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/125857
- Dub Ferrel. Larry Shaw and Mike Curoso feed the alcohol to their Jawas in a Bakersfield heat race. Speedway season opens -A week to blow your mind! Story & Photos by Dennis Greene Bakersfield. Calif. Wednesday. Apri l 17 With the playing of the National Anthem the 1974 speedway season officially got under way with a bang. In the first turn of the first lap of the first race there was a pileup that sent Don Cullum and Greg Haserot to the hospital. Greg pulled a broken shoulder and 6 Don tweaked several ribs. There have been several c ha nges at Kern county fair grounds race track for the fans. The starting gate has been moved to the opposite side of the race track so everyone can see the starts. even if someone stands up in front of them. The front wooden crash wall has been removed to make the track much bigger. A new paint job, a new track surface and a lot of ne w talent on the race track. Channel 2 cab le T .V. was on hand to cover the even t. I t will be shown via tape on T uesday nights. Scott Sivadge showed that he has not let the winter months go to waste . He spent time practicing and it paid off in the Handicap Main event with a win over a top field including Dubb Ferrell, Steve Bast, T roy McKee, Mike Konle and Bill Gray . The fans wen t wild when it was announced that Sonny Nutter was back. Sonny has always been one of their favorites, b u t since opening of his own bike shop in Santa Monica he did not have time to make it to Bakersfield last season and was missed by all. Sonny did not let his fans down. He worked his way into the Scratch Main event, leading it for two laps. The new National Speedway champ Mike Bast pulled him coming out of tum three and went on to the win. Mike Curoso got third and Dubb Ferrell fourth . The hometown folks again stood up and cheered when the Smith brothers both won their heat races in Division Two an d moved in the Main event. The showdown wen t to Br uce Penhall, one of the top scorers in the re cen t two nights of q ua lifying, Brian Short just got by R uss Smith for second. Irwindale. Calif. ' Thursday. April 18 The biggest cro wd ever for anopening night was on hand at Irwindale to see speedway on the biggest track in the southland hosting class A ra cing. facility is u nder n ew T he m anagement and th ey have spa red no expense to br in g the best to the fan s. Like any n ew job there were so me old problems. The track surface got tom up fast and it made for some rough racing that led to several hard getoffs, One crash sent Brad Newell to the ambulance with a broken shoulder. Even the super stars had a hard time of it. In the Scratch Main event Bill Cody and Mike Curoso got tied up wi th each other at the start-finish line. Mike was just battered about an d after a short rest, got up unde r his own power. Bill took a little lo nger, w h ile the infield amb ula nce crew t ook ca re of a cut o n his han d. The Mai n was called official because the crash took p lace in the third lap. Bill Cody was the winner. When a race is called because of a crash it is scored from the lap just before the accident. Bill Cody did win the Handicap Main just o ne race earlier, outriding Phil Moon, a new threat to First Division. The hard-riding Division Two riders were well represented by Warren Goodwine for his first win in a Main event. Costa Mesa. Calif. Friday. April 19 Fri day was the final night of the first wee k of speedway fo r the 19 74 season. Costa Mesa is the grand-daddy of all the tracks in pure n u mbe rs of p eop le co ming out for a nig ht's entertainment. Last year it was an nounced that the Friday nigh t show was the largest weekly m otorcycle show in the co un t ry and this year will set even more records. Several thousand more seats have been installed and there was not an empty one to be found by 8 p.rn . Friday . The twenty-two event program from start t o finish was th e tops in entertainment. And if the racing was not enough there was a near -rio t when m ore than a d oze n streakers took over the in field . As the po lice . tried to run them off the fans came to the st reakers' aid and it did get somewhat out of hand for a while. The Second Division part of the show has been d o ne away with and two more First Division events put in their place. Division Three riders got their chance to race . but t here was o ne big out-of-control gro u p o f over-enthusiastic ride rs that just co uld no t keep to the cen ter of the ,race trac k on the front straightaway and starte r Marvin Lee had to cli mb the starting gate pole to keep from being ru n d own as three riders ran into the gate, p utting it out of commission for the rest of the night. Bruce Penhall won the opening nigh t Handicap Main event just as he did the night before at Irwi ndale. Mark (The White Tornado) Cherry pushed Bruce all the way while holding off Jeff Sexton for a very close three-way ru n for the goal . Scratch Mai n even t time is the time when a rider really gets to show just how im port an t the start is. T his time it was Bill Cody put ting it to Mike Bas t. Mike Curoso and Sonny Nutter. Wild Bill had beaten Mike earlier in the feature match race as we ll. Phil Moon was the fourth rider this week to be crashed out of commission . He spun around on the ground and wh en he was helped to the pits it was learn ed th at he had broken a bone in his foot. Ventura speedway will open May 7, T uesd a y night. •