Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

o ~ Slidin , iSideways w By BDb Turne r This is the in itia l co lum n in a series o th at will run durin g the speedw ay sea so n . Th e main a tte mp t IS to familiari z e y o u with . and rep ort, speedway h appenings to th e rea de rs of Cycle News. Speedway is th e fa sle st RT OW i n g fo nn of m ot or c y cl e c o m pe ti tio n on the west coas t an d ye t it seems there arc still few er acc omp lishe d riders th an com pete in an average I la rc and Hound . ~I aybl:' a few so re p oi nts wi ll b e ex posed , an d m aybe th a t will b e good for th e sport. O ft en th o se tha t are 10 0 close L a part icul ar form o f racing a ne ver see the sh or tcom ings . an d th o se that are distant nev er sec th e good poin ts. No t bein g exac tly sun: wh a t dire c tion th is c o lumn w ill cve n tua llv tak e, I'm go ing to dive righ t in and p ass on some of th e mo re in te resting thin gs th at h ave happ e ned so far th is seaso n . Don Ca str o made his first rid e o f the season a t D igg e r's track in Bak ers field on We dn esd ay. He lo o ked a Iit tle wobbl y a t the apex o f each comer hut ende d up wi th a second in the handi cap conso la tio n . C ast ro rna v we ll be th e sma rtes t nation al n ll m b~'red rider the A~L \ has. Il l' re al ize s th a t in b e tw ee n the bi g nat ion als a fe w d oll ars can be mad e '. ridi ng: speedway on th e new sch edu le . T he new sc hedu le, in case yo u're not fam il iar: T ue sd ay at V en utr a, Wed n esd av al Ba ke rsfi eld an d R en o, Th ursd av 'at Irw ind ale, Fridav a t Cos ta ~ Iesa and S acram ento , Sa turd ay a t N ap a and soon a t the L.A . Col iseu m. ~l avb(~ you d idn' t even kno w all th at raci ng w as go ing o n . Speedway mu st be interes tin g to someon e a t the head office of the A :\IA , as th e Comp et it ion Co n gress adop te d a c o m p lete sci o f nil e s to govern the events. 'I'h e :\:\1:\ 's rules are very differe nt th an those th a t th e Speedway Rac in g: A sso c iati o n has adopted and refined in the las t few v cars an d bo th rule ho o ks arc d iff'er e n i fro m the on e that the F I~J uses. I t see m s a grea t shame th a l eve ry b o d y c o u ld n' t i:e t thei r head s to ge ther 'be fo re th ey g o for ea ch o the r's th ro ats. Grape vine ru mors have speechv ay runn in g, or ab o u t to. s tart, in su ch areas as O hio , Flori d a, Lou isi an a , an d possihl y N ew J e rse y . T he ma in problem is tha t rum or s arc the harde s t races to rid e so if an v one has rea l c oncre te evidence le t us know . . I': ow a c o m me n t that man y of yo u non -speed wa y nu ts may not lik e. Sp eed w ay is the most e xci ti ng fo rm of motorcy cle cornpcti tion in th e w orld. ''"hi ll' y o u're s te wi ng abou t th at pe rso nal co m men t take no te o f the followin g fact , es pecia lly y ou m o to cross racers th at beat y o ur brains o u t for 20 priz e m o ne y every week , each o f those above lis ted speedway eve n ts has to pay gua ra n teed prize m o ney of $ 1.0 25 .0 0 minim um. I f there is a large specta tor turnout , the min imu m the n bec omes 30% of th e ga te. Danny Be c ker is a name that y ou are go ing to be hearing a lo t m o re of in the ne x t few mo nths . li e is th e brightest new star to c o me a lo ng on the circ uit. Ei gh tee n years of age and b eg inning to p ut it to th e .e s tab lish ed speed w ay rid e rs where it h u rt s, in the ego an d th e pock c tb o o k. Last year at this tim e every body th ough t th at Dan ny w as t o o fragile to cu t it as he see med to break some thin g ev er y time h e go t off. And h e go t o ff quit e a bit. N DW h e h as put th e ji gsaw pu zzl e to geth er an d is sha king up the tro op s. S o nn y Nutter p ick ed lip a new sponsor th a t sh o u ld h elp him , an d ma k e a fe w o thers cat the ir hearts o ut , N"GK Sp a rk Plu gs. T hree scooters and all the pl ugs he can e a t. Rick Wo ods pi ck ed up so man y sponsors that he m u s t h ave hir ed an age nt d urin g the off season . It se em s tha t every body lo ve s a w inn er, e xcep t th e second place guy. R ic k is ri d in g a new SCDDte r that YD U m ight be in te res ted in gellin g a better IDDk at. A titaniu m frame, mu ch bucks, and just in tim e fo r the intern ational b an on titanium For sp ee d w ay . Spe akin g of bans, w hen are som e of YD U g uys in th e SRA going to get your h eads o n s traight an d m a d e a rule ...J U r •• ----- - . >IIIIICI: == ~ ~ ~ 0~ IIIIICI: 0=:: ...... :z: :=) ~ :> Current speedway Champ, M ike Bast , shows the fam ily st y le, leading Larry Shaw . ch an ge ? 1 m e an th e o ne th at is SD o bv io us th at it is pain fu l. No t o nly p ain ful b u t, downri gh t inju riou s. W)1en a ride r is forced to lay hi s bi k e d o wn t o m iss ano the r rid er wh o has fa llen in front of him th ere sh o uld b e an au to ma tic re star t. Th e ride r who fe ll ma y or ma y no t partic ip at e in the res tar t, dependin g o n h ow th e re feree saw i t, dep en ding on wh eth er it w as h is fault or no t. II w o ul d th en bec om e automatic that the trailing rider wo uld not trv so me scarv ma ne uver and possib ly use th e dDw ned rid e r fo r tr action and sen d the m b oth to the h o sp ital. T he sn ive le rs are go ing to c ry tha t th ey wou ld have WDn th e race if it weren' t Fo r the restart but if th e situ at ions ,..-e re reversed th e snive ler wo uldn't c ot to n to th e id ea o f h is kidne y b ein g used fo r a parkin g pl ace b y o ne o f th ose u gly n o n -fo ld in g h arp oon type Io otpegs. A fi nal th ou gh t , it su re takes the fun o u t of ru n n in g fuel when they m a ke it lega l. M ike Crouso waves a foot at the fans. "-0 .55 ~ ... en e .. .-= a a .. eI) eI) .* ~ ' It ~ ~ a CQ c:: a By Denni s G reen e ' VE:\,TURA , CA LIF., ~l a y 9 , 1972 ~1i k e Curoso is fas t becoming a bi g-b o y -b eate r . T o n ight at the V en tu ra Cou n ty Fairgro un ds . yo u n g Mik e p owere d h is JAP Esso to th e H andicap ,M a in win , fe n d ing off th e ta len ted R ic k Wo ods an d Billy Grav. \\"o od s d idn't h ave an all bad nig h t , h owever , as he tu rned aro und and wo n th e S cra tch Main over Mik e Kon le, Less Ch anky an d Bill Cody. Cody d id h ave a b ad n igh t, th ough , fin ishin g las t o n both Main s a f te r ge tting in to sp ill s w hile di cing through the p ack . r\ewly-NGK -sDonsored S onny Nu tt er w oun d DU t hi s J awa to fu ll throttle an d pi cked up the ca sh for th e Han d icap Consola tion win, as did Ed Willi ams in th e Scratch C onsol ati on . Bigger crow d s d espite foul we ather are being see n he re at th e Fairgr o unds this year. Th e track, wid es t o n the coas t a t 52 fee t , is sti ll short of perfe ction making sliding qu ite di ffi cu lt , perh aps giving Di vision II riders a sligh t advantage, but the skill of the Experts m o re tha n ma ke up fo r it. (Resu lts on page 3 6)

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