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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125829
October 9, 1973' Page 7 I I l I I I Steve Gresham plows Costa Mesa as Woods gets by. Steve Bast, lady, Mike Bast and Bill Cody at Ventura. Story & Photos by Dennis Greene Ventura, Sept. 25 Two down and one to go for Mike Bast. Tuesday .night, the Ventura season. came to an end for 1973 with all the color and pageantry of name of the event was changed. He had· a perfect score of 15 points and was only 'challenged once all night for the title and that of course was by his brother Steve in event 17. There was a new rule put into play that nigh t that works like this: If a rider is found to be the primary reason for the restart of a race, he wilI not be sent back to the pits, but be put back 10 yards as a penalty. The old rule would have kept the rider out of the lineup a title event. It was just that, the Ventura Track Championship. Mike Bast has already won the California state title and now the Ventura track title which leaves him only the big one, the title of U.S. Speedway Champion. The last race of the 1972 season was held at Ventura on December lOth, at which time Mike won the title of Pacific West Coast Champion. He was the defending title holder going into last Tuesday nights event even though the Sumner McKnight and bike show good form in parting. gets into and loses his bike. I will be the first to admit that he keeps the fans well entertained and 50% of the time he keeps the bike under control, but he has been getting off regularly and on several occassions has hit other riders, and to my knowledge he has never been charged with foul and dangerous riding as so many others were last year. As I reported to you last week there are several riders who will carry a lot of weight into the finals and will make the difference in total pain ts that night. I used Mike Curoso as an example 'of a rider who can keep his cool and ge t in there for the win and the points. Tuesday night he did just that, making . Steve Bast work hard for the win. Curoso ended up fourth for the night with a sore of 10 points. Bill Cody. was one point better with 11 for the third spot and Steve lost one point again t9 brother Mike to end up in second place. Looking back at the '73 season at Ventura it is easy to see why Mike won the title. During the year at this track there were 18 nights of racing, and two of the nights were all scrath events. First was the qualifying round in which Mike got a perfect sore then this past Tuesday night for the title of Ventura Champion. This means there are nights of regular racing and Mike did not miss one night at Ven tura all season. He was in at least one main event every night. With Mike's record he has got to go into the finals with the biggest chance of coming out on top than any other rider has had in the recent history of the sport. One other point that Mike has in his favor is that he was last year's speedway champion, and knows what he must do to outride his brother. Steve is also a one time winner of the top title and then there is the current champ, Rick Woods, the man who both Mike and Steve has lost their titles to in past years. The champs in the past: 1969-Rkk Woods, 1970-Steve Bast, 1971-Rick Woods, 1972-Mike Bast and in 1973-Rick Woods. I still go with Steve Bast to become the new speedway champ in 1974 making him a two time winner of the title Mr. Speedway, the U.S. Speedway champion. . I do not think there will be a petfect score that night because there are just too many other riders like Bill Cody, Sonny Nutter, Dan Becker, Mike Curoso and Jeff Sexton and one or two others that have from time to time just plain run away with .a race against the top three. Irwindale, Sept. 23 With only five more Thursday nights to go at Irwindale the action is better than ever. The race track was fast and smooth and made for some of the best racing all year at Irwindale. Once again the promoter gave the chance to .ride in first division to a dozen hopefuls by adding two more handicap heat races to the show. The races are run the same as before, with the three top fmishers going into the Semi-finals, but this is where the big changes take place. There are three semi events and only the first two in the and this has been a sore spot with the fans all year. They pay to see their favorites; not to see them be sent to the pits when there is a crash and they are found to be at fault. The only rider who fell victim to the new rule was Dan Becker. after one of the all-too-common wheel stands that he races go onto the main event. The third and fourth placed riders go in the consolation event with fifth and sixth placed racers Loading it up for the night. Steve Bast was the only rider from the 60-yard line to earn a transf~r to the main event. Rick Woods and Mike Bast both missed their chances back in the heat races. Dan Becker, coming off the fIfty yard line, did not make it to the mains because he crashed aWn. We have to look all the way to the thirty yard line before we find the next rider to earn a transfer spot to a semi. Dan Ilecker kept it under control in the scratch main even t, winning his fourth main in the last five starts .at Irwindale. Dan missed in the main last week running second to Rick Woods. Dan is one more rider you must take into consideration in the u~oming speedway finals. Larry Moon 'won his first main event of the year at Irwindale in the Handicap main event, outriding a field of peers including Jim Gresham, Steve Bast, Scott Sivage and Jeff Sexton. Larry has constantly gotten into the feature races and has come in second 5 times, third 4 times, fourth 4 times, fifth twice and sixth once. He was welI overdue for a win. Dean York signed in as a reserve rider and got his chance to ride in the second division, going on to the win. Costa Mesa. Sept. 28 The third round of qualifying for the U.S. speedway fmals will be held this Friday nigh t at Costa Mesa. This will be a do or die effort for at least eight of the top 32 riders who have already ridden in one other qualifying round. Only the top 16 riders in the country will earn a spot for the title shot and this Friday night will start the painful joy of eliminating one half of the field. This past Friday night saw many upsets all night with none of the back yardage riders getting through to earn'a transfer spot for the handicap main. As the season slides to a close everyone is looking so good and riding so weU that the back yardage markers just can't close up the gap to win. Bill. Mesiter is a prime example of this. He got au t in front at the start of the main and swept the field for five laps to win the handicap main for the second time at Costa Mesa. Mike Bast added one more to his incredible string of Scratch main event wins giving him a total of 32 victories, more than twice as many as any other rider this year. ,/ The scratch main event was a classic race with Rick Woods, the Bast brothers and Big Mike Konle. AU four l.aps were so close that you could have dropped a hula hoop over them. Rick got the lead only to have Steve move him out letting his brother take the advantage and the lead' for the win. •