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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126049
Thereafter, it was bye-bye time as the Sh arks juggled the team roster to keep thei r fins above water, an d only once were they in any rea l danger when the SCore was 28-26 in L.A .'s favor. Problems grew for the Sprockets when their two strong arms, Bast and Bruce Penhall, suffered bike problems and had to resort to their backup machines in the final against Scott Sivadge and Sonny Nu tter, Sivadge got the holeshot with Bast breathing down his leathers, followed by Nutter and PenhalI. Sonny then crashed which put Bruce into third and the pressure on Sivadge, who must've been sweating buIlets when he found out that he didn't have any protection. Scotl didn 't look back any longer and kept it screwed on for the win which gave Ventura a slim margin of two points, 40 to 38. A pair of extraordinarily awful crashes kep t everybody on their fee t in the handicaps. The worst involved Mar shaII Pugh , wh o after touching Rod Sexton's rear tire near th e third turn, lost it and ca me o ver t he han dlebars, on ly to get sm ack ed in th e face by Bobby Schwartz wh o couldn't avoi d the conflict. MarshaII even tually ca me ar o und and was able to wa lk away from it , a fine te st imonial fo r fuIl face helmets. Steve Fort u ne, for his second night in a ro w , won th e Sec o nd Division Main ; an d Mik e Bast sh ine d as usual to win the Han dicap Main which saw Bruce Penhall crash an d hur t his an kle. By Dennis Greene Costa Mesa, California May 28,1976 • Ab o ve, scr atch racing returned to Costa Mesa, with fou r of the best on the line . Below, " Th umper" Short has Norm Denny all up in the air ove r something . sweep, Again in the very next r ace it was the Sharks puIling off the sweep: Sonny Nutter and Randy Marsh over Bill Gray and Alan Christian, the same two riders who , earlier had t aken the sweep from them. The 13th and final event went to the highpoint rider for the Sharks, Seott Sivadge, The final score: Sharks 41, Eagles 37 . The First Division Handicap Main went to Dan Waller, one of the riders who carries a dual license for both First and Second Divisions. This was Dan '5 first shot at a main event this season and his aim was dead on. t ... t By Dennis Greene Ventura, California May 25,1976 Two in a row for the home team, as the Ventura Sh arks sent the Orange Co un ty Eagles home to nest. The Shark s got off on the right fin, swee ping the first event for five points provided by Scott Sivadge and Bobb y Sch wartz. T his was just the first of four sweeps .. .. 36 for the night. In the very next race , t he visiting Eagles tied up t he score wi th thei r own swee p when both Sonny Nu tter an d Randy Mars h went down. The Sharks never di d lose the po in ts lead , but the Eagles d id bring th e score to a tie four times. In the tenth event, the Eagles picked up their second sweep of the night; this time it was Bill Cody and J an Ballard over Sivadge and Schwartz, who earlier had the first By Rex Reese San Bernardino, California May 26,1976 The track ha d been re -do ne with a new surface an d wider turns, whic h should've put both teams o n the same footing, since everything was n ow di ffe rent. It didn't work ou t th at way , for when th e gate flew and the hammer was d roppe d in the first heat, Dubb Ferre ll and Bert Harkin s cleaned off Larry Shaw and Dean Fo rman as if they weren't even there. According to so me backstage blab, the reason Harkins did so weIl at Berdoo was because the track was set up "just like back home" in Scotland. Bert pro ved this to a fair degree by even winning a heat In the big one, Ferrell proved how dangerous he was all night by mauling Mark Cherry and Dean Forman to win the final for the Bandits. Bandits' captain Jeff Sexton got last, but that was OK as they had won the whole wazoo 46 to 32. By Rex Reese Irwindale, California May 27,1976 The L.A . Sprockets were the second team in two nights to lose at ho me with the Ventura Sharks taking a bite out of them . Af te r two rou nds o f ne ck an d neck racing, th e fir eworks began when two Sharks were eliminated for breaking the start ta pes. First Danny Becker, who was replaced by Bobby Schwartz; th en Dave Sim s, who w as replaced by Ran dy Marsh. Sp rocket leader Mike Bast t he n an grily ran out o f the p it s over to the track re f to protes t th at t he co mplete repl acement of t he two o ffending riders was one re placeme n t too m an y. The ref didn ' t agree, and even after Bast leap ed in to the an nouncer's b ooth to talk i t o ve r with Bru ce Flanders, th e protest to disqualify Marsh was still disallowed. The heat wen t on and proved to be the turning pain t as Schwartz and Marsh swept over Gene Woods and Norm Denny , who fell, The National Speedway League took its first official night off Friday , leaving Costa Mesa with an open night of competition. Mark Cherry won his very first Scratch Main of this or any ot her Speedway season. Jeff Sexton was righ t on his tail for second, Mike Bast fo r third, and Bobby Schwartz took fourth. Speedway is in its eighth year of competition and, up until Friday night, we have never had a photo finish, at least, no referee has called one, but that was the case Friday night in a Feat ure Mat ch Race between Mike Bast and Dubb FerreIl. For both laps you co uld have covered the both of them with o ne small blanket. Bast was in the le ad by an inch or two as they came out o n the last tu m, but Ferrell had the drive an d thought he 'd won the race. But th e ref said, "Tie!" Dubb came ba ck in the Handica p Main on his American-built Fairchild bike to win fro m t he 40-yard line (wh ere he started along with Mike Bast an d Larry Shaw). Dubb's win puts him way out in fro nt in money earned in Handicap Racing for this seas o n . Bakersfield, California May 29,1976 When you're Number Two, you try harder and now you're Number One. During the week the Bakersfield Bandits - went down to San Bern ar dino an d became the o nly team so far 'th is season to beat the league-leading Sizzlers on th eir home track. At Bakersfield the Ban dit s laid to rest the L.A. Irwindale Sprockets, 48 to 30, and va ulted in to the lead. The Bandits were re d h o t, ge tting four clean sweeps during the night. Twi ce the Sprockets brought the score up even , bu t th ey were no m atch for Jeff Sexton an d Dubb Ferrell, FerreIl and his te amma te Bert Harkins got one of the sweeps. Jeff an d Brian Short got two, then in Event 13 , where only the two top scorers from each team rides , Ferrell and Sexton go t their team's fourth sweep for t he night over Mike Bast and Gen e Woods. Tom Morl ey got his seco nd Handicap win of the week in Division Two. Fo ur o f the longest yar da ge riders made it t o th e Firs t Division Handicap Main , St eve Nu tter fr o m the 50 , Bruc e Penhall , Mike Bast an d Dubb Ferrell. In th e very fir st lap Du b b got pas t eve ry one but J im Gresham . Mike Bast was in th ird and o nly got by J im at th e last minute to ge t sec o nd behind Ferrell.