Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ z ~ c w a: u, e J: u ... :E > al II) 0 ... 0 ~ 00 J: ~ ..... CL ~ ~ ..... .... rJ} = = -< bJ) (Above) Captain Bobby " Bo09aloo Kid" Schwartz. (Below) lance King. (A bove) Sam Erm o lenko . (Below left) Veteran w orld com pet itor Shaw n M oran. (Below right) John Cook w on t he Long Beach American Final. I1.S~ cro wn the past two seasons. Moran recem ly won th e O verseas Final , beating England's Kenn y Carter in a fourlap runoff to earn the victory, John Cook: He sur prised most of the 11.000 fans wh o attended the American Fin al at Lo ng Beach in J une by scoring a 15 point maximum to win th e event , The northern Cal iforn ia na tive is a sh owman once described as "a hot dog not found in the concession area ." Cook ra tes among th e top JO rid ers in the British Speedway Lea gue wh ere he rides at Ipswich. Sam Errnolenko: " Sudde n Sa m" elected to rema in in southern California th is season after hi s British team, Poole. went ba nkru p t. Ermolen ko was th e top rooki e in th e overseas league last year and represented Poole in the British Lea gue Rid ers' Cha mpionsh ip. He was in troduced to the sport by a neighbor and began riding at an outlaw track in Taft. Erm olenko became an established Fir st Division rider in 1983 and ha s continued to im prove to the point where h e's becom e a world-clas s rider. The road to Long Beach began nearl y three months ago in fou r European ci ties as 16 nations raced for three berths in the World · Team Cup of speedway motorcycle racing scheduled for August JO at Long Beach Veterans Stadium. Preliminary qual ifying rounds began on May 12 in Okhing, West Germany; Bradford, England; Skien, Norway and Civitanove, Italy. U lti ma tely three nations su rvi ved to join host U n ited States in th e 26th World T eam Cup. The prestigious race was first introdu ced in 1960in Gothenburg, Sweden. with Ove Fundin leading th e Swedes to th e titl e. England has won eight titles in th e 25 years of co m petition but Denmark has emerged as th e world power in th e past two yea rs under former three-time World Champion Ole Ol sen, who serves as the team prepares to take on the world LONG BEACH, CA, J ULY 30 Two of southern California's local speedway motorcycle riders and three riders who have been competing overseas have been named to the U.S. ' team that will compete in the 26th World T eam Cup on Saturda y, August 10 a t Vtltera.n s S ~adi u m . III Long Beach, California. Bobby Schwartz, who has rid- 32 , den in 'th e Bri tish League for six years, heads the list of overseas rid ers that a lso incl udes 1983 World Long TraCk Cha mpion Shawn Moran and Amencan Finalschamp John Coo k. Schwaru will captain th e team , Lance King heads th e local rid ers and will be joined by "Sudden Sam" Ermolenko, The U,S. Team will be managed by Bruce Penhall, Th ~ U .. T ~m WI'II facea forrn id S ,or m l that includes two-lime deabl e field h di . D k fen mg c a m p io n enmar , P I,us England and Sweden. ?enm~rk, with current world champion En,k Gu~dersen a~d runner-.up H~ns Nlelsen ,.ls the favorite. Each rider ~III compete m four, fou~-Iap heats m th~ l 6-race e~ent. A nder earns three points for a VICtory,I ffor h two ' second and one for a hi d t ir -p ace mrs . G~ndersen wi!1be th e captain of t~e Danish team w!tIle Jan Andersson Will serve as ,cap tam .for Sweden; Ke~ny Carter wI~1 captain Engl~nd. Here s a rider profile of th e American team : Bobb y Schwartz: Nicknamed "Ca ptai n America," Schwartz has made more ·World Team Cup appea rances th an any other U.S. rid er and is considered thi s cou n try's ambassador of S~'t'i1f . war ba rn e ta and ~tripe~ in fo~r \':orl d Team Cups, sconng run e pomts m 1982 when the U.S. wo n the crown. He has also wo n the World Best Pai rs titl e in 1981 wi th Bruce Penhall and in 1982 wi th Denn ~s Sigal os. He won. the American Final at Long Beach in 1984 bu t lost his bid !orhis first World ~i ~al ap~ance this season when he Iin ished Six th at Long &;ach . , Lance King: He lea;rned to nde form 0!1e of the masters, Mike Bast, and ,,:,as virtually u!1~table on, the J um~r speed way circuit. Tra~kslders kne~ It was only a ~ tter of lime !J:efore ~ng blossomed m to one of thefmest nders in the world and 1984 was hi s year . Kingwas th eony US ider w ho stood I .an on th e victory rostrum foll owin g th e Overseas Final, th e Int er-Continental Final and the World Final. He elected to remain at home this seaso n ra ther than return to Cradl ey Heath , but he remains in contention for the World Championship following h is third I ' I pace fi s h i t h e 0 verseas F m ar . mr in Shawn Moran: The 1983 World Long Champion wa~ also a member of th e American squad tha t won the World Team Cup in 1982, He teamed with Bobby Schwartz to fini sh third in the World Best Pairs a t Poland thi s season and is currently th e th ird lead ing rider in th e British Speed wa y League a t Sheffield, Moran won th e U.S. Championshi p in 1982 and th e title ha s remained in th e fa mi ly with is 01 bE er Kell winnin th m anag~r. In th e first round of qualifying a t Skien, Denmark easi ly won by defeatrwil 'I I • • in w olland and I . England advanced in Bradford by defeating Australi a , -New Zealand and Fin land. West Germany ad vanced in Olching with a victory over Poland. Aus tria and Bulga ria. Czechoslovak ia won in Civitan ove against Ital y, Hunga ry and Yugoslavia. The Contin en tal Final pitted West German y. Poland, Czechoslovakia and Ital y with Po land and Italy advancing to the Inter-Contin ental Final on July 7 in Neustadt, West German y. Den. mark , Sweden, England, and Australia met in the O verseas Fin al in Vojens on June 22 and Denmark won th e meetingdespit e the absence of Han s Nielsen. .Nielsen , wh o fini shed serond in the World Championship to Gundersen last year, was di sm issed from international co mpe tition by Ol sen. but he has su bseq uent ly been rein stated to th e Dan ish team after apologizing to Olsen and h is teammates. The Dimes trounced England and Sweden on their home track in Vojens to becom e th e first nation to join the Americans at Long Beach. Gundersen scored a maximum at the meeting and missed esta blishin g a track record by .02 of a second, Tommy Knudsen, out all of last season with an injury, scored II points. England was expected to give Denmark strong competition in Vojens, but Carter and Tatum were forced to ride backup bikes after all of their equipment was destroyed in a fire, The English and Swedes were given a serond chance in th e Int er-Continental Final and easil y beat the Poles and Italians to reach Long Beach. Sweden stun ned the speedway world by defeating England with a very youn g team at Neustadt. Andersson rode in th e World Final in Los Angeles in 1982, but no -rider on th e Swedish team ha s ever ridden in a World T eam Cup. And so th e field has been set after a series of races th at stre tch ed from Italy to Norway. A you ng Swedish team is the darkhorse, England is regrouping aft er setbacks to its two best riders and th e Dan es are as stro ng as ever as America hosts the: world • ~' t'\ It'7 L3 n t l ..·. •• J iI3" ,.' 1

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