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/126009
z '" ''" " a: o Z III Z a '" Ferrell tries the old one-two crouch technique on Sonny Nutter. 1 made a math mistake in last week's story but if you tum to the results page, the totals after three events are listed and are right at this time. Rick Woods did not ride this round of qualifying because of an arm injury suffered Saturday night at Bakersfield when he was involved in a three -man Three dOln, three togO By Dennis Greene, Bill Kolberg and John Bethea Ventura, California September 16, 1975 The third round of qualifying for the u.s. National Speedway Championship was run Tuesday night at Ventura with 'the top 32 riders in competition. Under a dark sky that produced rain several times, Steve Bast turned a perfect score of 12 10 points, making him high point man of the night. Scott Sivadge is still high point man of the three nights of qualifying. So far he has lost but one point in 12 rides. He lost that point to Steve Bast, the current U.S. Speedway Champ. Again after 32 events there was one runoff to decide second place between Larry Shaw and Scott Sivadge , Shaw took the win. pile up . Loss of points will move him . into the 17th spot right now, but with three more rounds to go, Rick should make the finals. . Northern r iders Alan Christian and Rich MacMurray are still in competition for th e finals, Alan has earned 19 points and is currently 15th place, MacMurray has 16 poin ts and is tied with Rick Woods for last spot. Next qualifying round is in Northern California at Cal Expo in Sacramen to on the 20th . Then round five at Inland Raceway in San Bernardino on the 24th, and the final round of qualifying will be run at Costa Mesa on September 26. San Bernardino, California September 17, 1975 . Pasadena's Max Koemans scored · an upset in his first handicap win . of the season, at Inland Speedway. Koemans made the most of this IO-yard handicap to win the five lapper over 1973 National runner-up Mike Curoso, still nursing an injured foot, with Dean York current kingpin Steve Bast , Sonny Nutter and Jim Fishback in his wake. It was a personal best for th e second -year speedway cyclist, who flashed excellent form in winning all three of his races. The scratch main was decided at the start, as the "Fullerton Flash," Larry Shaw anticipated the tapes perfectly and opened up a sizeable lead from the gate. A titanic struggle shaped up behind him, with Sonny Nutter edging Jim Fishback and Mike Curoso - all three m aking both mains. Rod Sexton, younger brother of 1974 runner-up Jeff, rose to his full poten tial while taking the second division main, following his easy h eat race victory. Riding a new bike, owned by off-road expert John Stamer, Sexton roared to a pair of flawless wins from his 20-yard impost. . Inland's only two 50-yarders in first division history, current Champion Steve Bast 'an d popular Bruce Penhall, hooked up for the evening's match race. Penh all hugged the pole for two laps, barely squeaking out the victory. Irwindale, California September 18, 1975 Unexpected winners entered the victory circle in both the Handicap and Scratch Mains in front of a small crowd. Somehow it seems folks figured that after the National Qualifier the season was over at Irwindale Speedway. Not so, as both Dave Sims and Steve Nutter, who each won their first race of the season at Irwindale, will attest. Sims got his advantage early with IO -yard line start. Bruce Penhall, coming from the 30, held back his equally handicapped foe Scott Sivadge for second. Mike Bast got fourth and Jim Gresham wound up fifth. The Exacta this week centered on the Scratch Main. All a spectator has to do is place the event finalists in order. Of course, you have to first figure out the finalists before the Semis are run, but after the he ats have been completed. Steve Nutter won and disrupted 99% of the entries in the contest (winners got four free passes to the Irwindale Track Championship October 23rd). a Nearly everyone picked Scott Sivadge. Sco tt finished third in the Scratch Main and that ended most hopes for the Exacta, Steve Nutter made it a clean sweep in .the Scratch, however, with Mike Curoso taking the runnerup. Mike Bast, another heavy favorite, ended up last. Th e Irw indale Exacta will run again this Thursday night with the chance of all lucky guessers winning four passes to the track championship (a SI 2 value) . Costa Mesa, California September 19, 1975 Speedway is the biggest weekly motorcycle attraction in the country and it's still growing. Prize money (some $17.000) for the U.S. National Speedway Championship will be the largest purse ever paid in the world for a speedway meet. Bell Helmets, Bates Leathers, KEZY Radio , Al Martinez Body Shop, Select Vans and more than a dozen other backers of the sport have added to their ranks the local Datsun dealers who. will be taking care of some or the advertising for the U.S . Finals. Bell Helmets have been paying for th e qualifying rounds. and this past Friday nigh t they were the host paying $ 100 over the purse to the winner of the Scratch and Handicap Mains and Second and Th ird Division were not overlooked either. They each got $25. Mike Bast rang the Bell in the Scratch Main after a come-from-behind win over Rick Woods. Jefr Sexton got past Scott Sivadge for third. Handicap winner Mike Muntean took it from the lO-yard line. holding off Mark Cherry for the five-lap victory. The finish was so close that both riders took a victory lap while official decisions were made, Mike picked up his 100 Bell dollars. • Results in Results Section.