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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125619
': I WORLD SPEEDWAY Coot-d•. llO ~ ct Englishmen wIIo are so good 011 the1r own tracJcs it isn't funny. ~ Apart from the domestic league comi:j petition wII1cb is the backbone of Britisb :i!: speedway, there are alsonumerous1nd1fo:I vidual events, international test matcbes ,.J and the world championsblp rounds. U One of the more famed individual tropbles is the internationale, beld at Wimbledon, London on Monday, May 26. Sixteen of the world's best riders competed for a new speedway bike donated by W.O. and H.O. WUls, cigarette manufacturers. Current bolder is Englisbman Nigel Boocock. 'Ibis seasoo (1969) there are an abundance of "Test Matcbes" involving England. First they race o!!. agalnstAustralla, then they face New Zealand, later Sweden tours against them and finallY they meet Poland. Speedway is truly an international sport. G World Championship Two bundred and forty riders, of 18 national1ties, will be contesting the 38 qua.Utying meetings wII1cb lead up to the Flnal of the Speedway Championsblp of Danisb riders,QDe from F1nlandand seven Norweg1ans. Five riders from each at these meetings wUl join re1gn1ng Nordic Champioo Torbjorn Harryssoo in the Nordic Final at NorrkOPing, Sweden 011 Wednesday, June 4 with the tOP eight point scorers progressing to the European Flnal. Continental qua.Utying rounds w1ll be contested by four riders trom Aust:r1a., two from Bulgaria, 12 trom Czeeboslovakis, eight trom East Germany, tlve from West Germany, six trom Hungary, 12 trom Poland, 12 trom the U.S.S.R. and three trom Yugoslavia. Tbe rounds will be beld in East Germany, West Germany, Hungary and Yugoslavia. Tbe tOP elgbt scorers trom the meetings at Hungary and West Germany will contest the Continental semitlnal at Slany, Czechoslovalda with Poland staging the other sem itlnal between the tOP eigbt scorers from East Germany and Yugoslavia. From both semitinals, eigbt riders will progress to the Continental Flnal at uta, Soviet Russia on June 29 with the tOP eigbt in tbis meeting jo1n1ng the top eigbt trom tbe Nordic Final in the European Final. The Speedway Scene In Russia A little over a decade ago speedway didn't exist in Russia. Four years ago they emerged to challenge the world. And cballenge they did, tor they almost conquered it. But now, sadly, Russia bas declined to rock-bottom as tar as being a speedway power goes - A perfect example of the riSe and tall of a nation in international speedway. When the sport commissars projected the country into speedway they planned world domination. They projected themFln·lIme world champion Barry Brius,(Swlndon ClUb). selves with determinatioo and utter dedicatioo at tbls one aim. They bad done it with other sports such as ice bockey, rowing and athletics. So when they blt speedway the whole scene, from Sydney to Stockholm, received a tremendous boost. Tbe Russians tirst turned their attention to dirt tracking with their neigbbors the Poles started setting the international scene alight. Then it was the old Soviet story. Secretly they bullt tracks, mostly in the Uta, Lvov region. Surreptiously they milked lntormation and knowledge trom other countries. Fanatically they selected the pick of their motocross and scrambles stars and mercilessly trained them to speedway brilliance. They didn't let the cat out ot the bag lUlt1l they were sure they could compete 011 level terms with anyone, anywIIere. 1961 saw the dawning when an ex-truck driver from Uta called Igor Plechanov qualified tor the World Final a.t Wembley. He displayed great skill and dasb and bas been their leading rider since. Obviously the Russkies meant business. They piled tremendous resources into their bid for speedway glory. Eacb rider became state-sponsored; eacb was presented with at least two perfectly malntained ESO bikes. They always carry expert mechanics and unllmited spares. 10 their own country they are heroes. Atter Plechanov, came BorisSamorodov, a spectacular speed merchant on both ice and cinders, who won tourth place in the World Flnal at blsverytirst attempt. And Gab Kadlrov, known as the Russian beatle because of bls mop top bair, ice racing champion Gennady Kurilento and others. In 1964 the Russians emerged trom their Iron Curtain cocoon as a team and toured Britain. Tbey rode three tests. Well over 50,000 fans witnessed them. They were classics - the West versus the East. Masters against pupils. Britain won two matcbes easily. The tblrd was a very narrow tbing. Enough to A.". f1_t1me world champ, Ove Fundln 9f Swedea. the World wII1ch tbis year will be staged at Wembley on Saturday, September 13. Tbe Britisb zone ot the competition bas the bigbest number of competitors - 101 - wIIo w1ll be drawn trom the Australlan, Enclisb, New Zealand, American, Scott1sb and We1sb riders competing in 01v1s100 1 of the Britisb League. 1bese riders w1ll contest three qual1fY1ng rounds eacb, the tOP 32 progressing to the Brit1sb semi-finals with the 1Mding eight scorers from each semi racing o!!. the Ih-itisb Flnal at West Ham 011 '1'UesdaY, August 5. 1be 1ead1ng six scorers trom the Britisb Flnal w1ll join the tOP ten from the European Flnal (scheduled for Olcblng, West Germany 011 Sunday, August 24) in the World Flnal at Wembley. Before the European Flnal, cootinental riders face sjmilar tough quallfy1ng rounds. Sweden bas the bigbest number of entrants in the Norte Zone: 65. Sixty-four cootest Swed1sb qual1fy1ng rounds at Gotbenberg, VetlaDda, BorasandAvesta. 1be tOP eight from each meeting w1ll cootest three Nordic Zone meetings in Sweden wilen they w1ll be joined by two En&llsh In18raatloaal ".Un Ashby cOftllleles In a world chalnplOllshlp quallfylnl rouad. lie. Zeal.d's Ivan "aul_ Is the cUlTent _Id challlPIOII. Sverre Harrfeldt Is considered 1I0rway's top rider. Ex.truck driver Ilor Plechanov has been ihe Russian team's best rider since 1961. prove the Russlans bad arrived as a major speedway power. At the World Final that year they were the most successful nation collectively, with P1ecbanov second, Samorodov tourth and Kurilenko seventh. Then they went on to meet the superSwedes, unbeatable on their own tracks. And they walloped them. Wblch even the Brltlsb couldn't do. But that was the limit. From then their sllPremacy, it it could be called that, declined rapidiy. in a return matcb against Britain they were trounced. Their world champioosblp chances taded as Plechanov aged. Now they are almost outside the world's top six dirt irack nations. They have a long tall with no obvious replacements tor Plechanov and Sam orodov, whose careers are slowly drawing to a close. Unless they come up with_some startling new prospects the tuture of Russian speedway at international level looks bleak.