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/126280
4. BOB SCHWARTZ 5. MARK CHERRY 6 . MIKE MUNTEAN 7. TOM MORLEy 8. KELLY MORAN 9. DAVE SIMS 10. CRAIG SCHAEFER 11. RON PRESTON 12 . TOM FERRIS 13. ROBIN HOOD 14. BRAD OXLEY '2 .0 8 8 8 7 7 6 5 • Z By Tom Blattler SAN BERNARDINO. CA, SEPT. 14 By Dennis Greene VENTURA, CA, SEPT. 13 Firs t of a possibl e five local titles was won last Tuesday night with the running of the Ventura Track Championship. Mike Bast , current U. S. N a tiona l Speedwa y Champ, scored a perfect IS points to take the titl e . T his fina l event of th e Ventura season was a stormy one. In the final ride for the n ight bet wee n Brad Oxley, Bobby Schwa rt z, Bruce Pen ha lJ, and Mike Bast a photo fi nish fo r second place be tween Schwartz a nd Penhall started a loud protest by the fans and Schwartz. Bast had won the race eas ily, but Penhall made a dash at the finish line, overtaking Schwartz; at least that is the way the referee saw it . Even though the official score had Schwartz down as th e winner and it had been announced that wa y, the change was made . This brought Schwartz back ou t onto th e track with 90% of the fan s of his side. Schwartz was ordered off th e track , but would not go. Hi s hea ring before the riders' committee will decide his fate for fa iling to obey a spe edway offici al. Allan Christia n- earned 1g po ints for third a nd Schwartz took home fourth pla ce with 12 points. • VENTURA TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP 1. MIKE BAST 2. BRUCE PENHALL 3. ALAN CHR ISTIAN 15 14 13 Bruce Penhall; looking for his second straight San Bernardino, Scratch Main event win, got a big break. T he fa ct that Penhall started on the ou tside pos ition on the gate helped a little for his ou tside riding style. but when National Champion Mik e Bast broke the starting tapes on the first t ry of th e fou r-tapper. Penhall's cha nces definitely im pro ved . ' Penhall and Bast had met earlier in the eventing in the Scratch semi-final , and Bruce was able to ride the ou tside and hold off the four-time national rit list. But , at the last race of the night , the outside line loo ked to be going away slightly, and Mike was the odds-on favorite . But . then Bast snapped th e tape, which ' exclu ded him from the finale . In addition to Penhall , that left the door wid e open for Steve Nutter a nd Alan Christian. Nutter, on the pole , jumped to th e lead with Penhall on the outside . Down the back straightaway, "Su pe r" Bruce went to the front and held it to th e checkered flag. Nutter , wh o gave Penhall constant pressure , ha d to settle for second with Christian third . In the special match ra ce where seve n of th e first d iv ision r id ers com pe ted , on ju nior speedway bik es , ' Preston was able to hold off Faria f9r t he win. Ma rk C herry and Ala n Ch ristia n followed. • Results SCRATCH MAIN: Bruce PenhaU. Steve Nutter, Alan Christian. M ike Bast. HAND ICAP MAIN : Rick Jones, Dave Sims, Mike Faria, Tom Terris, Ron Preston, Brad Oxley. MATCH RACe: Ron Preston. Mi ke Faria. Mark Cherry. Alan Christian, Jim Fishback, Bruce Penhall. Kelly Moran. - SeCONO OIVISION MAIN : Chuck W heal THIRD DIVIS ION MAIN: Frank Bollinger . By Tom Blattler IRWIN DA LE. CA. SEPT. 15 Mark Cherry didn't even need to ride th e third of four national qualifiers towards th e U .S. National Championship at Costa Mesa on October 15. You see , in th e fi rst two qualifiers , Ch erry made enough points to make him the leader . Holding top qualifying points, Cherry went out and showed the Irwindale crowd what winning is all about. Cherry , for the second time in the t hird races , grabbed all of the marbles last Thursday, as the 2g·year· old Reseda rider held off a st iff cha llenge to take the four-lap final and pick up another 1600 qualifying .markers. • To say that Cherry was hot last Thursday night at Irwindale might be an understatemen t. In h is opening scratch ride , he defeated Larry Shaw to transfer into the quarter-final round. There he went up against two time national champion St eve Bast, and th e result was the same. a victory over the recent Northern California champion. In the semi-finals, Cherry ran int o his only stumbling block for a perfect n igh t. Back on his outside line, Scott Sivadge moved around Cherry on th e in iti a l lap to hand Mark his only loss of th e evening. In t he final the Irwindal e fa ns witn essed one of the fin est scratch races see n all season . Sta rt in g on th e pole , Cherry grabbed the lead in the first corner with Bobby Schwartz, Scott Sivadge, and Steve Columbo all right on his rear wheel. Schwartz. Sivadge, and Columbo jockeyed for th e second spot and the trio were sid eby-side . Schwartz broke free and made a last -ditch lunge to catch Cherry, but the checkered flag was out and he fe,1 sho rt . Results FINAL: Mark Cherry 11 600 points). Bobby Schwanz 0 200 pointsl. Scan Sivadge 1900 poimsl. Stew Columbo l325 points!. CONSOLATION: Alan Christian 1575 points!. Steve Bast C450 pointsI. I.Jlrry Shaw 1350 pointsl. Jim Fishbaclt 025 poi ntS>, COSTA MESA, CA, SEPT. 16 This final qualifying event for the U.S. Speedway National found points leader Mark Cherry dropped to second when he and Jim Fishback tangled in turn 2. Cherry . was mad as hell at losing the cha nce to be the top seated rider in the National: Alan Christian will be carrying that honor into the Championship; his total of 4 ,gSO topped Cherry's by 100 points. This will be the first National without Rick Woods. Wood tried hard to earn a seat , b ut missed one night of qualifying a nd just could not add up thepoints. The two reserve riders are Brad Oxley and Bob McLain. • RKiet. for the 1971 u.s. SJ)Md w . y N.-tional M IKE BAST BAUCEPENHALL 1. ALAN CHRISTIAN 2. MARK CHERRY 3. STEVE BAST • . BOBBY SCHWARTZ 5. MIKE FARIA I . RON PRESTON 7. STEVE COLUMBO 8. SCOTT SlVADGE (Top 2 ~ 'or the y..... OkSnot Mv. to qualify) 4,350 , 4.250 2.900 2.560 , 2.' 00 z.ooo 1.!l2li ' ,600 1.520 9. J IM FISHBACK 10. LARRY SH AW 11. KEUY MORAN 12. DENNIS SIGALOS 1.415 1.350 1.350 13. DAVE SIMS '.200 , ... MIKE MUNTEAN 925