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/125868
grew. Mike Konle backed o u t of the starter's box a nd rode in a small circle to allow h is clu tc h to coo l d own. When he came b ack to the box . Ba st again .was lay ing on t he ta pes . I\li ke Konle put hi s b ike in neu tr al to back o ut agai n , but thi s ti me th e ga les went up an d th e race was on. Konle had b is hand in t be a ir and was loo king fo r a re -start but it never came. The crowd was yelling fo r a restart as Ko nl e, mad as he ll . wen t in to the infield. Bast psycho logy w or ks again. Dubb Ferrell was t be first rider past the starting line. s tay ing close t o t he pole to m iss the motorcycle th at Ko n le had left be hind. ~ l i ke Bast was tryi ng hard to make up ground. but his o wn cl u tch was bot an d slipp ing by tbis ti me . Dubb was bard pu t to bold off t he U.S . champ bu t pl a yed it cool fo r th ree more laps and grab bed his fir s t ev er ti tle win. lI is n ame will be ad ded to th e huge trop hy th a t symbolize s the F irec racker Derb y . The onl yo th er na me on the t ro p hy is th at o f Mik e Bast, th e 1973 win ner. By Dennis Greene Ventura, California J uly 2, 1974 Apparently all the bumps and crashes were worked out last week and everyone settled .down to safe . racIng. A new safety curtai n has been put up in fron t of th e cement cr ash wall at Ven tura whe re several riders have eo me out on t he sho rt end recentl y. Bill Cody, a lo ng with the Bast Win Ma chine a n d Ed Williams, m ad e up th e Sc ra tch Main event. The fo ur lap Main was won handily by Cody . T he six -man, five-lap Ha ndicap Main eve nt fea tured Mike Curoso working his way in to seco n d place beh ind fron t runner Mark Cherry, who held o ff th e chal lenger fo r the win. Bakersfield. California June 3,1974 Bakers field last w eek h eld the firs t cham pionsh ip styl e event of t h e '74 season, The Firecrac ker D erby . All cha m p io n sh ip even ts ar e full scrat ch programs. Each rider ra ces fiv e times, with a to tal of only 16 riders Dub b Fe r rell got j ust what he a lways wanted . co m pe ti ng. wins are w orth th ree p oints, seco n d is worth two . t hir d is worth one an d the last m an in gets n o po ints. At the end of 20 even ts a ll ride rs h ave rac ed ev ery o the r rider a t least o nce. If someone sho u ld w in every ev ent, he wo ul d end up with total for the ni ght of 15 p oints. A t the end of 19 events th er e were on ly three riders w h o h ad m o re than ten points. As it worked OU 1, the three lo p score rs were to m ee t in the last even t of the ni ght. Mike Bast and Mik e Konle each had te n p oints, w hile Dubb Ferrell ended u p with II go ing in to th e las t rac e. . T h e las t eve nt also sa w G uy Wat er so n enter as a reserve fo r Mike Curo so a fter Curos o's m achine quit o n hi m. \Valcrso n . had o n ly two points go ing into t he race . Fans were a ll o n their fee t as Mik e Bast pushed the s ta rti ng tapes to their breaking point. He wa s m oti oned back repeatedl y by th e s tar te r. As th e tension Irwindale. California Jul y 4,1974 Irwindale is known fo r i ts spectacular sho ws, but they o ut d id tbemselves th is pas t Fourth with over $ 3.000 worth of fir eworks goi ng off a t in te r m issio n. There w er e several dummies that bro ught their own fir eworks an d found it great sp ort to throw th em on th e race t rac k, keeping th e in fi eld people hoppin g to get tb e junk off t he track before t be riders go t to i t, . Jeff Sext on fl ew in fr om th e eas t coast, a fter m issing the first two nights of racing, and he was ready fo r th e action at Irwindale, He ca me ba ck a s strong as be lo o ke d a t th e start of th e seas o n for the win in the ILndicap M ain be fo re o ne of t he bigges t cro wds o f th e year at Irwin dale. S ex ton ca me right back fr om the trophy pr esen ta ti on to take the w in in tb e fo llowin g r ace , the Scra tch co nsola tio n. The Scratch Main ev ent saw th e Bast Win Machin e w or king a t full speed with Steve Bast bolding off Mik e for th e victory. Bill Cody too k th ird well out in fron t o f trailing Steve Nu tte r. Costa Mesa. California July 5,1974 Mik e Curoso is th e ne w Kin g of the Hill in two-lap fe at ure match ra ci ng . Cu roso put I\like Bast away be fore th e large cro wd with a wire -t o-wire win. I I was not Mike's ni ght a t a ll. For the f irst t ime this season Mike did not earn a ride in t he Scr at ch Main event. lie . m issed his ch ance to transfer when Dan Becker nearly se t his fr o n t wheel down o n Mi ke's bead in o ne of th os e giant wheel s tan ds he is so well known for. Mike had to du ck under th e fr ont wheel and did n ot ge t a chance to set up for the n ext tu rn as Be cker se t it down and powered to the o u tside . Be c ker's a nt ics got h im a ride in t he Scratc h I\lain bu t his sty le was no ma tch for "l\lr . Co o l, " S teve Bast, wbo kep t ho tb wheel s on t he track for the win. Becker got second. Curoso gave h im landing room and wrapup went to Bill Co dy . So nn y Nutter t oo k t he lI an d icap Mai n win fo r h is f irst o ne of th e season in the six-man dash. Nu tter powered past a lesser field from t he 4 0·ya rd line for the crowd pl easin g victory. Indian Dunes, Californ ia J uly 6,1974 24 Bo h by Ross was the to p Division Two r ider o f the week. No t o n ly did Ro ss take th e Scr at ch Main a t Indian Dunes, hut earlier in th e we ek at D CI R o n Wedne sd ay n igh t he won tb e fea tu re m at ch r a c e . (Inc ide nta lly , j ac k's Surfboards. so me su per speed way fans, p u t up th e m oney fo r th e sp eci al ra ce. ) Ross a lso w on the lI andicap Main and was sec ond beb ind Phil I\loon in the scratch ra ce. Indian Dunes is drawing fans to spe edway f r om e v e ry facet of motorcycling. In the st an ds it is co m mon to see a motocross rider in full racing gear o r a mini-bike team me mber. Right a longside, tbere could be a dune cycle crowd. This all adds to the variety and that is the bes t w ay to descr ibe t he SRA spee d way sho w a t In d ia n Dunes on Saturday nights. Outstanding ra cing, a good track and just plain fun. • Results in Results Section.