Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

lAbove) Alan Chriatian (28) and Bruce Penhall. (Below) Penhall and Bast. along with Bruce's girlfriend, the trophy girl and Mike's wife. Dee.IBottom) The Bast Bros••together for the first time in two years. getting past Moran for the win . The Handicap Main was a different story . Moran dazzled the crowd by surging past Robin Hood , and holding off Dave Sims and Mike Bast. Penhall did not qu ite make up the yardage. When the starting gate went up for the Scratch Main , the first one out as usual was Mike Bast , bu t Penhall went high int o the first tum, and using the cushion to the maximum , thundered out of tum two, nailing Bast speeding down the track, and led all four laps to win his second stra ight Scra tch Ma in Event at San Bernardi no . At intermission th ere was also a brea th taking trials rid e given by Mike Bast , Mike Griffitts and Bernie Schreiber . They rode over two large tree stumps, 50-gallon barrels. some stairs. and to end it all they rode over the crash wall. Results HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Kelly Moran. 2. Dave Sims. 3. Robin Hood. SCRATCH MAIN : 1. Bruce Penhell. 2. Mike Bast. 3. Gene Woods. SECOND DMSION MAIN : 1. Rick Workman. 2. Kun Strommer. THIRD DIVISION MAIN: 1. Mark Marrian. 2. Sterling Cogar . By Tom Blattler IRW INDALE, CA. J ULY 28 Dennis Sigalos and Mike Bast were the big winners at Irwindale Raceway, as the 18year-old Sigalos captured the five-lap Handicap Main Even t and Bast notched yet another four-lap Scratch feature. In the Handicap final , Sigalos, starting from th e 3D-ya rd line, grabbed the top position in the first comer, and smoothly used the outside line to put his Neil Street four-valve machine's power to the ground. Mark Cherry mov ed underneath Kelly Moran in the late stag es of the race to take th e second spot. Both Bast and Penhall were a little too anxious at the Scratch Main start, and both began to roll towards the tapes. Although Bast was able to stop, Penhall was not and exploded the start ing line tapes to d isqualify himself from the rac e. With a threerider go, Bast moved to the lead immediately in the first corner, and was onl y challenged onc e by Fishback in the early going. At the checkered flag , Bast was the easy winner with Jim Fishback and Gene Woods trailing. Results SCRATCH MAIN : 1. Mike Bast. 2. J im Fishback. 3. Gene Woods. 4. Bruce Penhall. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Dennis Sigalas. 2. Mark Cherry. 3. Kelly Moran . 4. Bruce Penhell. 5. Gene Woods. 6. DaveSims. SPECIAl. MATCH RACE: Sigalos ~ Moran . SECOND DIVISION MAIN : 1. Dewey Saa_ . THIRD DIVISION MAIN: 1. Walt Foster. By Tom Blattler COSTA M ESA. CA. JULY 29 By Dennis Greene Mike Bast at the fin ish line. VENTURA. CA. JULY 26 Results The start of a big week in American Speedway got underway Tuesday night at Ventura, with the final touches being put 12 to the motors for the upcoming Ame rican Qualifier. Mike Bast came in second to big Jim Fishback in the Scratch Ma in Event . Bruce Penhall took fourth behind Bob Schwartz. Penhall reversed the finish in the Feature Match Ra ce with an easy twoout-of-three win over Bob Schwartz. Kelly Moran has won th e Ha ndi ca p Main o n every trac k in the Southlan d and picked up his second main event win at Ventura after working his way th rough hea vy traffic, just bea ting out SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Jim Rohbaclt. 2. Mike B.... 3. Bob Schweru. 4. BrucePenhell. HANDICAP MAIN EVENT: 1. Kelly Moren. 2. Milte Best, 3. Bred Oxley. 4. Ron Rose. 5. Mark Cherry. 6. Jim Rollback. FEAlURE MATCH RACE: Bruce Penhell 0_ Bob Schweru. DIVISION TWO : Jo hn Sendone. By Blane Harrington SAN BERNARDINO, CA. JULY 'Zl In front of a record crowd , with the track in perfect condition , Bruce Penhall fought his way from the 60 -yard marker to finish second in his handicap heat. T he 16-year-old ma rvel Kelly Moran, took first in the same heat. In th eir handica p semi , Pen ha ll worked his way thro ug h the pack , this time Before a "standing room only" crowd of 10,000 screaming speedway fans, the tiny dirt oval at the Orange County Fairgrounds hosted the first North American World Qualifying round for th e World Speedway Championship held in the United States in over a quarter of a century. Not since 1951 has the U.S . scheduled a qualifier to determine a representative from American Speedway to compete in the World Final. The huge throng witnessed some of the most excit ing speedway motorcycle racing ever seen in the eig ht- year history of Costa Mesa. When the 20 scheduled four -lap events a nd the one runoff wer e compl et ed , Southern Californ ia's two most dom inant riders , four -tim e national cha m pio n Mik e Bast 'and Bruce Pen hall, were selected to represent th e United State in Wh ite City, England on AUJl:Ust 21st in the European Speedway qualifying round. The lfi-rider field included' every American champion since 1968 (except one): Rick Woods, Steve Bast , Mike Bast , Alan Christian, and Rich MacMurray. Only two-time Nor -Cal champion John Cunningham, who has since retire d, was not competing. The fieldwas determined by two semi -final qual ifying rounds in Northern Ca lifornia at Folsom and Cal-Expo in Sac ramento. Only last year's American re presentative in the World Final , Scott Autrey of Bellflower , CA . was seeded stra ight int o the final qualifying round at Costa Mesa . For Au trey . who has been compet ing in the Brit ish League for th e pa st five years, it was onl y his second real racing action on the Costa Mesa little oval since he fin ished second to Rick Woods in the 1972 U.S. J National Championship. Other j qualifiers incl u ded Norhtern California riders Mike Faria, Denn is A Robinson. Larry Shaw , Dwayne 0 Yarrow, Ron McGill , and Dave Faria, 11 and Southern California regulars , Bruce Penhall, Dennis Sigalos, as well as Mike Curoso and Steve Gresham who have been competing in Europe. '! A number of important races marked the 21 -event program , as Autrey showed the crowd that he was ~:> ready to challenge for the top position 0 in the very first race. Scott jumped to '" the lea d in the first corner, and J Curoso, Steve Bast , and Mike Faria I fl.. followed and never challenged. Ii After victories by Yarrow and ' Penhall , the first important confrontation of the even ing found Mike Bast , Woods. and MacMurray matched up in race number four. After a restart because of a staging problem, Bast was able to hold off Woods. who was riding a factory fourvalve Jawa , to take the win with MacMurray and Dave Faria third and ., fourth . Autrey scored another win in race five , and, then Penhall was matched up against Mike Bast in race six. Penhall and Bast started side -byside with Mike jumping int o the lead. • However, Bruce went to the outside line and past Mike in the second turn and went on to take the upset win . That second plac e finish for Bast proved to be his only loss of the night. '1 Woods came back in race seven to score his first win of the evening, while £ Steve Bast picked his intial triumph in th e eighth four -lapper, Race number nine saw Autrey , start ing beautifully and riding very smoothly, score his third consecutive win, and, all of a sudden, Scott was leading the points. In the final race before interm ission , Woods, ridi ng at Costa Mesa for the first time since last year's national championship, recorded his second win of the program and now trailed ~ Autrey by just one marker after three rounds of competition. Leading off the second half of the 20·event program was Bas t , who defeated Gresham to na il down his second win . Even 12 was another big matchup with Penhall, still unbeaten, Steve Bast, Shaw, and MacMurray staging into the starting line. Bast grabbed the lead in the first tum with Penhall and Shaw on the outside. A desperate try by Penhall on the outside was just not enough to slip by the former two-time national title holder, and Steve had scored his second victory . With two rounds of action to go , Autrey was the only rider with a perfect nine points, but three riders , Mike Bast . Penhall, and Woods , each had eight and Steve Bast had seven. Race number 13 proved to be one of the most im port ant events of the entire night , as Autrey ca me up ag ainst Mike Bast . Larry Sha w, an d Costa Mesa . hotshoe Alan Christian . It was the onl y race of the night that Au trey had to

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