Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

o M f 0.. N r- en Surprises at World Speedway Championship o u a ~ w Z W ..J U >- U by Peter White WEMBLEY, E:-.IGLAND, ept. 16, 1972 - Speedway great, Ivan Mauger. is Champion of the World, for the fourth Lime. The 32 year old l':ew Zealand super-star successfully topped a galaxy of international aces at the historic Empire Stadium, Wembley. to win one of the mo~t sensational Championships methane fuel additive which led to his suspension by the FIM for one year. When the name Gordeyev cropped up in results again this season, naturally suspicions were aroused. It was nardly an auspicious debut outside the Iron Curtain for the youngster though. Lacking the sparkle that Vladimir displayed in Sweden last year, young Gordeyev wound up the night with two points plus the experience of being involved in the spectacular Briggs crash. When Griggo fell, Gordeyev was so close behind that he ran straight over BB - I understand Briggo had bike marks up his back and somersaulted along the track. The other five Russians all finished lower down the chart and didn't exactly set the place aligh t, bu t they were always worth watching. Most of their appeal lies in their total unpredictability. All of them appear capable of anything at anytime. of the curren t era. The fact that the Championship was decided at WembJey .- for so long the traditional. revered arena for World title aspirants - added glitter and impetus to the occasion. As an awe-inspiring, nerve-tingling spectade there is' simply no substitute for a World Final at Wembley. 75,000 fans from all corners of the globe crammed excitedly around the famous 378 yard ribbon and dirt to watch 16 of the world's leading Ieather-clad gladiators hell-ben t on claiming the sport's ultimate prize. For the reigning King, Ole Olsen (Denmark), this night of nigh ts ended in heartbreak. He finished third ... and from his .grasp slipped the' crown he h ad worn sO proudly and worthily for the past 12 months. Splitting the dynamic duo, in second place, was Bernt 'Persson of Sweden. BOOCOCK BROTHERS AND LOUIS REPRESENT ENGLAND PAY DISPUTE SETTLED The build-up to the Final this year struggle.d along under the black cloud of a riders' threat not to ride unless increased paymen t was forthcoming. The five British finalists - Mauger, Briggs, Louis and the Boocock brothers - demanded a 1000 pound bonus each for reaching Wembley. After talks with the Speedway Control Board, the riders issued a joint statement. It said: "It was made clear to us that we are under con tract to ride in the World Final, and thi~ we will do because we fell we have an obligation to the public. However we are still adamant that the rewards for reaching the World Final are ridiculously low." THREE RUSSIAN BIKES STOLEN A fter the Th ursday practice, six Russian machines were locked in a workshop on the Wembley grounds. The following morning it was discovered three bikes were missing (stolen). Not unnaturally the Russians were more than put out and the English officials were equally embarrassed. With little love lost between the two countries anyway, the English authorities had to work hard to preserve diplomatic relations and only a spontaneous gesture from New Zealanders, Ronnie Moore and Graeme Stapleton, and Scotsman, Bert Harkins, saved a total Russina walk-out. The three British League riders agreed to loan their bikes to the Russians: The whole affair undoubtedly had an unsettling effect on the Soviet camp ...but none could have been more put out than English 'white hope' ,J ohn Louis, who was also a victim of the thieves. UNIQUE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLE FOR KIWI KING But through it all - diplomatic incidents; disputed refereeing; drama and despair one man emerged triumphant, the cool, methodical, magnificently dedicated Mauger, to set yet another 'first' in the history of the sport. Mauger's the first man ever to win both the World 1,000 metre Long Track Championship and the World Individual Speedway Championship in the same season. This feat puts him parallel with another all-time great New Zealander, Barry Briggs, and only one World Championship win behind the greatest rider of them all, Swede, Ove Fundin. For a sizeable chunk of the season he rode with broken bones in both wrists the legacy of his World Best Pairs crash in Sweden. Only when he could no longer hold onto a bike did he take a couple of weeks off - the absolu te minimum amount of time he was prepared to spend on the sidelines. To get to the meeting at all he sat up nigh ts dunking his wrists in cold water to relieve pain and swelling. BRIGGS INJURED Ivan Mauger: World Champion. with a serious hand injury. Briggs went into the first corner on the outside of Persson who appeared to clip Briggs' front wheel. Briggs fell and was run over by Russian, Valery Gordeyev. The Soviet's bike, which he borrowed from Bert Harkins catapulted high along the track and on to the top of the safety fen ce in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately it was poor Briggs who failed to regain his feet and had to be stretchered off. Two fingers on his left hand had caugh t in a primary chain and were almost severed. The accident was disastrous for the likeable Kiwi as apart from destroying his chances of picking up a very f>ossible ruth World title, it meant his withdrawl from the Great Britain team to contest the World Team Championship in Germany the following weekend and his ahsence from the speed scene for the remainder of the European season. OLE OLSEN SPILLS LOSES ALL CHANCE AND Gloom also set in for the reigning Champion, Ole Olsen. In one split second as he skidded sickningly on to the track mid-way through the first race. away slipped his crown. Facing fellow Bri tish League riders Christer Lofqvist (Sweden), John Louis (England) and Bernt Persson (Sweden), Olsen made a disastrous gate, reared and found himself stone last going into the first turn. Desperately he chased the field, passing Louis a lap later bu t still spotting leaders Lofqvist and Persson a fair margin. On the second lap the Danish whirlwind sensationally narrowed the gap and flew under Persson to take second. With one to go he was snapping at Lofqvist's heels as they shot past the yellow. In to the top turn Olsen went for an outside run, and suddenly lost grip with his back wheel. Down he wen t, sliding towards the fence as Lofqvist carried on to win from Persson and Louis. How sick Ole must have felt as he made his way back to the pits knowning that in his next four starts, in which he was to face both Briggs and Mauger (it wasn't until the next heat that Briggs crashed), he could not afford the slightest slip and even then he may not be able to hang onto the title. Ole didn't falter his task in his remaining four riders and managed to beat all comers, including Mauger, but his 12 points were just one short of the 13 that Mauger and Persson managed to put together. So it was third place for the despondent Dane after a heart-breaking night. SWEDISH OUTSIDER SPRINGS SURPRISE OF THE NIGHT 'Mauger was set-back in his opening Without a doubt the shock race - heat two - when Barry Briggs rocketed from the inside gate position performance of the night came from and showed everyone just where his SSweddish ttestkrider'thBernt Pkersson ' Three . . I b dl h' . th we es 00 to e trac' - p ersson mtenUons ay y soun y w tppmg e L f . t dAd M' h k ' ·th' eventual Champion. Briggo's win threw 0 qVtS an n ers .'C ane - w~ the whole thing wide open at the stage Persson the least fanCIed of the Ino. blil'~Y'ftit him Iiex'! time out when Undoubted1¥ Ale SV~Q au~s • h-·.. • ~.!.~,. I ... !.~.1'" J ~. Itti· 0t3J"" placed a·I•••r hope Oft Mith~lllilkmg•• e.c;r "'''''..""",1,1 JO Ul~ ~...... osp' 'ttl~""qm 'M"" t h 0VQ:. J-'e\-. ~ ... I' • ~ It.u..' a .l. • • .. .. ZIL .. .. ~\&es !:,,!e •• Land of Lake for the first time since the last of Ove Fundin's wins back in 1967. In favor too as an outsider likely to succeed was the fiery little Lofqvist, freely tipped as a probable placegetter and the man most likely to spring the surprises. But everyone reckoned without Persson. Persson dropped only two pain ts in the entire meeting: in his fust race lto Lofqvist) and in his last race to Mauger). But twice he had to concede defeat to the fIying Kiwi. In the run-off for first place, Mauger won the toss and led all the way from the inside starting position. At the end of four rides it was actually Persson who headed the field with 11 points against Mauger's ten. Heat 19 was critical for Mauger as he went out to meet the Swede, knowing he HAD to win to force a run-off. Mauger did just that and hauled himself righ t back in to con ten tion. Once in line for a run-off and with victory set firmly in his sights, Ivan made no mistakes. The nigh t will undoubtedly live forever in the Swede's memory: night when he was so near, yet so far. His fellow countryman, Lofqvist, did in fact come up to expectations and den ted many reputations as he raced to three heat wins and a total of II points for equal fourth place with Englishman, John Louis, in what was a World Final debut for both riders. Apart from taking a point from Persson that the latter could ill afford, Lofqvist disposed of the Boocock brothers and most of the Russians with ease. NO FAVORS FROM RUSSIANS Lone Pole, Waloszek, had a tough time, with two spills in his first race, neither of his own doing, but garnered three poin ts nevertheless when he led home Chlinovskij. A good start, but a third place, next time out and a fall, when mixing it with two Russians, put paid to any prospective challenge. 0 love lost between the traditional East European rival countries, Russia and Poland, either. The Russians gave Waloszek no favors: as seen by Gordeyev when he barged unde,r the Pole and had him off on the top bend in heat II. With no allies at all, it was a rough night for the 34 year old European Champion. A massive challen.ge developed from the Soviets. Six of their men made their World Final debuts on the strange, foreign, tricky Wembley circuit. Man.aged by Igor Plechanov, last of the Russian 'greats' returning to the scene of former glories, the Hammer and Sickle boys faced an uphill battle from the outset and their task was not made any easier by the unfortunate theft of their bikes. Much of the interest, as far as western observers were concerned, centred on Valery Gordeyev. Mystery had surrounded the rider after his name first appeared in preliminary round results earlier this season. Vladimir Gordeyev, his elder brother, appeared in the. Wroclaw .World.Finai in _1970 and, again at UllevrlllSt year! I t was at Ultevi' that Vladimir _USed t,he, banned Moo_. For World Final debutant Louis it was a mixed night. To have his best bike stolen immediately before the meeting could have been an unnerving experience. By collecting 11 points and finishing equal fourth at his very nrst attempt at the world championship in his very first season of division one speedway shows just how weB he coped with the set-back. Louis, the Ipswich captain, was fanatically supported. At least 30 coach loads of loyal fans made the trip to Wembley to cheer their favorite and some 6,000 tickets were sold at Ipswich prior to the Final. The 28 year old former scrambler did not disappoin t, doing all that could have been expected of him. From a modest start - third behind Lofqvist and Persson - he worked upwards with a second to Mauger, then a win over Trofimov, Gordeyev and Waloszek_ Pavlov better him in his fourth ride but he hit back to wind up the evening with a win over Michanek, reserve Jimmy McMillan and Kuzmin. NIGEL RIDES DESP-ITE FRACTURED WRIST Once again luck deserted Nigel, elder of the British stalwarts. A fortnight before the Final he piled up at Leicester with Ray Wilson in the 'Golden Gauntlets' open meeting. A chipped right thumb and a broken bone in his left wrist was his lot from that little escapade. Still he soldiered on. With his wrist bound and strapped in a special suport, Nigel once again displayed the grit and tenacity for which he is renowned. While never shaping as a prospective Champion, Booey did weB under the circumstances and came away with six points to his credit. For E ric, it was a more dismal nigh t. In all honesty he was but a mere shadow of the rider fans know can mix it successfuly with the best. A t times he seemed way ou t of touch wi th the proceedings, languishing at the foot of the score chart along with Russian, Gordeyev, with two points. Drawn at number two in the program, Eric had the misfortune to be out in the first heat and he got no further than that big locker on the first corner which brough down Waloszek. As with Michanek in the re-run, the inevi table exclusion virtually drained away any chance Eric may have had so he could hardly be blamed for losing heart. His only points of the night came in his last ride when he beat Russians, Pavlov and Gordeyev to the line. When the tumult and the shouting died this nigh t belonged to only one man. Stepping up to accept the Sunday Mirror's winner's check for 1,050 pounds and the magnificen twinged wheel trophy. for yet another year, the lithe, athletic figure of one of speedway's greatest champions, IVAN ~AUGER. 3 2 3 3 3 1 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 ~ 0, Q 1 ,2 1 1 Q "-. ~ 1 ~, ·~c 0 :; I' .... .# • 1 , Ivan Mauger Bernt Persson Ole Olsen Christer Lofqvist John Louis Alexander Pavlov Anders Mlchanek Pawel Waloszek Viktor Trofimov Viktor Kalymkov Nigel Boocock Anatoli Kuzmin Grigory Chlinovskij Barry Briggs Eri~ B9QCo~lf, • f 3 1 1 f 3 0 1 2 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 2 1 0 1 1 0 1 f • f I ,0 0 vale~ Gordeyev Jim cMHlan Jap S'mt;n~n 2 2 ~ 2 3 3 3 3 f 2 f 2 1 2 0 1 x 3 3 3 0 2 3 2 1 2 2 1 1 0 x 13 13 12 11 11 8 8 6 6 6 6 4 4 x I •. .1 3 2· , ~ EI /

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