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SPEEDWAY New Yor k 's speedway champion is Californ ia' s-Bo bby Schwartz, here backing it in at Owego. the Main. finishing fourth. Former nationa l champion Steve Bast rode in the consolation final. placing third. Mike Bloom gives Gary McGuire some pause at Santa Barbara By Dennis Greene VENTURA, CA, AUG. 23 Ro und one of the U. S. National Speedway Qualifying ran Tuesday night at Ventura . A ~ew program was worked out to place only the top 16 riders in the country in the U.S. National Championship. That event will be run at Costa Mesa on October 15. The qualifyer was set up similar to the way a drag strip runs theirs : elimination . The first and second place finishers in the first eight. events move on to the high point races. while the third and fourth finishers got a chance to ride one more time. The points they would earn were less than ha lf. So out of th e first eight events . there were two groups m ak ing up fou r more races each - the "losers ro unds" as they are ca lled (third and fourt h place finishers) and the winners rounds. made up of the first and second place riders. Winners then went ot the second round of elimina tion or the semifinals . Again, first and second moved on. this time to the main event and the losers went to the consolation. When the last race was over, Alan Christian had earned the top spot of . that night with a total of 1600 points, Steve Bast : older brother of Mike. earned 1200, Bobby Schwartz 900, and Mark Cherry won 600. All 52 riders earned some points with the last eight riders all tying at 100 points each. 16 There was about a 20-minute delay when the riders association decided to run a fuel check halfway through the show . All but two riders went along with the check . Both the Woods brothers refused to have their fuel analyzed. Ge ne Woods was told by the referee not to remove his bike from the a rea where the checking was going-on , and as he ro lled his bi ke away he was told that he wou ld not be allowed to ride in any of the qualifying rounds. A loud and insulting battle went on. with the oldest Woods, Rick . former 5-time winner of the U .S . tide . getting right in the middle of the fight. The referee warned Gene that if he did not remove himself and his bikes from the track, Results J.e. that he would be out of all speedway racing for the remainder of the year . By this time pride and honor had taken over and neither would give an inch. Gene Woods is out for the rest of the year . barring a special hearing. Rick Woods was fined S100 . He had earned 525 points to put him in eighth place at the end of the night. Results POINTS: Alan Christian 1600 . Steve Bast 1200. Bobby Schwartz 900 . Mark CheffY 600 . Jim Fishback 575. Dennis Sigalos 450 . Brad Oxley 350. Rick Woods 325. Mike Faria 300. Kelly Moran 300. Mike Muntean 275. Tom Morley 275. Ron Preston 225 , Scott Sivadge 225. Bob Mclain 200. Gene Woods IOun 200 , Larry Shaw 175. Dennis Robinson 175. MartY Benck t 75. Dave Sims 175. Dwayne Yarrow 125. Paul Orlandi 125 , Steve Columbo 125 . Craig Schaefer 125• • Fred Heldoom 100. Don Faulkner 100. Ron McGi ll 100. Larry Kosta 100. Dave Faria 100 , Clint Palmer 100 , Tom Ferris 100, RObin Hood '90. SAN BERNARDINO, CA, AUG 24 Mark C herry won every event he was in , including the Main , thus earning top points. It was national qu alifying night atInland Speedway and those 1600 points pretty much assured Cherry one of the 16 spots in Costa Mesa for the National Championships on October 15. Cherry'admitted after the races that -Sa n Bernardino had not been his track , " I haven't done a thing in San Bernardino all year." But it looked as if he owned the track last Wednesday. Every event Cherry was in. the battle was for .second. Ron Preston. who had only been back racing for three weeks after recovering from a broken foot. also had an outstanding night at San Bernardino. Ron won his first three events easy before finishing second to Cherry in the Main . Preston picked up 1200 points. which should get him into the championships. Local favorite Jim Fishback started out in fourth place in his first event: he passed up every rider on the last lap to win. In his next race Jim was in second place well 'a head of Mike Muntean coming towards the finish line out of turn four . But Fish back's acceleration was too much as he went broadside into the crashwall. Fishback came back to win his consolation event. picking up 500 national points. Nine northern riders down for the ' qualifier didn't make a large impact on the results . Onl y forme r San Bernardino sizzler Larry Shaw got into NATIONAL OUAUFIER . ROUND TWO: 1. Mark Cherry - 1600 points. 2. Ron Preston - 1200. 3. Steve Columbo - 900 . 4. umy Shaw - 600. 5. Alan Chr;";"n - 575. 6. Denni. Sigalos - 450 . 7. Steve Bast - 350 . 8. Mike Muntean - 325 . By Tom Blattler IRW IN DA LE, CA, AUG . 25 Dennis Sigalos scored his first scratch victory as he outrode a fine four-rider lineup last Thursday night. Aboard his Ne il Street four-valve . Sigalos jetted out of his outside starting position. grabbed the lead. and immediatel y turned his horsepower on up the outside line to pull bike lengths onJim Fishback, Ron Preston . and Dave Sims. "Big" Jim had to settle for second. with Preston and Sims rounding out the feature field. In the Handicap main . vet eran Dave Galvin rode one of the best races of his speedway career, holding off five hard -charging competitors to score his first main event of the 1977 campaign. Nonhern California cha llenger Mike Faria lined up against "Anti Freeze Kid" Preston in the special two lap match race , but the So -Cal youngster was too much for Faria'. In Junior Speedway action . young Chris Hedge rode a beautiful race to claim top honors in the four -lap contest for the under-16 clan . Resu lts SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Denni. Sigalos. 2. Jim Fishback . 3. Ron Preston . 4. Dave Sims. HANDICAP MAIN: t , Dave Galv;n. 2. Mark Olerry. 3. Mike Faria, 4 . Cave Sims . 5. Dennis Sigalos . 6. Alan Christ",". FEATURE MATCH RACE: Mark (OVER) Mike F...ia. DIVISION 2: Greg Wdhrte. o-rv By-Dennis Greene COSTA MESA, CA, AUG. 26 How do you win both Main Events in the same night and get paid for only one? Alan Christian can answer that question . Alan- ("the old gunslinger" or Crazy Christian) did cross the finish line first in the handicap main event. but got moved back. to sixth place by the referee. Alan is one of the hardest riders in speedway and holds the all time record for knocking off other riders. or so it seems. In the Handicap Main Event. Alan closed down on Steve Bast , causing him to ride through the infield to avoid a sure crash . Then in th e next lap Alan made the sa me move on Craig Schaefer. The only difference . this time. the move was to the outside and Schaefer h'ad no place to go but down . All this was right in front of the ' referee and by the ru le book this is foul and dangerous riding. The smallest penalty that is given for this is exclusion for the night. Alan was not put out. but had his win taken away from him . giving first place to Mark Cherry. Christian came right back in the scratch main again there was trouble . Steve Bast and Steve Columbo got together with the help of Jim Fishback and the race was stopped. As they lin ed up for t~e restart , Fishback broke the tapes .a nd was sent to the pits. The 5-wa y st a rt went to Christian. giving him the two victories in on e night with on ly the money for th e scratch. Resu lts SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Alan Christian, 2, Stove Bast. 3. Stov e Columbo. 4. J im Fishback. HANDICAP MAIN EVENT: t , Mark Cherry, 2. Stev e Bast. 3. Dennis Sigalos. 4. Tom Ferris. 5. Craig Schaefer, 6. Alan Chdst;"n. FEATURE MATCH RACE: ' Ron Preston lOVER ) Mik e Feria. By Dennis Greene SANTA BARBARA, CA, AUG 28 La -Playa Jr. College Stadium in Santa Ba rbara was the site of the first daytime Y4 -mile speedway race in over five years. This benefit event was put on by Club West , International Speedway and the Independent Riders Association. with the proceeds going to the school for a newall -weather track . The standard V. -m ile track that you see around almost every football field in the country may look inviting. but until you get out there on a speedway bike you'll never know just how tight.a . corner can bel Racing was fast and th e turns were tight . lined with hay bales to keep the guys from ending up out on the Coast Highway. There were several high . speed get -off, but no one was hurt and everyone had a ball. Hometown Hero Bobby Schwartz ran away with the feature match over Mark Cherry. but could only advance as far as the consolation events. First-year rider Bob McLain won . the handicap main by some 60 yards. with northern rider Dave Faria second and his brother Mike in for third . The scratch main was a ll Mark Cherry's . He got the jump at the starting tapes and ' never looked back . Results HANDICAP MAIN eVENT : 1. Bob McLain, 2. Mike Faria, 3. Dave Faria. 4 . Tom Morlev, 5. So nny Nuner, 6. Randy Marsh. SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Mark Cherry , 2. Mike Faria. 3. Steve Nuner. 4 . Sonny Nuner. FEATURE MATCH RACE: Bob Schwartz (OVER) Mark Cherry .