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/125988
...... A year of experimentation indeedl Mike Konle try ing a sp rung frame - and making it work at Costa Mesa. Mike Curoso outdrove Nutter in thei r Purple Helmet match race at Bakersfield. and then lost narrowly to Mike Bast in the Scratch Main. It was the best Ferrell has looked in some time, showing aggressiveness in every tum. In his first Handicap Heat, he was scrapping his way from the 40 when he tried to wedge his way underneath Ed Williams. They collided and Williams car o med into the wall where he badly sprained his ankle. When the restart cam e , Ferrell was every bit as tenacious as he drove hard for the victory over Mike Konle and Mike Bast. In their next encounter, the Handicap Semi, Ferrell again beat Mike Bast down to the wire of the five lap event with Konle this tim e taking third, putting them all into the final. Meanwhile, from the other heats cam e Jeff Sexton, Phil Moon and Rick Woods. Rick had started the night with a wild last tum pass of Moon on the outside. Sexton advanced with a fan tastic drive out of his heat in which he too k over the lead from the 40 just six turns into the race. Jeff then came ba ck in the Semi with the win over Moon and Woods. The track had unbelievable traction on both the inside and o utside. Wheel stands o ccurred all over, both in the turns and on the straights. Bob Schwartz, rid in g his first Scratch, ncarly lost it co m ing onto the fron t straight while in contention for second and nearly went into the wall. Somehow he saved it although it seemed that for half a lap the bike was taking him for the ride. Mike Curoso defeated Steve Nutter in the second Scratch Heat before Billy Gray got the crowd crazy with the win in the third. Woods and Konle fought extremely hard for the transfer spot and Woods got there first when Ko nle lost control in tum two and nearly put his leg through the wall. Mike Konle took to the Feature Match race against previous week's rival Sonny Nutter and literally blasted his way to the win, forcing Nutter wide in tum four of lap one. Then carne the Handicap Main and Ferrell was ready. Phil Moon, from the 10, led early but it was Dubb and Mik e Bast charging hard fro m the rear. It didn't take them long to catch Moon and put him behind them in their race. Ferrell, however, did it first and while Bast was trying to do it too, Ferrell stretched his lead which was cut down to 10 feet at the checkered. In their fourth and final faceoff of the night, Bast finally de feated Ferrell in the Scratch Main afte r four very tight lap s. Curoso never really was in contention and took third after Gray crashed and finished fo urth. Second Division honors went to Max Koernans, who drove out the outside all the way to win it. Dean Foreman was secon d and Dan Fishburn third. Costa Mesa, California May 2,1975 Mike Bast, two-time holder of the United States title, won the Scratch Main at Costa Mesa for the second time this season. His win over Jeff Sexton was close as older brother Steve pushed hard to overtake both. The fourth rider, Bill Gray , now has earned his way into two Scratch Main Events this season, leading the race for a lap until his enthusiasm go t the best of him and he slid out. Whee/stands, sprung frames, and wobbly girls By John Bethea and Dennis Greene Irwindale, California May 1, 1975 Double victories are becoming extremely rare In SRA Speedway racing as the competition gets tighter, but for. the second week in 18 a row here, a rider came exasperatin gly close to taking the sweep I only to come up empty. Dubb Ferrell took the Handicap Main Big Mike Konle, owner of Redline Racing Frames, spen t some time this winter working on a swingarm frame fo r his Speedway bike and for the past few weeks has been working out the bugs. This night he earned his way into the Handicap Main, then running against 1\1ike Bast, Konle held his own for his first victory of the year. Sonny Nutter, riding for KEZY radio and his own shop in Santa Monica called Speedway Only. picked up his first win of the 19 75 season in a two lap Match Race agai nst the new United States Speedway Champ, Steve Bast. Division Three honors went to Ken Best who managed to keep o ut in front of the fie ld all the while avoiding fallen riders for his first win at Costa Mesa . Then during the t rophy awards set a new re cord for the kiss leaving the yo un g miss wobbly and rubber-legged . Bakersfield, California May 3,1975 Jeff Sexton, who has been gett ing a reputation for co m ing in second to the Bast Brothers, did a tum around Saturday night at Bakersfield winning the Scratch Main in a four lap duel that saw J e ff o u tga te Mike Bast an d beat him into tum on e. Jeff ne ver looked b ack o nce fo r an outstanding ride to the chec kered fla g. Alan Christian, Northern California's Number One rider, came in third just ah ea d of Steve Nutter. The little Italian, Mike Curoso put Sonny Nutter away in the Purple Helmet Match Race running his string to three victorious rides in a row. Larry Huffman, the Voi ce of Speedway, made his first appearance at Bakersfield taking over the announcing chores for the night. To put it mildly , he got a reaction. (Outstanding job.] Six men for five laps in the Handicap Main Even t could have come out on top in this event. It was so close it was not until the third lap that Brian "Thumper" Short took his lead o ut to a safe margin. Ventura Fairgro unds will open its speedway show this Tuesday night giving us four nights of speedway in the So u th land. All of us in speedway we re saddened to hear of the passin g of DeWay ne Keeter. DeWayne was one of the stars of speedway in the late 60s and ea rly 70s, going to Europe several times representing the United States. His fatal accident at Ascot has le ft a vo id that will be hard to fill. Our deepest regrets • go out to his wife and family. Yep, Mike's wrists are better now . See the wrench bend? There's a girl in there somewhere.