Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Penhall and Nu ller all followed Gray around the bewildered Bast. When the checkered c a me it was all pandemonium for several minutes, A fe w minutes later , the bigger bucks Scratch m ain ca m e to th e line and ag ain it was a h eavy lin eup. Rick Wo ods drew the p ole, St eve Ba st. Bru ce Penhal l, th en J e ff Sexto n on th e wall. Sexto n pulled out th e win afte r four so lid lap s of ti ght raci ng from th e q uartet. Wo o d s go t sec ond, Pe nhall th ird an d Bast fourth. Th is week, th in gs ge t ro ugh with th e qualifie rs for th e Na tio nal Champ ionshi p kicki ng off at . th is footh ill t rac k . There will be 32 races star ting a t eig h t p .m , with no in cre ase in th e re gu lar sp e ctator price. Costa Mesa, California August 29 , 1975 Hard-driving trio: Dubb Ferral l at point, Rick Woods and Mike Bast trailing. Dirt by Ventura. two, virt ually bot tling up the field behind him. Penhall droppe d ins ide and passed th e bunch with so me nift y m an e uverin g, then simply pul led a way. The n ight 's mos t " p opular" race, ridi ng an un dercurren t of cro wd se n ti me n t , was th e h andic ap consolation. Ran dy Mar sh was ca ugh t for a " ro llin g sta r t" . and penalized 20 ya rds, all the way back to th e 4 0! Ye t by the e n d of th e first lap , Marsh h ad plun ge d hi s way in to th ir d . Ran dy to ok de ad ai m o n the le ad er , improving his posi tion eac h lap . Ultima tely , th e cro wd on its fee t ro aring approval. Marsh co llar e d La rry Sh aw an d th e victory ! Ne wco mer Bo b by Rodgers co m p le te ly distanced h is o ppo ne n ts in th e th ird div ision m ain w ith a nearl y on e-thi rd- lap w in, whil e Dan lI u c kins do ggedly held on over Gene Wo o d s to take th e se cond divis ion main eve n t. Promoter changes track, Bast takes Sonny's purple hat By Dennis Greene, John Bethea and ,Bill Kolberg Ventu ra, California August 26, 1975 The biggest crowd m Ventura Fairgrounds history came to see the Speedway show Tuesday night. It was "fox night" and all th e girls go t in free ,' it lo ok ed like every guy in town br ought a woo fie. There wasn't even ruhhing room. 8 nut cro wd b rought o u t th e best in the ri d er s w ith a superb n igh t o f rac ing. Dub b Ferre ll p u lled o ff one of his famous co m e-f ro m- be h in d wins in the scratch m a in over Rick Wo o d s a n d the Bast Brothers. Du b b finished just a foot in front o f Mike Bast. It was Ric k Wo o ds all the way in the han d icap , picking off one rider a fter ano ther up to Big Mike Koul e, who was leading. Rick too k it away and ne ver 10 0 ked b ac k. San Bernard ino, California August 28 , 1975 Bru ce Pe n h all b eca m e the first rider 10 win the handicap main event twi ce with a co m e' from-behind vic t o ry from th e 40-yard stripe , Max Ko eman s, th e ea rly leader. c rossed up coming out o f tum Irwind ale, Californ ia August 28 , 1975 They h ave been wai ti ng for a long ti me for Bill y Gray to c ran k o u t ei th e r a Ha n di c ap o r a Scratch mai n even t wi n he re a t Irwin dal e. But , th e wa y Billy did it tonight, the fans nearly to re the place apart ! It was a back-yardage clan of racers wh o m ade it to th e Han d icap m a in. Dubb Fer re ll fro m t he 50: Mike Bast straddled the 40; both Bruce Penhall and Steve Nu t ter off t he 30. An d on the 20 were J im Fishback and the "W ild Man " Gray . Wh en h e gets in fro nt, Billy is a to ugh individual to p as s. As th e ga te went up, he got th e tra c k and sped to the lead im media tely. It didn 't t ake long fo r Bast to m ov e in t o second, and by th e end of lap two , Bast was in front. Billy , h owever , neve r gave up . Cro uc hed ove r h is han dlebars like a ha w k eyeing hi s p rey, he kep t to the o u ts ide wh ere he see med to b e finding so me he avy tra ction. "111e pace kept up to th e p oi nt where th ey we re com ing o u t of turn fou r t o p ic k up t he last lap n ag w hen il h ap pen e d . Gray 's fr on t wh eel lofted and Billy went o ut of co n tro l. He drifted wide ne ar the crash wall as they passed under th e gate. The wh eel c ame back dow n and Billy drov e inst in ctively 10 the inside . ~l ean wh il e , Bast go t in a bit to o hot in to tu rn one, d rif te d wid e, an d Billy suddenly sh ot into the lead ! Fishback, When yo u say Speedway yo u thin k o f a m o t o rc y cl e on an oval-shaped trac k , a trac k w ith fo ur left tu rn s, or an in-and-out a t each e n d of th e track. This was not t he case Friday ni ght at Costa Mesa and it ange red some o f th e top riders. The ins ide p ol e a t both e n ds of the tra ck h ad been m ov ed out to a point making just on e turn at each end. The surface was slick and m ade for a lo t o f le ad changes. Moving the inside pole is great for racing be cause it m a ke s the ride rs ch a nge their style just for the ni ght. If they d o n ot win a transfer, they ge t mad. But the old saying is, everyone is ridin g the same track. Just last we ek Dubb Ferrell won both the Handicap an d Scratch m ain even ts, bu t t his wee k h e h ad to settle for second in the Scratch beh ind Mike Bast and second in th e Handicap behind Scott Siv adge. Sivadge was the fireball all night, co mi ng from behind to work his w ay into both m ain events. He took third in the Scrat ch m ain ah ead of Rick Wo o ds and e ve n 'w o n th e Handicap . Bakersfield, California August 3D, 1975 It too k seve n wee ks an d Mik e Bast to ta ke th e Purple Helmet away fro m So n ny Nu ller. Sonny h as beate n all th e best in tw o -out-o f-three m atch rac e s an d was lo okin g for wa rd to m akin g it eight s t ra igh t, So nny h ad bro ke n his b ike an d turn ed to Sco t t Sivad ge fo r a ride. Like Sonny said, " when yo u se t up a bike fo r yo u rself everythi ng is differe n t." Mi ke Bast had a fine ni gh t o f racing in regu lar c o m p e titio n . winning t he mai n even t over Bobby Sc ra tch Schwart z , Dubh Fe rre ll and Bruce Penh all. Guy Wa ter so n m ay h ave go t te n o ff to a lat e st ar t in th e '75 season , hut h e is m aking up fo r it ni ght afte r ni gh t. "This wee k he won the Handicap m ain eve nt at Bakersfield and th e Scra t ch main eve n t a t Sa n Bernard in o . Onl y th ree m o re ni gh ts of Spe ed wa y fo r the 19 75 season at' Bakersfiel d. Saturday , Septe mber 13 , Ba kersfield will h o st a q ua lifying round fo r the U.S. Speedway Championship . The tra ck will t hen close down fo r two wee ks. We dne sda y n igh t , October I , rig h t in the m iddl e of t he Co unty Fair, the California State Champ ionship w ill be ru n . • Results SAN BERNARDIN O . AUG. 28 HANDICAP M AI N: 1. Bru ce Pen ha u 4 0. 2. St ev e N u tte r 30. 3. Bill COd y 30 . 4. Jim G r esham 2 0. SCRATCH MAIN: 1. G u y W ater so n . 2. Bi ll COdy. 3 . Br ian Sh o rt . 4. Scott S ivadge . HANDI CAP CONSOL: 1. Randy Marsh 20 (4 0 ). 2. Larr y Shaw 3 0 . 3 . Don S tubbs 10.4. Soctt Si va d ge 30. 5 . B r ian Sho r t 2 0. 6. M ark Cherry 2 0 . SCRAT CH C O N SO L : 1. J i m Gresham. 2 . Ra n dY Ma r Sh. 3 . J i m Fish back . VENTURA, AUG . 26 SCRAT CH MA IN : 1. Dubb F errell. 2. M ike Bas t . 3 . S teve Ba st . 4 . R ic k Woods. HANDICAP M A I N : 1. Ri c k Woods . 2 . M ike K o nle. 3 . Steve N u tte r . 4 . B il l COdy . 5 . Larr y Moon. 6 . Mike Mun tean . F E A T U R E MATCH DIV 1 : F r ed Sidner . IRWINDALE. AU G . 2 8 SCRA TCH MAIN : 1. Jeff se x ton. 2. Rick Woods. 3. Bruce Penttatt, 4 . Steve Ba st. HANDICAP MAIN : 1. Bill G ra y . 2 . Jim Fish bac k. 3 . Bruce Pen ha ll . 4 . St ev e Nutter. 5 . M ike Ba st . 6. Dubb Fe rr e ll. FEATUR E MA TCH RACE : Ron Rose . BAKER S F I ELD. AU G. 30 SCRAT CH MAIN : 1. Mi k e Ba st. 2 . B o bby Sc h w a rtz . 3. D ubb Fe rre ll . 4 . B ru ce Penhau , HANDI CA P M A I N : 1. Guy Waters on . 2 . Steve C o l umbo . 3. Br ia n Sh ort . 4 . Larry Sh aw . 5 . J i m Gresham. 6 . N elson Fon te . FEATURE MATCH RA CE: M i k e Bast over Son n y N u tter . C O ST A MES A, AU G . 29 SCRATCH M A I N : 1. Mike Bast. 2 . Du b b Ferrell . 3. Scott S ivadge. 4 . Ri c k Woo ds . HANDIC A P MAIN : 1. Soctt Si va d ge . 2 . Du b b Ferrel l. 3 . R ick Woods. 4 . Steve Nu tt er. 5 . Jim Fish back . 6 . B lI l Cody .

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