Bast Is Best at Speedway Championship

The Bast name is legendary on the speedway track at the Orange County Fairgrounds, and the legend continued Saturday night.

Bart Bast of Auburn, Calif., won the 30th United States Speedway National Championship, edging San Juan Capistrano’s Brad Oxley by a less than half a bike length.

It is Bast’s first title in 10 appearances. He is a cousin of Mike Bast, who won seven national titles in the 1970s, and Steve Bast, who won titles in 1969 and ’74.

Bast, disqualified for causing a three-bike accident in one heat, won his other three qualifying heats, took second in his semifinal, then survived a furious push by Oxley in the final.

“This means the world to me,” Bast said. “It’s been my goal since I started. My cousins, Mike won it seven times and Steve won it twice.

“I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to win this race.”

He almost didn’t. Bast teetered on Turn 2 in the last lap of the four-lap championship, but Oxley couldn’t hold on to his slight advantage by the time they exited Turn 3.

“[Bast] was way out in the deep dirt and looked like he might break traction,” said Oxley, who won the season series championship on the one-tenth mile bullring oval. “I could have gone where he was and blocked him and been the national champion, or I could have been under a pile of five bikes.”

Bast took second in the American Motorcycle Assn. National Championship last week in Auburn on his home track.

Mike Faria of Reno, the defending champion and three-time winner, finished third. Faria reached the final by making a bold outside pass of Costa Mesa’s Bobby Schwartz in the last-chance qualifier.

The semifinal field was tainted with the absence of Mammoth’s Chris Manchester, the only rider who was perfect going into the fourth and final round of heats. Manchester, one of four previous national champions, crashed into the wall after Auburn’s Tommy Hedden made an unsuccessful pass, sliding his bike under Manchester’s.

Manchester went to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian with a leg injury. The nursing supervisor said Saturday night Manchester was in satisfactory condition.

Hedden, who finished last in two of his three races, was disqualified.

Manchester’s departure was the reason Oxley reached the semifinals. He used the opportunity to finish second, to Bobby Hedden, to reach the finals. Bobby Hedden is Tommy’s older brother.

Bobby Hedden took fourth, and Josh Larsen--Manchester’s teammate in the British League--took fifth.