Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Corona Short Track and Half-mile .;... A gagle of 250's crowd t~ough a turn at Perris. by Jennie J ohuson COSTA MESA, CAL., Oct. 20, 1972 Tonigh-t, the last speedway race here at Costa Mesa and the National Championships, was by far the best racing of the whole season. Perhaps the only other night of racing which even comes close was Opening Night, last April 28. It was super exciting and very unpredictable. All 20 races were Scratch Races: In other words, the four riders started from the same "line. The four positions on the starting line are: the pole or first position, which is the favorite among many of the racers, second position, third position, and fourth or the outside position which, more or less, gives the rider a hard time. The rider on the outside must move fast, and to his left, in order to pass the others. First place got 3 points, second place got 2 points, third got 1 point, and last place got 0 points. The rider with the highest number of poin Is won the championship. Each rider raced 5 times. In the first four races, each of the riders to win first place had the ou tside position, which is unusual unless the rider is extremely good. In Event No.1, Steve Bast was the winner; in Event 2, Rick Woods won; in Event 3, Sonny Nutter won; and in Event 4, we saw nineteen-year old Scott Autrey win. The only other riders to win their race from the outside position were Mike Bast in Event 15 and Dan Becker in Event 16. Up until Event 14, Scott Autrey and Rick Woods were tied for the Championship title, with 9 points apiece. In Event 14, Rick Woods beat Scott Autrey with Autrey finishinl!" third behind Mike Cure so. That was the deciding race of the whole program for Woods. After that race, he was in the lead with 12 points. The only ones to come close were Autrey and Mike Bast with 10 points. Rick Woods won the ational Championship with a grand total of 15 points, the highest number of points possible. Scott Autrey and Mike Bast by Ralph Springer • IRWINDALE, CAL., Oct. 12, 1972 Despite some confusion earlier in the week as to the fate of speedway motorcycle racing at Irwindale Raceway, a full 24-even t program was staged last Thursday evening' at the San Gabriel Valley track. An eight-heat National Championship qualifying round started the action off with sixteen riders thirteen Southern California regulars plus three of Northern California's SRA hotshots - clashing for valuable points towards a berth in the SRA National Championship October 20th at Costa Mesa. Irwindale's qualifying evening got off to a bad start. The track, hastily put together because of the apparent last-minute switch in promotion, was in different overall shape with some areas being loose and slippery, others hard and offering a big bite of traction. Stu Morley found one of those hard patches on the first lap of the first heat and catapulted into the crashwall, ending his season unfortunately with a broken leg. Larry Moon and Guy Waterson also got off and the heat was eventualJy restarted with Moon finding his form for the win, Ron Taylor second with Waterson third. Jim Gresham, who shared top points honors with Scott Autrey throughout the eigh t qualifying heats, grabbed the second heat from Northern rider Barclay Terhal, Steve Gresham 'and Bruce Haserot tangling and going down with Haserot managing to finish for one point. Les Chanky and Sumner McKnight ran 1-2 in the third heat with Ron Stewart and Pat Rooney out due to a fall and mechanical problems respec tively. Autrey's first ride came in heat four and he made it count by leading the whole way with Don Cullum, Greg Haserot and Bill Gray trailing. The fifth heat went to McKnight who is perhaps the most det~rrnined rider participating in the qualifying rounds. Had season poin t averages been, used to see riders automatically in to the National Championship, McKnight and several others would have been in_ But, as has been the practice in past years, season points were the determining tactor and McKnigh t and riders ranked 11 th through 23rd in the current SRA standings were fotced to try for a National sport through qualifying rounds. Au trey came back in heat six to take a clear win with Trehal again second, Les Chanky and Greg Haserot trailing. The seventh heat 'provided some surprises with Billy Gr~y switching bikes after his first heat last place finish. At the tapes, Gray jetted into the lead and was looking surprisingly strong. But Jim Gresham slipped under Gray and the unlucky leader lost it going into the first tum and slid out. Larry Moon was second with Jeff Sexton (substituting for Morley) in third. Ron Taylor took the last heat from Don Cullum with Bruce Haserot and Northern rider Pat Rooney trailing in order. The final tally had Jim Gresham and Scott Autrey ahead with six poi(1ts apiece after both had swept their heats. Sumner McKnight, Ron Taylor and Larry Moon annexed five apiece and Don Cullum, Les Chanky and Barclay Trehal slipped in for four apiece. Steve Gresham, thought to be a contender for a National spot, fell in both his heats for no points and it will be an uphilJ fight if he wants to race October 20th. The rest of the program concentrated on scratch and handicap events and it turned out to be an all-star lineup with Sonny Nutter, ending his several months of R & R, out looking (or a win. Nutter ran a strong third in his handicap heat but couldn't make it out of the Main and ran last in the consolation. The Handicap Main went instead to Rick Woods who earlier had survived a spectacular scratch Semi get-off. A serious series of holes had developed in the fourth comer and the only safe way through was high against the fence. But Woods found some elusive traction up high and whee lied into the wall, stepping off at the last second with no injuries. GracefuJ to say the least! The Scratch Main went to Steve Bast with Lary Shaw second after Danny Becker and Ed Williams fell in seperate incidents. Dub ferrel took the handicap Consolation and Mike Bast won the scratch Consohition an even t that saw Mike Konle and Woods slam together and go down. It was the second crash of the evening for both riders. Another View of the National Speedway Championship - From the Stands Irwindale Speedway _ _ by Elaine Jones CORONA, CAL., Oct. 25, 1972 - The Half-mile action saw Kawasaki win [our ou t of the seven classes. It started in the 100 Amateur class where Tim McWhorter and Bob Holcomb went at it. The officials gave the win to Tim who only rode one heat to conclusion and second to Bob who showed up and rode all three races. Vince Mead took the win for the Experts and picked up the green. Again there appe'ars to be a problem in the scoring for second. There were two No. 24's in the race, Rick Whisner and RickAnderson. Rick "w" was signed for only one class and there was a rumor that he was riding out of class. Rick gave the crows a thrill including the announcer as he kept playing tag with the walJ on the front straight. One Novice Short Track rider found out that wall doesn't move and his education included a broken collarbone. Sure hope he's well on his way to·recovery. Tom Doty picked up the third. Jim Wood parlayed good starts and a fast Kawasaki to the win in the 250 Amateur Half-mile. Bob Graves and Dan McWhorter had a much closer race for second but Dan's bike was geared too high for Corona and he didn't have the power coming out of the hole. It was also a new bike for Dan who is usually aboard an Ossa. Snyders' Welding in Riverside owns the sano-Iooking Yamaha and the abundance of racing pictures to be found in the shop attest to the interst, plus the fine work the young owner does on all types of equipmen t. Rick Miller continues to dazzle the folks with his inside line riding. He far outdistanced Steve Hyder and Scott Smith in the 250 Expert Half-mile II. Rob Morrison looking very much at home on his Pistone-tuned Yamaha. He had more of a job staying ahead of Pat Guthrie in the 250 Expert Half-miLe I but did it, nevcrtheJess, in some good, close back and forth racing. George VashiJl was third. Walt foster is getting some strong competition in the Open Half-mile and Hello, Tony Dell and Skip Gallagher. Walt was off on top usually followed very closely by Skip and Tony. On lap three, Tony would get by Skip and then really pu t the pressure on Walt but just couldn't get by him. A lot of credit goes to Skip Gallagher who stayed with these speedsters on a 350cc Kalf. That's a Kawasaki engine in a Bultaco frame. . Sandy Armstrong continues to beat Walt foster in the Open Short Track and Steve Robb has brought his challenge from Perris to Corona. With the determination this young man has, he bears watching. Derek Katanic finally got his Dad's Bighorn for himself and proved it was a good decision by winning the No.vice Moto Short Track from Kent Wilson and R.G. Stone. Rob Morrison, the money man of the evening, added the 250 Expert Short track win to his laurels and again Pat Guthrie had to play second fiddle. Jeff Darrell was third. Be sure to bring some warm clothing if you are going to spectate at Corona, as the nights are getting on the frosty side. were tied for second place with 13 points apiece, so there was a runoff between the two for second place. It was a four lap scratch race. Mike Bast won the pole position in a coin flip. In the first lap, Bast held the lead pretty weU. In the second lap, Autrey went around the outside of Bast, took the lead, and kept it during the other two laps. Autrey had won second place in the National Championships, with Mike Bast in third. In fourth place was Steve Bast with 11 points. In fifth place was Dan Becker (who started this season as a Second Division rider) with 9 points. Sixth was Ed Williams with 8 points. Seventh place went to Sonny Nutter with 7 points. Eighth were Les Chanky and Don Cullum with 6 points apiece. In ninth place were Larry Shaw, Bill Cody, Jim Gresham, and Mike Curoso, who also started this season in Second Division, with 5 points apiece. Tenth were Mike Konle and Sumner McKnight with 4 points apiece. The two reserve riders, Guy Waterson and Larry Moon, did not have a chance to race. No rider was hurt or disqualified. 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