Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Vl Vl ;;2 !!: :I: Z :I: o ---, >- '" Vl o .... o :I: a.. (Above) Shawn Moran leads Jan Andersson and Jan Pedersen on the muddy Vetlanda course . (Below) John Cook (7 ) and Sam Ermolenko. Intercontinental S~edway' Final Moran, King 1·2; Ermolenko, Cook transfer By John Hipkiss VETLANDA, SWE DEN, AUG . 3 Shawn Moran, from Lakeside, California, took another impressive step towards the 1985 World Speedway crown when he outrode the opposi tion in Vetlanda, Sweden, to top the score in the Intercontinental semi-final , the last hurdl e before the cham pio nship fin al at Ods al Stadium, in Bradford, England on August 31. Moran was su pe rb on a track which had been ravaged by heav y ra in . Ignoring th e treach erous, muddy co n ditions. Moran hardl y put a wh eel wrong in his five qualifying ra ces. He was beaten on ly o nce, when hi s lightning-fast ga ting wa s mat ched by top Dane H ans Nie lsen in h is last ride a nd Moran co u ld not sha ke him off. A slig h t sl ip, wh ich was almos t impossi b le to a void on the sli ppery ci rcu it, a llowed Nielsen to sna tch th e in itiat ive an d h e ra ced through to eq ua l th e track record o f 67.1 set by Bruce Penha ll on hi s wa y to hi s seco nd world title in 1982. . Losing the race to Ni elsen did not m ailer to Moran who was ass ur ed of top p lace in th e cha ns after winnin g his first four races in immaculate stvle. He finished two points clear in 'the rankings, with fellow Ca lifornian Lance King beating Nielsen in a runoff for seco nd spot after they had tied : ~ :: :_ with I? points each. Kin g was n o less determi ned than Mora n but cou ld not match Moran 's fla wless starti ng technique. He had to ba ilie for hi s points the hard way, bu t h e d id it wi th spi ri t and aggres sion. Un like Moran who ha d been keepi ng shar p o n the bigger circuits in En g la nd wh ile rid in g for She ffie ld in th e British League, King staye d in Am eri ca th is year, bu t h e showed he has lost n one of h is potentia l a nd co u ld be even closer to Moran in th e fina l a t th e end of the month. Eleven of th e 16 co ntenders in Yetla nda quali fied fo r the final. in cludi ng the ot he r two America n contesta nts Sa m Ermo lenko a nd J ohn Cook. Ermolen ko sta rred well, beating Cook in hi s open ing race, but he co u ld not keep up th e pa ce a nd failed to regi ster a not he r win alt houg h h e qu alif ied co m fo rta b ly wi th nin e points from hi s five heats. Cook, a lso with o ne win , was o ne poi n t behind Erm ol enko in th e chan . H ea vy rain fell overn ig h t and co n tinued during the da y to turn Vetlanda into " Wetla nda" a nd making a quagmire of the 398-yard track. Normally I th e meeting would have bee!!_~~ Shawn Moran (left) and Lance King f inished '-2 in Sweden. while John Cook and Sam Ermolenko (right) also transferred to the World Final. paned to a not he r day, but th e FIM insis ted th at th e show sho u ld go o n beca use o f th e build-up in fix tures. T he ra in was sti ll falling heavil y when th e time ca me for th e introductory pa rade, with th e ride rs she lte ring un der umbrell as. British referee Graha m Brodie de layed th e sta n for 50 m inutes whil e to ns o f d ry sha le were poured on to th e track in a n a tte m pt to mop up th e mud. Even when th e riders lin ed-up for th e open ing race, there was no letting u p in th e ra in . bu t then su dde n ly th e dow npo ur stopped. It was impossible to repa ir the damage a lready done to the track, but Moran showed it co u ld be ridden when he sco rched to h is firs t vic torv in the openi ng heat , j ust 0.1 second~ off Penhall 's reco rd time. T h ree more wi n n ing rides foll owed befo re he was eventually head ed by Ni elsen . At n o time was the 23-vear-old Moran in trouble. . He had th e sta mp o f a cha m p io n. a nd m ad e light o f th e co ndi tio ns . while so me o f hi s rival s struggled . H e wi ll go to Odsa l br imming with co n fide nce ha vin g a lrea dy won the Ove rseas ro u nd th ere a nd takin g to p p lace in th e World Par is semi -final wi th partne r Bobby Sch wartz. Kin g co u ld pr esent the stro ngest cha lle nge. Two years yo u nge r th an Mora n, hi s thi rd in the Overseas stage an d a seco nd in Vetl anda pu ts him tha t much cl oser. Kin g had a grea t tu ssle with Nielsen in the runo ff, forcing hi s way to the front a n d then los ing h is lead before Nielsen pulled o u t on th e last la p with m achine trou ble. If h e ca n just match Moran 's sha rp ness at the ta pes it should be a cracki ng final. America will share to p bill in g with Denmark in th e Od sa l fi nal. bo th ge tti ng fo u r ride rs th roug h th e q uali fier. Da ne Niel sen was impress ive altho ugh he fin ished thi rd to Kin g in his first ride a nd d ro pped another poi nt in hi s seco n d race. but hi s teamma te and cu rre nt cham p io n Erik G u nde rsen was struggling. N u rsi n g a back in jury he sus ta ine d in G errn anv a week earlier when a n arg u me n t ~ith the safety fen ce resulted in two ch ip ped vertebrae, Gundersen managed o n ly one poi nt from h is first two rid es before he go t hi s ac t together. H e the n p rod uced two fin e wi ns to cli nc h hi s q ualifyin g pl ace a lt ho ugh he was last in h is fin al heat . Bri ta in had five men in th e field a t Vetla nda but on ly o ne su rvived . T he biggest shoc k was th e elim ina tion o f Eng la nd' s number one, Kenn y Carter who cras he d in hi s seco nd race and was rus hed to th e hospita l with an inj u ry to hi s righ t leg , th e leg whi ch p u t him out of th e runnin g for th e title last year when it was broken in th ree p laces. T he accident happened whe n Carter m et up with Moran in th e six th _ ea t a nd, ~~~ ~~!~t~~ .!J)'_t~~ :~J!l~~i h ca n . Ca rte r tried to make up gro u n d on the bend, pi cked up so me ex tra grip in th e mud a n d ca u sed a threeman file-up with fell ow Bri ts J ohn Davi s a nd An d y Smith. They man age d to get to th ei r feet but the un! uck y Ca rte r was stretche red off a nd ru sh ed to th e hospital 18 miles from th e track. Doctors di a gnosed an o ther fracture a nd Carter returned to En gl and th e next da y with his leg in p las ter. But wh en he visit ed speedway specialis t Ca rlo Biagi - who trea ted Moran for a broken leg two years ago, just befo re he won th e world lon g track tit le - Carter's fears abo u t hi s speedway career were di spelled . H e was to ld th e leg wa s n ot broken, th e fall had si m p ly aggrava ted th e o ld inj u ries, a nd he co u ld be back in tr ack ac tion before th e en d o f th e season. Smi th a nd Davis, who su ffered rib injuries, were too sha ken to do any good a nd fin ish ed down o n the cha rt. The o n ly En gli sh ri der to ge t th rough was Kelvin Ta tum with Cradl ey Heath rider Ph il Co lli ns as first reserve. Tom my Knudsen a nd Jan Pedersen ma de u p th e Danish fo u rsome, with Swed ish Champ io n J an Ande rsso n a n d Finland 's Ka i Ni emi co m p leting th e qual ifiers. Niem i showi ng a lot of co urage with hi s broken right foo t in p las ter. T he II qualifiers will no w line up w it h the five fro m th e Co n ti ne ntal ro unds a t Odsal. Two West Germans. Karl Mai er an d 1983 World Champion Egan Mu ller . Arma ndo Ca stagna o f Ita ly, Zolta n Ado rja n (H un gary ) a nd R ussia 's Vik ro r Kuzn etsov make up th e field . • Results QUA UF IERS: 1. Shawn Moren (USA) 14; 2. Lance King (USA) 12; 3 . Hans Nielsen (Den) 12 ; 4 . Ja n Andersson (Swel 11 ; 5 . Ka i Niemi (Fi n) 10; 6. Tomm y Knudsen (Den) 9; 7. Sam Ermo lenko (USA) 9; 8. J ohn Cook (USA) 8; 9. Kel vin Tatum (Eng ) 8; 10. Erik Gu ndersen (Den) 7; 11. Jan Pedersen (Den) 6. NON·QUALIFIERS; Phil CoII,ns (Engl 5; John Davis (Eng) 3; An dy Smith (Eng) 2; Kenny Cart er (Eng) 2; Phil Crump (Ausl 2RESERVES: John Jorgensen (Den) and Chr is Monon (Engl. HEAT 1: Moran. Andersson. Pedersen . Tat um. 67.2 HEAT 2: Ermo lenko. Cook. Crump. Smith teu es ctueee, 69.2 HEAT 3: King . Niem i. Nielsen . Davis. 69.9. HEAT 4: Knudsen . Carter . Collins. Gundersen. 68 .0. HEAT 5: Ande rsson . Niels en, Ermo lenko. Collins. 69 .1. HEAT 6: Moran. Davi s. Smith . Carter fell-ex cluded. 68 .4. HEAT 7: Tatum . King . Cook. Knudsen. 68.2 HEAT 8 : N iem i. Ped er s en . G underen . Crump. 67 .3. H EA T 9 : Gunders en . Ki ng . An dersson . Smith . 68.0. HEAT 10: Moran. Ermo lenko . Knudsen . Niem i. 68.4 . HEAT 11: Nielsen. Tat um. Crump, Jorgensen. 68.6. HEAT 12: Cook. Coll ins. Pederse n. Davis. 68.1. HEAT 13 : An derss on. Nie mi. Cook. M orton . 67 .8. HEAT 14 : Mora n. King. Colli ns. Crum p. 68 .0. HEAT 15: Gunde rse n. Ermole nko. Tatu m, Davis. 67.3. HEAT 16: Nielsen, Knuden. Smi th . Pedersen. 68 .1. HE A T 17 : K nuds en . A n d e r s so n , Dav i s . Crump. 69 .0. HEAT 18: Nielsen . M or an. Cook. Gu ridr sen . 67.1. HEAT 19: Niemi, Tat um. Coll ins. Sm ith . 68 .9. HEAT 20: King. Pederson . Ermolenko . Jorgen· se n. 68 .6. I~ ~ ( ) ~ ,) ~ j ' " I . . "' ~

• Cover