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/125858
BRIGGO ON SPEEDWAY - SOUTHAMPT ON , ENG LA ND At long last I have returned to England after the very successful World Series tour in Australia and New Zealand and the international match es at Costa Mesa, Cali fornia betw een th e USA an d th e rest o f the world . When I go t h orne I face d the Jeff "Goldilox" Se xton came out of the MX ranks . . . away w it h th e Scra tc h Mai n for the second week st raigh t at Irwind ale. J an Ballard put t he troop s away in th e Division Two Main with o ne of th e fast est seco nd divisio n events in so me time. Costa Mesa, Calif. Friday, April 26, 1974 With a tum away crowd o n hand the fin al nigh t of our speedway week go t underw ay at Costa Mesa. T he 22 even t show ran without any tr ouble other t han one third div ision race that had to be re -started when half the field went down in the first tum . On the re-start , everyo ne got thr o ugh the firs t tum but then each lap o ne or m o re fe ll by the wayside leaving just one rider fo r the win, Steve Sc hlanser, J an Ballard, one of 23 racers wh o carries a dual raci ng lice nse, go t his cha nc e as a firs t di vision rid er, h ot off his Handicap win the nigh t be fore a t Irwindale in the Divisi on Tw o Main. J an proved he was up to the task with a w in over So nny N utter, Dubb Ferrell , Mike Bast an d Brian Sh o rt in th e Handicap Main event. Ther e is a new ti tie to be w o n th is year a t Costa Mesa - T he King o f the Hill in m at ch raci ng. The winner of th e feat ure ma tch race each wee k w ill co n tin ue to rid e until he is beat en. Th e ope ne r was Bill Cody b u t he went d own in d efeat this wee k to Sonny N utter. T he m an to beat in Scratch raci ng is still Mike Bast and th ere is only one man who ca n d o it - Bill Cod y . Bill did n ot get in to the Scrat ch Main because of an ear lier crash tha t kep t him from earning a tran sfer spot. T he fo ur top rid ers for t he n ight were Sonny Nu tter, J ef f Sexton, Mike Curoso, and the speedway Cham pion, Mike Bast . As they lined up on the line, wi th Sexton drawi ng the po le posit ion , it lo o ked as if Nutter might get the win to co nt in ue his already hot night of racing. But , Nutter wen t down in the third lap and Sexton crashed into him, leaving the win to Bast, w ith Curos o com in g in se cond. Friday nigh t .at Costa' Mesa w as th e end of the sec ond full we ek of speedway racing, (or six rac e m ee ts) an d time for a lo o k at the reco rd book. Bill Cod y and Mik e Bast arc in a tic w it h th ree Scra tch Main eve nt win s each. Bill h as a Han d icap Main win as we ll, w hil e Mike has not be en ab le to p ut on e away so fa r. Bill is the o nly rider to win b oth th e Hand icap an d the Scratch-M ains o n t he same night , th is occuring at Irwindale. Bruce Penhall has tw o Handicap Main wins , J an Ballard , Les Chanky an d Scott Sivad ge eac h have one . (All the above in fo rmation applies to first division racing o nly .) / • usual foo t-high pile of le tters, et c. It wasn 't un til the n th at I cam e across the speedway article in th e Feb ru ary 19 is s u e of Cycl e N ews , entitled " Speed w ay Sham " wri tten by J ohn Huetter. I have know n J o hn for a good m an y years. Obviously he wrote wha t he be lieved to be the truth abou t our meeting at the As tr odome in Houston . His ta lc that it was all fixed was like the old sensationalism no rmally associated with film stars, etc. But more than that, it was a disto rtion of th e facts. It ap pears t hat John was n't act ually at the m ee tin g in Hous ton. Nor, it seems, does he know too much about speedway: Ivan Mau ger has been World Ch ampio n fo ur ti mes, no t twice. as stated in th e article. Howe ver , the m ost ridiculous statement made by J ohn was that t he result of the mee tin gs at th e Astrodome was predeter mined. Befor e th e me eting Ivan and I had discussed two th ings in p articular. Fir st : wh o would be th e best Am eri can riders to co mpe te. Everybody I sp oke to p ushed us to incl ude Danny Becker . We realized he is a " thr ill-m erchan t" with his d iving p asse s and one -wh eel an tics, b ut we took a lo t o f co nvinc ing before agreeing to Dan ny . We spoke to Becker b efo re th e meeting. We stressed that he did not have to wi n a m eeting t o be in cluded in any series that Ivan and I put on in the States. On th e bigger tracks y ou cannot get away with so me of t he antics regularly seen o n the smaller Cost a Mesa tr ac k. But he was never to ld that he c ouldn ' t win . Unfortunately, he d idn 't heed our advice a nd fin ish ed up in th e ... to battle Larry Shaw and Dan Becker at Irwi nda le. hospital afte r tang ling with Ove Fu ndin. I t was th e same a t Costa Mesa . More ofte n than no t, Danny finished up par tin g co mp an y wi th his bike . Danny has a lo t of p o ten ti al, and with m ore e xpe rie nce h e co uld b ecome o ne of America's top b ig t rack riders. It appears that Dan ny 's words have been twi sted to suit different pe ople 's needs in m o re th an one m agazine . It is ti me th e record was put straight. Ivan and I also agre ed th at, if possible , it would be good fo r an Ame rican to reach the Final at Ho ust on . We spoke ' about this to nob ody else. Af te r the firs t co uple of races it was obvious that no American need ed any help to reach the Final. As for Mike Bast 's tap e-breaking in the sem i fina l . . . if Bast was assured of a place in th e Final, as John H uer ter suggests, wh y would he break th e tapes in orde r t o get a quick start? It was agree d with the ride rs th at an y one who broke the tap es would be fined $5 O . With regard to the resul t o f the m eeting, it was apparen t fro m the ar ticle th a t Ivan and I wer e to be "allo we d" to get first an d second. As it happened , I was lu ck y to get to the Fin al after a clas h with F undin which left m e on the track. The draw fo r the starti ng positions in the Final wa s m ade by Mik e Henshaw . the AMA referee, on th e track in fran t of th e TV cam e ras of ABC. The me eting was goin g o ut live at t he stage. I am sure th at if Bast an d Fun din had drawn th e inside positions they coul d ea sily have gotten first and secon d in stead o f Ivan and m e. Huetter also see m ed to su ggest th at Ivan and I had to be allo we d to win be cause w e co uld n't manage it o n o ur own. I take stron g exceptio n to th at. Perh ap s it shou ld be poin ted o ut th at in the three-ma tch series be tw een th e USA and th e re st of th e w or ld at Costa Mesa - the Americans' h om e track - both Ivan an d I scored m or e p oints than any of the Ameri can ride rs. Or was thi s an other "sham?" A fter th e mee ting we took home tw o deci dedly bruised .an d ba tter ed Poli sh ride rs, on e Sco tsm an in co nsi derable pain after several crashes and a p unc h on the ear fr om a good old fri endly Ame ric an rider . I respec tfully sugges t th at Mr. Huetter, an d o the r j o urnalis t wh o don't unders tand speedway . visit t rac ks m ore often and ge t to know th e riders. They will th en realize t ha t th is is t he hardest and most cut-th roat kind of professional motorcy cle racing, which is th e message we tried to ge t acr oss to Danny Becker. Barry Briggs John Fishburn , number 79 to all his many speedway racing fans, died this past Fr iday doi ng th e t hing he loved t he best - rid ing his motorcycle w ith his brothers Butch , Swede and Ga ry . One of t he four rac ing brothers, J o hn rode Ascot , Day tona an d ca me in second at Elsinore . He was part of the California spe ed way scene since its start in 1968. A true competitor, a good race r and an o u tstand ing f rien d, gone at 29. 9