Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

and a main . 'Au trey and Schwartz found th emselves on the 50 ya rd line. Mike Bast picked up big yardage monev with a terrifi c ride fro m th e 50 in th e'second heat. passin g to th e win over Curoso, Randy Da vis and Cl iff Ball . A red fla g on th e third hand icap heat went out for Steve Gr esham who ami ably went to the 60 ya rd lin e , th en false-started to go from th e 70 ya rd lin e and parked it in th e first corner allowing Choo-choo Robinson th e win , over Ro wd y Rick Stone a nd Tony W estbrook. Randy Davis led every lap on the first sem i taking MacMurra y and Norm Robinson to th e Ma in in a flurry of activity a t th e chec kered. Rowdy Rick Stone took th e second sem i over Choo-choo Robinson a nd Bast. IAbove)Six thousand watchers leave lots of empty seats. (Ins et) BastiMaely crew juggles tire. gearing. Astrodome National Speedway: Curoso's cliffhanger, Bast's Maely debut By w. H. Spencer HOUSTON , TX .JAN . so The show was a N ational Championship scratch p rogram , a thriller right down to the runoff b etween Mike Curoso and Scott Au trey. By the way, Curoso won and it was a grea t on~ fo r his Louis Unser -bui lt Neil Street J awa four-val ve motor and John Fisher wre nc he d Curoso fa m ily ente rprise. Th e Astro sh art trac k h a d some 16 d t t . e it a f tons .a san put on .op a gJ~ cush ion , but the two inches thickness . . '1 only made for big nrn e rooste r tal s as .. ff h th e . 19-1Och nres sp un a t e top , . h leaving a WIde black groove t at som e liked and others didn't. In th e first scratch event Steve Bast led th e first two laps on h is newlyacquired ' motor sponsored by Gene Kirby, but wound up second to world sta r Scott Autrey with Mik e Faria edging out Marty Benck. Points go ~ 2- 1-0 and th e fun is just beginning , Big John Fisher pushed ou t Mike Curoso and he marched around Bob by Schwartz for th e big th ree at $50 a point. Lightning Larry Sh aw ro de th e Harold Murrell prepared track to th e hilt on th e outsid e to win his first heat. Steve Gr esham pulled out all sto ps to get by Rollin' R ich MacMurray and at the end of the first round Mike Bast rode awa y with a win on th e brand new Maely machine. Perfect scores to Bast. Shaw, Curoso and outsider Au trey. The stage was set. The first winners' pair off came in the sixth event with Mike Curoso and Mike Bast. Curoso never let up on th e throttle and Marty Benck came out second on the Benck Ra cing Ltd " four valve Westlake. Bast lost traction and perhaps som e compression , taking third and retiring to do some work . Action in the tapes came in heat seven when Bobby Schwartz got a bit antsy and broke through , bringing in Norm Robinson and breaking up Schwartz's win strea k. Steve Bast took thi s win over the AMA 's top point get ter Rich MacMurray. 14 T he set up for a two -man run to the money came when La rry Shaw. again riding the cush , won over Autrey and Robinson , the Choo-choo. Curoso and Shaw a re now the only ones WIth two wins. T hree more rounds to go . A litt le d rag on th e track a nd bam . rou n d t h ree . -begi ns wi th. hR ic h h Ma cM urray smil ing on th e fact t at e fi red out th e track and beat Cu roso . Rgu d 10 . Sh . B k d pitS a w aga mst enc an . oun 0 I di b h d h BRL r an I, ot teame on t e . Wh a ca n sta n d a c h a IIen ge like I L' h . L Sh d hi b '11 ' t Ig tmng arry. awan IS n Ian style on the outsid e cush? Ben ck co u ld an d di d. The end of round t hree saw Bobby Schwa rtz come back fro m t he pits with a vengea nce for a win , passing Sco tt Autrey at th e ch eckered , It was Sh aw a nd Curoso with eight a long with Gr esham and Autrey one back at seven . Urilucky I ~ wasn't for Schwa rtz . H e led wire to wire beatin g out Mike Faria and Mike Bast , wh ile Shaw wen t by the waysid e with a pipe fa lling off , Just to really open th.in gs , Ma.rty Ben ck t hrill ed all for a win over RIch Ma cMurra y. Scott Au t rey pu t a number back on Mike Curoso a nd Steve Gresham in th e 16th ro u nd and the score going into th e fina l round was a tic a t 10 for Autrey and Curoso. Schwartz blitzed th e 18th event over Robinson and Gresh am wh ile Benck just plain got tired and cras he d ou t of th e hunt . The 19th was a thriller for Cu roso with a last la p win over Steve Bast and Larry Shaw. Curoso was very attentive as they lined up for th e last sho w with only Autrey to worry a bo u t; and the worrying was over , or SO it see med when the tapes wer e broken and Autrey looked like th e culprit. Referee Fred Spencer d ecided that th e ga te had actually malfuncti oned and 'th a t Autrey would ' be reinstat ed . T he cro wd loved it but som e of th e SRA bo ys didn't. Coming out of th e ga te it was Paul Orlandi hooking it up. Bas t had his Ma elyback together a nd d id a co u ple of su pe rla tive drives. a ll to no avail as on th e final co rn er , Orlandi sm oked out the tire a nd Autrey pla yed.it very cool for th e win a nd tic for points. The crowd was way past t he WFO stage. Coming out of th e tapes on th e runoff, Curoso got th e ju m p a nd led it easi ly. In th e win ner's circle it was a big bea r hu g fro m littl e J ohn (Fishe r). many th anks to Bu d Gilbert a nd Lou is Unser, Am er ican Speedway Lim ited a nd the J a mes Curoso fa mi ly. A lot of style fro m th is young m an . Th e prog ram also ha d fo ur H and ica p hea ts lead ing to two semis By Lane Campbell ike Curoso planned to win the Houston Speedway National - literall y. " I don't know if I should tell this or not ," he said while relaxing in the Cycle News office the week following the January 30 race. "May be others do it ... I took m y race program which had m y sched uled heats in it. and I took a yellow scratch pad ; then I wrote down everyt hi ng I kn ew about ea ch rid er I was ga ted with in each heat - what he 'd do , where he'd go, and what I'd do if he did . . . When I was done I d iscovered I was sweating; I'd act ually been thinking, living ea ch ra ce , The or adrenal in , I'd really been pumping it just sitting th er e. W hat a case of butterflies! When it came down to th e ra ce , I was OK; it was like I'd been th er e before . "I onl y dropped two point s, on e to Rich Ma cMurray and on e to Scott Autrey. The loss to MacMurray , I just Two zeroes, a 20 and three 50 ya rders - quit e a distance to make up for th e ba ck guys. Rowdy Rick Stone took full advantage , leading th e first lap over Davis and Ma cMurray with Autrey and Bast fighting it out for last after Marty Benck retired for some soil samples. Autrey put on the big push on th e th ird la p , doing an " into and out around " on Bast a nd Davi s for seco nd . Just when it look ed like Mike Bast might sett le for a third , he got right with th e program and took the big win as Stone cras hed in front of Autrey, all owing Davi s to th e seco n d and Ma cMurray th e th ird . • Results NAnONAL SCRATCH TOTAL: 1. Mik e Curcsc 11 3 won runoff) . 2. Seen Autrey 11 3t 3. Bobby Schwartz 111 1 4 . S tev e Gresham 11 01. 5. Steve Bast 191. 6. Larry . Shaw 191. 7. M ;ke Faria 1 . 8. Marty Benck 1 9. Rich 91 81. MacMurray 181.10. M;ke Bast 1 . 81 HANDICAP MAIN : 1. M ike Bast. 2. Randy Davis. 3. Rich MacM urray. 4. Rick Stone. 5. Sco tt Autrey. 6. Marty Boock. got overco nfi de nt . , , I three a nd a half laps, a rou nd on th e outside." Mike a lmost d id n' t go to Houston , as money was definitely a prob lem . He wound up hit ching a ride with Ed Schaeffer, wh o ba cks Scott Autrey. Ed was a bit upset with th e results, to say the least. . Curoso , 22 , has been racing for over six years with h is h eart set on a Nationa l sp eed wa y cha m p io ns h ip, with romance riding on th e ou tcome. " T he re ason I'm n ot marr ied Sherree Duane , m y fian cee, has been involved in speedway with m e as long as I ha ve. Sh e's been th er e sin ce th e first race . We've set a mutual bond between us tha t until I a tt ained -a hN at ional Ch amp ion . _ , tha t wouldn't get married ." The issue that had brought this discu ssion out was wh ether or not. by winning th is Houston ra ce , Mike had launched h imself towards an AMA National Sp eedwa y Championship . Billed in th e Astrodom e program as National Championship AMA Speedway, this is the first "Class A" speedway meeting to receive an AMA National sanction since 1947 . It is a lso th e only 1977 race to receive such a sanction from th e AMA 's American Speedwa y Control Board . So . by winning th is race, did Mike Curoso automatically become the reigning . AMA National Champion? Not yet officiall y, and probably not until 1978 , a ccording to phone conversations . between Mike and AMA 's Mel Parkhurst. It could me an bucks as well as wedding bell s for Curoso , who is cu rren t ly n egoti ating for another season with th e British League. The title " America n Ch ampion" wou ld su re sound sweet . • (Next week, Mik e Curoso talks more oj En land, Houston and bond.

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