Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• anona eason The Speedway : New Zealanders Mauger & Briggs By Gary Van Voorhi s HO USTON , TEX. , FEB. 2 Four time World Sp eedway Cham pion Ivan Mauger ro de to an impre ssive victory in the Ameri can Round o f th e World Champ ion s Series. Mau ger de feated fellow New Zealander and four tim e World Speedway Ch ampi on Barr y Briggs, Swedish five time World Speedway Ch ampion a ve Fundi n an d American Speedway Ch ampion Mike Bast in t he Yam ah a Sp eedway Classic. The Speedway even t climax ed a t h r e e day Yam aha Gold C up extrava gan za wh ich in cluded th e Houston TT/Short Track Nationals. T he Speedway Spec ta cu lar was put together by Barry Briggs and Ivan Mau ger to in tr od uce to sp eedway fans ar o und th e world a show bringing together the cream of the top World Speedway Riders in competition against the host country 's best. In the U.S. round th e match also had another purpose; tha t o f introducing the sport to fans in a part o f the country where Speedway is no nex isten t. Mike Bast, SRA A merican Speed way Champion an d a top choice to re presen t the U.S. in the World Championship Se mifinals, led th e A mer ican contingent. Bas t also led the sco rers in qualifying for t he semi-finals with "Wi ld" Bill Cod y , another top speedway rider on the Califomia circuit, scoring second best. Although Bast and Cody were the only Americans to advance to t he semifi nals, teammates So nny Nutter, Mike Curoso, and Danny " Berserko " Becker, and Williams turned in class rides. "Berserko" berserked it once too often and ended up eating a haybale after tangling with Fundin in o ne of the heats leaving reserve ride r Ed Williams to ride t he rem ain ing rounds. New Zeal an ders Briggs an d Mauger led the World Ch am pions Team with ave Fundin, English start stars Ray Wilson and Terry Betts; German Ch amp io n J osef Ange rmuller, and Polish Superstar Zenon Piech rounding o ut the pow erful team. The fifteen elimination heat system, allowing each rider five rides against the oppositio n, transferred, in scoring order, Bast, Cody, PIech, Fundin, Wilson, Mauger, Briggs and Angermulle to the Semis. Mat ch one was a Briggs/Mauger d ue l They t hen went out on the qua rter-mile t rack and performed some pretty snazzy stun ts themselves. for the entire four lap race w ith a lead swap on alm ost every straigh t : the importan t one going to Briggs. Match two en de d with a bit of excitement as Bast over took Fundin at the flag a fter breaking th e tapes on the st art; an automatic disq ualification. Bast pleaded mechanical mal fu ncti on of his clutch hand, was fined $50 an d allowe d to race the Yam aha Speedway Classic Final. A co mbination of thirteen World and one America n Spe edway Cha mpionship titlists faced th e starting gate as th e match went off with Mauger getting a good hole sh o t and holding off determined ch arges b y Briggs and Fundin . Bas t fo und himself somewhat outclassed. Mauge r led Briggs, Fundin and Bast to t he flag fo r an exciting climax to the only A merican Ro und of t he World Cham p ions Series . Bast, alt hough finishing fourth in the final , an d Bill Co dy, wh o was defeated in the Semi even t , pro ved that American riders can ra ce on a level with th e wo rld class riders alt hough we still h ave a lo ng way to go before an American Briggs or Mauger comes along. • The Short Track: Mike Gerald on a (Gasp!) Honda XL 36,888 spectators d id more t han th eir share of ro m pin ' and stompin' under th e Astrodo me roof as they cheere d the Louisiana Short Track Ace to the win over Honda team mate , Dave Hansen. The D o u bl e National Hou st on meeting has bee n, since it's inception, the ann ual coming o ut par t y fo r the rid ers o n th e AMA's Grand Nationa l Cham pio nsh ip Circ uit. Ne w fact ory team riqers, new leath ers, new Expert faces -an d , most importantly , new eq uipment go o n publi c d isplay fo r the first ti me. The afternoon practice sessions saw team man ager s clocking both t heir riders and the opposition. All clocks indicated th at Bultaco -rnou n ted Roger Crump, By Jack Mangus Photos by Bob Lenk & Gary Van Voorhis HOUSTON, TX., FE B. 2 Mike Gerald , who describes himself as "150 pounds of romp in', stompin ' Caj un sex appeal," ro mp ed and stomped his way to victory in t he 20-1ap Yamaha Gold Cup National Cha mpionship Sh ort Trac k tonight. Int ernational speedway stars, representing about two dozen World Champ ionsh ips amongst them, wait with baited breath fo r stunt lady Debb ie Lawler to clean 21 cars. 24 "Back ing it in" takes on a who le new meaning in International class speedwa y on a 440 track. Georgia rookie Expert and fo rmer Cycl New s Rider of the Year, was the fastes man on t he track and his q ualifyin time of 15:20 b acked up t he pract ice Ra pid Roger earned h imsel f the firs heat p ole position and the $ I 00 poste for fast qualifier. T he gap betw een ' Crump and th 4 8th and last q ualifier, former Houst o Short Track win ner, J im adorn, wa exactly one half of a second - 0 .15 :2 to 0.15 :70 . T he first heat was a Cru mp ru na wa as mo st of the cro wd's attention wa given to the defending Houston Sho r Track winner and current Gran National Champion, Kenny Rob ert Roberts wo rked his way fro m a bac row start to thi rd at the chec kered fla be hind cru mp and another back ro starter, Yamaha-mounted Pat McCa u Crum p had an inju ry -plagued J unio season but knowledgeab le race follo we were aware of ,his ta len t an d the fa that the ' 74 Buitaco short trackers ha added displacemen t over the '7 3 b ike. Ro berts, who comp lete ly d omina te last year's Housto n races, see me d to b having problems wit h t he 1974 bike The Y amah a tea m switch fro Champio n -fram ed bikes was reportedl caused by a disagr ee me n t betwee Yamaha's dirt track ra ce man ager , She Theutt, and Champion Frame's Dou Schwerma as to what wo uld wo rk an what wou ldn 't. Mike was very happy abo ut win

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