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/125831
Page 23 October 23,1973 Steve Gresham heads Dave Calvin and Sonny Nutter at Irwindale. gives us the field for the top 16 riders of the year. There are three guys tied for the reserve spot, Jeff Sexton, Ed Williams and John Cunningham. If all this information has you confused, it boils down to this: A t each race all season, a rider earns points for the finishing spot in each race. The top 32 riders were put into two groups of 16 each, odds and evens as determined by their points. Each rider rode two of the four rounds of qualifying and again poin ts were added up to give. us a list of the top 16 riders in the spot, and that is what all the above points information is about. On the 26th of this month only the very best riders will be on the line trying to earn the title of the U_S. National Speedway Champion. COSTA MESA, OCT. 12 The mini-speedway riders are beginning to ~re the limelight with the bigguvs. It's not bad enough that the world is in a political uproar, even the sport of Speedway was hit once again last weekend. Manfred Poschenrieder was to ride this past Friday night at Costa Mesa, but was told by the FlM through the American office of the AMA that as a member of the ,FIM he could not ride because they did not recognize the SRA as a legal sanction, even though the SRA sanctions all speedway events in the United States. About the only thing on the track that nigh t from Germany was a new design in speedway motors. Test rides were taken in actual competition by Bill Cody, Rick Woods and Steve Bast. It's too soon to say whether it will be competitive, but the American trio were noticeably impressed. Only two. nigh ts left-;ll Eosta Mesa foc tb~ 19.13 season', -tht- 19th of OCtober will' be' ttie' last. regularly sanct;ioned spe<"dway·· show. at the fairgrourds,. followed- oft· rll.e 26th with raCe 'of the year a "chaDce to "am the title of Mr. Speedway, the United States National Speedway Cbampion. It may be the end of the season, but Les Chanky proved it's not too late to win a main event. He did just that in tbe Handicap Main event for the first time this season. Les is one of the unfortunate group that earned too few points in the qualifying rounds, so he will not be in competition in the U.S. finals. As he has so many times this year, Mike Bast once again ran away with the Scratcb Main event to give him a unprecedented 32 victories in scratch race competition. Bother Steve failed to earn a ride in either main event when the throttle on the German speedway bike that he was testing stuck open, causing bim to throw it down as a safety measure on the front straightaway rather tben trying to ride it through the tums. The four flagmen in the comers ran to his assistance trying to bring the doughnut·spinning mount to a balt. The bike successfully dragged them around even though the spark plug wire bad been pulled. It seems that Steve had added just a little too mucb nitro to the fuel mixture and the engine was running somehwat like a model airplane engine does on a glow pluJ1:. Second division- honors were taken by Rick Smith. • Woods tried a new German engine that stuck its throttle open and ran wild. Text and Photos By Dennis Greene IRWINDALE,OCT.11 The stage IS now set for the biggest night In speedway now that all of the qualifying rounds have been run. This past Thursday night at Irwindale saw the fourth and final round of qualifying. Larry Shaw, the third member of the Bast brothers tea", had his best night of the season. Not only did he earn his spot in the finals, he did it by totalling up a perfect score of 15 points. His total for the two rounds put him in a tie for third with Steve Bast, their totals both 24 points. Rick Woods has 25 and Mike Bast has 30 with a perfect score for both nigh ts of qualifying. Bill Cody and Mike Curoso are in with 23 each. With a total of 18 a three·way tie exists between Mike Konle, Dubb Ferrell and Steve Gresham. That fjlls the top nine spots. Sonny Nutter, Scott Sivadge and Danny Becker have 17 points, followed by the highest Northern California rider, Rich McMurray, at 16. Rounding out the last three spots there are Sumner McKnight, Don Cullum and Guy Waterson which