Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

...... ...... I!Miracie Worker~ becoRles world chaRI/! ShawnMoran By Bill Locey Photos by Scott Daloisio and David Edwards If yo u' re a speedway h a rdco re a n d remember Shawn Moran a t Ascot back in 1978 a n d 1979 , then yo u know wh y he 's ca lled " T he Miracl e W orker. " Moran is the n ew Wor ld Long Track Champion. H e won th e U.S . National Championsh ip in 1982 and th e U.S. Long Track title in 1979 and 28 1980. M oran, team ca p ta in for th e Sheffield Tigers in the Bri tish Speed wa y League, helped th e U.S. defeat th e British in th e T est Mat ches in 1982 - th e sa me year th e Am eri cans won the World T eam Cup. Just turned 22, Mo ra n ha s a lo t of trophi es. It 's a Thursday night at Ascot , August 'i9. Handicap Consy. Four rid ers - M ike Peddicord, Dave S ims, G lenn H utch i nso n and Ph il Cag'lOn - are in a tig ht bun ch nearing tu m four . A few len gths back is th e National cham p M ike Bast , riding the po le, On th e ou tside and behind t he champ is " T he M iracle W ork er," Sudden ly, M o ran ge ts th e dr ive of a lifetim e, and w hizzes by Bast as if he's rid in g a m oped. M ean wh ile, th e other fou r rid ers are lo cked up and si deways , wheel to wh eel.. M oran pass es all four of th em around turn four - the last tw o o n an ou t-oj-con tro l uih eelie. Y o u cou ld almost see them sig h co llectiv ely as in w here-th e-he ll- did-heco me-fro m as M oran fl ies by. H e has a I ll-len gth lead by t he start /finish li ne , Wh en 's th e last time yo u saw fi ve g uys passed 011 on e bend il1 speedw ay! Racin g since 1970, Sh awn was a terror in Junior Sp eedway but had to wait unt il hi s 16th hirrhdav and th e 1978 seas on to test hi s not-negli gible night mov es o n th e good guy s. Sh awn so o n found a track h e co u ld relat e to - th e a weso me Ascot quart er-mi le. Whil e a Second or even a Third Di vision rider elsewhe re, Moran began regula rly th rash ing the First Division hot g uys at Ascot o n T h ursday nights, in th e process ea rni ng h im self a n ickn a m e co u rt es y of a n no un cer Bru ce Flanders . Mor an swept th e 1978 Ascot qua lifier, incl ud ing a co nvincing wi n over Mike Ba st in th e ma in even t, and became th e yo u nges t ri der ever to q ua lif y for Na tiona ls. T he seaso n-open ing 1979 Spri ng C lass ic was j ust th at as an a ll-s tar cast o f Euro pea n ride rs ca me over 10 try the sideways life Ca lifor n ia-style. At Ascot - th e o n ly p lace be ro de - the Euro peans , incl ud ing fou r Worl d Champions, got th eir firs t loo k a t Mo ran - lo n g loo ks at h is back, really. In some of th e most exciting speedway ever, Moran won h is first three rides, co rning from last eac h rim e and passi ng people like Iva n Ma uger, Peter Collins , Anders Michane k a nd Ma lcol m Simmons, on th e o utside. It was then and th ere that th e Bri tish decided Mo ran wo u ld do j ust fin e raci ng in Eng la nd, . Un fo rt u na tely for U.S. racing fans , that 's exactly wher e Shawn has been since th e 1980 season . We get 10 see h im j ust fo ur or five times d uring a good year. Those Shef fie ld fa ns sure are lucky, bu t pe rhaps we ca n mak e a dea l wi th them: they giv e 'u s ba ck Mor an , and we ' ll giv e th em , we ll. a n yth in g . (H o w a bout th e Angels and a week o f sunsh ine? ) Moran is magic o n a mot orcycl e - he wins , almost win s, or co me s back o n h is shi eld . Th e la tter became a bad habit h e got into thi s yea r - h e broke his an n in March a t San Bernardin o , th en his leg in En gl and in a n August inj u ry th at threat en ed to finish h im for the veal', not to men tion keep him o u t o'f th e Wor ld Long Track final a month la ter. " Well. I was guest riding a t H ackney, a fast . tight -corn ered track , o n th e Friday n igh t before the Wo rl d T eam Cup final. I was in third p lace behind tw o H ack nev riders. One of th em , a Dani sh rid'er named Fin n T homsen, went lo w to the po le, so natura lly, I we nt h igh. Bu t th en , he drifted up righ t in from of me. It was j ust impossi ble to do a nyt hi ng, I h it h is back wheel, th en crashed in to th e cha in -lin k fence . My bike broke my leg JUS t below m y left kn ew wh en it h it me . " I ha d 10 wait in th e a m bu la nce for three ra ces befo re th ev wo u ld tak e me to the ho sp ital. I g uess th ey wa n ted to fin ish th e progra m, o r so met hi ng. T he H ackney doctors p inned my leg a nd had me in tract io n befo re Bo bb y Swartz a nd so me fri en ds ca me a nd got me a few days la ter a nd d rov e me to Scot land - six hours o n e way - to Dr. Carlo Bia gg i:the best speedway doctor th ere is. " O n th e Su nday before the World Long Track Final. he had me wa lking around o n cr u tche s, and by the fo llowing T uesda y. wal ki ng wi th a ca ne a nd no cru tc hes. I had heard that th e Czechs would make everyo ne wa lk out o n to th e track un der thei r own po wer , so th ere was no way I wa s go ing to m iss o ut o n a wo rld-class eve n t, es pecia l ly aft er a dva n ci ng thro ug h all th e qua li fiers . " I was ab le to pract ice four times ' before I had to go to Czechoslo va kia , abou t 35 laps eac h tim e. T he first time the y had to pi ck me up and set ' me o n my bik e. It was a lso q uill' a h ass h- ju st g elli ng to Maria n zke Lam e. th e pl ace in Cze-choslo vakia wh ere the race was to be h eld . Th ere were a lot o f tra ns fer flights a nd a lot o f wa lking , a nd I wa s prett y burn ed o u t wh en I got the re. " Bu t I rode in the o ffic ia l practice on Saturday an d mv leg felt O K. even though I bumped it a few times. A lo ng track bike is a lot different than a speedwa y bike: it 's bigger for one thing, and it 's act ua ll y a lot eas ier to ride. Wh en yo u 're goi ng over 100 mph , you don 't have to work so hard, yo ur moment um helps keep you up a nd yo u do n 't ha ve to co rner so h ard which was good for m y leg . Since it was m y firs t lo ng track a nd because o f my leg, no o ne gave me much o f a cha nc e. " It wa s p rett y n u ts o n race day. Abo u t 25,000 peo pl e showed up to wa tch . Since Czechos lova kia is where j awa s a re m ad e, th e whole p lace wa s J aw a this, J a wa that , j a wa everythi ng. If the ho metown bo y, J iri Stand , had 've wo n , th e p lace wo u ld 've went berzerk. " I managed to ge t m y ga tes and had 14 o u t o f a poss ible 18 poi n ts after m y th ree h eat s, the n I wo n my sem i, whi ch left me si tt ing prett y good . I was p reuy tir ed fo r th e main , but a ll I had ' to do'to .win wasJ...h .inToiirtb ." finis . . ,. J 4

• Cover