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Speedway Championship of Argentina
THE 44th INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP OF ARGENTINA - Round One
Saturday December 19, 1998
From: Chris Hesmer (Canadian Chris Hesmer competes and reports the Championship)
* * Round 1 - Round 2 - Round 3 - Round 4 * *
It is Sunday afternoon here. Our first race was last night in Bahia Blanca and boy am I hurting today!
I will keep you posted for the next two months.
After a very hot day in the 30's, the air cooled down to the most perfect
temperature that any rider or spectator could want. It was not too hot for
the rider nor too cold for the 1500 spectators who take speedway racing to
their heart. The city of Bahia Blanca is located approximately 680 km south
of Buenos Aires City in the Province of Buenos Aires. There lies the
sweetest race track that I personally or any other North American has every
seen. The size, shape, and composition of the surface are far superior to
that of our habitat. The surface is that hard dirt that takes a little off
each pass and builds up heavy on the outside, making traction consistent and
plentiful on the inside and outside. The wideness of the track is enough
to fit the 401's traffic, but much smoother than the 401. The distance of
350m is majority to the long wide corner where you could race transport
trucks through with plenty of passing. Although the straights are long
enough to straighten out and build up some massive speed to carry around the
large corners. Therefore it is not like a huge circle, and passing is
possible in the straight and the entrance to turns one and three. The
starting gate is very close to corner four, making the first corner very
fast. Truly it is an experience only imaginable when sugar plums are dancing
in our heads.
The race system was made up of 27 wide openers in the 500cc class. What
this means is no señoritas were racing. In this country every rider is
100% out there to win with their throttles stuck wide open. Everyone gets
one qualifying heat to make the semi-finals. Those who don't finish in the
top three out of the six man heats gets a chance in a repercharge to make
the semi-finals by finishing in the top three there. This brings about two
six man semi-finals with the top three in each going to the GRANDE FINALE.
Gate positions are randomly picked in the making of the program. Aside from
the regular 500cc speedway bikes, there was a full program of over twenty
200cc speedway bike conversions. This looks to be the Division Two of
speedway, yet the front runners in this class were absolutely wide open as
well. There was also a full division of junior speedway bikes. Over
twenty converted and home made junior speedway bikes with 50cc engines and
all the same size rear wheels from scooters, which are very popular here.
It reminded me watching Ryan Fisher in California as a handful, 5 or so, of
kids between six and thirteen years old held these wide open and sideways
all the way around the track. They look to have a very impressive foundation
of future top level 500cc riders.
The following are the results of the six rider grand finale.
Position # plate Rider Location
1 #40 Emiliano Sanchez Buenos Aires City
2 #1 Luis A. Vallejos Bahia Blanca
3 #38 Armando Castagna Italy
4 #2 Daniel Keegan Puan, Argentina
5 #9 Julio Galdos Henderson, Arg.
6 #43 Diego Zinni Argentina
The top three riders here are European regulars in the various leagues
throughout the years. Luis Vallejos was a multiple world long track
finalist, and almost everyone knows Armando Castagna's
resume.
Being the first Canadian to travel to Argentina, I have been showered in
hospitality from the locals. My trip started out with Canadian Airlines not
allowing my engine on the plane as carry on baggage or as excess luggage
below, without dangerous goods inspection documents. Upon arrival in Buenos
Aires City, I was picked up by a business man, who is the secretary of the
Automoto Club Bahia Blanca. I wasn't looking forward for the 680km drive to
Bahia Blanca on only a two lane highway. Then came the surprise. We were
ushered by luxury taxi to a smaller local airport and boarded a smaller plane
for a 1.5 hour flight to Bahia Blanca. My Spanish experience has now begun.
I was taken to a very ritzy restaurant like the ones in downtown Toronto.
This restaurant is sponsoring my meals for my entire stay in Argentina.
Each meal would cost approximately $50 at home, as it is fresh beef, chicken
and other carnivorous things on the grill, with the full luxury service to
boot. Heres the advertisement plug, ROBERTINO'S A very fine place to
eat .
Unfortunately with the difficulties with my engine, Guillermo Willy was
going to lend me his upright GM. It was a very good bike for an upright.
That day the motoplat ignition went on it, and no other parts around. Thus
a very generous stranger lent my and older Jawa 897 in need of a lot of TLC.
It could have used some more compression and a better clutch, but I was
grateful and took advantage of the kindness. Practise went unusually well,
which is usually a sign things are going to be bad for me. Guess what?
They were!
My first heat saw me going into the first corner with Armando Castagna and
four other riders. Somehow, I ended up under two bikes exiting corner two
and ending up in the straight. After finally getting up, I had to try and
convince the head paramedic I was OK to continue, when only you and I know
left ribs, necks and right shoulders are not supposed to feel like that. On
the restart, Armando touched the tapes and was excluded. I thought who am
I kidding, this hurts. Just then fait intervened and three feet after the
tapes went up, the spark plug blew clear out the cylinder head of the tired
897. Picking up the pieces, I headed for the pits. This put me into the
repercharge last chance. Coming from outside on gate six, I passed
everyone on the outside except the young Italian Champion Simone Terenzani.
For three laps on the outside, I tried to make that old Jawa complete
the pass. Unfortunately by the fourth lap, I was seeing nothing but a close
view of the surface dirt on my goggles. The second place got me into the
semi final where a severely dragging clutch nudged me into the tapes when I
brought the revs up on the engine. This excluded me from the semi finals,
and thus my night was done. All the best, as I am one hurtin' unit anyhow.
The next week will be spent healing up, eating well and assembling my own
bike in patience until my motor arrives. If anyone would like to e-mail me
to chat and write back and forth, I would enjoy your English company. You
can reach me at gsahagun@impsat1.com.ar. Until then, Felices Fiesta,
that means Merry Christmas. You can send me an e-mail for a Christmas gift!
Adios Amigos
Chris Hesmer - 1998 Canadian National Speedway Champion.
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