Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

said, "If King can ride, then why ca n ' t I?" Th en they ch ec ked m y birth cert ifica te and that wa s th at . I had to pa y a S I000 fine o r take a year's suspen sion . We paid th e fin e. 1981 was an unreal vear for vou - 16 main events wins at \'entu~a alone, southern California points leader, won the round of qualifiers ... Back th en . I' d ri de an vw h ere, sti ll wi ll. It was j us t a n exce i lent year for m e, everyt h ing we n t r ight. It was my first year liv ing o u t o n m y o wn: a n d I' ve al ways lik e Vent u ra . By Bill Locey Be's had a childhood longer than Dennis The Menace, but the kid has finall y grown up. Lance King is 21. Reall y. "Vas King born on a speed way bike? It su re seems like he' s been rid ing forever, Aft er Ica rn in g th e ba si cs fro m Mike Bast , Kin g began co m petin g in j u nior speedway 18 in 19i5, a n d domin at ed the cla ss for th e next four Y ears. In 19i9, he invented a nd ro ru rac u-d th e Lance Ki ng Syndrome - he forgot how o ld he was . T ha t's th e way riders g et 10 rid e speedway whi le they 're sti ll too yo ung. Things worked out gr ea t for awhile - Kin g ma de it back to th e 40-yardli ne in Firs t Di vision at Ascot. T hen hOe got ca ugh t. Reru rn ing legall y in 1980. Kin g becam e a so lid First Di vision rid er , a nd ma d e it to th e Nati onals. T he next year - hi s la st as a lo cal - Kin g becam e a speed way s tar. H e wa s so u th ern California po ints lead er, wa s top sco re r during th e Qualifi er s, and won an a mazin g 16 main events at Ventura alone. Since t hen , King has been dalliin g th e p atron s at Crad ley. En gl and , in th e British Speedwa y Le ague. On his infrequen t visits home h e has, am ong o ther things, won th e 1982 California Stale Championship. been o n th e podium a few ti m es a t the U .S. Long Tra ck Ch ampionship, and rrausferred OUI o f th e Am eri ca n Speedway Fina l th e last Io ur years . Th e firs t year, he wa s too yo u ng to adva nce to th e n ex t round: in '82, he brok e hi s co lla rbo ne at Ven tu ra a t j ust th e wron g time, but the last two years King has been a world fin alist. On Sep te mber I at Go the nb u rg , Swede n, Kin g ca m e within o ne race a nd o ne po in t of bein g thi s yea r's World Cham pi on . And he's still geu in g bett er . . . How did you first get involved with speedway? :\1 1'dad had a shop a nd Mike Bast was o ne o f th e m ech ani cs. H e worked fo r m y dad and m y dad wrenched for him w he n he rode speedway. T h is wa s i n 19i 5 a nd Bast was th e cha m p . Then mvdad a nd Bast bui lr a ju nior speedwav bike for m e: it was th e first one. Fo~ a few weeks, I j us t rod e int ermissio n ex h ibitio n s a t Costa Mesa. th en Shawn and Kell y go t bik es, Juni or speed way was reall y big then . :\11'dad had a not her sho p in Aubu rn, and I m ov ed up th ere. They wouldn 't even think of run ning a program with out in cludin g rhe jun iors - it was rea lly hig up th ere, to o. Do you rernern ber yo u r fir st ra ce? Yeah, I do . It wa s at In d ia n Dunes a nd I was riding an 80cc dirt hike m y d ad made, I had whi le lea th ers a nd wore wa ffl e sta mpers . I thi n k I cras hed . This was ba ck in 19i I wh en I was n ine-o r- ten-y ears-old. You raced for a while wh en yo u were 15, and did quite well too, what's rhe storvon that? On e o f th e rea son s we m ov ed back do wn to so ut he rn Ca li fo rn ia wa s for m e to race. I d idn 't think it wa s suc h a bi g deal- it was o n ly fo r a co u p le o f m onth s; m y bi rthda y is August 13, I sta rte d racin g everyw here at th e beg innin g o f th e seaso n , Then St eve Lucero. who is th e sa me a ge as I am , What's it like living in England? I' ve been th ere fo r three vears no w, a nd I th in k I' ve adapted. it's g reat, I lo ve it. T he weath er used to bother m e. but not any more. And just th e way o f life in ge ne ral was just too slo w for a person fro m Ca liforn ia , b u t n o w evcrvt b ings fin e. I'm o rga nized no w. I 've go t m y bikes. m y ca r, my s hop, m y hou se -I've been ther e lon g en ough to know m y wa y a ro u nd. How about eating in England? It 's o kay now. I thiuk .rhe foo d is ge tting bet rer . Therc're m ore McDon alds, Ken tuck y Fried C hickens a nd Pizzal ands n ow - th ere 's even o ne in m y hometown . How about the racing? I hat e to say thi s, but a fter three yea rs , I'd ha ve to say th e raci ng is m ore p ro fessi onal over the re. It is, but it isn 't , if vo u kn ow wh at I m ean . In Eng la nd', peo p le race fo r a li ving , a nd evervbodv is serio us . In Cal iforni a , a lot 'of gl iys race as a hobby: th ey ha ve regular jobs. But o ver th ere. it's thei r bread a nd b u tter. if vo u d on 't wi n. you do n 't cat. I j u st w ish it wouldn 't ra in so much sometimes . . . What do you do about unsafe or just plain scary riders? Ther e're ri ders lik e th at a ll o ver th e world. Th e differen ce fo r me is that now I kn ow who th ey are a nd who 10 wat ch o u t for. There're abo u t 20 g u ys wh o sca re m e in th e British Speedway League. I fell d own a lot m y fir st year, but now I kn ow wh o's who . What do you do when you're not racing? I work o n m y bikes, and lat el y, I've been pl a ying so me golf. R ick Mill er , Shawn McConne ll and [ a re p lanning to buy minihikes. In 1982 you finally made it to the Wor ld Final; this year, you almost won it. What happened? T he first time in '82 in West G erm an y, [ d idn ' t rca l ly think I co u ld win it - I didn 't think I was tha t good . I j us t went to soa k up th e a tmosp here. T his year. I went to wi n . I started to ge t nervou s a bo u t a week before the race. You pro babl y wa n t to know a bo u t th e last race. Well Er ik (G u nde rse n) a n d [ wer e tied for the lead w ith I I p oi n ts eac h. Since he' s a bo u t th e best ga ter in th e world, I figured my best c ha nce wou ld be to tr y a nd a n tic i pa te th e start . I kn ew I ne ed ed a roll er, a l ittle something spec ial. I th ou ght I got a good start, but when I looked up, Erik was a wh ol e bik elength ahead . I lea rn ed a lot - d on 't c ha nge. I end ed up tied with H ans Ni esl en . bu t to m e. it was a lrea d v o ver. I think he fell th e sa me wav, I 'tri ed mv best . , , Wha t happn ed in the World T eam C u p Final s in Poland? \\'ell. we went in wit h a lo t of co n fide nce. \ \' e were ready , we th oug h t we co u ld do it - it j ust did n't ha ppen. We a ll brough t our best bik es - i t j ust d id n' t ha ppen , You dropped out of the World Long Track competition at the quarter final stage, why? It was a mistake. I wa s th e last qualifier in th e quart er final ro u nds o n a real lv bad bike. I co u ld ' ve handled it . but \~ith just o ne hike thai I couldn't win on - and m y sp eed wa y hikes were hurting as a result. It got to the point where I'd co m e home late from

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