Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

- ----------------~---~---.~ - T he quest io n t hey want answered, of co urse, is w hether Autrey can go on from here and become one of the truly g reat Yankee rid ers i n the Milne/Lamereaux tr adition. Certainly he 's got to b e considered America's number one on a global basis now even if h e can' t quite match Mike Bast around Costa Mesa ! As hard as it m ight be for dyed -in-the-wool SoCal fan s to swallow, y ou must face facts : speedway d oe s not be gin an d end at Costa Mesa. To b e a c o mpeten t pro fessional spe edway ri de r yo u must b e able to tac kle top class co mpany away fro m the Oran ge Coun ty Fai rgrounds. Au trey pro ved he can d o j ust that. So , t oo, d id Mik e Bast o n h is recent to u r of A us tralia. But Mike has yet t o m ak e an im pression in the Brit ish League. So...it is with mu ch ap pre he nsi o n th at w e Aussies aw ait th e arrival o f t he world sta rs super-troupe . It gets even rougher ! A fierce exchange o f fisticuffs between British Lion s' team manager Reg Fearman and A us t r a li a n In tern a tio nal test star, John Langfield, finished off the British team's tour of Australia. T he fight occurred at the Jerilderie Park speedw ay , n ear Newcastle (New So uth Wales) at the end of an 18 -hea t challenge mat ch between Britain and a Northe rn Cities select team. Britain w on 72-36 but the match was fra ught w it h tension and drama as the rival riders tried to knoc k each other into the fence. It was a n o-h olds-barred affair, th e like of which has never been seen be fore in Australian speedway. Se veral times the riders almost came to blows an d loud abuse was hurled about on the race track. Much of the antagonism w as caused by Fearman's unbending attitude to his team's st rong riding tactics. This riled Langfield wh o , patri o tic to the very last, rose in defia nce and after being goaded by Fearman, resorted to fists, The scu ffle was quickly broken up before any seri ous b lows could be landed. The trouble between th e two teams began in heat three when Bill Landels (Australia) fell after bein g run wide by En g li shm a n Reg Wilson. Landels claimed he ha d been pushed off.. .and the fact t hat he was excluded fro m the re-run by the steward in charge of the meeting o nly fueled the fire. Then Aussie stalward Billy Sanders, 18, claimed he was given the run-around by an English rider when trying to pass. Gr ad ually the whole A ustralian camp be came need led and th e British side responded by riding even more forcefully. Mo st o f · th e trouble betw een Langfield an d Fearman st arted the nigh t before in the seventh an d fin al T est of t he series a t th e Sydney Sh owground. Britain won th at mat ch by 55 points to 53 but no t before a tremen d ou s a mount of d ram a that had the crowd on t heir toes. Austra lia went into the mat ch very much under-strength because of a cyclone w hich hit the coast of Qu een sland and closed Brisbane airport fo r thre e d ay s. This me an t two of Australia 's best speedway riders : Steve Reinke, w ho had w o n the Wills' lnrem at ionale in Sydney several week s earlier , and J o hn Titman , a fo rmer Halifax te am rider in the Brit ish League First Divisio n , could not get airbo rne. At th e last m oment they had to be rep laced by ve te ran o ld- ti me r Bo b Sharp, who was hope lessly out of his depth i n this co m pa ny , a n d K i w r -cu m -Au s s ie r es i de n t Paul Johnston e. Paul was reall y n othin g better than a No vice but he put up a tremendous display tha t kept th e Kangaroos ' hopes alive for m ost of th e mat ch . Early o pin io n was th at withou t Reinke and Titman, th e meeting would be a walk-over for th e Porns. However, everyone recko ned without the figh ting spirit of th e kids. The Aus sie teen ager s threw their whole heart and soul into ridin g the best meeting of their lives to keep th e Limeys in chec k. I S-ye ar -olds Billy Sanders and Ph il Heme were su pe rb , and 21 .year-old Rick y Day virtuall y held th e team together wit h h is 12 p oin t t o ta l. Then th ere was J ohn Lang fiel d . Captai n -elect for th e night in lieu o f flood-bound R einke, Langfield ca rrie d . Au st rali a o n his sun-b urned sho ulde rs magnificently. He topped the sc or e chart and rode every other race from the p its as the kids d id their st uff. Langy whipped up enthusiasm like no other Australian captain has managed in recen t times and it was this prevalen t team sp iri t th at saw the locals give the mu ch -vaunted powerhouse Lions suc h a close tu ssle. Go ing in to th e las t heat, Aust ralia needed 5 -1 maximum poin ts to score a d ra w . The race was crucial. Langfield an d Greg Ken twell face d the absol u te hot-sh o t top Bri t ish p air ing of Pe ter Colli ns, 19·y ear -old wonde r b oy of last year's Wo rld T ea m Cup at Wem bley, an d Scotsman George Hunter. The Brit ish du o had scored h ea vily ear lier in th e n ight and loome d as to ugh n uts to crack. . A t the first attem pt, Hun te r b roke th e st artin g tapes and was exclu de d! In came the reserv e ride r, Dou g Wyer, to join Collins against the tw o eager Aussies. Then the ta pes wen t again...and thi s time the steward in charge of the mee tin g excluded Collins! That left Wyer as th e lone Limey to face Langfield and Kentwell, At the third "go", Kentwell shot clear from Wyer and Langfield. Langfield and Wyer passed and re-passed man y times d urin g the torrid, . boo ts-an d-all three lap journey. First o ne had the lead, then the other. Langfield did a brilliant job of shepherding Kentwell home and Greg dul y collected the vital three points for the win for his country but on the run-in to the flag, Wyer picked up tre mendous drive on the inside of Langfield and flung his bi ke through a narrow space in one last-ditch despera te attempt to get second poin Is. Langfield couldn't cover the move quickly enough and as the flag fell it was Wyer's wheel that passed the line first for the much-sought two p o in ts that meant the desti ny of the ma tc h. Wyer's ride was brillian t, to say the least, and won the test for Britai n . A fterwards he r eceived the traditional bum ping in the air from his teammates, but it was the Aussies who were the heroes of the hour. So near, yet so far. \ Langfield 's tactics upse t the British, particularly manager Fearman and it was this episode that began the ill-feeling between the pair. A heated discu ssion took place on the after-match parade and obviously things had not wound down by the t ime they reached Newcastle the next night. However, no real damage was done and the Lions left for New Zealand two days later, looking ba ck proudly on a magnificent re cord. For three months they toured this • co un try a nd had only on e d efea t ! THE VARIETY B 'I. Team British announced Triu mph Norton Inc. h as let it be known that Dave Aldana, San ta Ana, Califo rn ia, and Mik e Kidd , Hurst , Texas, will be the two official team riders for the 19 74 AMA pro fessional rac ing season. Mart y Tripes has signed to ride t he Florida mo to cro ss series, ro unding wasp out th e T eam Brit ish effo rt. SIDECAR Mik e Kidd and his ch ief me ch anic will co m pete full time on th e Na ti onal Circu it for th e firs t ti me in '74. Aldana will head in to the race year as the winner o f four of t he five d iffe ren t types of Natio nal Race s, wi th h is chief mechanic, Sal Acost a. He has only to win a National Short Track to become the second rider in national history to win all five types a t least on ce. He will ride a Norton 750 four-stroke twin in all Half-Mile, Mile, T .T ., and Road Racing events and a Rickman 250 two-stroke sing le in Short Track races. Kidd will be looking for his fir st Nat ional vic to ry in '74. Young Mike is considered th e o u ts ta nding professio nal Dirt T rack rider in the So uth west and has won over 100 Dirt T rac k races since tu rning pro fessional. Mik e will pilo t a Trium p h 75 0 t win o n th e Mile, Hal f-Mile and T .T. Trac ks, then switch to a "Trid ent" tr ipl e for road races. He joins Aldan a o n a Ri ckman 250 for Sh o rt Track even ts. • MOTOCROSS MACHINES A ll m odels sto cked Importer - Dist . Bertus F.C.S, 1340 N. Hacienda La Puen te , Calif . 9 1744 COMPL~E: MACHINE St-40P ANO SI!:RVIC~. R E P A IR ~ ~ PJs _ _ler ~Cycle Engineering & Supply 1 1 40_ A N. ... ""...... 1(1.... . K R AE .....ER c .... 9 ,",806 ( 7 t 4) 1530 -5 72 0 What ever you have to sell - Cycle News want ads can sell it 15

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