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76' By Bobi Scott COSTA MESA. CA L., OCT. 16 .Over \9,000 screammg, cheering Huffman-hyped Speedway fans turned out to witness the most domineering Speedway rider Am erica has produced since 1968 drop th e hammer hard in an incredible last minute show o f force. Mike Bast, after falling pre y to the advanc es o f trans-pl anted N ort hern er Alan Christian in his first performance o f the night , re -grouped his sense o f co nc entrati on and came back for perfect sco res in his next four matches and retained his de ath grip hold on the Nat ional title for 1977 . For eight years the United St ates National Speedway Championship final has produced as many un-predictable upsets and outstanding performances that hard-core Speedway buffs have co m e to expect the un-expected, especially at Costa Mesa. Last year's event was, in e f fect , an attempt to regain the charism at ic atmosphere of the '30's, when cro wd s of 80,000 would pack the Los An geles Coliseum to witness some o f the best ra cin g in the world for a mere 25 cents. Unfortu na t ely, promoter Harry Oxley found out the hard way ($) that so far there ar e only a lim ited number of people that" are awa re of the incalescent action provided by a handful of professional r acers once a year. Bringing the National back home to the small , t igh t c on t mes of the Orange County Fairgrounds, where half the show takes place in the grandstands, was rewarding for the spectators but caused concern to mount in the wary minds of the riders. Costa Mesa is "horne turf" for some, and not the favorite track to have to go for it all for many. The short, tight oval has presented problems in the past for a number of riders that have claimed they could have done better if the track had been longer. All 16 riders knew sooner-or-later they would have to face each other, four at a time, at least five times during the course of the evening. The title could have gone to anyone, and in two cases, it almost did. Veteran "Lightning" Larry Shaw and Bruce "The Fox" Penhall came so close to forcing a three-way tie match off with Bast that it seems impossible that it never came about. Shaw had ridden perfect races up to his fourth event (which ironically happened to be event 13) where he then had to take on his greatest challe nger Bast , J eff Sexton , and Doug Ferrell. He wa s leading Bast by one po in t. Startin g from the o utside, he m issed th e holeshot and simp ly never found an o pen ing wide enough t o ja m in be tween Bast and Sexton which relega ted him t o third at the end. He ea rned only on e p oint fo r his effort s wh ich gave Bast the winning ed ge of a so litary mark. Sh aw went on to win h is fifth and final match and co uld only wait an d hope that Bast would co me up short in his last ra ce. Event 19 set the stage for the most fan ta stic display of fireworks between ' two riders the Costa Mesa crowd has ever -witn esse d. Bruce Penhall was the only man left between Bast, Shaw and the title. Penhall's score a ft er four matches was 10, Shaw's after five was 13 and Bast had 11. If Penhall won and Bast took sec ond , a tie would be dealt with in a face -o ff match between the three hottest men on the track. Perihall . had the pole, Bast was next, then " An imal" lim Fishback, and on the outside. Rick Woods. As the four riders lined up, the crowd's fren zy w as building into a high p itched roar and by the time the rubber band sta rt in g gate sh o t up there was so much tension and electricity filling the cool night air you could have cut it with a dull knife. Penhall Fbbed the holeshot with Bast giving -it all he had on the outside cushion of the wet, gritty oval. The two riders, oblivious to the fact that two other riders were in the ra ce as well, sw apped the lead numerous times as they were concentrating solely on each other's whereabouts and rode the course at full throttle. Hast finally gained enough ground on Penhall to edge in front by inches on the start of the last lap. Penhall. closed in again on the next to last turn on the final short corner lifted his wheel just enough to let Bast have a clear shot at the finish, Bast took the flag amidst a deafening roar of humanity that had just been treated to the best possible performance of Speedway racing in all its glory they could ever pay to see . . Bast had co m e so close to losing his title and was so excited about the outcome, he immediately jumped off his b ike, threw his helmet into the crowd and jumped over the wall in to the stands where he collap sed crying into the arm s of his family. He was so shaken an d relieved at the outcome that he was u nable to talk coherently for so m e time. An appro pri ate ending for t he emotion p ac ked stadium to wit ness. $25 ,0 00 h ad been on the line of this sin gle event and halfway through t he evening Larry Shaw h ad alrea dy made ov er $2,000 . Who says there isn 't an y money in racing? Penhall, visib ly disappointedover the final outcome had given the crowd ever ything he possib ly could . He'll be on his w ay t o En gland n ow for a taste o f In terna ti o nal Spe edway . Shaw w ill startin g racin g midget spee dway cars ne xt year alo ng wi th his re gul ar p er forman ce on the circ u it. Bast has pl ans of h is own co nc erning a new faci lity an d wil l be carry ing the Number One pl ate for the fourth time in his career. So what abou t everyone else? Every on e of the 16 Nat ion al riders put on per fo rmanc es that they co uld b e rightfull y proud of. Nobody remained seated for the start of each r ace and they were still standing at the end. Reserve riders St eve Columbo and Gene Woods never got the chance they were hoping for an d did not enter in to the competition. Ro n Preston, the youn gest rider o n the trac k go t a taste of the future competing in his fir st National and did better than some of t he seasoned veterans he had ' to go against . Alan Christian and Bobby Schwartz will be aro u n d next season to try again for a shot at the title along with just about ever yone else th at rode the circu it this past season. The 1976 National is now history. Next y ear will bring about so me changes in volv ing .team racing t hat the promoters say will jnak e a good t hing ~ven bett er. In April, at the start of t he 1977 seas o n , everyone will st art all 'o ver again. Can Bast hold out fo r yet anot h er year? Will a r oo kie till his boots? Who knows. Anything can happen in Speedway and take it from the fan s, it usually does. Results 1. Mike ~ast (14). 2. Lury Shaw (13). 3 . Br uce Penhall (12) .4. Bobby Schwartz (10) . 5 . Alan Christian (10) . 6 . Jeff Sexton (9). 7. Rick Woods ts). 8 . Steve Nutter (8).9. Dubb Ferrell (8). ld . Scott Siv3dge (6 ). 11. Jim Fishback \6). 12. Bill CodY (41. 13 . Ron Preston (4. 14. Sonny Nutter (3). 15. Mark Cherry .(3 ) . 16. Randy Marsh (2). 9