Gordon, Stewert Win to Close Down Riverside : Evans Misses 5th Heavy-Metal Title, but Finishes 2nd in Mini-Metal Challenge

It was fitting that the final day of the final racing program at Riverside International Raceway Sunday produced something new and something old in the featured events of the 16th annual SCORE Off-Road World Championships before a crowd estimated at 20,000.

The new was the victory by 19-year-old Robby Gordon in the Chevy heavy-metal challenge for full-sized trucks. The old came in the co-featured mini-metal challenge for the small-sized trucks when veterans Ivan (Ironman) Stewert of Lakeside and Walker Evans of Riverside ran 1-2.

Gordon, who earlier won the race for desert dune buggys, got off to a slow start in his 1966 Ford when a tangle at the start eliminated Evans, the favorite who was seeking his fifth heavy metal title.

“The start was a wild one and I decided to play it cool and I was a lot farther back than I wanted to be,” Gordon said. “We had to pass everybody in our class but we got some breaks and things worked out good.”

With Evans out, he got another break when last year’s winner, Scoop Vessels, broke the front end on his Chevy and dropped out while leading on the first lap.

Gordon followed early leader Jack Johnson for four laps before finally overhauling him and moving away to an easy win in the 10-lap race.

Veteran Rod Hall of Reno finished second in a Dodge four-wheel drive Dakota while Johnson, who said he lost his power steering in his Nissan FWD after two laps, held on for third.

Evans, the 49-year-old driver who designed the course used for this event, took his misfortune with grace.

“All weekend our truck was one of the fastest, but what happened at the start is just one of those things,” Evans said.

“Everything was going fine at the start, but then the guy next to me got out of shape and into me, breaking a wheel and damaging the whole side of the truck.”

Evans couldn’t, however, resist a little jibe at Gordon: “It’s bad enough being beaten, but by a kid who isn’t even old enough to buy me a beer is too much,” he said with a chuckle.

While Evans was having his problems in the event he has dominated for most of this series, Stewert was driving to his fourth mini-metal title in his Toyota in the last six years.

Stewert took the lead at the start and was never headed in the 8-lap event on the 1.5-mile series of jumps, humps and assorted bumps.

“Everything worked out just perfect,” said Stewert, who also won this race from 1983-85. “We were strong off the start and that is a must here.

“I saw somebody coming up behind me. I knew it was a Jeep. It could have been Al (Arciero) or it could have been Rob (MacECachren), but when he kept coming that hard I knew it had to be Walker.

“I decided to go a little harder and I saw I could keep him back so I wasn’t too worried.”

Glenn Harris finished third in a Mazda with MacCachren fourth and Steve Millen, Stewert’s Toyota teammate, who was forced to stop to change a tire, losing a lap, getting back to fifth.

“I wondered what happened to Steve,” Stewert said. “I expected to see him.”

Stewert, who has a total of eight world championships, feels that this will help the rest of year.

“We haven’t won but we are leading the Mickey Thompson stadium series, but this should help us to finish strong and win the title,” he said.

Although Evans luck was good, and then bad, Roger Mears’ was just bad.

Mears, the all-time winningest driver in the Riverside Off Road Championships with 20 victories in this series, failed to finish a race over the weekend. In fact, in two of the three events he was in, he failed to complete a lap. In the other, he was running fourth behind Stewert in the mini-metal event when his engine blew.

“It was just a bad weekend,” Mears said. “It seemed like everything I touched broke. I feel badly that I couldn’t treat the fans to another win but it just didn’t happen.”

Mitch Mustard of Arvada, Colo., won the Stadium Buggy event and Lee Westhoff of Mequon, Wis., finished second for a 1-2 finish by out of state drivers.

Larry Ragland of Phoenix won the desert truck event, Dwaine Walters took the Challenger race, while Ron Pierce of El Cajon was victorious in the race for Odysseys.

The day’s racing saw a total of three drivers and a co-driver taken to Riverside Community Hospital after mishaps.

Driver Danny Ashworth of Carlsbad was treated for back and neck injuries but was released. His co-driver, Carol Pimentell, was admitted with a fractured right ankle. Odyssey driver John Hasshaw was taken in for observation but was released. Phil Carter Jr. of Agoura, who complained of head and neck injuries, was treated and then released.