Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126278
By Dennis Greene VENTURA. CA . AUG. 30 With the Ventura Track Cham pionship just one week away , the 13th of September, it looks like it could be anyone's title. Dan Pyeatt and Kelly Moran scuffing and skidding in Irwindale action. Mark ' Cherry ha s been red hot on the small oval; he is the current points leader for the October running of the U .S. Championship. His win ' this pa st Tuesday night over Alan Christian puts him in as one of the top five. Christian cannot be overlooked as a rider who can take it aU. He has won the scratch main event at Ventura as many times as the.other five. Dennis Sigalos, Jim Fishback, Mike Bast, and Bru ce Pen ha ll are the only other riders to win scratch mains at Ventura. Bu t Sigalos is out with a b ro ken collar bone . . Riders like Bobby Schwartz, Ron Preston , Bra d O xley, Dave Sim s, SCali ' Siva dge a nd a ha lf dozen ot he rs all must be taken into accoun t for this first title sho t of the 1977 Speed wa y Seaso n. In a special feature match race 17yea r-o ld Bobbi Hunter won the event over Bru ce Penhall at the finish line. She had a 60 'yard handica p hea d start for the two-lap event and it was all in fun . Rob in Hoo d , fro m the 10-yard line , won his heat race, came back in the ha ndicap semi , again from the 10· yard line , and won that event. At this point he should have had 10 yards added to his starting position, but Rob in was lucky . He was not set back in the main event because Bob McLain was just a foot off his tail at the end of the 5-lapper. Bob started from th e 20 . Robin Hood won the handicap main . Results SCRATCH MAIN EVENT: 1. Mart< Cherry. 2. Alan Christian. 3. Robin Hood. 4. Bob Schwartz. HANDICAP MAIN EVENT: 1. Robin Hood . 2. Bob Mclain. 3. Craig Schaefer. 4. Bruce Penhall. 5. Mark Cherry. 6. Clint Palmer. FEATURE MATCH RACE: Bobbi Hunter over Bruce Penhall. . : DIVISION 2: Bryan Buffington. SAN BERNARDINO. CA. AUG. 31 Bruce Penhall retu rned to Inl and Speedway for the firs t time in a m onth a nd proba bl y wished he had stayed in .England a few more canny Miller assumes the non-lotus position for meditation on his sins while Frank Bollinger tries out for the running broad jump__ Kelly Moran. Alan Christian. and Larry Shaw - three different approaches to the Costa Mesa fast line. weeks . Bruce won only two of his six events. In his scratch main , Bru ce •promptly ran into the crash wall in tum two of lap on e . Bob McLain got out in front at the beginning of that main , but was se ri ously cha lle nge d throughout by Jim Fishback. But Mcl.ain held on to win the first scra tch ma in he h as ever ga lien into at San Berna rdi no. J im ran into t he wa ll ea rly in h is scra tc h hea t , but still managed to take second for th e transfer . Because of th e ra in -out two weeks ago , there wer e two sp ecial ma tch races . The Select Vans race featured Jim Fishback defeating a rider Select Vans sponsors, Ron Preston. In a twola p pe r , Mark Cherry defeated Kathie Shep a rd after starting fro m the 50yard line . Kathie later had a bad ac cident, ta ng ling her foot in a noth er rider's bike. Her ankle was twisted , but she was limping around on it by the end of the night. An other of the girl •riders, Bobbi Hun ter , finis hed second in a close battle with Tom Stahl for the D3 m ain . Results 14 HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Dave Galvin . 2. Bobb y Schw anz. 3. Bruce Penhall. 4 . Robin Hood. SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Bobb VM clain. 2. Jim Fishback. 3. Alan Christian. THIRD DIVISION MAIN: 1. Tom Stahl. 2. Bobbi Hunter. 3. Robert McBride. SECOND DIVISION MAIN : 1. Pyeatt. 2. Gregg W ilhite. 3. Chuck W heat. MATCH RACE:Jim Fishback defeated Ron Preston. KCKC M ATCH RACE: Mllfk Cherry defeated Kathie S/1epllfd .