§Cody and Bast duel for points lead
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Bruce Penhall, Dan B. Becker and Bill Cody go for the dough at Costa Mesa. Night's winner can take home $1,000:
tho ugh Mike Bast was st ill racin g. The
race was stopped in the third lap an d
scored fro m the second and at that
Story & Photos by Dennis Greene
Bakersfield , Calif. .
Wednesday, April 27, 1974
Wind and the cold night aIr
couldn't dampen the enthusiasm
of the fans at Bakersfield. They
came to see if Mike Bast could
keep his win streak together, and
he didn't let them down. Mike
j um ped to th e lead at th e start o f
the Scratch Main and for the four
8
laps he held off chal lenge rs Bill Cody.
Sonny Nutter and Mike Curoso.
It looked as if Mik e Bast was l!;oinl!; t o
wi n the Han d icap Main as well, but little
Les Chanky had a forty yard advan tage
on the starting lin e an d even th ough
Mike did get past all the other riders he
could not make up the di st an ce. At th e
finish Les was st ill 40 yards out in fro n t.
Las t week 's Handicap Main wi n ne r,
Sco t t Si vadge, miss ed hi s chance t o
t ransfe r whe n th e throttle stuck and he
had to b ail o ff in tu m o ne .
Kir k A lexan der put his name in the
rec ord bo ok wi th a wi n in the Divisio n
Two Main , after a gr eat d eal of tro ub le
just gettin g the engi ne to fire.
Irwindale, Calif.
Thursday, April 25, 1974
On a vastly improved track Bruce
Penhall took ove r the lead of the
Handi cap Main in the t hird lap an d
wen t all the way to take first with Ed
Willia ms an d J eff Sexton dueling it o ut
for second . J eff is m akin g a com eb ac k
after m aj or su rgery du ring t he winte r
and will be one o f the riders to kee p a
close eye o n as he cli mbs th e lad d er to
the top . .
Last week I m issed th e fact that Bill
Cody be came th e first ride r of the 1974
sea so n to win both th e Scr atch Main
and the Handicap . Main in th e same
nigh t. T his feat has happe ned o nly half
a d o zen times durin g o ver 10 6 race
m eets
the 197 3 season .
After two m eetings the S RA board is
st ic king t o th eir de cis ion that Bill Cody
was the winner las t Thursda y ni gh t even
in
.
-
ti me, Bill was the leader.
Just to show that it was no fluke ,
Wild Bill Cody ca me on strong an d ran
Mike Bast nearly backs into Dubb Ferrell at Costa Mesa.
