Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

.. ~ Ii' ... ... ... M !Ii gi « '" ~ Z W ..J (,J > (,J In the beginning, the Supreme Being made an eight-day week_ He had worked hard for six days, creating mountains and streams to New Zealand stars Briggs and Mauger side by side at Wembley. England wins World Speedway League Grand Fi-nal England scored a dramatic win over Sweden in a tension-packed grand final of the World Speedway League at Wembley Stadium, London last week. The' semi-final draw resulted in England defeating New Zealand 48-30 at Belle Vue, Manchester and Sweden trouncing Australia 51-27 at Coventry. This meant England and Sweden clashed in a thrilling decider .at Wembley to decide top speedway nation in the world today. Sweden was highly favoured for the event because of the established liking the top Scandinavian stars have for the tight London track, but England was able to match Sweden wheel for wheel over the 13 heat contest and, at the end, the scores were level at 39-39. To decide the match - and the series - the team managers each called on one rider to contest a match race. England chose teenager Peter Collins, from Belle Vue, and Sweden chose her world championship contender, Anders Michanek. The young Lion, Collins, led from the gate but on the second lap Michanek tried to dive underneath and Collins crashed. To the roar of the 40,000 crowd the referee excluded Michanek for foul riding and awarded the race and the match and the. series - to Collins and England! A sensational finish to a sensational series - the inaugural World Speedway League. Following the final, a second match was staged between Great Britain (a composite side of Poms, Scots, Kiwis and Kangaroos) and the rest of the world (a composite team of Danes, Russians and Poles). Earlier in the tournament Australia was at the cen tre of a storm of controversy when one Kangaroo misfit implored team manager Sam Bass, from Adelaide, to protest against the fuel being used by recent MBE winner, Barry Briggs, during the Australia-New Zealand match at Wimbledon. Racing was held up for 15 minutes while fuel samples were taken. Samples which subsequently proved A-okay. Embarrassed Aussie skipper 'denied any knowledge of the protest until after it had been lodged and tI;1e inciden t, which Jeft a sour taste in many mouths, unse ttled th e Aus tralian team. . Said Briggs; "I am sure that only one rider was responsible for the protest and he is character I have had a few brushes with in the past." When the fuel tests acquitted Briggs, New Zealand team man ager, Trevor Redmond, dem and ed an apology from the Australian camp, and to rub salt into the wounds, the Wimbledon stadium management issued a- ban on Aussie manager, Sam Bass! a Anders Michanek was disqualified for over aggressive riding. Following the ruckus Australia did no t win another match, sO the disturbing influence of just one rider would seem to have been effective. The sooner this particular boy is weeded ou t fro m the Kangaroos' international squad, the better. Final table for the World League looked like this: England Sweden New Zealand Australia Denmark/Norway Poland Russia Biggest surprise was the demise of the [ron Curtain countries, Poland and Russia. Both are strong international speedway powers but the Communist riders seemed unable to adapt to the tigh t track conditions in England. The Poles relied heavily on 20-year-old new sensation, Zenon PIech. PIech shows glittering promise and is being hailed by Polish authorities as their 'white hope' for World Final honours later this year. Russia relied mainly on the Gordeev brothers, Valeri and Vladimir. Both have ridden in World Finals. [n fact it was Vladimir who made such an impact by scoring 11 points in his debut at Gothenburg, Sweden in 1971. He was at the centre of a ruckus when fuel tests proved positive and he was convicted of u sing the banned additive nitro-methane. The FlM banned him from international competition for one year and he is only now finding his feet again. -' , Following the huge success of the World League in England this year, it is understood that Poland intends applying for the rights to stage next year's tournament. On their own tracks the Poles loom as likely winners. However they aim to strengthen the competition by including teams from East Germany' and Czechoslovakia two countries which were omitted this time around. Peter White challenge enduro riders, great sand washes to sap the energies of desert racers, and gentle slopes and open spaces to make trail riders think they could ride enduros or desert races. , On the seventh day, He got on His Jawa ISDT (like John DeSoto,The Lord had no political ambitions), blitzed across His new California desert, forded a new stream, and ascended a Tehachapi peak so that He could look down on His GAD (Great American Desert) and His EGAD (Elevated Great American Desert, or, after dopers took up riding and riders took up doping, "the high desert"). The Man was very tired after a full day's riding the GAD, the EGAD, the waters, and the peaks, so He declared an eight-day week, and rested on the eighth day. But it came to pass, as God was the only bikey at that time, that a great outcry arose from the labor unions, who were pushing for a four-day work week. After much Babeling, the AMA arbitrarily negotiated a seven-day week between the two equally powerful factions. The Lord then spitefully declared that the seventh day would be a day of rest, put His Jawa in mothballs, and arrested technological development of motorcycles for a miJlion years. (Since the Jawa was already indestructibly delicious, He arrested its development forever). Time passed. As the 20th Century progressed, the Lord watched with eager anticipation as the four-strokers bogged down at Day.tona Beach, and the Cal sled riders rivaled the surfers for lumpy musculature. But the sport was moving ahead a little slowly, and the Lord wanted some competition, so He made up the Marshall Plan to get central Yurp back in business. . Pretty soon the Japanese caught on to The Lord's strategy, and got their own machines out. Riders were everywhere! God took His Jawa out of mothballs, tickled the Jikov, and put His sandaled foot into the.kickstarter. The bike wouldn't start. He drained the 1973 vintage high octane gas out and pu t low octane gas in. The J awa fired right up, communistically happy with the low caliber fuel. The Supraman loaded the Czech bike in to His Japanese tnick (The Lord is fair.) and motored past the GAD and into the EGAD, over the river and through the woods, to Checkpoint Zero, where He came upon some long-haired DucKWah riders. The Maker saw a flaw in His handiwork, as He had not designed man to ride a springer fron t end, yet these boys seemed to go very fast aboard it, especially when their chicks were looking. The Lord, whose aggressive urges had not been totally satisfied by the' Vietnam skirmish, challenged the boys to a twenty-five mile point-to-point, from Zero to the Last Check. God' was a bit rusty, but He knew He could' always move the Last Check, it being a not very large moun lain. The Jawa weighed 297 pounds, but the rider and bike combined gross~d only 310 pounds. He reminded Himself to

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