Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125676
SPEEDWAY ACTION FURIOUS .Bakersfield Story and Photos by Dennis Greene BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. June 6,1970Speedway racing got another big shot in the arm this past weekend, when the management of the Bakersfield track changed bands. Gene Rhyne, the man directly responsible for the design and maintenance of the 3 eJdsting tracks in Southern CalJf., bas now become a prometer. Rhyne, who bas stayed in the backgrouDd the past few seasons, instituted some changes, 1nc1ud1ng competition between Bakers- field and Costa Mesa ridlng teams. Representing the Bakersfield team was Rick Blake, Jeff Sperry, Mike Keen and Frank Roseberry, who were matcbed . four times during the, evening against the Costa Mesa team of Scott Autrey, Harlan Bast, Joe Fitzpatrick and Jim ADderson. Bakersf1e1d . landed on top, 14 to 10. Another innovation was afirstdlv1slon rider only program, provldlng spectators with constant, first class action. Second class competition will again be started at a later date. Top money wtDners of the even1Dg was again Jimmy Raymond, who seems to be v1rtua11y unbeatable. RaymoDd, who bas been competing for less than a month in speedway, bas yet to f1n1sh out of the money. ThIs young outspoken man wants to earn the triple crown of speedway racing. Winner of the Scratch MaIn Event, Larry Shaw, bas been competing against Jimmy for the last few years, bas the same first place ambitions and should prove to be more than a worthycompetltor. Harland Bast carried the farnUy name to victory in the HandIcap Consolation event. Harlan is the uncle of the current U,S. Speedway #1 rider, Steve Bast, who is still recuperating from a badly broken • Speedway action such as this is available weekly at Costa Mesa (Friday) and Bakersfield (Saturday). = arm. With events scheduled for Saturday night for the rest of the summer and the outstanding ideas of the new promoter, speedway Is destined to grow and grow. (Results on page 22) Costa Mesa By Mike Capal1te COSTA MESA, June 5 - In spite of an extra-ordinary amount of crashes and sp1lls, the fans at the Orange County FairgroUnds were treated to a nlgbt of exciting speedway racing. In the first beat of the evening, a handicap beat, in the first lap, Bruce Haserot took a terr1f1c tumble which lett bim sprawled on the track and tangled UP with his machine where the corner men could not free b1m in time to clear the track so the race was black-flagged. As the riders passed Bruce In the back straight, they were slowing down because they bad Just received the black flag and were to pull into the pits to awalt the restart. As they went into the corner, Tony Kustein suddenly lost control of his machine and fell right in front of Stu Morley who bit him and went down also. Tony Is a former Czechslovakian Speedway racer who hasn't raced in a number of years and this was his first time out, Tony was taken to the hospital with a compound fracture of the left leg. For some reason, the track surface was not in its usual condition and right from the fir,st race, It started to break UP bad in the corners and as it got worse, the spills got more frequent and the order of the ntgbt seemed to be to restart the race because there were riders all over the track. 'WUd Bill' Cody, the local Orange County rider from Garden Grove who took the competition to task last week in both the Handicap and Scratch Mains wasn't quite so fortunate in the handicap class this week. B111 moved into the Handicap Semi bJ' virtue of a second in his beat, but with the track getting in bad shape, Cody wasn't able to overcome his , 50-yard handicap in time to make the Main Event as he finisbed in fourth spot, In the second division Main Event, It was Harlan Bast, uncle of Mike and Steve Bast, two top speedway riders who are side110ed with injurle;;, taking the checkered flag. Harlan, starting with a 10yard handicap, was fourth off the 11oe, but he was able to work his way UP through the pack to take over the lead and finish ahead of Jerry Singer and Joe Fitzpatrick while Tommy Bannon who won bis heat, had some trouble and copped fourth. In the Handicap consolation, Greg Haserot did a beautiful job of coming UP from fifth place to make a flnal run at the checkered flag on the last lap with Chuck Hatcher. As they crossed the finish 11oe, it was Haserot taking the wID, but the charge across the Une was too hard and Greg wasn't able to make tile corner and he went down hard against the wall and was thrown directly In front of Chuck Hatcher who was unable to (Continued on page 24)