Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

through the crash-filled Third Division portion of the program ~ Results e-r 00 0'> ........ "' ~ c-r ~ '. Bast, i=aria, Miller top Auburn. Qualifier fI:J :3 eo :3 ...... . SCRATCH MAIN : 1. Shilwn McConnell; 2. Mike Faria; 3. Steve Lucero ; 4. Rick M iller . HANDICAP MAIN : 1. Bob Ott; 2. Chris Reichardt; 3 Ron Blanton; 4. Rick Miller; 5. Guy Ermolenko; 6. Scott Talkington: .. ' . SECONDDIV: 1. MikeJaudon; 2. Guy Helderlein; 3. Shane McDonald; 4. Andy Northrup; 5. Mike Conigl io; 6. Alan Davidson . . THIRD DIV: 1. Ludi Carlton; 2. Dave Smith; 3. Bob Moore; 4. Richard Perkins ; 5. Pat Smith ; 6. John Aitken . MATCHRACE Buddy Robinson def . Bobby Mclain. : < By J ann Houston AUBURN, CA, AUG. 7 The first- round of the Speedway National Qualifiers was held at Auburn, CA.today after rain showers that nearly can- .... Dubb Ferrell abandoned the competition at Costa Mesa tonight to take on a new pair of escorts. McConnell, Ott totally hot in Ventura By Bill Locey VENTURA, CA, AUG. 3 On Valley Girl Night in Ventura, Shawn McConnell and Bob Ott were totally tubular as they won the, for sure; big bucks before the largest crowd of crazies of the year. And it was a, for sure, full moon, too , but most of the weird stuff was confined to the stands and not the track , for a change. The crowd, like for sure, .booed almost, for sure , loud enough to make th e little alligator jump off your shirt when the announcer asked if an y real Valleys were th ere. But then , before the , for sure, real Valley Girl , Samantha Paige, cou ld scarcely utter a dozen " O migods" and " For sures," she was booed off the tra ck by the vocal locals. So much for Valle y Girls guest-starring in Ventura. In th e hairy Handicap racing, "Berz erko" Bob Ott had it prett y easy in win ni ng h is first two rides. H e kept h is wh eelies to a min imum and . rod e th e tota lly tubular perfec t ride to win off th e zero-yard -line. In the Handicap main and the T otally G na rly Crash Dept.: Scott Ta lki n gto n's bike croa ked, G uy Erm olenko slammed into him, did a few cart wh eels along the wall, then Rick Miller hit him . The clang of Guy's bell ringing co uld be heard in Oxnard. Now here's the best pa rt - he walked awa y. Ott, who had been outgated by Ron Blanton, returned the favor on the restart, and scooted . to victory , never seriously threatened . to complete a mostly memorable (and undefeated) debut in the Big Time. Chris Reichardt, on the verge of winning a D-I main, was second. In Scratch racing, McConnell more than made up for not transferring out of his Handicap heat' race. He thrashed everyone in his heat, then battled his Ventura rival, Mike Faria, wheel to wheel for a full four laps before losing a squeaker. In the main, track champ Steve Lucero outgated Faria, but McConnell passed them both on the outside around turn two and that was the race. Faria (n ine trophies) ' and McConnell (seven trophies ) ar e clearly , for sure , way better than everyone else so far thi s year at the Ventura Racewa y. Also, Reichardt made his first Division scratch racing debut, and rod e with sufficient authority to win th e con sy. He's not flash y, but he's good, for sure. In Second Division thrills (and 13 sp ill s), Mike J audon becam e the firsteverColorado rider to survive his first ni ght in Ventura witho u t endi ng up on hi s wall et af ter a crash. Jaudon , at the ripe old age of 16, not on ly survived, but he won hi s hea t and the mai n even t by p lenty. "Maybe it's because I'm 16 and stupid and don 't know any bett er, because I go for it, " said J audon , disp layi ng refreshi ng candor and humo r. . Ludi Carl to n enjoyed the trip back to Long Beach , clutching his firstever Ven tu ra trop hy after livi ng o o celled the event. The rain remained a problem at the start of th e evening, as three of the four riders went down on the slippery track in the first heat; Alan Christian was the only rider to stay up and he did two full 360s before finishing! At the end of two complete rounds Bast, Buddy Robinson and Dubb Ferrell had perfect scores, while Faria, . Lucero and McConnell were one point down. Burba was the am azing subject of the evening, doing so well after making the program from the reserve position after Danny McNeill was injured two weeks ago, After a six way tie was broken for three spots remaining in the semis, it was Bast, Lucero, Ferris and Buddy . Robinson in the first semi event. Bast, as usual, was right into the lead and Ferris was a close second. Lucero was third coming into turn three on the third lap when the all too familiar happened! Buddy Robinson did what he does just a little too often, driving in and stuffing Lucero into the wall. Robinson was black flagged and disqualified as Lucero lay motionless on the track, pinned under his bike. What looked like a serious situation, however, was over a few minutes later when Lucero was able to walk away, but thanks to Robinson, Lucero's night was over. Rick Miller; a new face to the qualifiers, and obviously a star of the future, came into -the semi .after tak ing second in his first two events and a win in the third. In the semi, he was out of the gate in his amazingly fast style for the lead, which he hel d to the checkered flag : The consolation event was Christian's all the way as he held off D~Temple, Ferris and Burba for the win. The main event is supposed to be the best , and there was no question - about that tonight. Mike Bast was determined to end the night with a perfect score and Mike Faria was just as determined to win. Bast was in the lead , somewhat comfortably for the first three laps, however, with Mike Faria behind you , the race is on until the checkered flag. Going into the fourth and final lap of the night, Far ia tried on every turn to take Bast on the outside, but the seven-time Na tiona l Champion was not to be beat, as Fari a whee lied to the fin ish line less tha n half a bikelength behind. Miller wa s third a nd McConnell fourth. Results 1. Mike Bast (20 pts.): 2. Mike Faria (18); 3. Rick M iller (161; 4. Shawn McConne ll (15); 5. Alan Christi an (12); 6. Tom Burba (11); 7. (TIE)Tom Ferris/David DeTemple'(9); 9. (TIE) Steve Lucero/M ike Curoso (8). Ferrell takes finalU.S. Qualifier By Ken Kellogg CO STA MESA, CA, AUG. 13 This was the final round of the U.S. National Championship Qualifiers and at stake were the slots for the 1982 Nationals and the 1983 U.S World Qualifier. Rick Miller was the high-point man coming into this event, but the top 30 points riders in the U.S. plus Canadian Len , Dillon were here. George Lazon made the drive from New York. , . The first half of the program was composed of 24 events where each rider had a ride against every other rider and a chance at the four semis. The main event paid double points. Rob Pfetzing and Rick Miller took a seven rider run-off for the last semi positions. Semi one was a battle between Alan Christian and Gene Woods. Christian took the lead on lap two and took the win. The remaining order read: Woods, Mike Curoso arid Guy Ermolenko. Semi two went to Dubb Ferrell after he passed early leader Ron Mc Gill. Northern California rider Buddy Robinson took second. Mike Faria led the third semi from start to finish . Pfetzing had second till he bumped with Dave Sims and went into the wall. Sims took second. Mike Bast was never really challenged for the lead in the final semi. He was followed by Shawn McConnell, who fought off the advances of Dave De'Ternple. A back-and-forth battle between Woods and Robinson came out in Robinson 's favor in the consolation. McConnell stayed in third from the gate. In the main event, the riders were Christian, Ferrell, Faria and Bast. Bast took the gate unchallenged with Ferrell second, Christian third and Faria fourth. Ferrell gained ground on the back straigh taway, bu t by the ) end of the second lap, something happened to Bast's bike and he was ou t. Ferrell took the lead with Christian second and Faria third. Ferrell won the big one, the main event, picked up eight more points for his main event win which made him the number eight qualifier and also gives him a ride in the 1983 U.S. World Qualifier. Bruce Penhall, because of his current sta nding as the National Cha mpion, . Den n is Siga los and Kelly Moran, because of their finish in this year's U .S. World Q ualifier, will all be in the Nationals. The top all-around qualifer was Mike Faria with 70 points. After Faria the points and positions were: Christian 61, Bast 60, Miller 49, Mc Connell 42, Woods 38, Lucero 36, Ferrell 34, Burba 30, Robinson 30, Sandona 28, Curoso 28 and Sims 26. First reservewas Paul Orlandi. Second reserves will be DeTemple, McLain and Ferris. ' It's M iller Time at Qualifier Time By Bill Locey VENTURA, CA, AUG. 10 Rick Miller was th e best of the .rest as " e won the main even t h to cap a 33-race, three-hour speedway marathon in second round action of the U.S . Speedway Na tional qualifiers at the Ventura

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