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/126324
especially at W embley where there will be a ca pacity 90 ,000 cro wd . Twelve of th e 16 final ists for Wembley are already known . They are Autrey (U SA) , Mauger (New Zealand), Ol sen (Denmark), Anders Michanek and Jan Andersson (Sweden), lila T er omaa (Fi nla nd) ; John Titman ' (Austra lia) , Hans Wasserman (Germany), Ji ri Stancl, Vaclav Verner , Petre Ondrasik and Zendra Kundra (Czechoslovakia) and Marek Cieslak ( Po la nd ). The other four will come from . England. The top fou r riders from the British Final at Coventry on August 2 will also go forward to Wembley . The British Final will be the toughest round so far . England has so many good riders at present that not even Peter Collins can be confident of his cha nces. Collins, World Champion in 1976, should get through, but Coventry is such a perfect track that gating is very important - and Peter is not the best gater around . It would be atragedy if he didn't make it , but already a number of top rid ers , especially from -Austra lia , have been eliminated. Steve Gresham was the second American . rider to compete in Fredericia and he was the only rider to beat Autrey, but Steve was twice excluded fo r unfair riding and th ose exclusions cost him a place at W embley. Gresham ha s been scoring a lot of points for his club , Bristol, in the British League and had he gone to Denmark look ing just to qual ify, instead of winning the meeting, he might have done better. Hardened riders like Mauger a nd Olsen know that the only thing that matters before the final itself is getting through to the next round. Ole beat Ivan in a run -off for fir st place at the Inter-Continental Final , but he would have been just as pleased to take the seventh and final qualifying place. I went back to Hull recently to d o the television commentary on a b ig individual meeting there and the outstanding rider there - though he didn't win - was Bruce Penhall. Bruce has been a tremendous hit in England and ha s improved his riding no end . It has been hard fo r him , but he settled down well and is a much better rider for th e experien ce. Young Kell y Mo ran is already a big favorite with crowds in England. Kell y had a tough start , took time sorting his bikes out , but he has worked h is wa y up to th e Hull team . Racing in the Bri tish League is never easy , but there is no better education for a rider who wants to compete a t World leve l. I was against the idea that American rid ers who wa nted to com pete in the W orld Championship had to race in England in order to qualify. It see m ed ridiculous to me that any Amer ican rid er who wanted to take part had to leave his own country to do so. However , riders like Scott have be come experi en ced in the sort of conditions ' that World Championship events are held under .. . on quarter mil e tracks of varying su rfaces. I understand that the five American riders in the British League will return home for an American Final in October, and that the two top riders from that event will go through to next yea r' s World Championship rounds . Much depends on wh ere the final is held but I think both systems are unsatisfactory to d ifferent riders , and perhaps another more suita b le qualification m ethod could be found . Barry Briggs • "IT'S TRICK!" Get it on like the champions National Model (3471 Grand Prix Model (3181 Open Class Model (3331 "ITS TRICK'" " #1 IN PROTECTION' " "JOFA, FOR CONFIDENCE'" Jim Pomeroy Tony -tr: Jimmy Ellis Jofa . , . the superior name in dirt bike protection offers a full line of Shoulder Pads like the ones worn by many top riders. 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