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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126402
Mauger and Bast dive into a Ventura corner just a little quicker than Ross and Oxley: set of leathers to fill in th e spo t on th e World team. " Barry is only slightly kn own in th e spo rt. Briggs won th e World Tit le severa l times, th e Lon g Track every few years . alon g with Best Pairs, Brit ish Leagu e . was given a few med als by t he Q uee n of En gl and , has ha d a dozen or so books writt en a bou t him and can still hold his own . Besid es all th e raci ng th at he has laid ou t for th e two teams , Barry has been working ou t plans for a one-weeke nd Speedway school to be held thi s weeken d a t R acin g World . As the fan s ca me ou t onto th e track afte r th e even t to say "H i" to th e guys from th eir hom e count ries" you begi n to won der if indeed "Music is th e Universa l Language" or just maybe it 's racing. The score book will show that th e World team won 12 of th e 18 event s, four by tak ing first and second . The other six went to th e Am ericans, th ree for Shawn and th ree for Schw artz . Now th e who le show was packed up and moved to the Ventura County Fa irgrounds for roundf our on a small track . Round fo ur VENTURA , CA , .MAR. 10 Still a little moody over Thursday night's loss to the World team, the Americans greeted the fans for the fourth round of this In ternationa l Champi on s Chall enge Series. Mike Faria, th e number one ricier from northern California , came down to fill in for th e injured Bruce Penhall and added seven points tothe overa ll score. Bob Schwartz cam e int o th e night 's show with six more po int s ea rned over th e next high rider, but had one of those nights that he would ju st as soon forget. He got upside dow n in ' one race, but managed to keep it .running , - , ~ ., - and finished th e ra ce . He had a lready won his first two events and rea lly was down in th e mouth over his sp ill, but ' his tr oubles were not over.yerl In his fin al ride , he tri ed a power pl ay to th e outside, on ly to mak e co ntact with the wall, kn ock in g off the cha in . Bobb y was not hun and sho uld be one of the hig h sco re rs th is T hursday night at Ascot for th e final eve nt of th e ser ies. T he America n tea m did win th e race meet a t Ventu ra , but onl y by eigh t poin ts and thi s puts you r mind to wonder if th e visito rs ca n co me from the ir first defeat by over 40 points on a sma ll track to within ju st eigh t poi nts in three r a ce m eets, wh at woul d happen if th er e was a month of ra cing, or even seve n events ? • ' The top World talent really does adapt to all ra ce tracks much faster than, the Americans do when th ey go overseas', Larry Ross looks as if he had been riding in th e States all his life and he ea rned 10 poin ts for th e visitors , winning two events , Anders Mich an ek likewise looked gr eat and was high point man for th e W orld team wit h 13 points. The fina l sco re of 58-50 gives you some idea of what I a m ge tt ing at. W e will win th e seri es because of overa ll wins and overall score , but th e m argin is just toQ close . , The fin al event thi s Thursd ay n ight on th e half m ile a t Ascot will reall y displ ay th e World tal ent to Am eri can Speedwa y fa ns. Ab ou t th e only rea l qu estion that will be answered th at night is just how much th e Am erican Speedway riders have learned since last year. H ave Bob Schw artz, Shawn Moran and Mike Bast got th e. skills to kee p it from bein g a to ta l wip eout fo r • th e U .S. te am ? The 1979 speedway season will sta rt in April at Costa Mesa on Fri d ay nigh t, Apr. 20: a t San Bernardin o on W ednesday, Apr . 25 : at Ascot o n Thursday, Apr. 26 : a nd a t Ventura l a~e,i :tJ~ eJo!.,I2 ,,,:eek_. '. . , _,f !t IA bove) T om M orley and Rudy M uts mi x it up at Ascot. (Belo w) Schwartz, leading, look ed goo d but didn't fare well at Ve ntura. 2.1.-