Racing Review
RACING REVIEW
ROSE CAPITAL NAT'L ENDURO
BOYD REYNOLDS
The last of the AMA Enduro Nationals in the Northeast was held at Newark, New York, and hosted a large entry for a toughie. Weather had been horrible over the previous few days and on Saturday, before the Rose Capital National, the area received almost 3 in. of rain.
Mud all the way was the order of the day and if you didn’t like mud, there was no sense of making the starting line. Saturday night a banquet honored the Top Ten AMA Enduro riders and one of those present, Jake Fisher, was to go out and win the next day.
On a Husqvarna, Jake dropped only 14 points to beat out Bultaco-mounted Mike Shinners, who dropped 15. Puch rider “Dutch” Bliss and B rider P. Danik (DKW) lost 16 points.
Using the card carrying score system, the promoting club had results rather quickly. This pleased everyone as they could head for home by 6 p.m. The event started at 10 a.m. under partly sunny skies and the high winds off Lake Ontario whipped up little rain showers. Some riders were caught in them and at times it was so dark headlights were needed to see in dense wooded sections.
The contest was run on a moderately hard course, but with the rain, it became difficult all the way, even for the top A riders competing.
(Continued on page 108)
Continued from page 98
WOODS REGAINS SPEEDWAY TITLE
SCOTT EASTBURN
Despite two days of intermittent rain which threatened to postpone the event, a capacity crowd of 8000 screaming fans lined the tiny 190-yard track at Orange County Fairgrounds (Costa Mesa, Calif.) for the fifth annual National Speedway Championship.
Local hero Rick Woods, former national champion in 1968 and 1970, regained his title with a perfect overall score of 15 points after winning all five of his heat races. Nineteen-year-old Scott Autrey provided the surprise of the evening by accumulating 13 points and clinching 2nd place overall by virtue of his victory over current defending champion Mike Bast in the special runoff staged to break a tie for the runnerup spot.
Sixteen of the season’s leading riders advanced to the European-style final program. The first 10 riders in the year-long point standings automatically advanced to the championship while the remaining places were filled by the top six riders from two nights of special qualifying. The championship program was comprised of 20 heat races, allowing each rider to face every other rider at least once during his five events. Overall points were awarded on a 3, 2, 1 basis for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.
Crucial contests began early as the two favorite contenders, Rick Woods and Mike Bast, faced off in the second heat race. A single loss for either would almost certainly eliminate him from a chance at the overall national victory. Both realized this fact as they rocketed out of the starting grid. From the pole position, Mike Bast took the lead for the entire first lap, but Woods took the outside line around Bast on turn two of the second lap, with a tremendous drive that allowed him to take the lead on turn three. Woods enlarged his margin to win perhaps his most important race of the evening.
It soon became apparent that young Scott Autrey represented the major obstacle in Woods’ bid to gain his third title. Autrey, also an AMA novice road racer, won back-to-back victories in events four and five as Woods added another win in the eighth race. It was becoming increasingly evident that upcoming event number 14, featuring both contenders, would most likely determine the new national champion. By the time the long awaited race arrived both Woods and Autrey had collected another victory and had perfect scores of 14 points apiece.
As the elastic starting gate disappeared, Woods bolted into a lead which he never relinquished. Autrey tried in vain to catch Woods and his last chance at a national championship, but his desperate riding carried him high enough in the corners to allow Mike Curoso to sweep underneath and put Scott back in 3rd place for the remainder of the heat. Woods pulled a confident wheelie as he crossed the finish line, knowing very well what this victory meant. He was now two points ahead of Autrey and the pressure was finally off.
The remaining events were fairly anti-climactic. Woods assured his title by winning event 17 and Scott Autrey added his fourth victory two heats later. Almost unnoticed in the excitement was the progress of Mike Bast, who had won his last three heat races to tie Autrey for 2nd place and gain another chance in the special 4-lap runoff. As both riders were introduced for the final event, the highly partisan crowd was screaming so loudly that the sound of the two alcohol-burning Jawa speedway bikes was barely audible.
Mike Bast grabbed a tremendous start while Autrey nearly looped his bike in the starting gate. Autrey charged after Bast, sliding high in the corners, spraying dirt into the bleachers. By the end of the first lap he had regained any time he lost to Bast and pulled even on the straight. He was able to put a wheel ahead in the second lap and assumed the lead for the remainder of the heat. Had the race lasted one lap longer the results could have been much different as the float bowl on Autrey’s carburetor fell off after he crossed the finish line.
