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'Page 32 October 2,1973 Larry Shaw heads u.p a tightly packed field. Rick Woods. u.s. Champ. prepares to defend his title. fourth night of qualifying and the last chance for one half of the top 32 riders to earn a chance to ride the U.S. champion event for the title of Mr. Speedway, the U.S. national champ. The current champ, Rick Woods was in rme form all night on a dUficult track for most. It was a little wet at first and several ruts were formed in the turns. Woods was not affected by this at all because he rides high and wide anyway. Rick won the Scratch Main event over an outstanding field including his teammate Dan Becker and the Bast Boys. Scratch racing is the name of the game for q,e title shot and Woods lets everyone know where his head is at. Mike Bast pulled off the win in the Handicap Main from the 60-yard line. There are only two other riders starting back there with him, Woods and Steve Bast. They came in second and third for the first sweep of the ba!,k yardage riders in some time. Division two honors went to Bruce Penhall, who now has seven main events. in •second division and is the current leader in that class. Bruce- has had several rides in the rlrst division but each time he has had' sonie kind of malfunction. There are only six race nights left at Invindale this eason with the closing night coming on the First Thutsday night in November, the first day of the month, November 1st. The big night will be October il th - the last chance to earn a riding spot for the rmals. Costa Mesa. Sept. 21 Story and Photos by Dennis Greene Ventura. Sept. 18 Ventura hosted the second round of qualifying for the upcoming u.s. speedway championship to be held at the Orange County, Fair Ventura hosted the second round of qualifying for the upcoming U.S. speedway championship to be held at the Orange County Fair grounds in Costa Mesa on the 26th of October. Mike Bast matched his brothers perfect score of i 5 pain ts with ease, beating everyone off the line and staying well out in front. Bill Cody and Dan Becker were second best for the night, in a tie with 13 points each. A run off went to Becker. Each rider will get two chances to earn spot in the final. A running score is being kept for both rides and only the top 16 riders in points 'will be eligible on the 26th for the title shot. With one down and one to go, the top scores at thIS point are Steve and Mike Bast with i5 points, Dan Becker, Bill Cody and Rick Woods at 13 points, and Mike Curoso, Joe· Henry and Sumner' McKnight at 11 each.Jeff Sexton, Larry a Shaw, Sonny Nutter, Dubb Ferrell and Rich MacMurray all have nine, and there is a five-way tie for eight points; Don Cullum, Guy Waterson, Scott Sivadge, Jim Gresham and Mike Konle which gives us a total of 18 riders. If it should work out in the next two rounds that there is a tie" as there is now, two riders will be moved in to reserve spots. Tuesday night's racing was outsta\lding in every respect, with only a few' riders getting off, There were some impressive rides turned in by Jeff Sexton, Sumner McKnight 'and Mike Curoso. Jeff Sexton is making his second comeback in speedway. Both times he was put out of competitio.n by serious race accidents, and this comeback has everyone looking his way, Sumner McKnight turned in his best effort in championship style with a score of 11, tieing Mike Curoso. Irwindale. Sept. 20 ·Write this date down, October 11th, Thursday night at irwindale, the There were _only four riders at Costa Mesa who had the talent to start on· the 50·yard line and still win. This past Friday night, the number was reduced to three. The top four were Rick Woods, Mike and Steve Bast and Dan Becker. All have had their troubles winning from this starting position but one rider has not even earned a transfer spot in the heat races for the past seven weeks. The records that are kept on every rider are used to determine his starting position, and as in this case, when his score was showing a large blank in handicap rides, it was only fair that he, like some other, would be moved up. The only thing different about this rider is that he is the current U.S. speedway champion. The move was a good one for Rick Woods. Not only did he get into the Handicap Main event, he ran away with. it. Rick still had to get past four other riders for the win and at the same time try to hold off the charge of Steve Bast corning off the 50-yard line, 10 yards behind Woods. Rick's strong poin t this year has been his starts, and in scratch racing that is where you win or lose the race.. Woods got the start in the Scratch Main event and went on to win both main events for the night. This is the second time this season he has pulled that off. Only three others that have managed to win both mains in the same night. Ed Williams has done it once, Steve Bast has pu t it all together three times and his younger brother Mike has been the very best man on the track, winning both the Scratch Main and Handicap Main four times on the same night. The third night of qualifying for the right to ride in the U.S. finals for the title U.S. Speedway Champion will be at Costa Mesa on the 5th of October. Six days later at Irwindale, the very last chance for anyone to ride for a spot in the nationals will be held. In the past month I have been telling you about the top half dozen riders in ·the sport simply because they have been wmning most all the races. But the second half dozen are always the big turning point in a national championship program. They come through and win some or all of the important points that may just be the deciding point in the night's competition. It has been my privilege to let you know about the feats of the Bast Boys, Becker, Woods, Cody and several others, but this is the point I would like to get across now. Even though riders like Sonny Nutter, the Greshams, Jeff Sexton, Larry .shaw and Mike Curoso and six or seven others have not spent much time in the winner's circle they will be there doing their best, and I look for riders like Mike Curoso and Jeff Sexton to take their share of the points that night, making for one of the best nigh ts in recorded speedway history. OCIR Orange County International Raceway's speedway program, a victim of inter-club politics and diminishing crowds. has been forced to suspend, temporarily, the run.ning of their program. Promoters Gary Densford and Jim Crowley, planning on a Saturday night show, say they will be ready to run in about two weeks. We'll let you know when it all happens. • Sexton, Becker and Waterson chewing up Ventura.