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/126064
(Above) Team sweep in the making. BastlWoods (L.A.) over Sivadge/Schwartz (Ven.). (Below) Bryan Buff ington adds to his handicap. which was still running at full speed . Dave is a h igh sco re r for t he Sha rks, adding eigh t p oints th at n ight. T his inj ury will p ut him o ut for th e rest of the season . Bryan Buffi ngto n . won the Division One Handicap Ma in and will hav e a t least ten y ar ds added to hi s starting marker th e next time ar ound. Division T wo honors went t o Fr ed Heldoorn, Ventura. August 31 By Denn is Gree ne San Bernard ino . Sept . 1 By Jim Gr iff ith Under a gray fog th at all bu t. co vered th e racetrack, one o f th e last three Team even ts to be held a t Ventura we n t t o th e h om etown Sh arks. The L.A . Sp ro ckets, current ly second in the NSL; go t b eaten by six points, 42 to 36. The Orange County Eag les, m inu s th e talents o f team captain Rick Woods, travelled t o San Bernardino for th e fin al time of the season. Woods' abil ity was missed as the Eagles were beat en by th e Sizz lers 45·33. Top point men for th e Sizzlers wer e T eam captain Larry Shaw wit h 13 and 17 -y ear -old Dennis Sigalo s wit h 11. Fo r the Eagle s it was Bill Cody w ith 12 and Nor Cal transplan t Alan Ch rist ian wi th 10. T he second d ivisio n Ma in p urse m or e than d oubled due t o th e generosity of t he Sa n Bernard in o fans. Taking ad van tage of the generosity was second d ivision r egul ar J ohn Sa ndona. T he ' Handicap Consol a ti o n went to T he Animal, J im Fish back. Finis hing o ut t he eveni ng , Fullerton's Dennis Sigalos w o n th e Ha ndicap Main, fo llowed by Bry an Buffingto n of ' Orange and Wild Billy Cod y. Ea ch of the three pairs of Sharks go t at least one cle an sweep. Bobby Sch wa rtz and Sco t t Sivadge go t th eirs in the fourth even t , wh ich put th e Sh arks - o ut in fr o nt b y tw o points. Mike Bast and Gen e Wo ods came righ t back fo r th e Sprockets with their firs t sweep , to t a ke back the lead by two p o ints. The ad vantage stayed w ith th e Sp ro cke ts for five more events, until Danny Becker and Randy Marsh got their clean sweep t o tie up the scor e in the ninth even t. The next two w er e Shark sweeps; Schwartz and Sivadg e in 10, Sonny Nut t er and Dave Sims in 11. Beck and Marsh pulled off four of th e six points in the 12th race making a 10 point ad vantage for the Sharks. Then to round out a fine team half, in the 13th event for high point riders only, Mike Bast and Bruce Penball pulled off a clean sweep, dropping their loss to just six points. In th e Handicap Events where there h ave been so many injuries alr eady th is season, Dave Sims was rushed to the hospital w ith a badly burnt left wrist. He had gone over the handlebars, hooking his foot in the throttle cable, cau sing the bike to jump in fr ont of him. His arm went into the rear wheel, 32 Irwind ale. Sep t. 2 By Jim Griff ith Irw ind ale Racew ay hosted the "Superbowl" of Nat ion al Sp eed wa y Leagu e team ra cing befor e o ne of th e largest crowds they've had th is sea son (in clud ing such notables as J ohnny Rutherford and A.J . Fo yt). It was the final meeting this season b etween th e league-leading Bakersfield Bandits and the second place Los Angeles Sprockets due to a last minute change in the sch edule. From the start it was o bvio us th at this was go ing to be an evening to remember. Three races int o t h e program , the Bandits led by a slim two points. At the half it was t ied at 2 1 apiece. The results of race nine sh owed another tie: 27 ·27. After race 10, the Sprockets pulled ahead for the first time of the n ight, 3 1-29 , only to find themselves behind 34-32 afte r race 11 and th en back in front 37-35 after ra ce 12. The lin eup for number 13 looked like the final race to determine th e National Champion with Steve Nutter and Dubb Ferrell for t he Ban d it s against the Spro ck ets' Gen e Woods and Mike Bast. The o ut co me gave three points to eac h · t eam and was a good exa m p le of wh y Mike Bast is cu rre nt Nat io nal Cha mpion. Bast , smooth , cons iste n t and calculating, rode t o a win foll owed by Dubb Ferrell, Steve Nu tter and Gene Woods. Final sco re: T h e Spro ck ets 40 and th e Bandits 38 . The second half of th e program was highlighted by the unusual riding style of Tumbleweed Walton, the cheers of the Wayne Ishii fan club, the second division Ma in win of Dan Patterson and the outside ride of Super Bruce Penball, looking like a runaway Roto-tilleras he won the Handicap Main by a m atter of inches. • Th e Costa M esa and Bakersfield race da tes we re rained ou t this week.