Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Southern California-Arizona-Southern Nevada- Southern California-Arizona-Southern Nevada- Southern California-Ariz. Weste' "totline Tight racing was featured at ARRA's Willow Springs tarmac bash. Schwartz wins Long Track title at Ascot By Bill Locey GARDENA, CA, NOV. 5 Bobby Schwartz, long a star on the international scene, gained some local acclaim by winning the U.S. Long Track Championship tonight on the Ascot half mile. The only other British Speedway . League-based rider that showed up - Lance King - was second, followed by defending champ John Cook. Each rider was given three heat races to earn a possible 15 points with the top six going to the A main, the next six going to the B main, and so on. It was democracy on wheels as each of the 19 riders on hand made it to a main event. Historically, Schwartz has fared poorly in this race. At the summer long track he finished second to Cook. Last year, he could only win the consy; in 1980 he was fifth, and in 1979, fourth. It was great to see him finally turn things around. Although Schwartz entered the main event unbeaten, his bike had been noticeably sick, sputtering down the straightaways, but luckily far ahead of his rivals. King, Cook and Buddy Robinson also made it to the main unbeaten. Virtually every heat race was won with about one quarter mile to spare, as dicing remained a memory of September past. Even Cook was more subdued than usual, performing but modest (lor him) wheelies as he came across the finish line with a foot and a fist in the air. Schwartz had his mechanical problems sorted out by the main. And how. Cook, off the pole, got the gate and cruised smoothly to the lead by turn one with King trailing by a few lengths. Meanwhile back in the pack, Schwartz didn't get such a hot start, then did a wheelie about halfway to turn one, bobbled, saved it, then got an unreal drive, buzzed around King and then around Cook on turn two, and started to pull away. King completed the sandwich job by muscling by Cook on the inside. Cook never recovered. Schwartz built and maintained a 10 length lead for the remainder of the three-lap race. It was the Boogaloo Kid's first major U.S. title. And yes, it'll even look better on his resume than the 1980 Ventura Track Championship. After Cook, the next best local was Greg Ayers, who was fourth. In the B main, Ed Castro passed Tom Morley and Jim Turner by turn two to take the win. Not to put a damper on Schwartz's good night, but the race was, in a real sense, cause for alarm for American long track speedway. The 19 riders on hand for the event were a far cry from the nearly 40 riders that competed in 1981. The top stars, for a variety of reasons, stayed away in droves, most notably U.S. National Champ Shawn Moran. Just two years ago, every BSL-based American rider was at Ascot the first week of November. Also this year, a number of the top locals did not ride. Without these riders, there are just not enough experienced long track riders to put on a decent show. But since there was a good turnout of hardcore speedway fans, perhaps Ascot could sponsor a monthly quarter-mile race next year. That way, with plenty of practice for the riders, when the ll?ng track rolls around next November- lookout! The way it is now, Ascot is too radiCal for most after a season at the little tracks. Usually, the long track means the end of speedw~y until March. But this year - Merry Christmas - there will be another speedway race on Dec. 3. It will be indoors at the Long Beach Arena, and it will be on concrete (ouch). For more information, call 213/436-3636. Results A MAIN EVENT: 1. Bobby Schwartz; 2. lance King; 3. John Cook; 4. Greg ~vers; 5. Buddy Robin· son; 6. Ron Blanton. B MAIN EVENT: 1. Ed Castro; 2. Guy Ermolenko; 3. Tom Morley; 4. Rocky Robinson; 5. John Gant; 6. Jim Turner. C MAIN EVENT: 1. Shane McDonald; 2. Joe Kreisberg; 3. Steve Eistins; 4. Tim McCasland. Webb bad at Checkpoint's mountain enduro By Jim Bowman GORMON, CA, NOV. 7 Dirt Bike Magazine's Tom Webb took his second win of the weekend today at the District 37 Bad Mountain enduro, hosted by the Checkpoint Motorcycle Club. Webb won the District 36 Cowbell enduro in northern California yesterday and then made the trip down south to win by the same four point margin over Jon Miller today. It wasn't a bad weekend for Miller either, as he was third overa]] at the Cowbe]] and first Open A both days. The 1982 Bad Mountain enduro turned out to have almost as many surprises for the Checkpoint members as for the riders. The first of these surprises was the fantastic turnout. With only 160 riders signed up as of the drawing, it was with mixed joy and regret that the club filled up to the maximum of 350 riders today and had to close entries. The Checkpoints didn't expect this big of a turnout and apologize to those riders who made the trip and couldn't ride. Both the Checkpoint members and the riders were impressed with the success of the first loop of the course. The first loop was advertised to be easy and laid out with the C rider in mind and the results supported that. Robert Bortree rode his Yamaha 465 to first overa]] C and a score of one minute and six seconds, just seven seconds better than the Fourstroke C winner Ed Bresnit and 32 seconds better than 250cc C winner David Dobbins. Greg Silberg won the Senior C class with a fow point loss and Shauna Hopkins won the Women's C class after losing 18 points. The C riders only went one loop and that presented some new problems and surprises for the B and A riders that went two. Since Criders were only going one loop, many new riders decided to sign up as B riders so that they could ride both loops. The result was some awful bottlenecks on the second loop. The bottlenecks occwed on uphills. and on the loca]]y famous lO-try hill in particular. As the loop was laid out by Bob Lindgren on a PEl 75 and Tracy Walters won third overa]] on a Kawasaki 250cc street bike, the hill was by no means impassable, bUl.was obviously a little much for the congestion of an enduro. The riders did find a more leasant su ri check three, though. For those who had a chance to take advantage of the 20 minute reset past check three, there were a bunch of Pepsis stored in the water trough there. After two more timekeeping sections, the riders would enter the final test and race for the finish. Making up the rest of the A class winners, and heading up the B class victors, were Bill Fullmer Jr (200cc A), Ryan Gifford (Four-stroke A) and Peter Smith (Old Timer A). Because of the bottlenecks, the B scores were much higher than the A scores as the B overa]] went to Randy Daugherty with a 35 ta]]y in the Open B class. Some of the riders were a little amazed at what seemed to be a helicopter squadron above the course today, but it was a single jet-powered unit that belonged to the Ventura County Sherriff's office. The helicopter was brought in to help out with an injured rider, but stuck around to do a little spectating. If we could just offer similiar seats to everyone, wouldn't this be the sport to watch! The Checkpoint M.e. would like to thank the Forest Service for their help in putting on the event. Also, congratulations to club members Grant and Garner Palenske who earned the 1982 Number one plates in the Open and 250cc classes, respectively. This is the third year for Garner, the second for Grant and they're both happy to be bringing these plates back to their number one sponser, Maico. Harry Keast sewed up the Senior Number One plate. Unofficial Results OVERAll: 1. Tom Webb (KTM); 2. Jon Miller (Hus); 3. Tracy Walters (Kaw); 4. Bill Fullmer Jr. (Yam); 5. Mike Garrett (Yam); 6. Jerry Hibdon; 7. TIE: Ryan Gifford (Hon)/Peter Smith (Hus); 9. Mike Godfrey (Han). OPEN A: 1. Jon Miller (Hus); 2. Steve Smith (Yam); 3. Mike Harvey (Yam). 250 A: 1. Tracy Walters (Kaw); 2. Mike Garrett (Yam); 3. Everett Angle (Hus). 200 A: 1. Bill Fullmer Jr. (Yam); 2. Jerry Hibdon; 3. Mike Godfrey (Han). 4-STROKE A: 1. Ryan Gifford (Hon); 2. Norman Wykoff (Han); 3. larry Woodruff (C-A). SR A: 1. Peter Smith (Hus); 2. Ron Fry (Yam); 3. Harry Keast (Mai). OPEN B: 1. Randy Daugherty (Hus); 2. Heath Hibbard (Yam); 3. Bob Zullo (Yam). 250B: 1.JimTripp(Hus); 2. Greg Barber (Mai); 3. Jack Simrnernam. 200 B: 1. Rusty Adams (Yam); 2. Tom McAllister (Hon); 3. "Reed Valve" Johnson (Yam). 4·STROKE B: 1. Vernon Gabbert (Han); 2. Fred Cole (Hon); 3. Byron Jenson (Hon). SR B: 1. Art More (Yam); 2. Dennis Tooman; 3. Howard Smith (Yam). WOMEN B: 1. D. Bell (Yam); 2. Candy Hand (Kaw); . 3. laurie Hammel (KTM). OPEN C: 1. Robert Bortree (Yam); 2. G. Barber; S. Bell (Mai). 250 C: 1. David Dobbins (Hus); 2. Ed Black (Suz); 3. John Burkhart (Kaw). 200 C: 1. T. DeGoey (Han); 2. Clifford Sharp (Kaw); 3. B. Davies (Han). 4·STROKE C: 1. Ed Bresnit (Han); 2. Steve Hermann (Han); 3. Dick Parker. SR C: 1. Greg Silberg (Yam); 2. Paul Breakbill (Han); 3. Hugh MacDonald (Hus). WOMEN C: 1. Shauna Hopkins; 2. Anne Crawshaw (Hon); 3. Kim Cain (Yam). Post, Reynosa take two ARRA class championships By Lori Tyson WILLOW SPRINGS, CA, NOV. 7 With a conservative fifth place finish, Aaron Post wrapped up the 1982 600cc Production championship and the Number One Plate for 1983 at the last American Road Racing Association race of the 1982 season. Post also won the 600cc Box Stock championship, taking fourth in that race. Now, fourth and fifth places are not Aaron's usual style, but when you find out that he's riding with a _____ bent motorcycle an~ a painful broken ~~~at 23 ato page 26}' •.

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