Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bobby Schwartz and Phil Collins go at it on the short track on Friday night; The American National Champion captained t he Americans. Scotty B.r own (left) and Schwartz protest Schwartz' tape exclusion; "Those tapes didn't break until Dryml touched them, " Brown said . John Cook shows his long-tracking style on the half mile; the Saturday show on the half mile was th rilling w ith a little controversy thrown in. ra cing bu t Sa turday's show was fan tastic. T hrilling raci ng and raging co ntroversy mad e for a very enter taining night. The points at stak e were lar ger on . Saturday: In each heat there were a total of 15 po ints available co mpared to six on Thursday. There would also be six riders in each heat ins tead of four. The World team was favored on the big trac k but they were outscored 9-6 in event o ne. Niel sen too k th e lead off th e pole .a nd never looked back, but Pfetzing, Schwartz and O tt too k th e next three spots. Ross ga ted everyone in even t two bu t "Cookie" had the hea t on and, with a pr ett y move, he went under Ross in tum one on lap two for th e lead. Fari a , looking fine , also shot by Ross and th e Americans had blasted to a n early 19-11 lead. Ross, fro m position th ree, gated again in event three over Schwartz. Sch war tz is at h is finest wh en he is team raci ng and he was more than keyed up on Saturday. The America n Nati on al Ch ampion hounded Ross and o n the seco nd lap, he put th e fans o n their feet when he strea ked by on th e inside. On th e same lap, O tt went from sixth to third and th e U.S. sq ua d wen t on for a no the r 105 and the lead was 29-16. The boys in red, white and blu e received a standing ovation from th e parti san fans . Collins got orr with a roller in event four to tak e th e lead over Cook bu t com ing orr turn four on th e openin g lap, Cook knifed his wa y inside and with a raised hand, he swept past Co llins. Nielsen decided he had seen eno ugh. and passed Collins and went aft er Cook. He tried to swing wide but Coo k had enough and won the race, bu t the Wor ld T eam wo n the heat at 8-7. That was th eir first heat adva ntage of th e ni ght. Nielsen was leading Sch wartz in event five but Ott and Drym l wen t down on lap on e and a red flag came ou t. Nielsen aga in I;iolted over Collin s, Schwartz, P fetzing and Dryrnl. Pfetzing slowed drasticall y on th e opening lap and dro pped way o rr th e pace. Ott had a primary cha in snap o n l ap tw o an d Dr yml go t b y Sch wartz. The World team wo n the heat 12-3 and they closed the gap to three poin ts. Ross edged Cook in event six but the U.S. won the hea t 8-7. T he score now stood at 47-43 halfway through the meeti ng. Kiwi Ross got th e gate in event seven and he teamed with Au stra lian Titman to hold back Pfetzing. Ott borrowed Faria 's bik e for the heat and scored a zero o n the unfamiliar mach in e. The tide had turned a nd the World led 53-52. The cont roversy started after event seven. T he Eu ro peans were getting unbelieveable ro llers o n th e starts a nd th e Am ericans were qu i te unhap py abou t it. Schwartz, American team man ager Chris Agajan ian a n d World tea m m anager Ivan Mau ger bantered back and forth with the referee about wh o was chea ting on th e startsThe rul es were laid do wn by th e referee but it was clear in event eight that nobody was listening. Collins, Nielsen and Cook all got fliers and th e battl e was o n . Cook got by Nielsen and Faria go t past Dryrn l but nobody was goi ng to get past Co llins and he wo n his first race of the n igh t. Cook took second wi th Ni elsen third. The Wor ld Team won that heat 9. 6 and now led 62-58. Emotions were runn ing high in th e p its but the best was yet to come. The gree n light never came on but Team USA: kneeling (left to right) Cook, Brown; standing (left to right) Cary Agajan ian. Ott, Lucero, Pfetzing. Schwartz, Faria, Ch ris Agajanian . the tapes went up in even t nine. Everyo ne but Sch wartz a nd Pfetzing took off. The referee quickl y put out th e red and everyone was called back for the restart. Nielse n , off th e pole, pushed the tapes. Schwartz go t into th e tapes hard bu t th ey didn ' t br eak until Dryrn l, in five, touched th em. Referee Phil Moon excl uded Schwartz and, needl ess to say, th e Ame rica n team captai n wasn 't happy. H e let hi s feelings be kno wn to th e ma n in the str iped shirt in a heated exc hange and he had to be restra ined. Scotty Brown, who was starting next to Dryml, couldn't beli eve it. " T hose tapes d idn 't break unti l Dr yrnl touched th em ," h e said. The fans were livid, the American riders were livid, and th e referee was ge tting it from all sides. Ott had been replaced in th e race by Brown but he came in as a reserve for ch wartz and Mauger ended up cli m bi ng the referee's tow er ladder to co mp lai n. The ra ce finall y go t go ing after abo u t a 15-minute delav and Ni elsen again go t a flier. H e went all th e way for the win over Collins and Pfetzing. The Worl d team led by seven but th e Americans fin all y go t back o n the winn ing side by taking an even 10. Ti tman and Ro ss bo th rolled on the sta rt but it didn 't matter as Cook took th e win with a last second place over T itman. Tha t one als o had a bi t of controv ersy. Schwartz a nnounced that he was co mi ng in as a tact ical su bstitute just to get to Mauger. When Mauger saw Schwartz. standing wit h his hel em et and gl oves on he couldn 't believe it. "T he re ar e no tac ticals, You g uys ar e &,oing to make a mocke ry of this meeting, " said th e six-time World Champion. The ploy wor ke d. Sch wa rtz wa ke d away laughing while Mauger was less than happy. . With tw o h eats rem am m g , tem pers were o n edge. The Yanks were close to win ni ng overall wh ile the World team was trying to win th e half m ile portion. The tapes were p ushed in event I I. They finall y snapped when Andersson went thro ugh. The referee didn 't kick him o u t. T he fans went wild and serenaded Moon wi th a number of choice comments. Things on ce again calmed down and th e U.S . won th e heat 8-7. Pfetzing was spectacular. H e went from fourth to first wi th o ne move and scored a runaw ay win over Ross. That sewed it up. The U.S. wo n o verall; 149-139. Coo k won th e final heat by defeati ng ielse n for the second tim e in th eir th ree meetings on the night. T he Europea ns too k the next three spots and wo n th e heat. They also won th e meeting 93- 7. The night ended wi th both tea ms receiving a nice . ovat io n fro m th e fans. .The referee quickly cl imbed down from his tower and removed his striped shir t. A very good mo ve. Faria was all sm iles in hi s pit area aft er the event. " I think if I wo u ld have been 100% we wo u ld have won ton igh t. I co uld keep up with Cook and Nielsen but I cou ldn 't pass th em. The doctor will decid e wh a t he is goin g to do (opera te o r not ) o n Monday," said Faria. The man wh o bol stered the American team 's spirit was team capt ain Schwartz. H e loaned Cook a motorcycle and in genera l kept the riders pumped up all even ing lo ng. " Everybody 'o n th e team rode prett y well and it was a well ro u nded effort ," said Schwartz. • 19

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