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/126042
ee wa • euer • following, Penh all n eeded to m ov e inl third if Los An geles was go ing to win but cou ld n 't. Bast w on as Wo ods and Ch ris tian foll owed, an d th e te am sco re I I :) wa s still t ie d at 39 all. T he squads n ow looked to their th ro5 , an d fo urt h men in po ints. For [;b'i Angeles , it was Lewis an d Gene Wo o ds , Ri ck 's bro ther, wh o w as in his firs t Divisi on On e compe tit io n. Fo r Orange b County , two veteran s, "W ild Billy Co dy ' , a n d Bill y Gray, filled the heat. x:><: At the dro p o f th e ga te , Woods an d . Lewis gra bbed the le ad in th e first co rn e r and began to pull away. Then Billy Gray slid underneath Lewis for " se cond when Wayne wa s spraye d b y " Woods. As the whi te nag appeared the c ro wd was on its fe et scream ing fo r the " two Los An ge les rid e rs. A t th e chec ker' it was Woods, Gray, Lewis, an d Cody ' Los An geles ha d held o n to defeat I Orange Coun ty b y just two p o ints, 43 to 4 I. In the Handic ap p ortion, R ick Wood s · sc o red in th e five- la p Main e ven t, as th e Huntingt on Beach "Ro c ke t " held off Penhall , Max Koemans, an d Jim Gresham. In th e handicap co nsolat io n, .~ 0.. -e Berserko's back! Danny Becker 1221 in Sharks ski ns, rides some sembIence of formation with Ventura teammate Dave Sim s (4 1. By Denn is Greene and Tom Blattler Ventura, California April 13, 1976 With a push of a button the starting gates went up on the start of the 1976 Speedway season. A light ram was falling at that time, New and old fans alike wer e on hand to see what European-style t . all b E h f a ou 1. ac ~ e arn racmg was 8 t~e five SoCai tracks h as one te am o f SIX ri d ers plus one reserve. The Ventura Sharks hosted the San Bernardino Sizzlers, with t eam rac in g replacin g the Scratch part o f t he program. There are 13 events; two ri d er s from each team come to the lin e fo ra four-lap scratch ra ce . A running points sc o re is kept, with three points fo r the w in , two for second, one for th ird, an d ze ro fo r fourth. At the end o f th e scheduled 13 even ts th ere w as a t ie a t 39 points each. The 13 th event saw th e points remain spli t with three go ing to the Ventura Sh ar ks Bobhy Schwartz to ok th e 'w he n ch ec kere d n ag, his teammate Dave Sims took fourth (a zero ), leaving Jim Fishback and tea m cap tain Larry Shaw th ree points for se cond and third. Event 14 saw Mark Ch erry pull o ff the win as teammate De an Foreman lOok third to give four p oints to th e San Bernardin o Si zzlers, also th e o verall win. 43 to 41. T h e second h alf o f th e n ight was th e more fa m ilia r Han di cap p ro gram wit h six men s ta rting on di ff erent starti ng lines determined by past win records. Dean Foreman came from the 20 in the Division One Ma in for th e win. holding off homctown he ro Ran d y ;\J;,rsh. Se cond Division racing b ro ugh t o u t several new riders for the first taste o f Spee d way co m p e ti t io n . Bra d Oxley, the I 6-year-old son o f Promot er Ha rry Oxley, ran away with h is he a t ra ce, but ran sec o n d in the Main behind Don Fa lkne r also in his first race. , Irwindale, California April 15, 1976 A t 3 p .m. , th e Speedwa y season o pene r at Irwindale Racewa y lo oked very much in d oubt as rain had le f t ga llo ns of water o n the ra ce tra ck ; but 100 tons o f deco m pose d gr anite was brought in to soak up much o.f th e we tness , In the season o p ene r, the Lo s An gele s sprockets (Irwin d a le ) w ould fa ce th e Oran ge County Eagles (Cos ta Mesa ). The first he at pitted curre n t Nati onal Champion Mike Bast and Wayne Lewis fo r Los Angeles agai ns t th ree -time U.S. Champion Rick Woods and Mike Mun te an fo r Oran ge County. As the ga te dropped, Lewis and Bast jumped to th e top two spo ts and lo oked to b e runn ing away wit h a dea n swee p and a live to one lead. However, o n th e third lap of th e four-lap eve n t, lIast's primary cha in le t go and a lmost pi tc he d him ove r t he . handlebar s. Lewis wen t on to take the win and three points with Woo ds a nd Mun tean second and third, also t hree markers. So after one race. th e teams were t ied. Dubb Ferrell at Costa Mesa, try ing out a new fuel -injected engin e bu ilt by Je r ry Fairchild. GDt lots of horsepower. but in the Handicap lineup. Dubb found 'way too much t raction and looped it at the start. The score went ha ck and for t h wi th Los Angeles lea d ing and then Orange Count y tie ing it b ack up. They remain ed tied as th e teams moved into th e final he a l. Fo r Lo s An gel es. lias I and Bruce Pen h all wer e th e top p oint riders and, for Orange Cou n ty , Alan Chris tian (who rec ent ly mo ved to Southern California after being numbe r one in the :\orCI1 area) and Ric k \\' o ods. In the first corner, Bast grabbed the lead wit h Woo d s a nd Christi an