went underneath him in turn one and won by a comfortable margin, and a wheelie. When it comes to excitement , McConnell invariably holds his own. If Vic Robledo ever decides to gi ve up speedway, he can probabl y get a jo b as a salesman. With the brashness of a guy who cu ts into lin e at Disneyland and a line of B.S. so convincing he co uld sell a pair of Guccis to a cactus, Robledo not only made his First Division debut in Ventura, but he made it off the 20-yard line! He might've transferred, but he crashed. But that's not all. Since a few riders forgot what day it was and didn't show up, Robledo got a Scratch ride. He beat McConnell and Steve Lucero and transferred, after closing the door with authority around turn two'. He would've made the Scratch main, too, if his bike had not taken ill at the worst possible moment. Robledo ha d outgated Faria, among others, and had taken the early lead. So much for standing in line. ' . T he Scratch main was another of . those Bang-Zoom affairs. Bang , the gate went up. Zoom, Faria was gone. Again. Jeff Tomlin managed second, and Pfetzing was third after having won his two prior Scratch rides. In Second Division racing, Ed Castro passed Carlos Cardona in the final ben d for a heat win, and Ventura local Mike Coniglio won another. The fina l heat was a th ree-rider, five- lap mindsnapper. After everyone else crashed, Scott Talkington, Andy Northrup and Chris Reichardt passed and were passed for the entire race. Talkington finally got by Reichardt on the last lap. In a race no one deserved to lose , Northrup did just that, by a hair. The D-2 main was nowh ere ne ar as exciting, unless you 're Scott Talkington. He led from start to finish in a very fast race. Rei- · chardt, looking ready for th e Big Time, was second. Will Harper , a brand new rider, has a 'brand new trophy after winning his heat and the main by plenty to earn D-3 honors. If you're not a t the Ventura Raceway July 27 for 25¢ Beer Nigh t, you're not anywh ere a t all. Results SCRATCH MA IN: 1. Mike Faria; 2. Jeff Tomlin; 3 . Rob Pfetzing ; 4. Gene Wood s. HANDICAP MAIN : 1. Shawn McConnell; 2. Denny Scopellite; 3. Sterling Cogar; 4. Warren Diem ; 5. Keith Larsen ; 6, Rob Pfetzing . SECOND DIV: 1. Scott Talkington; 2. Chr is Reichardt; 3 . Ed Castro ; 4. Ron Blanton; 5. Carlos Cardona ; 6. Mike Coniglio. THIRD DIV: 1. Will Harper; 2. John Aitken; 3 . ~ Robby Stone ; 4 . Russ Bacare lla; 5. Pat Smith; 6. . Bob Moore. ~ MATCH RACE: 1. Jeff Toml in def. Tom Morley. Christian, Diem dom inate IM S By Scott Da loisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA, JULY 7 Alan Christian rode the STP Godden to four wins in six races including his third Scratch main win of the season at John LaDouceur's Inland Motorcycle Speedway tonight. Christian came out of the gate third behind Gene Woods (7-Up/ Matrix Godd) and Mike Bast (Justice Brothers/Knobby Shop jawa). As Bast and Woods started to go at it for first, Christian blasted by on the outside while going down the backchu te on lap one. As "T he Crazy One" began to open up a lead, Bast and Woods became involved in a battle for second I which eventually went to Bast for good on lap three. At starter Sid Sut- ~ ton 's ch eckered flag it was Christian !:' by a convincing half straightaway over Bast, Woods and Mik e Faria (Cody Products/Cycle Gear/Jones Goggles jawa). "T he Philadelphia Flyer," Warren Di em (Ma r tine z/ G P P romotion s j awa), came from th e 20 to win hi s second IMS Handicap main of th e season. 1981 California State Outlaw Champion Tom Hughes (C&M Tool! Wilds Associate s Jawa ) grabbed th e lead on th e start over Diem and Shawn McConnell (Va n s/ R id in g High Jawa). Diem immediatel y applied the heat to Hughes but didn 't get "by until the end of lap three. McConnell tried to muscle his way by the stubborn Hughes on lap four, only to have the 25-year-old from Riverside shut the door. McConnell tried again in turn one on the final circuit and was able to slide by as did Christian, allowing themselves to finish second and third, respectively, behind the long gone Diem. Kansas City's Jimmy O 'Dell (Lubri Tech Jawa) won his first IMS Second Division main of the season in a race that was marred by a very serious looking accident. Kenny Bencheck (Wes) beat O'Dell off the zero for the lead on the start with O'Dell taking over th e lead after bumping with Bencheck in turn one. Ron Blanton (Castrol!Bell /Wenn jawa ) and Tim McCasland (Jawa) moved in behind "the jayhawk" on lap three and beg-an to ap p ly the pressure.