(Above! Bast. Schwartz and Moran on the winner's rostrum. (Above right)
From left to right it's Bruce Penhall. Bast. Steve Gresham and Dave Faria.
(Below) Schwartz on his victory lap.. (Bottom) Bast. Schwartz and Gresham.
Schwartz s
em at Santa
AMAspeed
qualifier
By Ken Kellogg
SANTA ANA, CA, DEC . 29
"Don't touch me. I must be dreaming." These
were the words of Bobby Schwartz after he
defeated all other entrants in the American
.Motorcyclist Association's final round at Santa
Ana stadium for the world qual fier.
Schwartz emerged victorious
in a run -off heat which matched
8
the four top riders in a four way tie :
the heavy favorite Mike Bast, (who
finished second and also earned a
ticket to the world qualifier), Steve
Gresham , Kelly Moran and Schwartz.
T he evening consisted of 20 events,
with all 16 riders racing each other at
least once.
Each of the four riders in the run -off
had problems in one of their heats.
. Bast was d isqualified for breaking the
starting tape . In another heat Moran '
had to lay his bike down to avoid
hitting Bruce Penhall, who had fallen
down . Gresham was disqualified for
bumping both Bruce Penhall and
Mike Bast in th e same event . Schwartz
had lost control of his bike in an
earlier heat and dumped it.
The final race to determine the top
two Americans to ride in the world
qualifier was a fast four lapper.
Gresham went down early, lea ving
only a three man race . Schwartz was .
hot all even ing and during the race he
and Bast traded th e lead several times.
Moran, who for most of the night was
in first place, finished third.
One rider said if you have any
skeletons in your closet , they're
probably here tonight. He was close .
Just about everyone who was anyone in
American speedway was there, such as
Lenny Price, who rode at Santa Ana in
1933. Also attending were Chris Pook
the promoter of the Long Beach
Grand Prix ; Porky McCabe , the
speedway rider who was in a speedway
accident while rid ing in a qualifier up
in northern California; and the
manager of Kelly Moran ' and Ivan
Mauger, pro~oter Ian Thomas.
