Kusch Finally Wins Hobby Stock Title at Saugus Speedway

On a slightly chilly Saturday night at Saugus Speedway, Hobby Stock driver Jim Kusch of Sepulveda felt the warming cloak of a long-awaited championship.

After eight years of racing in the Hobby Stock division at Saugus--”Since its inception,” Kusch said--all he had to do to sew up the 1990 points championship was, basically, show up.

Well, of course he had to get into his car and start the engine and even bring it out for the oval main, but that was about all that was needed for Kusch to claim the final title of the 1990 season.

Kusch, 39, who entered the night 24 points ahead of Jim Gunnarson of Reseda, clinched the title with a fourth-place finish in the Hobby Stock oval before a crowd of 3,251.

“I owe it to these two men,” the affable Kusch said in the pits, pointing to crew members Rip Michels and Dave Moak.

Kusch, whose previous high finish in the points standings was fourth place, credited Michels with working different spring combinations on his ride and praised Moak, the mechanic who “likes to get his hands greasy.”

The worst-case scenario for Kusch--that Gunnarson would win both main events and he himself not finish in the top 12 in either--was erased with the running of the oval main.

Kusch said he plans to take next year off and let Moak take a turn behind the wheel. Then, in 1992, Kusch plans to cruise a Street Stock ride that he will build next year.

In other events, Bob Vigil of Lancaster won the Hobby Stock oval 25-lap main event.

Steve Kellick of Bakersfield ran away with the three-quarter midget main event, passing Kara Hendrick of Upland on Lap 13 of the 20-lapper and not looking back. Kellick, who won the main event the last time the three-quarters raced at Saugus in July, actually passed Kendrick on Lap 12 of the race, but had to return to second place on a yellow flag. He passed her almost immediately after the restart.

Mini-stock points champion Garrett Yamada finished his season with yet another main-event win in a six-lapper.

In the tightest race of all, Kerry Mulligan of Granada Hills finished ahead of Richard Smith of Reseda in the 15-lap figure-eight to sew up the 1990 Jalopy division points championship.

Coming into the evening, Mulligan held a three-point edge over Smith.