Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

seE : WORLD SPEEDWAY GOTHENBURG. SWEDCN.J UNE 3 Beefcake actor Burt Reynolds has made many claims to fame, but now he can add another to his list .. . help ing Scott Autrey through to his seco nd successive European Final of th e Worl d Spee dway Champi onship ! Burt 's assistance is not something that he is likely to know about un less he 's a Cycle Ncws reader (and why not?) , and ca me at a Swedish p icturedrorne cal led the Gothenburg Palladium. Th at 's where the 22-y ear-old Au trey sp en t the h ours before the vital Fin al of the In ter-Continental title-ch ase . . . watching Burt's p art in the movie The Mean Machine. " I needed a way to relax and I fo und it at the movies. It put me in a go od frame of mind. " Scott admitted later. It certain ly did that as Scott raced to a place in the European Fin al, fini sh ing fif th in wha t the Swedish press dubbed "The Little World Fin al." It was a deserv ed tag as th e 16-rider line-up included Ivan Mau ger , Barry Briggs, Ole Olsen . reigning ch amp ion Anders :\Iichanek and eigh t oth er riders with World Fin al expe rience. A measure of the significan ce o f Scott 's superb achievement is the names of the casualty list of those who didn't qualify for th e F.uropean Final. Names like Barry Briggs. current Norwegian cham pio n Dag Lovaas. former World Final runner-up Bengt J ansson, and ex-World Finalists John Boulger and Hasse Holmkvist. Briggo , riding _with a strapped up co llar-bone (fra ctured in a crash in the World Lo ng Track qualifying round three weeks earlier), dived out after only one race - when he was injured in a start ing gate fracas and taken to the hospital for treatment to a nasty gash in his righ t f00 t. America's other representative, Newport's Steve Gresham , failed to ma ke the cut, but can take consolation from the fact that he wo n a race (in what was h is first-ever World Championship meeting) fro m 19 74 Worl d Finalists Dag Lovaas an d To mmy J ohansson an d b ut for an exclusio n for tap e b reaking and a fall wO ld surely f have do ne even be tter. In such a top-class field t ho ugh the inexperienced Californian su rpassed any pre-meeting p redictions from the experts and instead of being outclassed (as expected ) was a lway s in the hunt for points. The experience can only help him in th e future - and p rovide Autrey with a fier ce rival in seasons to co m e. The Inter-Continental title. a n ew meeting on the spe edway ca len dar. went to Kiwi, Ivan Mau ger who beat off the dual Swedish challenge of 1974 World Michanek and 1972 Champion runner-up Bernie Persson. The eigh t 9ualifiers fo r Poland are: Ivan Mau ger (Exe te r and New Zealand) 14. Anders Mich an ek (Rea d ing and Sweden ) 12 , Bernie Perss on (Cra d ley and Sweden ) 11. Ole Olsen (Wo lverhampton and Den mar k ) II , Scott Autrey (Exeter and U.S.A.) 9 , Tommy J ansso n (Wimbledo n and Sweden ) 9. Reidar Eide (Ne wport and Norway ) 8, Phil Cru mp (Newp o rt and Australia ) 8. Reserve fo r Poland is Tommy J ohansson (Hull an d Sweden) 8. Eliminated in Gothenburg were : Dag Lovaas (Oxfo rd and Reading ] 7, J ohn Boulger (Cradley and Australia) 4 . Billy Sanders (Ip swich and Australia ) 4 , Bengt J ansso n (Rea d ing and Sweden ) 4 . Steve Gresham (Newp o rt an d U.S. A.) 3. Hasse Hol mkvist (Oxford and Swed en ) ' 4 , Barry Briggs (Wimb ledon an d New Zealand) I. Wiseco's New 'FMX' Specials - Forged Pistons With New SuperStrength Rings If you think ' FMX' stands for ' Fo rged for Motocross' - yo u' re right! And, if yo u think Wiseco 's ' FMX' Speci al piston s do things o ther pistons don 't, and can't, you' re right again, That's w hy ' FMX' Specia l pisto ns sho uld be part of yo ur arsen al. They're designed for pe rformance. They're stronger, yet lighter, than ordi- nar y pistons, so th ey run longe r. The y run co o le r, with better heal transfer . They give you an increase in rpm 's and horsepower thro ug ho ut the power ba nd . And how abo ut those Supe rSlreng th rings! They're made of du ctile iron for high tensile stre ngth an d flexibility. They're moly-filled for lo ng life, and 10 pr event scuffing. And , the y p ro vid e an excellent seal fo r increased com pressi o n. So, they're best for MX. And, of course, the pistons and rings are W ise co. ThaI's a ll you ne ed 10 kno w abo ut the precision and care tha t go into their design. engineering, d o d manufactu ring. The time is now. Your se cret wea pons a rc here. Go oul .a nd do it ! W iseco Di st ribu tor We st, 8562 Ha m ilton Ave ., Huntington Beach, CA 92 646 The Swi tch Is On - To W ISECO Send for Free 1975 Cycle Pisto n Brochure America invited to World Pairs S cott Autrey Of the 16 the only stars not to have made the big night were Australian Champion Phil Crump. currently Mr. Wonderboy of the British League and -current Gold Hel met match-race champion. Australia 's 20·year-old test ski pper Billy Sanders and the two Americans. Scott Autrey and fellow West Coast cro wd-p lea ser Steve Gresham. No one would de ny th at the Gothenburg meeting. held in the U1levi Stadium where. last September. Anders Michanek won the world crown, was t he hardest q ualifier of t he year. Everyone's targe t: a place in th e to p eight which meant so me world-class riders were going to miss o ut o n the nex t stage o f t he title chase. Scott took no chances. He raced fro m t he gate to score a brilliant win first o ut an d fo llowed that up with a so lid pe rformance scoring p oin ts in each of his remaining fo ur rides to qu ali fy co mfortably fo r the next championship meeting at Bydgoscz, Poland. Fro m there the to p 12 go to the Wemb ley World Final in September. In other words th e Exeter ace curren tl y l Oth in the British league averages - is only five rides a way from being Americ a's first World' Finalist in ' more than 20 years. America is to be invit ed to co mpe te in next year's World Pairs co mpetition. The FIM are to ask the U.S.A. to nominate a p air o f riders to take part in the competition th at now ranks third in speedway's honors lists . The invitation to Am erica follows the performan ces of Scott Autrey and St eve Gre sham in the Inter-Continental Final. FI;\I Vice-president Mr. 'Porn-Porn' Rin gblom said: "America will be asked to compete next year - we have seen evid en ce that they are far stronger than some of the nations already co mpeting. "Scott Autrey has pro ved himself a world-elass performer while Steve Gresham did exceedingly well at Go th enburg, I think that America co uld even go as far as to reach the final of the World Pairs next year. " Several of speedway's weaker nations have been included in this season's qualify ing ro unds with Austria. certainly ranked behind America. reac hing the finals owing to the peculiarities of the dr aw t hat saw st ro ng speedway nati o ns Au tralia, Sweden, Denmark, No rway , and New Zealand co m peting in one sem i-fin al and un ran ked na ti o ns Australia, Yugoslavia, Hun gary and Ita ly competing in another alo ngside England. With th ree te ams fro m eac h semi -fin al j o ining host nat io n Poland in the final it m eant that Austria ma de it b ut New Zealand and Norway were eli minated! TI,e seve n nat ion s th rough to th e final are: Polan d , Den mark, Australia. Sweden , West Germany, En gland and Austria. Russi a withdrew from this year's competition. _ Peter Oakes - -, ... X ~ ;~~n75 ENDURO ~ , Fun ct ion provides enthusiasm. \ . Hereules is first in the U.s. with the specially tuned Fiehtel & Sachs 1251/6 0 and 1751/6 0 G.s. mode l engines. I Sen d fo r free broc hure. I .----------------------~ I I I Name I I Ad dr ess I I I I CitY. Stat e I Zip I BOTaBY Cycles of u.s.a. I1 \ 2023 W. 28t h St. , Cleve land, O. 44113 Tel. (216) 651-6469 ~--------------------, BAYARFA BULTACO Sales Service A ccessories ~T~ -.I. a m 0 ~ \l:f/·1· --. ~ 1352 Centinela, W. L.A. ~. , - 213-826-7856 ' - - - ..... ... £; : ILLUSTRATED CATALOG r3llE] 50c PRODUCT S INC . ~" 34 no •.... h. 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