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/126422
Esp-' ~ E IAbove) John Cook took a Collins Rocket to an Ascot w1n.IBelow) Alan Christian bumps Into Tom Morley at Costa MeA. sending him down. lAbovel Alan Christian on the inside _ Jim Flshbllc:k If.- outlIIdel starts his trip into the wall at San Berdoo. IS.low) Dave Miller Irlght) won at Costa M .... DeTemple goes for the gold at San Berdoo By Dennis Greene SAN BERNARDINO, CA. JULY 25 A slippin'. and a slidin' _ A little mud and. a lot of speed made for. hard feelings in the first four events, which saw only 20 half the riders in each race making it to the checkered flag. The allimportant transfer went to the rider who managed to stay upright. In the first event of the night, as riders kept going down and getting back up. it turned into a foot race to see who would get third place. A pile: up in the last turn of the last lap put everyone but John Sandona and Steve Nutter down. Dan McNeill had pulled his bike out of the pile and was pushing it to the finish line when Steve Colombo came from the other end of the track to pass Dan a few feet before the finish line. A good effon, but not· quite enough. as he slipped and went on his head. The first event after intennission was the Feature Match Race between Jim Fishback and Shawn Moran. The track had been shaped up during the break and was even faster. Shawn and Jim both like to ride the far outside and the two-lap thriller went to Big Jim. As it was to work out, it would be Jim's last ride of the night. He returned to the pits and got his bike ready for the Scratch semi final that would be run right after the three Division Two events. . During the running of the U.S. National Speedway Championship at the Los Angeles CoLiseum a few years ago, "Big Jim" Fishback went over the crash wall and into the grandstands, knocking out a couple of the permanent seats. He walked away from that one, This past Wednesday night at San Bernardino in the Scratch semi final. Jim was racing on the far outside of the track right up against the crash wall in a four-man go for first place, He ran out of room and made contact with the wall. As he rolled off the back of the bike. he got his foot stuck and was already halfway over the crash wall as the bike dragged him over 60 feet along the wall, In this upside-down position. he took a lot of punishment to the back of his legs as he was pulled over the 4x4 posts that hold up the crash wall. He lay on the ground on the outside of the track for several minutes as the ambulance crew worked on him, then he was helped to his feet and carried to the pits where he sat around for half an hour before deciding he better go have someone take a good look. Jim was in good spirits but a lot of pain as they left, giving a wave to the fans who had gathered in the pits. The Scratch Main Event put the top three points leaders and Shawn Moran on the staning line. Mike Bast was riding right on the inside pole. with Alan Christian right on his tail and Gene Woods running parallel. but right up against the crash wall. Woods moved into second place and was closing in on Mike as the checkered flag came out. Christian got third and the wrap·up went to Shawn Moran. It·s been several weeks since Dave DeTemple won his last Handicap Main event at San Bernardino. His splendid rides in the heat race -and semi made him the odds-on favorite for the win in the Main. The only pressure he got in the five lap event came from Shawn Moran. Dave rose to the occasion. riding off with all the gold. Multi·time winner Keith Chrisco added one more to his credit in Division Two and is still looking for a First Division ride. And for the second week in a row, John Connolly won the Division Th)'ee Main Event. He's looking to get moved into Division Two. This coming Wednesday night. Bruce Penhall will make his first stan of the season while he is home on vacation from his European team. Names added to Ascot record book By Dennis Greene GARDENA. CA. JULY 26 Looking over the record book of the past 14 weeks of Speedway racing at Ascot on the big quarter-mile track makes one thing very clear: you've got to be good to win there and to win more than once is very difficult. For example. in Division Two. there are only two riders who have won twice, Keith Larsen and Jim Lawson. Because of their ability. these two guys are now racing in Division One. Ten other riders have one win each, In Handicap racing. Division One style. only three ride.rs have repeat wins. Leni Faas has won there twice, so has Dave DeTemple. and Shawn Moran leads the show with three wins this season. Seven otheJ;S have one win each. but the list does not contain names like Mike Bast. Gene Woods. Dave Sims. Alan Christian and other top riders who have just not been able to.pull off a win. The Scratch racing this season, like last, is led by Mike Bast. The National Champ has taken the Scratch Main seven times this season at Ascot. Tony Briggs is the only other rider this year to win twice in the Scratch Main. Frank Adamo, Mike Curoso, Bob McLain, Shawn Moran and Bob Schwartz have each earned one Main Event win. What all this bookwork points out is that Ascot is by far the most competitive of all the tracks. Bast again won the S~ratch Main that was stopped after three laps when Shawn Moran and Bob McLain got together at the end of the back straightaway (the fastest part of the track). They went down hard with McLain getting the worst' of it. They both walked away from it. John Cook is the newest winner in the Handicap Main Event. John is part of the Collins Automotive team and. like teammate Shawn Moran. he is on a two-valve Jawa built by George Wenn - you've got to give a long look at a motor that was designed long before any of the current speedway riders were even born. A two· valve that beats all the most modern fourvalves around. One more new name to the Ascot record book isJim Turner, the winner of the Division Two Handicap Main Event. Way back at the first of the 1979 season, Bob Schwartz won the Scratch Main Event when he was here on vacation from England. It should be interesting to see if Bruce Penhall can outdo Mike Bast this week when Bruce is home for the week on vacation. Costa Mesa: Miller's sano By Dennis Greene COSTA MESA. CA. JULY 27 Last week there was no speedway at Costa Mesa because of the Orange County Fair. The one-week vacation did a lot of good for the most pan., Most everyone had a better get-down-to·;t racing attitude, making for a better show all the way around .. The week's layoff gave time to work on an experiment that was tried out this past Friday night with o,!tstanding resllits. There is now an assistant to the referee working from high atop the grandstands where he can get an overall look at what is going on all over