Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125847
seE • • ORLD SPEE WAY Rough and tumb le speedway Down Under. Fisticuffs , gentlemen? Really ! By Peter White British speedway stars Jim McMillan (o u ts ide ) and Peter Collins in action at Syd ney Showground. Basi survives Sydney The Sydney Royal Showground A lethal weapon? Commentary By Steve Bast Well, Mike an d I have returned home fro m w hat may be the most dis astro us racing season ever Down Under. We left Australia three weeks early and we are, luckily, still wa lking and ta lking. It seemed that every time we stepped over our bikes for the last SA L ES SERV ICE Welding Port ing Accessories 1352 Centinela. W. Los Angeles Corner of Santa Mo nica Blvd. & Centinela Open 9 to 6 Tues-Sat 9 to 9 on Thursday three wee ks, it might have hee n our last. It was in the air: the crowd roaring . the season at its peak, and the local riders didn't seem to care if they ate a rear wheel or hit the fen ce. It was the first time in my 10 years of racing that I actually felt I was tampering with my life. I had to back off! It all started four years ago with Chuck Jones wanting to make a good showing for the U.S. in world speedway at the Sydn ey Royal : one-t hird mile, narrow. five-inch ce ment crash wall and very , very fast! Chuck's accident happened in a Handicap race with six men on that fata l track. Four men in one comer is bad enough because if one rider goes down at that speed you only have two choices: lay it down if you have time, or hit the wall rather than hitting the fallen rider. That's why Handicap races are so dangerous. Barry Van Pragg, son of former World Champion Lionel, was hurt this season just this way. He tried to take three light standards and 20 feet of cem en t wa ll out with his head. He is still in the hospital unable to walk. Barry started 90 yards back with three second division boys up on the 10 and 20 yard lines. One rider fell . Four riders, including my brother Mike, either laid it down or hit the wa ll. Barry was two feet fro m t he crash wall with no place to go and no choice to make. - - It is said that four men in a scratch race is pretty safe be cause there's more ~ n ta Mo n ica F rwy . room on the track but Geoff Curtis, a top first division rid er , was leading his heat when a rider behind him got a little too much tra ction and hit Geoff's rear wheel sending hi m into the wall at top speed. This same accident co uld have occurred at any other track and he might still be alive today. It happened iust in front of the Queen's viewing stand. I wonder what she would have though t had she been there. People say, "Well, they must have made it worth your w hile," but I would have traded it all to be able to say, "No. I never saw a thing." Motor racin g doesn't have to be unsafe, but at Sydney people say, "We will make a man out of you. If you don't make it here, forget it!" There is more here than just "acciden ts happen," time and time again, season after season. " "hen will so meone say, make it safer or close it? I hop e before it happens again . Soon after the Curtis incident the phone rang. It was my Dad, calling from New Zealand w it h more bad news. He was at a road race with t he American Team and had witnessed the crash of Cal Rayborn. Nightmares of these crashes and other crashes over the years still hamper myself and m y family. Next time you go to the starting line watch out for fellow riders. Ride safe and finish, or you will be haunted by the ghosts of the motorcycling family for the rest of your life. • The Brit ish Lions speedway test team has stomped Australia ! T he Limeys carried off th e first five tests effortlessly...and the Aussies were left flo und erin g after an acute shortage of riding talen t a t the most critical t ime of t he year. Bu t the Kan garoo s managed to get it a ll bac k toget he r albeit momentarily - to cut into the Lio ns' tail in the sixth test in Brisb an e. Her e the host side won 61-47 for its first victory of the seve n-match series. T he Brisbane ma tch was a torrid, elbows-and-boots affair with no holds barred between the two an tagoni sts . When Queenslander Jack White tipped Englishman Eric Ilroadbelt off his bike during a heat race, all hell broke loose. Broadbelt tried to pop one on White; the crowd went wild and while beer cans were being flung gaily around the track, one demented spectator leaped the fence, laid a handful of fingers onto Broadbelt and then caugh t his leg on Br o a dbelr's rapidly ch urn ing back wheel. The viola tor's leg was badly lacerated and almost tom ofL.the last word being th at the leg might have to be completely amputated by surgery. A nasty Slate of a ffa irs as the British went down in a humiliating defeat. But that one lapse apart, the Lions have been brill ian t tourists this time around. T hey've had the measure - and easily lao - of Australia and various selected local sides wherever they 've clashed around the h uge Continent. Now they' re back in Sydney fo r the seventh and final test on Saturday night before flying on to New Zealand fo r a short stint. i.whcre the feathers are sure to fly! Meantime, the Polish international star, Antoni Woryna, has wrapped up his Australian tou r wit h two appearances at the Sydney Showground - on hopelessly waterlogged tracks each ti me. Woryna was moderately successful in his first meeting but was all at sea and suffered from ma chine troubles nex t time out. However, the fans loved him for his gameness and he drew well at the gate with his unique "I ron Curtain" appeal. Woryna is another to move onto New Zealand where he will oppose the British test team. The next big deal for Australian speedway fans is the arrival of the Ivan Mauger troupe of world speedway stars, afte r the Astrodome. T he hig guns under the Mauger banner - feat ure all the World Championship winners of modern times including Mauger himself, Barry Briggs, Ove Fu ndin , Ole Olsen and expert in ternational ride rs Chris Pusey (England) , Bert Harkins (Scotland) and Poles Edward J ancarz and Zenon Piech . Also join ing the troupe is Am erican , Scali Autrey. T he troupe is racing initially in New Zea land... and then they fly to Australia fo r engagements at the Liverpool Raceway, near Sydney, and Jerilderie Park, near Newcastle (NSW). The riders most fans arc anxiously wailing to see are the two young world class Poles. Piech and Jancarz, and youthful Californian Autrey . Scott has a big reputation in world speedway after a great debut season for Exeter in the First Division of the British League last year and supporters everyw here are clamouring to see him in action.