Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Sometimes the machines run on the tips of their spikes, (Right) Pomp and circumstance, (Below) The Russian team in opening ceremon ies, 12 (Continued/rom pag e 10) 90 o f th e 1.I in ch long razor sha rp sp ik es a rra nged in the rid er 's preference. On th e back, ab out 160 a re wrapped a ro u n d the shaved 21-in ch motocross tire. If you have th e rni sfortune o f being run o ver, yo u a re quickl y ed uc a ted to th e " Cu is inaneffect." On Sunday, G oodwin p itch ed th ree brand new bikes into th e wa ll wi th various ride rs goi ng with h im. Czec h Bohuslav Polak did not walk away from a sh u nt in turn two. T h e rear tire o f G oodwin 's Westl ake-J awa ran across th e sea t of P ol ak 's leathers shredding th em an d tak in g a bit of posterior with the m . Pol a k was carried by stre tcher to th e me dical van, pa tched h is lea thers, a nd mad e the restart. No quiche ea ters in this bunch . Ex -speedway ri de r, journalist Tord L undgren describes th e techn ique: " Yo u sta rt o ff i n fir st a nd quickly kick it into second. As yo u co me to the corner yo u back off j ust before leani n g it o ver a nd lay th e bik e on your insi de leg. On so me tracks you di g th e end of the h andl ebar into th e ice. Grad ua lly, you co me back o n th e thrott le a nd exit o u t of th e co rner. You r left leg n ever rest s, but th ere's a fear of ca tchi ng i t in th e cl ut ch bas ke t or rear wh eel. " _ T he bik es are beyond eu p he misms. . T hey are not co bby, but ugl y in a util itarian so n o f wa y. All are 500cc single cylinde r OHC two -va lve Westlake-J aw as wh ich p u m p about 60 bhp through a 36 m m ca rbo They burn methanol for tw o reasons. It keeps the machines runn ing cooler and also because whe n ice speedway was becomi n g p opular in th e midfor ties gasol ine was being ' used for th e wa r eff ort a n d no t a llowed for racing . T he bikes cos t abo u t $2,500 new , but seem a geless. The reason is simple. Sinc e th ey run in th e rel a tively sterile world of ice, as o p posed to d in, th ey aren' t troubled by internal damage from th e eleme nts . Air forks i n th e front pro vid e a bo u t 100mm tr avel an d th e back is rigi d. Front tire pressure is abou t 6.6 pounds a nd a t th e rear is arou n d 4.4. It varies wi th th e track , wh ich itse lf varies greatly. At Fran kfu rt . the 400-yard track had lon g straigh ts and tigh t co rners. Most track s a re more elliptical. Standa rd ra dius o f the corners is 23 meters an d th e ice is six inches th ick whe n th e racing sta rts. Surp risingly. ideal track co nditions ca ll for ligh t rai n and temperatures in the low 40's. H ere it was nea r freezing. " T he track gets slower as the night wears on. Soft ice grips like cheese, th is track breaks up lik e bottles," th e Swed ish representa tive to the FIM, e.G. R in gbl oo m , ex plained. " O ur rider, H ans J ohan sson, is usua lly bet ter in the day. H e usuall y drops abo u t fo ur points at n igh t. " H e h ad d ropped o n ly o ne on Sa turday ni ght an d led with 14 p oints. Russians Alex ander Moskowka a nd Vladimir Su bbo ti n followed wit h 13 a nd Ta rabanko had I I. " Mos kowka is a debu tante," I was told. Fu nny . he doesn 't look like Co rnelia G uest. "This is his first time out of the Soviet Union . He's o n ly been racing two years. But they don 't let th em out unti l they're very good. And they have tea m orders. You can see when Tara banko is not riding his hardest." Indeed yo u ca n see. But, rem ember, yo u have 10 lOW the party line. "They're OK guys, the R ussians. It 's th e sys tem they live under that's screwed up ," British rider Pat McCann sai d. Non e of th e R u ssians speak m u ch English, but they h ave an interp reter wh ose job, it seems, is to give disinfor ma tion in mo nosyllab les. On e th in g w hich n eed not be stated is th eir a bsolu te dominan ce over th e sport . Fifteen of th e 17 World Cha mp ions h ave been from th e US SR, ' incl udi ng th e last eig ht. T arab anko has won four times and Kad yrow , no w ret ir ed, won six. Silver medal s hav e gone to the So viets 13 times a nd Bronze I I times. T he sport traveled to Russia from Sweden . In th e ea rly sixties the Swedes wer e dom in ant, but th e So vie ts go t hol d o f tw o o f the machi ne s, co p ied them, a nd began th eir do minance. T he h om e o f Russian ice speedway is in th e Ura l Mo untains o f th e Bask yria state. Tarabanko is an exception , " Born a nd live in Moscow," h e sa id. "They ' re so co nsistent th at yo u ca n' t touch them in th e long run ," Rin g bloom said. "They' re like whippets. Tarabanko teaches a nd races full -time. Most of the eastern European co u ntries are sponsored by th eir government, bu t in the West you h ave mostly privat eers. T he West G erman team is a n exce ption. T hey' re sponsored by Kawa sa ki." You don ' t get rich in this sport. Although ex pe nses for th e riders are paid, th e top prize was B10 Deutsch e marks (a bo u t $334), bu t a ll rid ers ge t so me th in g a nd trad iti on d ictates th at a hat is passed around th e crowd a n d donations given to va rio us favo rites. There is n o question that th ese guys are less status-consci ous th an many of their two-wheeled competition counterparts. You don't have to hav e th e lat est helmet, leath ers , or [lak -jak when yo u reach th e grid. Man y of th e helmet s don't look like they'd p ass th e most len ient sta ndards a nd yo u get th e feel in g th at th ey onl y wear them because it' s th e law . Tara banko wears a h ockey je rsey over h is leathers a n d a ll o f th e riders wear leather.bibs idtll\li fV ing th eir n at ion- ality, They also wear th e co lored helm et co vers tha t look like either shower ca ps or su rgeo n's scru b caps. They wrap sections of tire on their inside leg whi ch th ey co rner on and have a " dead man 's" co rd runn ing from th eir wrist 10 th e ignition. Frankfurt was th e site of o ne of the quarter-fin a ls to q ual ify for th e semis at Inzell, West Germa ny, th en on to th e finals a t Ei nd hove, Holland. The to p eig h t qual ify fro m h ere a nd from another quart er-fin al . a lso at Inzel l. There are a lso q uarter-fin a ls a t L en i ngrad a nd Alkmaar, H oll and that go to a sem i at Assen then on to th e fin a l. T he racing starts wi th fo u r of the tw enty four-man h eats being run , th . tra ck is brush ed . and th ey sta n all over again. Each ride r ge ts five rid es. a to tal of just over five and a ha l minutes riding time, a n ight. P ractice is o n Fr iday n ight a nd is uno££i-' cia lly timed . The fans sp li t a long partisan lines. When German H elmut Weber made even th e slightest progress an eruption was certa in. On first view , you don 't see how he , or anyone, co u ld p ass, but it's do ne more frequently th a n , sa y, at yo ur basic Friday night sho rt track. The bikes seem to circula te like slot cars. There appears to be little variance. Pi ck a line and anywhere o n th e track is fine. toss it ov er on your leg, gas it , and sli n gs ho t out of th e co rners . It ha p pens so quickly that yo u r co ncentra tio n must be as intense a s th e rider 's . And, although crashes are appreciated, they aren't essential fo r a n igh t' s entertai n me nt. And when yo u cras h. yo u ca n get o n a n ot her bike a nd tr y again until yo u run o u t. Goodwin kept th e corner wo rk ers bu sy, a nd h is mechan ics were active wo rking o n th e three brand new bikes which he co uld n' t keep o n th e spi kes. More th an o n ce. 10 th e affectio na te cheers of th e crowd, he walked away. h ead slu m ped, with th e "dead ma n's" cord dangling from hi s wrist. Goodwin 's lack of ex perience took it s 10 11 on th e haybal es wh ich line th e co u rse, but th e race was n ever restarted u nt il th ey were replaced . T he riders may n ot hav e bot h oars in th e wa ter, but th e o ££icials will do their best to protect th em. Follo wing team orders, M oskowka, th e debutante, wo n . It sure look ed good an d th e vice-president o f th e Sov iet federat ion was a ll sm iles as th e " Irue rna rio na le" was played during th e victory presentation. Su bbotin a nd Tara ba n ko tied fo r seco n d a nd Tara ba n ko was told to lose. H e d id. West G erma ns took some measure of co nso la tion in th e fact th at Weber broug ht in th e h ome sta ndard fourth - firs t non -Com munist. And J ohansso n co u ld n' t m at ch - h is night perfo rmance during th e day a nd fin ished fifth . A press co nference was he ld after th e race and the sta rtled-looking Mos kowka was th e star, along w it h Weber. The Soviet federa tion me mber. praised the virtues of the "System" lo n g a nd hard through the inter p reter. "So many riders a nd so few mach ines," M r. Fomi n sai d. Few hearts bled. But Mo skow ka took it a ll in wi th a bla n k. quizzica l look on h is face. It was, a fte r a ll. his fi rs t tim e o u tsi de the Iron C urtai n a n d th is wor ld of Levis, MacDona Ids and Marlboros surely a ffecte d him. T hese are th e th ings we tak e for gra nte d , Moskowka, on th e o the r hand, doesn 't , and if th at 's n ot ins p ira tio n to wi n, nothing is. • Results 1. Moskowka (Russia); 2 . Subbot in (Russia ); 3. Tarabank o (Ru5sia); 4 . W eber (Denmark); 5. johansson (Sw ede n): 6 . Wartbichler IAustia); 7 . Klatovsky (Czechoslovakia); 8 . Fessteson (Sweden); 9 . Deder ing (Sweden); 10 . Pollak (Czechoslovakia); 11. SChiefer (Au stri a); 12 . Neider (Den mar k); 13 . Good win (Great Britain ); 14 . Olsson (Swed en); 15 . Fahl· strom (Norw ay); 16 . Nitsche IDenmark); 17 . Dzielak "'Denma rk). . ' l~ I t .

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