Higgins Posts 1st Win; Hooper’s Streak Ends at 5
If Lance Hooper wasn’t going to win Saturday night’s Sportsman division main event at Saugus Speedway, who was?
The answer came only after a 40-lap duel between John Higgins of Simi Valley and Ken Sapper of La Crescenta, drivers hungry for their first main-event win of the season.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Aug. 28, 1992 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday August 28, 1992 Valley Edition Sports Part C Page 13 Column 3 Zones Desk 1 inches; 26 words Type of Material: Correction
Motor sports--A photo caption in Sunday’s edition incorrectly identified the owner of a Sportsman division stock car at Saugus Speedway. The car’s owner is Gayle Colvin of Van Nuys.
Bumper to bumper with Sapper virtually the entire way, Higgins finally edged his adversary at the checkered flag before a crowd of 3,435.
The win was the first in the career of Higgins, a 26-year-old, three-year Saugus veteran who entered the evening 10th among points leaders.
“It was on tonight,” Higgins said. “The car was working. It was extremely difficult holding off Kenny Sapper.”
Sapper, fifth in points, grabbed the lead from Higgins on Lap 25, but a yellow flag a moment later caused the grid to revert to the order of the previous lap and negated the pass.
As for Hooper, the division’s defending champion in pursuit of a track-record sixth consecutive main-event win, the dream died during a trophy-dash crash that left his car with front-end damage.
Hooper, second in the points race, drove the car of Russ Beckers of Sepulveda in the main event but never climbed higher than seventh. Hooper finished 10th among 16 drivers who completed the race. He was penalized and sent to the rear on Lap 37 after being involved in a spin with points leader Gary Sigman of Carson, who finished eighth.
In the 25-lap Pro Stock oval main event, Brian Kelley of Arleta started 16th but sped through traffic to post his third main-event victory of the season. Kelley, who began the evening sixth among points leaders, steered through a crash-filled race that featured a multi-car melee on the opening lap.
Pole-sitter Paul Lindlief of North Hills and Sean Hadley of Reseda, who started in the second position, spun out and were hit by oncoming traffic seconds after the green flag dropped. Both drivers left the race, allowing Larry Durm of Northridge to move into the lead.
Durm held strong until Kelley, a former Hobby Stock champion, made an inside pass on Turn 2 of Lap 16. From there, Kelley distanced himself from the pack.
Durm finished a distant second. Terry Custer of Northridge took third and Brian Mumford of Simi Valley finished fourth.
Points leader Ed Horst of Reseda finished sixth. Scott Dinger of Simi Valley, second to Horst in the points standings, finished fifth.
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