Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. , f: . __ • • , . # l\ • • " '" . , • ~ •• I Costa Mesa - San Bernardino - Ventura - Auburn - Napa - Costa Nne - San Bernardino - Ventura - Aubura - Napa - Costa M~ - Sa SPE'EDWAY WEEK Th e Scratch main was one of those smoot h fast n ever-chan ging even ts. It wa s Paul Orlandi into a fantastic lead o ff th e wall , with Dennis Robinson in to second off the pole position. Buddy Robinson was thi rd and Duane Yarrow completed the fiel d. Orlandi, who seems to excel in th e Scratch portion of a night at Speedway, had won his heat and tak en second in the Semi , as he held a good lead and wheelied to grab th e checkered flag for the victory lap. Dennis Davis won his second Auburn Division Two main of the 1982 season. Mark Lindsay' pu t his speedway bike on th e track for th e first time since h is rider 's test a few weeks ago, a n d took home th e trophy in th e Division Three main event, as well as the win in his heat. Was it beginner's luck? I doubt it. In th e Junior main , Bart Bast took th e win over the new Northern California Junior Champion, Scott Brant who placed second after winning his first two heats. John Houston, Jr, was third. Results Bobby Schwartz churns San Bernardino turf inside of Steve Lucero. Corbett, Borgman frolic at Western Arena By Coach DENVER, CO, AUG. 13 Mark Corbett won the Handicap main, despite the fact that he gave the lead away briefly in a display of sportsmanship that 26 yo u just don't get to see every da y. Mark Borgman had to contend with Ken Pieper, Brian Hoel and Da ve Pi eper to co llect his checkered flag. Mark Corbett (he ll u va n ice guy, co nsisten tly fast , not super flash y) did it big time tonight! He won the Handicap main from behind and brought his friends with him ! The first turn was owned bv Larrv Metherd (10 yds.) with Allen Rohr (10 yds.) just outside; Mark Corbett (20 yds.) was trying to duck under both and Mark ' Borgman (40 yds. ) and Rick Steele (30 yds.) were waiting for a hole. Metherd pulled out a lead as Rohr tried him outside for a few laps only to find that the wall eventually gets in the way. As Rohr a nd the wall did their thing, Corbett went by Rohr, wall, and Metherd (who was hauling beast of burden at the time) ana immediately saw a yellow flag. Mark waved Metherd back by and resumed his pursuit. All this brought Borgman and Steele close enough to be a large problem and Corbett decided to leave. As luck would have it , Metherd found a bunch of traction that wasn 't aimed down the straight about then, and by the time he got it all sorted out, Corbett, Borgman and Steele had gone underneath. That's it folks, underneath is where it's at l Metherd, despite a helluva ride, came up last. The Scratch main was anybody's race from the.start as everybody hit the first turn in a lump. There wasn't any way to tell who was leading as th e .lead changed every few feet until Hoel slipped high coming out of turn four and let Dave Pieper by. Ken Pieper took advantage of Dave 's preoccupation with passing Hoel and slip ped under Dave. Borgman was really leading all thi s time, but it wa s far from co mforta ble. Ken Pi eper (he is kinda used to winning) was all over Borgman for th e rest of the race, but couldn't quite get by, despite a la st turn effort that would have gotten h im by most anyone else. Those of you who think Second Division mains ar e ho-hurn affairs bett er listen up. Tonight's was a dill y th a t got a sta nding ovation from th e crowd and probabl y bruised Lance 't he Red Fox ' Darsow up a bit. No , th e bruises didn 't come on th e race tra ck , bu t fro m th e congratulatory pummeling he got from th e oth er race rs in th e p its. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Mark Corben; 2. Mark Borg - man; 3 . Rick steete: 4. Larry Metherd. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Mark Borgman; 2. Ken Pieper : 3. Brian Hoel; 4. Dave Pieper . DIV 2 HANDICAP : 1. Lance Darsow; 2. Denn is Hartley; 3. Vince Reichard!. Curry, Orlandi unbeatable at Auburn By Jan n Houston AU BU RN, CA, AUG. 20 It's amazing what a difference it can make when a rider knows his sponsors have come to the races. In the case of Ro bert Curry, he was obviously up and excited at the prospect. His enthusiasm was evident, to say the least, judging by the way he looked on the track tonight. In the very first heat of the evening, he took the lead and held it to the finish , as northern California's number one Buddy Robinson made him work for it, placing a close second. As the gate went up in the main it was more of the same as the 'C u rry Connection' con tin ued into the lead again. There was no lack of tough competition, with Bo bby Holmes holding second to the fourth lap, when Dennis Robinson got past him on the inside on turn two. Yarrow moved into third and Paul Orlandi fourth and that was the way it finished l SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Paul Orlandi; 2. Dennis Robinson: 3. Budd'( Robinson; 4 . Duane Yarrow. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Robert Curry; 2. Denn is Robinson; 3. Duane Yarrow; 4. Paul Orlandi; 5. Bobby Holmes; 6. Kevin French . DIVTWO: 1. Dennis Davis; 2. Kevin Krugh; 3. Jim Brenner. DIV THREE: 1. Mark Undsay; 2. Mark Bergqu ist; 3. Hal Scheetz . JR MAIN : 1. Bart Bast; 2. Scon Brant 3. John Houston. Jr. Cook blows minds in Ventura By Bill Locey VENTURA,.CA, AUG. 24 That fabulous, famous fast _gu y John Cook gained all sorts of new fans as he severeIy thrashed everyone in winning th e Scratch main, while Rich 'th e Gate' Miller won his second Handicap main at the Ventura Raceway, even as all the World Final hoopla approached a fever pitch. Yes, even in Ventura, and yes, there's three southern California tracks, not just two. Scores of tourists arrived by the busload from England, Australia and other far-away places to begin this speedway-fan's dream week.and add their accents to the raucous throng, inspired in no small part by the Third Annual Ventura Raceway Bikini contest and some mighty thrilling racing. In the main, Miller scooted around Ron Blanton on the second lap and appeared headed for a laugher, as everyone took turns passing each other far behind him. On the third lap, Guy Ermolenko's fortunes took a turn for the w orse - turn four to be exact - as he crashed hard and Blanton, with nowhere to go, slid into him. Neither rider was injured, but the resulting red flag meant the race was officially history. Buddy Robinson and Steve Lucero were credited with second and third behind the ever-improving Miller. In the Scratch main , Oxley got the pole and the gate, but his foot peg went into Lucero's spokes around turn one, sending both riders for a tumble. Lucero, who hit hardest, not only walked away, but came back for the restart. On the second try, Cook outgated everyone and was gone. And despite Faria's not-negligible night moves, the Long Track Champ was not seriously threatened. Cook is such an exciting rider, it would be great to have a few of his races on video tape, just to show to your skep- tical fri en ds who think speedwa y is just a bunch of guys on motorcycles. In Second Di vision action, Ma rk Wea ver was flying on the outside and was never headed in his heat or th e Main. Chris Mistretta, who looked good while winning his heat, was second. For th e second week in a row, only six Third Division riders were around to make the call and all made the Main. Kevin Krugh wa s th e class act for th e second wee k in a row, as h e won th e trophy. New York rider John Lewis wa s second. But th e real action tonight, as far as themostly-male crowd was concerned, took place on the back of a flatbed truck where Leslie Bremer (T h ou sand Oaks) garnered th e lion 's share of the leers , ch eers and oh-dears as sh e easily won th e Bikini Contest and th e rare opportunity to write Miss Ventura Raceway on some future resume. Results SCRATCH MAIN: 1. John Cook; 2. M ike Faria; 3. Brad Oxley; 4 . Steve Lucero . HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Rick Miller; 2. Buddy Robin son ; 3 . SIeve Lucero; 4 . Mike Faria ; 5. Ron Blanton: 6. Guv Ermolenko. SECOND DIV: 1. Mark Weaver; 2. Chris M is· tretta; 3. Jimmy O'Dell; 4. Jeff Brown; 5. Bart Onasch; 6. Mike Conigl io. THIRD DIV: 1. Kevin Krugh; 2. John Lewis; 3. Pal Smith; 4. Mike Parsons ; 5. Val Robledo; 6. Richard Perkins. MATCH RACE: 1. Lance King clef. Rick Miller. Christian tops Cook at IMS By Scott Da loisio SAN BERNARDINO, CA , AUG. 25 Alan Christian showed several hundred overseas fans how it is done on Wednesday nights at San Bernardino by winning his sixth Scratch main of the season tonight at John LaDouceur's Inland Motorcycle Speedway. Christian (ST P Godd) was first off the line a t the ris e of the tapes, over Mike Faria (Cod y Products/Cycle Gear/Jones Goggles Jaw), John Cook (Hi -Poin tiFOM Wes) and Bobby Schwartz (Bel-Ray/K&:N Jaw). Cook dipped inside Faria at the end of th e first go-around for second spot and a shot at Christian. Earlier in the evening, Cook had outgunned Christian twice, but there was no denying th e 'Big Fella' in the main. Cook tri ed everything to close the gap, but fell four bikelengths short at the checkered. Faria claimed third after dogging Cook on the outside the entire distance. Schwartz claimed the Handicap main for the first ti me at IMS this year (he took the Scratch main on April 21), after a tough battle with Guy Ermolenko (Gaston & Dill on Good). Jeff Tomlin (House of Handlebars/Harrison Heating and COOling Jaw) was the leader at the outset from the 20, over Ermolenko and Schwartz, who were coming off a four-rider 4O-yard line. Ermolenko and Schwartz both advanced one position at the end of the first tour when Tomlin dropped out with mechanical ills. Schwartz then started to tighten the screws on Ermolenko and finally edged by for the lead on lap three. Cook and Christian were locked in another battle for fourth when they collided on lap four; bringing out the red flag and the end of the race. For the record, it was the 'Boogaloo Kid' followed by Ermolenko and MikeCuroso( B&B/Cariisle Wes). New Zealander Chris Martin (Schuter Jaw) rode a smooth race to take home his second IM:i Division Two main of the season. Off the zero, Martin was the initial leader at the start,

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