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/126423
aaaaaaaaaDDDDaDDDDDDaDD~aDaDaaaaaaDaaDaaaaaaaDOOODaDODDaaODaaoocaODOOOOODODOOOOOOODOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDaoaaaaODDDooac SPEEDWAY WEEK riders, Shawn Moran and Sha~ McConnell. The race was stopped and of the thr~, Moran was the only one to get back in time for the l'ClItan. PenhaD and McConnell were left on the sidelines as time ran out. The Handicap Main, with just four riders. was still good with Dan McNeill taking the win just ahead of Tony Briggs. Shawn .Moran got third with Kirby Shropshire taking the wrap-up spot. The win for McNeill was his first of tbe year and hopefully will be the turninr point for him. night. The next night at San Bernardino will ~ round thr~. Twenty-four hours later at Ascot, it's round four, and the last chance to earn a ride will be Friday at Costa Mesa. This will be the most important week in the entire speedway season, four straight nights of only the very best. Penhall, Miller continue at San Berdoo Penhall wraps it up at Costa Mesa By Dennis Greene SAN BERNARDINO, CA, AUG. I (Above) Bruce Penhllllled MIke Beat on a merry chese at Sen Berdoo. (Belowl Muntean, Oxley, Columbo end McNeil tangle at Coate M.... (Bottoml Penhelland ChrIetien fM:ed off at Coate M.... Penhell won. Jim Fishback is up and around this week after the crash last week that took him over the wall and out of competition, He's By Dennis Greene COSTA MESA. CA, AUG. II One big question on the minds of many is could Bruce PenhalJ have won the U.S. title if he had stayed here this year to ride? still too sore to race, but he thinks he'll be back next week on this track. Sitting in the stands, Jim saw some of the fastest laps ever turned at San Bernardino, when vacationing Bruce Penhall jumped into the lead in tum one of the Scratch Main event, leaving Mike Qast in his shadow. By the end of the four laps Alan Christian had moved into second place as Bast slipped into third spot, with Gene Woods working on him, ending up in fourth. Penhall ..Iso beat Mike Bast in the Feature Match race, much to the delight of the standing·room-only crowd. Last w~k at Costa Mesa, Dave Miller got a shot at Division One and went on to win the Handicap Main Event. This week he got to fill in for Dave Sims in Division One and, you guessed it, he ran away with the Handicap Main Event. With Miller now getting to ride with the top guns, a look at the top riders in Division Two brings up the name of Keith Larsen. Keith has five wins in his class and does ride in First Division at Ascot and, hopefully, will get a shot before this season runs out. Division Thr~ honors went to Tom Hughes, his second, and he was 50 sure of his win that he brought along his own trophy girl! With the show he put on this past beating the best we have, I'd say he had a pretty good shot at it. In the one week that Bruce was here on vacation, he beat Mike Bast in both a Feature Match Race and a couple of Scratch Main events. Alan Christian met the same fate. Gene Woods, Dave Sims, Tony Briggs and dozens of others who have won Scratch Mains this year could not hold Bruce baclt. On his final night of speedW'lly in the U.S., Bruce beat Alan Christian in the Feature Match race and earned. a ride in both main events. Bruce won the Scratch Main after trailing the ftrst lap when - Mike Muntean and Larry K05ta got the jump on Alan Christian and Penball. Alan tried a big 5W~p in tum three of the first lap and went down. He got right back up, but could not make up the lost ground. _ Tom Burba, a last minute write-in rider, went to the limit in the Handicap Main, earning his first main event win of the season. In fact, every winner this past Friday night picked up his first win at Costa Mesa. Penhall in the Scratch, Burba in the Handicap, Wes Randolph in the Division Two Main, and newcomer John Pavano the Division Thr~ Main. Wes Randolph, the Division Two Main Event winner, is one more of the guys who came up through the Jr. w~k, Bast, McNeill share Ascot laurels Speedwayprogram.Heprovedh~~ By Dennis Greene . I GARDENA, CA, AUG. 2 It was win number eight - his fourth straight - as Mike Bast took the checkered flag in the Scratch Main event with a tre- Penhall's "vacation" begins By Dennis Greene VENTURA, CA,JULY III There are a lot of ways to take a vaf=ation. If you are an Ameri· can racing in England and you come back to the States for a w~k 26 off, you might think that about the last thing you would want to do is go racingl Not so for Bruce Penhall. He came back for just one w~k and the first place he went was to the speedway track in Ventura. Not only did Bruce win the Feature Match Race, he was a one-man show, winning every event he was in, including both Main events. It had ~ four years since anyone had pulled off a clean sw~p, winning every event, but just 'Iast month, Alan Christian did it and now Bruce Penhall. Outstanding! If you are at all interested in Speedway, you must s~ the remaining four nights of qualifying for the U.S. National title. Round one was held at Cal Expo in Sacramento last Saturday night. The top 112 riders are trying to earn one of 16 spots open for the Championship. Round two will be run at Ventura on Aug, 21, Tuesday mendous lead over John Cook and Shawn Moran, both on the two-valve Jawas owned by Collins Automotive. Bruce Penhall was not in that Scratch Main, much to everyone's disappointment. He just did not earn a transfer. It would have ~ great to ~ if Bruce could have gotten the best of Bast, matching Bob Schwanz's win back at the first of the season when he was here on vacation. Peuhall did best Bast in the Feature Match race, but the young vacationing superstar had a rough night all the way around. He' had earned his way into the Handicap Main Event all the way from the 60-yard line and was well on his way to victory when a pileup in turn one caused him to lay it down to k~p from running over two fallen to be a good rider, but like several others, has had to sit around waiting to get a ride because there are many more riders than there are openings on the program. On the international scene, Kelly Moran of the United States finished very well in the recent qualifier for the World Final. This means we will be seeing Kelly in the World Final later this year. • Results SAN BERNARDINO. 811 f79 SCRATCH MAIN: 1. Bruce _ ; 2. "*' a.-; a- 4. Gene Woodo. HANDICAP MAIN; 1. 0... _ ; 2. S_ FIencIoN; 3. Mike 3. Dennia s_; 4. er.;g ~ a- r 5. 0 - DeTemple; 8. Gene Woodo. DIVISION TWO: Keith ~. DIVISION THREE: Tom Hugha ASCOT. 812179 SCRATCH MAIN: 1, Mike 2. John Cook; 3Shawn Moo'on; 4. Den McNeill. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Den McNeill; 2. Tany Briggo; 3. Shawn Moo'en; 4. Kirby Shropohire; 5. Bruce ",,"hell; 8. Shawn McConnell. DIVISION TWO: Kria~. COSTA MESA, 8I3r79 SCRATCH MAIN: 1. BrucePenhell; 2. lMry K,*-: 3. Mike Munt_; 4. AIen Ow_. HANDICAP MAIN: 1. Tom Ilurbe: 2. _ Merrion; 3. Bred OxIey;.4. 0... Simo; 5. ...,. _ ; 8. Joe MeyIof. DIVISION TWO: W. Rendolph. DIVISION THREE: John P8ven0.