Gordon Scores Easy Victory Without Any Rough Stuff

Robby Gordon, off-road racing’s 20-year-old star from Orange, showed he could win without the rough driving tactics that have characterized his season by running away with the Grand National truck main event Saturday night at the Coliseum.

An enthusiastic crowd of 45,156 sat in on Round 9 of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix.

Evans, winner of the previous two races at the Houston Astrodome and the Rose Bowl, led off the line in his Jeep Comanche, but Gordon--choosing the longer but faster outside line through the peristyle arches in his Toyota--passed the 50-year-old veteran coming down the ramp onto the playing field.

From then on, it was merely a question of Gordon not making any mistakes--and he didn’t.

It was the fourth win in seven races for Gordon.

Ivan Stewart, Gordon’s teammate, made it a 1-2 finish for Toyota, with Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas, Evans’ teammate, narrowly edging Danny Thompson, in a Chevrolet, in the final few feet for third place in the 12-lap race. Evans, who had been chasing Gordon, lost several positions when he got stuck behind the arches.

Gordon and Evans, as expected, dominated the heats, both of which were cleanly run.

Gordon started sixth in the first eight-lap heat, and after trailing Thompson and Evans for three laps, he grabbed the lead by taking his favorite line through the arches, coming out ahead of Evans and alongside Thompson.

In the race down the bumpy back straightaway, the two battled wheel-to-wheel until Gordon swept in front at the west end.

Evans had it easier in the second heat as he jumped into the lead off the starting line and was never challenged. Gordon, who started last as a result of winning the first heat, finished third, behind Thompson, after moving up when MacCachren and Roger Mears dropped out. Each was running second at the time. MacCachren crashed into a barrier, while Mears pulled off the track just before the start of the final lap.

Brea’s Brad Castle scored his first win of the season in the Super 1600 buggy class, followed by Danny Rice and Mitch Mustard, winner of the trophy dash.

Larry Noel of Concord, driving in his first ultrastock stadium race, upset favorites Lloyd Castle, Jeff Elrod and Vince Tjelmeland, the season leader. TJ’s Nissan was second when it lost a wheel.

Charles Shepherd of Bakersfield won his first four-wheel ATV main event as favored Marty Hart of El Cajon failed to finish. John Gersjes of South Gate also was a first-time winner in the super lites class.

Tyson Vohland of Sacramento won his fourth straight ultracross race--the Mickey Thompson version of motocross.

The 660-yard track, fastest in stadium history, took its toll of machinery as a number of vehicles, particularly the super-swift Super 1600 buggies, tangled with one another and the water barriers that defined the inside of the course. It was easy to tell when a car made contact with the barriers as it sent water spraying over the cars.

For some reason, the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group kept the spectators in the dark as far as results were concerned, treating them instead to a three-hour commercial.