Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126978
Bobby Schwartz hoists the American Cup after the USA defeated J he team comprised of riders from around the world at Ascot Park. Budweiser American Cup Challenge . U.S. team tops World team at Ascot Park By Scott Daloisio GARDENA, CA , JULY 30-AU G UST I Speedway riders from around the globe comprised a team that converged on Ascot Park for the 2nd Annual Budweiser American Cup Chall en ge. Led by World Ch a m pion Niel sen of Denmark they f " . faced two evem n gs a racing. One on the tiny South Bay Stadium speedway track and 18 the other o n the len genda ry Ascot I h . h h If mil !1. rru e ov a . W en It wa s o ver,. t e visuors had put up a, ga llant fight but .a band ? f determined so u thern Californ ia nders had ,",:on the event for th e secon d consecutive season, .The tr~ps frol!!. Califonria were big favorites to wm at South Bay Stadium while the World tea m wa s expected to 1?e tough on th e half m!l e. The wmne~s wou ld be deter mined by th e hlghes~ cu m u la tive score over the two evenings. A pl easant surprise took place when the injured Mike Faria showed up to ra ce in round one on Thursday even in g. That seemed to lift th e spirits of th e Yanks and they quickl y ro lled up a 14-4.lead a fter th ree ra ces. T hey won th e first event by th e sco re of 4-2 wh en crowd favorite "Showti me" Bobb y O tt rode aro u nd N iel sen. J ohn Cook and R ob ert Pfetzing scored a ~aximum in event two over Sweden s Ja n Andersson a nd Ales Czech oslovakia. The ro u nd ' . en ded WIith Fa na a n d L ucero pacing th e Down Under duo of Larry Ross and J ohn Titman. As soo n as that event en ded, Faria 's p ainful injured left shoulder sagged. Round two began with Pfetzing a nd Cook scoring another maximum over En gl and's Marv yn Cox a nd last p lace finish er Nielsen. T he score was 19-5 a nd , lik e th e year before, it was turning into a runaway. Andersson brought some respectabil ity back to th e World team by winning from Lucero a n d Faria 's re placement, Sco tty Brown. Ott took his seco n d win of th e night over Titman and Sweden's Ian Andersson leads Steve Lucero here on the short circuit at Ascot; rac ing took place on both the short track and the half-mile. Bobby Schwartz a nd after two rounds th e U.S. led 26-10. Faria came back into th e show for ra ce nine and it was an opportunity to race Ni elsen. The " Ma in Dane" led off th e line but Faria was a ll o ver him.. The injured star put pai n as ide a n d looked ev erywh er e but h e couldn't find a h ol e. Ni el sen won over Faria and by virtue o f Cox beating Lucero for third , th e World sq ua d took th eir first heat adva n tage o f the n igh t. The World team bro u ght in Engla nd's Phil Co ll ins to repl ace Dryml i n eve nt 10 a nd h e won £rom Schwanz. An dersson finished third a n d th e World tea m had no w won two co nsecutive hea ts. The Ame rica ns had run u p a n ea rly lead but they no w seemed to ha ve grown complace n t and lost fire. Cook and Pfetzin g put so me o f th e spark back int o the tea m w hen th ey posted their third straigh t maxim u m over Titma n and Ross. Afte r three outi ngs, Cook a nd P fetzing h ad outsco red th eir opponents 15-3. Schwartz was kicked o u t fo r breaking th e tapes in event 12 an d Nielsen an d Co x scored th e World team 's first maximum of th e night. Pfetzing sn a tch ed a win from Andersson in even t 13 when th e Swede bobbled just before the finish while Ross ended ' the fourth round with a win over Lucero a nd Faria. The U.S . still had a 12 point lead , 42·30, a fter four rounds but the y quickl y brough t th e ga p down to eigh t. Nielsen wa s getting devastat ing gates ami he won h is third -, stra igh t ra ce in event 15. Collins won his seco nd of the even in g in event 16 and things wer e gett ing close for the Americans. Ott and Schwartz then length en ed it out in event 17. O tt took th e win with Schwaru gttirig past Titman to record a maximum. The lead once again stood a t 12. . The final round b eg a n with Nielsen nailing down his fourth win over Lucero and Cox. That was the final heat win for the World squad. With two heats remaining, th e World team wa s down by 10 points. The only wa y they could win wa s for a ll of th e America ns to break and no t finish. That en ded wh en Sch wanz won fro m Collins and O tt in event 20. Pfetzin g a nd Cook came through with th eir fourth maximum to end the show in event 21. " We h ad a total team effort to n ig h t," sa id a rather su bd ue d Schwartz af ter the meet ing. "Everyone gave th eir a ll and yo u can't as k for any m ore than that, " In th e ot her corner, Nielsen praised th e U.S. riders. He smi led an d said, "The Am ericans were just too strong for us tonight, We are going to ha ve to work very hard on the big tra ck." The Am eri cans won 62-46 but in order to be th e overall victors, they would have to hold their point lead on thebig track. Wa lking into th e pits for Saturday's program, one of the first th ings that one noticed was a rider sta ndin g in street clothes while th e others practiced. The rider was Faria and when ask ed if he was going to ride h e laughed and shot back, " Yea h, I'm go in g to ride. I want to race Hans Nielsen a~ in. " Half mile speedway is usually not quite as exciting as small track