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/126480
Chris Morton, Dennis 81 galo s and carry Ross In action at the World Team Cup race In Denmark. England, America qua-,i'y 'or World Cup Finals in P~land _B_ P hall . _ _ ru ce en_ By J ohn Hipkiss VOJENS, Results DENMARK,JUL~ 5 Am erica rode through to the finals of the World T eam Cu p , finishing second behind England by just one point. England scored 33 points, America took 32, with last year's winners Denmark on 25 points, and Sweden with only 5. On a rain-soaked track at Vojens, Denmark, b ot h t he top 14 . . two teams ga ve a scintillaring display of speedway racing to go onto the finals to be held in Poland in September . This was the first appearance of an American team , unlike the winners of this round, England, who won the cup in 1977 by beating Poland, Czechoslovia and Sweden. Had America not had its share of hard luck before and after the meeting they probably would have come awa y being the top scorers. Scott Autrey blew his number one engine in practice and suffered machine problems during the meet. Dennis Sigalos . took a fall m one race . although he remounted and finished third for one point , being only three riders left in the race, and reserve back-up man Kelly Moran also had a ยท , fall . Odd man out was Bruce Penhall although he top scored with 11 points, he cost the team the honor of being Inter-Continental Team Champions by being beat in the last race by th e man very much m form at the moment, England's Dave Jessup, who happened to score a 12 point maximum. Bruce sa.id ther had already qualified so It wasn t that important to win. Fifth member of the American team , Bobby Schwartz had an unhappy night po ints-wise , scoring three points from three rides . He found the track not to his liking as did the otherJawa-mounted riders, mainly due to the rain which had been falling all day. The downpour caused the start to be delayed for an hour, with cries from the England camp for a postponment going unheeded. Heat four saw England and America tying on nine points each, while Denmark was on four . Former World Champion Peter Collins lifted England by beating Ole Olsen in heat three, and by the halfway stage, England led with 17, America 16 and Denmark 10. England continued to triumph and by heat 13 were five ahead of America, who were in tum four ahead of Cup holders Denmark. . America came back to square things up by the penultimate heat to level the scores on 30 points, both at this stage having qualified , with Denmark trailing on 24 points. .. ENGLAND: 33 - Dave Jessup 12. Peter Collins 9. Chris Morton 6. MK:hael Lee 6. AMERICA: 32 - Bruce Penhall. " . Donnis Sigolos 9. Scon Autrey B. Bobby Schwartz 3. Kelly M",... 1. DENMARK: 25 - Ole Olsen 9. Hans Nielson 6. Erick Gunderson 5. Bo Petersen 4. Tommy Knudsen1. SWEDEN: 5 - Jan And...sson4. Hesse Danielsen 1. RK:hard HellsonO Tommy Johansson O L Johansson . . O. Commonwealth Final By J oh n Hipkiss LONDON, ENGLAND ,JUNE 29 The .Com monwealth Final brings together the nine top qualifiers from the British final and the seven top from the Australian round of the World Indvidual Speedway Championship to contest for the top nine places to qualify for the Inter-Continental round. There the top two riders from the American final - Bruce Penhall and Scott Autrey - race their next stage of the championship. The nine qualifiers are Dave Jessup, John Louis, Ivan Mauger, Mike Lee , John Davis, Mitch Shirra, Chris Morton , Billy Saunders and Peter Collins. Along with Penhall and Autrey , they are also joined by the five from the Continental Final (consisting of riders from the Scandinavian coutries), From the Inter-Continental Final, the top 10 riders go through to the world final at Gothenberg, Sweden on September 5. The host nation is allowed to seed into the fina l their top rider, Jan Anderssen, who along with the 10 from the Inter-Continental final , are joined by the top five riders from the European final , consisting of riders from the Eastern communist countries. .., Penhall and Autrey should have no problem in qualifying for the final. l Autrey having raced in two previous finals ; Poland in 1976 and England in 1978 ; in contrast to Penhall who bids for his first show . Penhall's form continues to make him the superstar he deserves to be since leaving California. Bruce has said second to the World Final , he so desperately wants to win the U.S. National Championship. Seems that Mike Bast has held that one too long. Speedway bits aad pieces Bruce Penhall and Steve Gresham bid for a place in the long track final by competing in the semi in Yugoslavia in August. Bobby Schwartz jetted in from England July 15 to race at Ventura , San Bernadino and AScot. July 20 sees Shawn Moran back iii California for a week , followed by his brother Kelly on August 5. A week later, Dennis Sigalos returns for a week . Bruce Penhall returns in September for his brother's wedding, hopefully as World Champion. Sigalos qualified for the final of the European Junior Championship by winning his round in Italy. Last year the title went to Ron Preston. Lance King arrived in England a couple of weeks ago only to be denied permission to ride from the AMA, however, the authorities have relented, and Lance takes pan in a couple_ of meets before returning to race in the national qualifiers. Keith Chrisco is also penciled-in to join Penhall later in the season.