Motor Racing : Krieger Flourishes in New Surroundings

Larry Krieger has yet to win a main event as a rookie in the Sportsman division at Saugus Speedway.

In fact, he has never finished among the top five in a main event, has never posted the evening’s top qualifying time and has never qualified for a trophy dash.

Yet Krieger, who moved up from the Hobby Stock division last season--skipping the Street Stock division in favor of the track’s top class--has no regrets.

“It was definitely a bigger step than I thought,” Krieger, 23, said. “But I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t like it.”

Krieger, the track’s only driver to jump two divisions this season, finished seventh in last Saturday’s 40-lap main event--his highest finish of the season--and moved to eighth in the point standings. Krieger has gained in the standings in each of the past two weeks.

Suddenly, Krieger, last season’s Hobby Stock champion and the division’s rookie of the year in 1987, is leading the Sportsman race for rookie of the year honors.

With 123 points, Krieger leads fellow rookie Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill by 16. Mintey, who is 10th in the standings, has won two main events (one on a disqualification), but has failed to finish six times, including last week when he was forced out with a blown engine.

Krieger, meanwhile, has finished all 15 mains and has placed eighth three times.

“I never thought at the beginning of the season that I would be the leader of rookie of the year,” Krieger said. “I never thought I would be among the top 10. But here I am.”

It hasn’t been easy. Krieger, who lives in Reseda and works in Calabasas as an auto mechanic, travels five nights a week to his father’s home in Palmdale to work on his race car. Considering time invested in travel, Krieger spends little time taking a wrench to his car and has scrambled to keep pace with track veterans.

“Before, I used to work on the car to get it ready in a night’s work and the rest of the time I would concentrate on making the car go faster,” Krieger said. “Now I spend all my time getting the car ready. You literally have to take the car apart after every race.”

Krieger says he is “slowly going faster.” Last week, he was presented with the track’s “Hard Charger” award, presented to the driver who gains the most positions in a main event. Krieger passed 11 cars to finish eighth the previous week.

“I’m hoping I can hold him off,” Krieger said of Mintey. “But he could be right there. They’re not screwing around.”

Back in the fast lane: Dan Press of Frazier Park, a former Saugus Modified champion, has rebounded from a three-race slump and is rewriting the record books of the NASCAR All-American Challenge Series Southwest Tour.

Press, 40, posted a tour-record sixth victory last Saturday at Carson City Raceway in the Coors Light/Ormsby House 100.

After 12 of 19 events, Press remains the series leader with 1,990 points, 123 ahead of former champion Mike Chase of Bakersfield.

The victory revitalized Press, who had stumbled the previous three races. Twice Press failed to finish races because of mechanical failure. In another race, he was slowed by a flat tire--the result of a faulty valve stem. Consequently, his points lead over Chase had dwindled from 230 to 73 points.

“It was just a couple of freak things happening,” Press said. “That kind of stuff could happen to anybody. One little thing can do it to you. But we still have a pretty big lead.”

The tour resumes today with the Spears Manufacturing 100 at Stockton 99 Speedway.

Add points: New leaders made their first appearances of the season atop the Saugus Sportsman and Street Stock standings.

Dave Phipps of Simi Valley, the track’s two-time defending Sportsman champion, took the lead in the standings for the first time this season by virtue of a fourth-place finish in last Saturday’s main event. Phipps, who has a division-high five main-event wins, is gunning for an unprecedented third consecutive Sportsman title and fourth in the past six years.

Russ Beckers of Sepulveda, who finished second in last Saturday’s 25-lap oval main and won the 15-lap figure 8 main, became the fifth divisional leader this year. Beckers finished second last season in the Street Stock division.

Motocross: Daniel Coe of Woodland Hills is seventh in the American Motorcycle Assn. Castrol 250cc points standings after finishing ninth in the Aug. 13 event at Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma.

Vance Specht of Canoga Park finished 14th at Sears Point.

Ely Schless of North Hollywood finished seventh in the Circle Bell Pro Twins Grand Prix class of the AMA National Championship road race at Sears Point on Aug. 11-13.

Kiyoshige Watanabe of Burbank finished fifth in the Circle Bell Pro Twins Modified class and Chris Scott of North Hollywood finished seventh in the 12-lap, 30-mile race.

Pete Hames of Palmdale finished ninth in the AMA Camel Pro National Championship Series on Aug. 13 at Peoria Motorcycle Clubgrounds in Peoria, Ill. Hames finished third in the fourth heat and is 20th in the points standings after 11 of 17 events.