International Champions
Chall~nge - Rounds one/two
U.S. jumps to
big lead over
W 'orld team
By Dennis Greene
COSTA MESA . CA . MAR. 2
(Top) Alan Christian exhibits his classic A m erican style at Costa Mesa.
(Center) Bast and Ox le y take Mauger and Ross f or a ride. (Below) Bob
. Sc hwartz. Ivan M l! uger an d Dave Sim s at full t hrottle .
For years this annu al event has been called the
U. S. versus the World, but this year the name
was changed to the International Champions
Challenge Series; and that is wh at it is all about.
The best from' the United
States challenge the best International stars from England,
New Zealand , Sweden ' and all
points East.
Round one
. 10
With the playing of the National
Anthem. the near-capacity crowd sat
down to i1 night of the hottest racing
ever run on the small southland track.
The fina l score showed a romp for
the U.S .. but we worked for every
point. Before the first event was run,
there was 't ro u ble when Mike Bast . the
current U .S. Speedway Champ .' broke
th e tapes at the starting line when he
took off with the green light , which
was not iii time with the release of the
starting gate. The trouble was quickly
worked out. so both I he light and the
gate worked together and the show was
on its way ,
There were 18 events, all were four
laps with two riders from' each team on
the track at the same time. To win was
worth three points, a second place
earned two points, a third one point
and a zero for last. Of the 18 events.
the U.S. team won 14; taking first a nd
second in eight. They ran first a nd
third in five others and first and last in
one.
T he fina l score of 74 't o 34 may look
a bit lopsided , but you m ust remember
that there are five nights of ra cing in
this Challenge Series, with a total score
being kept to determine the overall
winner. In fact . it is possible to win
more nights of racing than your
opponent and lose by the point spread,
In past years , the visitors have found
the very small tracks very hard to use
their full-throttle style of racing on.
