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o 00 0') ~ (Top) Cris Morton and Bruce Penhall in the run-off for first. (Above) Scott Autrey (second from right) had problems; didn't qualify. Intercontinental Speedway Qualiller Penhall came within inches in the run-off of winning the event. Penhall makes it; Autrey, Mauger, Olsen don't By John Hipkiss LONDON , ENGLAND, AUG . 3 The Intercontinental (semi) fmal of the World Individual Speedway Championship produced many surprises, not so much the fact that blond Californian Bruce Penhall came within inches of winn ing the meet , but the shock elimination of six-time World Champion Ivan Mauger. and fellow jawa-sponsored comrade Ole Olsen. 14 Penhall said before the meet started that he wanted to win this one to go along with his title from the qualifier held at Anaheim last November, and that's what he thought he had done. After the last heat race against Den mark's Hans Nielson , in which hardly a n inc h separated the rid ers, Bruce was convinced he had just "pipped" Nielson at th e post and he waved bot h arms in the air down the bac k str aight awa y, only to be told on returning to t he pits th at the referee had awarded a win to the Da ne and secon d position to Bru ce. (Nielson has become Penhall's "bogey man" of recent weeks as he also beat Bruce in the monthly Golden Helmet match race challenge.) With the loss of a point in this last race and ' two more points that Bru ce lost in his third ride, Bruce had a total of 12 po in ts, eq ual with Englishm a n Cris Mon on. A run-off for th e title of Intercontinental Champion between Morton and Penhall was virtually won at the toss of a coin for starting positions. Monon won the toss and chose the fast outside gate position, leaving Bruce on the hard, slick pole . Both riders gated evenly but with ' a little extra drive on the outside Monon took the lead down the back straightaway giving him just a few vital inches' lead on the trailing American. Penhall's first race saw him get ou t of th e stan like a gang of bandits, lea ving class riders Dave Jessup and t hree tim e World Cham pion Ol e O lsen for dead . Likewise, in his second ra ce when he walked all over three Engli shmen, Morton , Davis and Mike Lee . However in Penhall's third race he lost two very valuable points when he was surprisingly beat by Australian Billy Sanders and the last qualifying rider , Peter Collins. Heat 15 saw Bruce's easiest ride when he rode off and left Denmark's Finn Thomsen. and Bent Rasmussen , and Finnish rider Kai Niemi. Heat 20 left an interesting 'situation with Penhall needing a win to take the title and his three opponents, Mauger, Nielson and fellow countryman Scott Autrey, all needing to win the last race to qualify for the world final. A very interesting situation with Penhall already having enough points, but hungry for the titl e; current World Champion Mauger, probably the greatest speedway rider ever, desparately needing three points to qualify for his 15th sucessive world final appearance; and Autrey just praying that he could get a little extra power fro m his slow machines to get that vital win. However out of the blue came Nielson ui take the flag, or so the referee said, followed by Penhall, which meant curtains for Mauger and Autrey. America's other rider in this meet, Autrey, had an uneasy day. He looked good in his first race which he won , tr ailed in last in his next, two points from his third saw him back in conten tion, but what finally finished him was an engine failure in his fourth race, when his machine mysteriously lost power, and he lost a run-off for reserve against Ole Olsen. Other surprises in the meet were Pet er Collins , who finished in the last qualifying position , 10t h , with seven poi nts and Dave Jessup , who started as one of the pre meet favorites, scoring nine points which included a blown big end. It's going to look like a very strange world final , with 61 sen as a reserve and no Ma uger or Autrey. Although these th ree ride rs may have had a bad meet they are still among the top 16 in the world and it is a pity they cannot display their skills in speedway's premiere event. All the three Jawa factory riders, Lee, Olsen and Mauger, were down on power. Even though Lee qualified, the Weslake machines proved to be the more powerful. Penhall had said befo re this meet that he wasn 't raising his hopes too high for the world title, but that may now have changed a little. What a great ambassador to the sport for America Bruce is, always wanting more for his country. If he wins the title there sure is gonna be a big party. Results . OUALIAERS : 1. Cris Monon (121; 2. Bruce Penhall (121 3. Billy Sandon (11); 4. ~ Niemi (11); 5. Rnn ; ~ nOI; 6. 0 .... ~ 191; 7. John Davis191; B. Mike Leo 191; 9. Hans N-'I8l; 10. " - Collins 10le0 - , 161. ......1 . NON-OOALIRERS: 1. Scott Auvey 161; 2. l\Ill n Malger l5I; 3. John l.ouio (3); 4. Mitch ShimI (1); 5. Bent_IOI. m; Speedway news Steve Greshman broke a bone in his right ankle in a recent track crash at his home track , Swindon, but will still compete in th is week's long track sem i in Yugoslavia along with Bruce Penhall. Kelly Moran returned home for a week after a track crash at Birmingha m when he chipped his elbow. Q ualifiers from the Continental final who join th e above qualifiers in the world fina l are Zenon Piech, Egon Muellar, Alex Dryml , Petr Ondrasik , and Jiri Stanel.