Previevv: World
Speedvvay Championship
by Peter White
Take 80,000 screaming fans, 16
world class riders...add a narrow
ribbon
of
dirt. .. stir
vigorously ... and you've got what is
described
as
the
most
exciting
'happening' on the motorcycle racing
calendar: The Final of the Speedway
Championship
of
the World. A
motorcycle meeting with all the magic
and mystique of the Roman gladiator
era; yet as modem and exci ting as the
architecturally magnificent stadiums in
which it is played. An occasion
unsurpassed by any other in the
motorcycling sphere.
Already Europe is agog with the fever
a World Speedway Final creates...and
it's another two mon ths away yet. That
one night of the year when a Champion
is crowned.
Not
a
prolonged point score
compe ti tion. No drawn ou t race series.
Just one cut-throat meeting where,
within three incredibly short hours, the
whole speedway world comes to a
standstill. Six tough months of racing
reach a climax. And' one worthy
contestant embraces the floodlight
arena as Champion of the World.
This year the stage will be Wroclaw in
Poland, behind the Iron Curtain for on
the second time· in the sport's history,
on
Sunday,
September
2.
The
anticipation now is tremendous. Will a
Polish rider pull it off and become the
first-ever Communist World Champion?
Or will that great New Zealander, Ivan
Mauger, defy the odds yet again and
make it five world titles? Or will Danish
whirlwind, Ole Olsen, gain revenge for
last year's mishap when he fell in his
first race yet won aU his others but
could only place third to Mauger and
Swede, . Bernt Persson? Certa.inJy it
seems to be only a four man race.
Mauger...Olsen...or new Polish wonder
boy, teenager Zenon Piech, or his more
experienced
compatriot,
Edward
Jancan.
The Championship: A Brief
History
The Championship: A Brief History
The atmosphere of a contained arena,
with leather-cbd daredevils dicing with
danger, is almost impossible to capture
on paper. But let me try to recreate
some of the drama associated with that
rapidly approaching One Nigt.- of the
Year, the nigh t when the whOle scene
explodes and the world acclaims a new
Champion.
For the majority of Americans it has
been, and will probably continue to be,
an occasion ~ey'l never know. The
World Speedway Final has so far been
exclusive to Europe. It originated in
1936 and has since been held in only
three countries - England, Sweden and
Poland. For many years Wembley
(London) was the singular staging
ground. The league competition in
England is the toughest in the world so
the
Chooms
claimed
v;rtual
exclusiveness of the meeting.
In the early days Australians played a
big part in the competition. An
Australian - Lionel Van Praag - won
the first-ever Championship in 1936.
Then...in 1937 ...it was America's
tum, and the first 1-2-3 as a Yankee
triumvirate mounted the rostrum. Jack
Milne (of Pasadena), the late Wilbur
Lamereaux, and Cordy Mile were the
trumps: an American clean sweep, and
America's
first
and only World
Speedway Championship win.
The following year - 1938 - it was
Australia again as the late Bluey
Wilkinson dominated the proceedings.
Then came the war and a break until
1949. An Englishman, Tommy Price,
potted the title that year but Australia
continued to figure prominently and
Adelaide hero, Jack Young, became the
first rider in history to post wins in
successive years - 1951 and 1952.
Young missed the hat-trick and
thereafter came the demise of Aussie
dominance.
These days Australia is in [athe.r the
same boat as America: struggling to get
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a rider into the Final, let alone win it!
The World Final is now truly that: a
repres<;ntative clash of competitors from
all comers of the globe. It has its flaws.
Like everything else, but take last year's
line-up:
six Russians,
two
New
Zealanders, three Englishmen, a Pole, a
Dane, a Scotsman and three Swedes.
Cosmopolitan representation at its best.
And the winner? New Zealander, Ivan
Mauger, of course! For his fourth
World Championship!
u
How It Happens
The World Final, no matter where it
is staged, is speedway's showpiece, the
pinnacle of the European season.
Sixteen riders qualify to race. Each
rides five times, meeting every other
competitor once. At the end of it all
one man emerges on top of the world:
There's nothing quite like a World
Championship in any sport. There's just
no going any higher. On this nigh t
reputations are won and lost; glory
gained and anonymity sought. For the
contestan ts just one slip can mean the
difference between despair and triumph.
One small misfortune can ruin a man
completely.
The crowd, intensified with this
'sudden death' atmosphere, plays its
part. No matter whether at monumental
Wembley,
awe-inspiring
UUevi
(Gothenburg, Sweden) or wonderful
Wroclaw (Poland), the stadiums are
crammed to capacity for World Finals.
I've covered three World Finals. Two
at Wembley; one in Sweden. And still I
yearn for more. There's nothing
anywhere around the globe to equal this
night
Two Views
The path to a World Final is often
fraught with more difficulties than the
meeting itself. To qualify, a rider must
compete
in
preliminary
rounds,
semi-finals and umpteen other Finals.
The chances of getting knocked ou t
along the way are far greater than
getting through to the next round.
Often a rider will qualify for a World
Final so mentally and physically
exhausted from the road through that
the Championship itself comes as a mere
an ti-c1 imax.
This year Bri tish riders (including
defending Champion, Mauger) must
compete in three qualifying rounds, two
semi-finals,
a
British
Final,
British/Nordic Final and European Final
(in Germany). Only then will the very
topmost men get a sniff at the World
Final itself. The top eleven qualifiers
from the European Final will go on to
Poland where they will meet the top
five Poles in the magical World Final
run-off.
It's a rugged path which veteran
Englishman and multi-World Finalist,
Nigel Boocock, describes as "long and
exhausting". Boocock, skipper of the
British Lions test team to foreign ports
'around the world, is one man well
qualified to talk on the topic. He's lost
count of the number of World Finals in
which he has competed since his bow as
a 17·year-old teenager at Wembley in
1956. The closest he's come to glory has
been fourth - in 1969 - but he's mixed
it. with the best of them.
The Night of Nights, says Boocock, is
like "being thrown in at the deep end of
a pool after you have been walking on
dry land. "Naturally, you are not used
to being in at the deep end. So it is with
a World Final. You've been riding in the
league all year and that's been your
speedway. But (t's a very, very different
type of speedway on World Final night.
The atmosphere and everything is so
different.
"I can best describe it this way: when
I go to an ordinary league match and
anyone speaks to me, I speak back. But
on World Final night there are so many
thouSands of people there and the
atmosphere is such that all I want to do
is unload my bike from the car and get
into the pits.
"I don't want to talk to anyone. I·
just want to get into the changing
rooms, sit down and be miserable. I get·
so much involved in what I'm doing that
I don't want to think about anything
else.
World Championship contender Ray Wilson of England leading 8 qualifying meeting
on the continent.
"I'm like that for weeks before any
World Final. I get edgy and nervous. 01)
the morning of the meeting I get up and
can't eat. I can't eat at lunch-time. All I
can do is fallout with my wife! My wife
knows to get out of the way so that I
can't argue with her!
"To me, the World Final is a time of
proving whether I'm a man or a mouse.
Yet I know it's only the occasion itself
that gets me that way.
"1 really only rate the meeting as
proving the best rider on the one night.
If I don't win, I'm equally proud of the
fact that I'm top English point scorer in
the British League over some 200 odd
meetings. 1t
Australia's number one speedway
rider, Jim Airey, has ridden in only one
World Final - 1971 in Sweden, but he
approached
.his
high-spot
more
me thodically .
''There was plenty of tension,1t
recalled Airey. "But I didn't get all
tensed up personally about the meeting.
In a way it was a relief just to be there
and know that at long last I had
qualified for the meeting.
"One I had made it to the World
Final itself, I felt quite relieved. After
the season I was mentally and physically
exhausted because of the long haul
through the qualifying stages. All the
work, preparation and worry was the
hardest part. The World Final meeting
itself was the easiest part because I had
already made it there.
"The
rne~ting
wasn't
easy,
competition-wise, but it was relatively
easy for me...in my mind.
"F or nigh ts before the earlier
qualifying finals I had nightmares and
nausea. But for the World Final I was
comparatively at ease."
A contradiction of views perhaps. But
heed the voices of the top speedway
men in the world today..A World
Championship splits the foibles of
competitors wide open. Such is the
power of speedway's Night of Nights.
OCIR Speedway
By John Bethea
Pilato by Jim Willey
EL TORO, CAL.,JULY 25
The second week of speedway
raCIng at Orange County
International Raceway pro'duced
all new faces in the winners' circle.
The Handicap Main event saw Bob
Hosford start on the zero yard line and
hold off all contenders for the win.
Forty-yar"d-liner Robin " itro"
Nicolaides was breathing hard down
Hosford's neck but Bob managed to
hang in fOT the win. Hosford, also
known for his class 'C' and motocross
talent, is shaping into a fine speedway
rider. For his effort, Bob took home the
gold and earned a ten yard handicap for
next week's race. The trailing main
eventers finished in this order: Robin
Nicolaides, Dennis Sigalos, Bill Manley,
Bob Herz andJim Castor.
A very deserving Jim Ashworth won
tonight's Scratch Main event. Ashworth
suffered a painful shoulder injury early
in the season and un til tonigh twas
having trouble returning to his old hard
.charging style. That's behind Jim now as
he rode a very fast race to win the
night's high paying event. Ashworth was
up against Bill Manley, last week's
Scratch Main winner Robin Nicolaides
and the unbelievable thirteen-year-old,
84 pound Dennis "The Kid" Sigalos.
All four riders went into the first
tum nearly side by side with contact
being the inevitable result. In the
process Nicolaides was pushed down
and out to the wall. AshworLh took the
opportunity to grab the lead wi th
Sigalos and Manley just behind_
Ashworth pushed to a comfortable lead
leaving a race for second. With all the
. cool of a veteran, "The Kid" managed
to hold off the persistent charge of Bill
Manley to grab second.
The second Division Main event was
won by Rod Sexton. Rod defeated
Bobby Butt, Toby Rash and a falling
Dennis Armstrong for the win.
..
Robin Nicolaides finished second in the
Handicap Main at OCIR.
..
