Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; World Speedway t .J-< 0.. < New cha m pion Tarabanko (left) puts it to former cha m p Spinka with the only style the Russians know - WFO. " c a: ~ 0- J "' et :t u ::; From Russia w ith menace. > 'o " en World Ice Racing Championship ___-"" t-"" if o Fly in g wed ge of Bolsheviks at the Wor ld Ice Rac ing Final - Tsibrov, Vasakov , Raspodin . By Peter Oakes From Russia with menace! That was the message spelled out by the mighty Russkies in this year's World Ice Racing Championship. 18 In front of massive 100,000 pl us crowds the Russians annihilated the rest of the world to storm to' a convincing 1-2-3-4-5-6 in this year's World Final, held in the Moscow Dynamo Stadium over t wo days. A m e a sure of th e Russ ians' su periority o n t he 4 00 m et er trac k was that defending wo rld champion Milan Spinka trailed h o me 12 th in th e 16 st ro ng field . . . 22 points behind n ew world Number One, 25-y ear-old Sergei Tarabanko who le ft all h is rivals trailing in a wake of chi ppe d ice as he skated to 10 suc cessive race wins. It was Ta raban ko's first tast e o f World Championship action in 19 75 as reigning national champion - h e was one of two Russians seeded direct in to the final. But that lack of earlier ac ti o n ma de no difference to the man fro m Siberia who was ne ver once he aded fr om th e gate in his openin g five rides on the first day - and then mad e fo ur Iightning starts fro m five attempts on the second day, Th e one ti me he missed the star t it took him three laps to fight h is way through from the back, but he did it even th o ugh a Seco n d place wo uld have been eno ugh to secure the t itl e. Scorers 1. Se rge i Tara ba nko (USSR) 30 . 2 . Vla di mir Ts ibrov (USSR) 27. 3. Sergei Kazako v (U SS R) 24.4. Y u r t D u b i n l n (USSR) 23. S. Vl adim i r Sm i rnov (USSR ) 22. 6 . V l k to r Chapa lo (U SS R) 20.7 . R oe lof Ttlijs (Holla n d) 17. 8. V lad im ir Raspop in (USSR) 15. 9. Zd o n e k Kudrna (C zech. ) 1 2. 1 0. V i k tor Su k n c v ( U S S R ) 1 1. 11. B o K l ndgre n (Sweden) 10. 12. M ilan Sp i nka (Cze c h. ) 8. 13. Jan Ver ne r (Czech .) 8. 14 . Ml ros la v V er ne r rczeen.) 6. 15. St ef a m K ub ic ek (C ze c h .) 5. 16. Han s Johansson (Sweden) 2 . British League woos Americans Despite a lack of win ter racin g th ere 's been no break in the fren zied ac t ivity as seve ral tracks have picked up th e sce n t o f Ame ricans. Oxford - who have sign ed 1971 W.orld Ch ampion Ole Olsen from Wolverhampton - offered Jeff Sexton a season's co ntract. Wimbledon, skip pe re d by Barry Briggs, wanted to bring Mike Bast over but are now try ing to get the low-down on Keith Kruser (who spent the winter in Au stralia) and Steve Gresham 's brother Jim . And a c o u ple of tracks dropped hin ts to fo rmer National Ch ampion Rick Wo ods th at he would be welcomed in Britain again. B;'t so fa r o nly Gr esh am (Steve) and Autrey are definite starters although Oxford are h opeful th at Sexton will chan ge h is mind and Wim bl ed o n would be willi ng to take Bast on a mon th 's tr ial. With America being allowed to nominate two riders to this year's World Champions hi p - t hey wo uld enter at the In te r-Conti ne n tal Final level which i s on ly sep a rated from the We m b Ie y -staged final itself by the European Fina l in Russia - the British authorit ies have come up with a scheme to find the two q ualifiers. Their idea? That th e AlItA fly over t wo Americans to join Au trey and Gresham and ano th er 12 Co mmonwealth riders to co mpete in three qualify ing ro unds o n Brit ish tr acks with th e two Ame ricans who score m ost p o in ts over the trio of m eet i ngs g o i ng t hr ou gh t o th e Inter-Continental Final in Gothenburg, Sweden, early in June. Alternativel y the British Sp eedway Pr om oters Asso ciation suggest that those Americans riding in British League (assumi ng there are more than two) take part in the normal British rounds opponents would include all English, A ustra lian a n d New Zealand co m pet it o rs - wit h the two to p scoring Yanks again going to Gothen burg. The m a i n difference between the two schemes is that one series wo uld be limited to Americans, Australians and N e w Zealander s (the Aussies can nomi nate three s ta r t e rs for the Inter-Continental Final and th e Kiwis two) but the oth er thrown open to every o ne engaged in British League racing except the> Scan dinavians and E uropean co mpetitors. Brit ish fans we re ab le to sam p le A merican speedw a y act ion fo r th em selves t his winte r. The Saturd ay afternoon television program " Worl d of S p o rt " - on Britain 's in de pendent network - showed highligh ts fro m th e first t wo America vs The Wo rld test matches fro m Ho usto n Astrod o me and Cos ta Mes a. The y a lso screen ed highlights from the Moscow-staged Worl d Ice- Racin g Final. Reignin g Wo rld Ch amp ion Anders Michanek, st ill reco vering from a broken ankle sustained in a crash while r iding a fun-bike o n an Au stralian be ach, ha s rejoined Brit ish League Reading this year. Oth er major moves see Olse n to Oxford; Am erican visitor Chris Puse y move from Belle Vue to Halifax; th e return to regular British racing of 13 Swedes who we re banned last year ; and the retirem en t of cu rr ent British Cham pio n Eri c Boococ k who h as taken over as manager at First Division Belle Vue. I n th e Se co nd Division - now renamed the new National League - an application is on the table to start leag ue racing at Mildenhall - ho me of t he United States Air Force base. The track, only two miles from the cam p, is anxious to attract Am erican interest and if they get the go-ah ead one of their first attrac t io ns will be a series of match-races involving American Scott Autrey. •

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