Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

First test WIMBLEDON. ENGLAND. AP R. 21 Siga los. rated th e number on e Am eri can since the retirem ent o f World Champ Bruce Pen ha ll, stormed to an 18-po int m aximum score as th e U.S. squad defea ted .England. 64-43. The English were caught na p p in g a t the track ast he Am eri cans built up a n ea rl y lead . By th e halfwa y pomt th ey were 18 points up. 36-18. It soon became clear th at with th Am eri cans a ll usin g Ca rl is le tires. th ey had a jump on th e h ome tea m . However. as th e meeting pr ogressed and th e Engl ish switch ed to th e same tir es. they began to stem th e Am eri ca n ons laught as four of the last nine events were draw s. and En gl and actuall v won two. The fir st En glish win ca me in th e 12th race after th e Mo ran brothers. Sh awn a nd Kell y. had been runn ing first a nd third. Th e Morans again made th e news when they were exc1uded in th e last ra ce of th e night Ior " not racing." With th e event win al ready in the bag. the Moran s opted for a littl e on- track amusement and whi le the y let th e English riders get on with the race. th ey were co ntent with putting on a little sidesh ow. The refer ee. however . was not amused and promptly excl uded th e pair. American team ca p ta in Bobby Schwartz gave so lid support to Sigalos w ith 16 points. backed up by 14 from Sha wn Moran. T he Americans co u ld only pick a seven-man team because Steve Gresham has so far been denied a n international licen se. ~ 00 Results USA 64 : Dennis Sigalos (1B): Bobby Schw artz (16): Shawn Moran (14); Lance King (9); Mike Faria (4); Kelly Moran (31 Rick Miller (no r ide). ; ENGLAND. 43: Chris M ort on (10): Malcolm Simmons (9): Peter Collins (6). John Davis (6): M ike Lee (4); Dave Jessup (4): Kenny Carter (41: Les Coll ins (0) . Second test SWINDON . ENGLAND. APR. 24 (Top) Dennis Sigalos. the top American scorer in the first two rounds. leads a British rider and teammate lance King. (Above) Team captain Bobby Schwartz leads an opponent. (Below) The Moran brothers. Shawn and Kelly. flank the British . USA/England split wins in speedway match series openers By John Hipkiss American an d English team s each came u p wi th a victory in the firs t two rounds of the five-race U SA vs. England speedway test ser12 ies . L ed by World ' number .th reeiDen n is Sigalos, the u.s. team took an easy win in the opening round. but the English rallied back behind Chris Morton to take the second round at the Swindon track. Morton led the English scoring in both ro unds. England gained sweet revenge in th e seco nd of five tests as th ey posted a winning margin of six points. H owever, th e final score co u ld hav e been much different had not young Shawn Moran suffered mech anical d ifficulties in each of his first fo ur rides . Moran ca me back to win hi s last two events. but by then the damage had been done. Once again th e partnership of Sigalos and Lance King proved invaluable to the State-siders a s th ey sco red 21 points between them. Sigalos and Schwartz were joint top U.S. scorers with I I poi nts ap iece. . Kelly Moran shook o ff the co bwebs to record 10 points a lo ng with Kin g . And a lthough newcomer Mike Faria could only muster three points. he sh owed enough promise to be quite an addition to any team in th e British League. The Americans were never in th e lead. and on ly once came within striking distance of the English . That was in the eigh th h ea t when Sigalos and King managed a 1-2 win over Dave Jessup to m ake the score 25-23. In all . th e vistitors onl y managed to win five of th e 18 heats. With three m ore meets to go . two of which are on fa vored tra ck s for th e Am ericans (Poole a nd Ipswitch ), con fide nce among th e Americans is justifi abl y -h igh , "I' The"first two tests hav e been di sap po intin g for top Englishman Kenny Carter (remember him?). and when h e wa s replaced in o ne rid e at Swindon . he threat en ed to wa lk o u t. n . Results ENGLAN D. 57 : Chr is Morton (161 Dave Jessup : (12): Simon Wigg (10): Peler Collins(B): KennyCar· te r (51 John Davis (4); Gordon Kennett (21. ; USA. 5 1: Bobby Schw artz (11); Denn is SigalO5 (11): Lance King (10): Kelly Mo ran (10); Shaw n Moran (6); Mike Faria (3); Rick M iJler (no ridel .

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