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/126332
Ii " II SPEEDWAY '\VEEK ~ Sigalos again at San Bernardino E - 00 l' O"l .. By Dennis Greene SAN BERNARDINO . CA . SEPT. 13 For the second straight night. Dennis Sigalos won the Scratch Main Event. looking very strong for the upcoming National. But , IAbove) Dennis Sigalos Icenter) took high point honors in the Coors Cup Series. as well as two Scratch wins. Alan Christian and Ron Preston flank him. (Below) Mike Bast (rightl returned to Costa Mesa, scored a perfect 1600 points. (Bottom) Bobby Schwartz (Inside) dominated the Santa Ana AMA qualifier. ' • before th e Big One. there is the California State Championship on Sept. 27 at San Bernardino. And this all -important title event always gives the fans a good look at the superstars. and the riders get a chance to see where . if anywhere. are the weak points of their competition. Sonny Nutter was the first winner of the California State title way back in 1969. and he really will be going all out to win this one. Steve Bast. the , older brother of current champ Mike Bast . won ' the title five times in Bakersfield along with the U .S. National title twice. He has now retired from speedway after losing the state title a few years back to Mike. I for one think we will see a new name on the California trophy because this track is larger than Costa Mesa . and several riders really shine there in San Bernardino. Ron Preston. Bob Schwartz. Sonny Nutter and Alan Christian all look great. Bast will really have to ride this one. Tom Morley . in one of the better events of the night. won the Handicap Main. Moran's Ascot Coors cup Qualifier By Dennis Greene GARDENA . CA. SEPT. 14 ' Shawn Moran, at age 16 on a two-valve Jawa that was built 14 years ago. outrode and outscored everyone of the top 32 riders in the Coors Cup Qualifier. Sigalos, Marriott ,victorious at Ventura ,." By'Dennis Greene ' VENTURA . CA . SEPT. 12 Just one more regular night of Speedway at Ventura and the short ten week show will end with the Ventura Track Championship on Sept. 26 Dennis Sigalos won the Scratch Main event this Tuesday night and will be the odds-on favorite to take the track title. All he must do is outride Bast. Ron Preston and a dozen other top stars. I Handicap racing keeps producing more and more new talent. Mark Marriott got his chance to be a star in the Main eve nt . outriding : Louis Lindwall and Tom Morley. For the first two laps. it was anyone's guess on th e outcome. Morley had made several fine moves to take over the lead. but Lindwall hung in there for second. ' Mark Deller added on e more win to a long list in Second Division for himself and he sta nds a good chance of riding with the First Division next season . Division Three honors went .to J eff 30.. A.!'afl' _qlriitt j> ~ .•.B••)i..~~~r~ , . >¥.~e: : : ·J:ol'rl'!m·. . '.'.', ' ,,?.'.-: • • • , •• , • • • • • Shawn. with a perfect score of 1600 points. will be the youngest rider in the U .S . Speedway Nationals . set for Saturday. Oct. 14 at Costa Mesa . Dennis Sigalos earned 1200 points to take second place and moved into the top sea t in overall points for the three nights of qualifying. Tom Ferris took third with 900 points. putting him in good shape for round four at Costa Mesa . Mike Bast . the five-rime U.S . Champ. rode even though he still is in much pain from a dislocated shoulder. He looked strong. but in the Main event his bike seized when a small chip of chrome worked its way into the main jet cutting off the fuel. He did end up with 600 points. far short of what it would take to earn a ride in .t he Nationals . This was the last regular Thursday night ofSpeedway at the Ascot quarter mile for the season. There are events on tap in a few weeks that will put the speedway bikes and riders to the test on the half-mile track. Look to Cycle News for dates and times. Bast qualifies at Costa Mesa By Dennis Greene COSTA MESA . CA, SEPT. 15 It was round four of the Coors , Cup-Qualifier - the last chance to earn a ride in the U.S. Nationals-and Mike Bast went into the night's program with only 600 points. which put him somewhere in the lower twenty riders. It was do-ordie for several riders - Becker. Nutter. Columbo. Sims. Bast and Cherry. Bast rode with a calm about him like few have seen before. He was first out of the gate every time. He rode sitting up. probably because of the pain in his shoulder that has kept him out of competition for the past month. Only in his final ride was he put to the test when Alan Christian got by for just a few feet. Mike went out ' deep and took over the lead to win. adding1600 points for a total of 2200. Mike had done in two nights what everyon~ else took four to do : He'd earned a seat"" in the Nationals. n& ~ The fouf nights of racing that were, ' spread out over two months saw Dennis Sigalos earn the top seat going into the Nationals with 3 .275 points. Dennis rode all four events. Alan Christian. a past holder of the Number One spot in Northern California. rode in just three of the four qualifying rounds and earned the second seat with 2.975 points. , Ron Preston in four rounds earned 2.275 points. third highest. And Mike Bast. in just two rounds. is in the " Nationals with a grand total of 2.200. And would you believe at age 16 in his first year of speedway. starting out" as a Junior Speedway rider. moving on J in the Divis ion Three winning'" ,everyth ing there was. being moved :l into Division Two less than a month 1 later into the First Division riding a 14- I year-old motorcycle at Ascot. Shawn Moran tied with veteran Bob Schwartz' for the fifth spot in the National with 2 .025 points. Bob Schwartz still has a' cast on his left hand . but it comes off '/ 5 this week and you can put money on tJ him being somewhere in the top five at season's end. rn , oH The seventh of the 16 spots was , earned by Gene Woods . Eighth we';ltn to Tom Morley followed by ' Brad r Oxley. Tom Ferris and Mark Cherry. Twelfth is Jim Fishback. but because 1 of a broken shoulder suffered in th " ISDT . is a doubtful starter. You ca'n ~ move each of the following riders u p one spot. Sonny Nutter, l Sth: Dave Sims. 14th; Dan Becker. 15th. -T he last official rider is Steve Columb(;; with 1.025 points. If Fishback cannot make the call on race night. LOUIS Lindwall will take over the 16th place. There is a tie for the reserve spot at 'l 850 points between Dan McNeill arid John Sandona . Hopefully. there will I be a match race between them to se~~ wh ich will be first reserve. ~ AMA Qualifier at Santa Ana By Ken Kellogg R .lav )C SANTA ANA . CA . SEPT. 16 lli~ A rainy northern Californitf",; postponed the first round of the AMA Qualifier Series, so the actual first round was held at 8 Santa Ana Stadium as all the to p AMA Speedway point holders gathered together to begin battle for .!t :) v few top spots . TOT One of these . a surprise to all .. was Keith Chrisco , a rookie who began the year in Third Division and ended up iii First Division and one of the biggesru races of the year Keith scored six" points for the evening. J } ' , '.r, ' •• •