Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

were p ick ed to r id e: Each man rode for himself, bu t a tota l of po ints fo r each of th e four m en on ea ch team was ke pt. After 24 events and the help o f an adding m achine, Bakersfield came out on to p w it h 4 5 p oints, earned b y Steve Nutter ( 14) , Du b b Ferre ll ( 13) , J eff Sext on (12) and Da n Toomey (6) . Th e Ventura Sharks were rep resented b y Sonny Nu tter , Scott Sivadge, Randy Mars h, Bobby Schwart z and Dann y Becker as reserve. T hey earne d second wi th a t o t al o f 38 points. Mike Bast fo r the Sprockets earned 17 of h is team's 3 1 points, p utting t h em into a t ie with th e Sizzlers, also with 31. Irwindale, September 16 By Rex Reese T he fan s we re hosted to a special tr eat as Irwindale put o n an "All St ar Four T eam Tournament." It was more th an an o rdinary team eve nt, more than any open meet ; more th an a fusi o n o f the two. By th e end of the eve ning, yo u could alm ost im agine the fa ns calling o ut, "More, more, more, " as the y had been pro vided wi t h m ore sp ec t acle and excitement to night t han at an y other ' p o int in the sea so n. Among th e four teams present (L.A ., Berdoo, Ven tu ra, and Bakersfie ld ), o n e te am wound u p wit h m or e of every thing, and that was L.A . as t he Sprock ets turned in an amazingly power fu l performance th at nett ed 16 total in d ivid u al w ins an d 60 points overall. Nobody else was eve n close. L.A.'s domin at ion was d ue to t he fantastic abilities of each in d ividual rid er sin ce o n ly o n e m an fr o m ea ch te am wa s allo we d to mak e up t he fo u r man scratch heats. Bruce Pen hall sho wed ho w su per he was by go in g all the way for a perfect 18 points, closely followed by Mike Bast and Gen e Woods with 16 each and Steve Co lumbo with a credible 10 . But it wasnt all t hat ea sy as Bak ersfield 's D u bb Ferrell proved to b e quite form id abl e as he not only razzed the L.A. sq uad, but bullied all the r est with his fuel injected Fairch ild . The Ferrell threat was at its heigh t when Dubb shad o wed Bast in t he fift h heat and tr ied t o put a pass o n at the en d of th e sec o n d lap . But Mike loo ked over his shoulder, p icked his bike u p in mid-turn, and shut Ferr ell off at t he pass in the secon d b est mo ve of t he ni~h t which sent the cro wd w ild. Th e best m ove came in the last heat as Bast faced off Bandit Bert Har k ins and Berdo o 's Dean Fo rman in a th ree man bo ut which had Scot t Siva d ge of Ven tur a el im inated because of mech anical ills. Bast led with Harkins fo llowing in w hat lo o ked like ano t h er "s taus quo" race . But Harkins was riding excep tio nally close t o Mike an d m ade h is mo ve o n th e last lap . In the last tu rn, Bast was wide and o n his way home, when sudde nly Harkins, who had been on t he inside, grabbed a ha ndfu l and popped a wheelie o ut of the tu m, puttin g him in fro nt of a n asto n ished Bast and an equally surprised crowd, giving Harkin s a " Cin de re lla " win with Bast second. Costa Mesa, September 17 By Dennis Greene A fter two weeks o f rain, Speedway returned to the Or ange Co unt y Fairgrou nds. It was an open nigh t of co mp et it io n with all the su p ers tars. Two sp ecial match races were t he highlights o f t h e night. The fir st, .-' between Mik e Bast and Dubb Ferrell, put "Du b b u p o n t he Am er ican-bu ilt . Fairc h ild injecte d mo t o r an d Mik e o n the import ed Weslake. T he lead ch an ged h an ds t hree t imes in ju st two lap s, with Mike pulling aw ay in the last tum fo r the win . When Rick Wo o ds and Danny Becker came o ut fo r th eir match , it turned in to more of a whee1ie cont est than a race, with both r id er s running w ide in the turns and pulling long wheel stands down the straightaways. Becker won that eve nt , but fai led to get into either Main Even t, same as Wo o d s. Bast an d Ferr ell both were in t he Scratch Main, but Dubb bro ke t he start ing tapes and wa s sent to the pits. The Scratch Main cam e down to a battle b et w een Ala n Ch ristian, t he No . One ra ce r from the north last year , an d the U.S. Champ, Mik e Bast. Alan ca ught the wheelie fev er from Woods an d Becker and several times m o ved Bast out of his way w hil e h is front wh eel wa s in t he air. Mik e was in the lead co min g o ut of the fin al tum, bu t h ad to give way to Alan again when Alan went up in t he a ir, cu tt ing right in fro nt o f Bast at the fi ish lin e fo r t h e win . n The S200 Select Van co nt ing ency m oney stayed in the fa mily this week when their own rider, Mike Mun tean, won th e Handicap Main . Ve nt ura Sh ar ks at 44 points eac h for t h e n ight . The Sprockets had won at th eir home track and at San Berdoo so th e o ver all win w as theirs. Th e 19 76 Sp eedway seaso n w ill co me to an end for Bakersfield t his Saturday night, September 25 , with the running of t he California Stat e Champio nship. T he Kern Co unty Fair o p ens the same day . " (A co mp lete rundo wn of the sco ring for the n igh t s of the tourna ment ap pear s on the Re su lts page.) Bakersfield, September 18 By Dennis Greene It's all o ver for the year. Thetop team in the Leagu e are the Bakersfield Ban d it s w ith 26 wins and I I losses. Se co nd are the Lo s Angeles Sp ro ck ets wit h 26 wins an d 13 lo sses. Third are th e Ventura Sharks wit h 18 wins and 20 losses. Fo urth ar e the San Bernardino Siz zlers with 13 wins and 24 loss es. Fifth are the Orange Count y Eagles w ith 10 wins and 25 lo sse s. Ther e we re 21 we ek s of Team Racing. There were 96 ni gh ts of com pet iti o n . Just over 1,325 event s or 5,350 laps. T he All-Star te am t ournament wound up at the Kern County Fairgro u n ds in Bakersfie ld Sat urday nig ht. After fou r nights of ra cing fro m Ventura, to San Berdoo, to Irwindale to Bakersfield, the to p fo ur riders fro m the top fou r teams in th e Nat ional Speed way Leagu e came o u t with a winner. T he Lo s Ange les Spro ckets from Irw ind ale took it all. Mik e Bast and Bru ce Penhall carr ied th eir team t o vict ory by tieing the National Speedway League 27

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