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/127211
The w inning English team: (standing, L to R) Colin Pratt, Kelvin Tatum, Simon Wigg, Eric Boocock, (kneeling) Jeremy Doncaster and Pau] Thorp. . Team USA's Kelly Moran (center) dives under Sweden's Michael Blixt, Denmark's John Jorensen and England's Simon Wigg . . Erik Gundersen leads Simon Cross, Jimmy Nilsen and Lance King moments before the tragic pileup. World Team Speedway Ch~mpionship England takes crashclouded Team Cup By John Hipkiss BRAD FORD, ENG LAND, SEPT. 17 J erem y Don caster steered the English tea m to victory in the World T eam Speedway Ch am pio nship a t Odsal Stadium, It was a sullen victory, however, as three-time World 18 Speedw ay cham p Erik Gundersen was rushed to the hospital and put on a life-su p port machine after sustaining neck and spi nal injuries in a n horrific, four-man pi leup in the fir st heat. . The Danish ace, who lost his title to co u nt rym a n Hans Ni elsen in Munich, West Germany two weeks earlier, was fighting for his life. The accident happened in the first turn wh en Gunder sen , wh o was leading, cu t across Sweden's Jimmy Nil son and American rider Lan ce Kin g. N ilson a ppea red to clip Gun dersen's rear wheel, spinning his machine into King's path. King sl ammed into Gunders en which flung him into the a ir with his bike cras h in g on top of him before bouncing into the fourth r ider, England's Simon Cross. It was one of the worst speedway acci dents in the history of th e T eam Cup with all four rid ers requiring hospita l treatment. Gundersen was the most serious. He swallowed his tongue in th e collision and couldn't breathe as he was surrounded by track staff and first-aid men-, A tube was forced down his throat to clear the blockage and he was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary three miles away and put on a ventilator to enable him to brea the before he was transferred to another ho sp ital sp ecializing in head . a nd spinal injuries. Gundersen didn 't recover co nsciousness until 24 hours later, and a lthough his co nd itio n was slightly improved he was reported to be critica l. Doctors said the next two weeks would be crucial. Nilson had to have treatment for a severe hip injury while Cross was treated for head and facia l injuries. King was able to walk aw ay from . the crash but then co llapsed. H e was su ffering from a neck injury a nd co ncussion and was transported to the hospital for X-rays. Th e four-nati on m eet ing wa s restarted aft er a 45-minute delay with the reserve riders fillin g th e team ga ps , bu t the wh ol e match was clouded by th e in ciden t. It affected the riders, particu lar ly G undersen 's a rch-rival Ni elsen , who . was far below hi s cha mp ions h ip best , winning on ly two of hi s five races. . English riders wo n 14 of the 20 hea ts for a to tal of 48 po ints with Denm ark second wit h 34' points, Swede n thi rd a L30a nd th e U.S. team ge tti ng o nly eig ht poi nts. Doncaster was the English sta r, winning hi s first four races before ta iling off L th ird place in th e fin al a heat whe n the cha m pionship was a lrea dy decided. H e had some so lid su p port with Paul T horp coming in as reserve and making th e most of his hom e-tr ack advantage with four impressive wins after failing to scor e in hi s first race. Kelvin T a tum and Simon Wigg als o collected three wins each for England. Kelly Moran was the only American to 'sho w an y appetite for th e meeting as he open ed with a win, bea ting Swedish rider Mik aeI Blixt. Moran then steadily faded , finishing second to Thorp the next time out and then taking third behind Doncaster before fai ling to score in his ' last two ride s. Greg Hancock, originally chosen as a reserve, was th e only other American to pick up points, tak ing second in the rerun of ' the ill-fated first heat. Neither Ronnie Correy nor R ick Miller were abl e to come to grips wi th th e occasion or th e big circui t. Correy too k the lead in the last race and then dropped back to last on th e second lap. • Results WO RLD TEAM SPDwy 'C'SHIP: 1: Englan d (48): Jeremy Doncaster (13). Paul Thorp (12). Kelvin Tatum (12), Sim on Wigg (11); 2. Denmar k (34): Hans Nie lse n (11) . Gert Handberg (9), J ohn Jorg en sen (7), 8r ian Karger (7); 3. Sw eden (30): M ikael 81ixt (10), Per Jonsson (8), Tony Olsson (7), Er ik Stenlund (5); 4. USA (8): Kelly Moran (6), Greg Hancock (2), Rick Miller (0). Ronn ie Corr ey (0).