Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

>INScott Rousseau "P S· ·THE : A. E T By t looks like la st the W 0 r i d Speedwa y Fi na l w as just that, the last World Speedway Final. Shortly before the August 20 meeting in Denmark, the FIM announced that the 1995 World Speedway Championship will be decided by a six-race Grand Prix sys te m that w ill eff ecti v ely decid e speedway's most prestigious title in the sam e manner that virtually every other National and World Championship title is decided. I think that's a mistake. Proponents of the new Grands Prix will point to the new three-year, $2.5million television deal as a great benefit to speedway because it will inc rease sponsorship and exposure for the spo rt. Wh ile I agree that speedway cou ld do with a bit more television pl ay, especially here in the U.S., I still don't see how the FIM figures that the Grand Prix sys tem . is the wa y to go when it co ul dn' t even sell sponsors hip fo r a o ne-day Wo rl d Fina l - at a n even t where the entire championship is decided in tw o hours ra ther than over th e course of three to six months. . If the FIM wo uld have delved into its own history books it would have found th a t previo us attempts at deciding Worl d Speedway Champ ionships, whether ind ivi d ua l or tea m, over the co u rse of more th a n o ne da y h ave failed . The'1986 World Team Cup was a three-race series tha t had the unfortunate timing of being introduced at the same time that Denmark was an iconic superp ower in international speedway. Th e Danes dominated th e fir s t tw o events so completely that they clinched the title prior to the final round, with the pro mo ter of the third round taking a bath due to poor att end ance. What abo ut the 1987 World Individ- I ual Final in Amsterdam, Holl and ? There, ticket sales were poor on the first day because the spectators knew that the championship wouldn't be decided un til day two. Hardcore spee dw ay fans aren't dumb, and I think it will tum out that the rounds before and after the race which decides th e title will su ffer in attendance. And in the meantime, the various league prom ote rs will lose qualified riders to the GPs for longer amounts of time, and that will have an adverse effect on how leagu e meetings are scheduled. The British league, for example, will be crucified by the coming and going of its top stars. Not to worry, the British fans will get to see a round of the Grand Prix, but the title will likely have been decided by the time England hosts the final round of the series. And I find it hard to believe tha t the FIM is interested in increasing exposure for spee dway when it fails to schedule a U.S. round of the Grands Prix. Think ab out it . Th ough th e U.S. no lon ger hold s th e individ ual World Champi onship, Team USA has been on the top . rung of the wor ld ladder for the past two years. Why wasn't America, whose speedwa y scene could us e the boost that a Grand Prix round would provide more than any other speedway country, eve n co nsidered for a wo rl d ro u nd? And when was the last time that Austria had a great speedway team or represent ation in the World Final? It mu st ha ve been pretty recent - after a ll, they're getting a Grand Prix round. Grand Prix su ppor ters argue that the current fo r m a t d oes n 't necessarily. rew a rd the best rid er, but ra th er the luckiest. The ad vantage in the old system, they say, go es to the rider who rides th e tra ck th a t host s the World Finals the most often . For examp le, if the road racing World Champ ion ships ' were held in a one-day, winner-take-all for ma t at Donington Park in Eng la nd, then Kevi n Sch w a n tz w ould be th e World Champion almost every year. But while thi s argume nt may work for other forms of motorcycle competitio n , speed way is the last form for which the axiom could hold .true. Simply put, speed way is, by its very nature, sho rt. Four riders, four laps and you're ou t. Practices a re ex tr emely limited, there are no warm up laps, etc. Speedw ay rac es are won out of th e gate yo u ' d bette r get a good sta r t if you want to win. And if that supposition we re true, then Hans Nielsen, arguably the best speedway racer in the world, shou ld ha ve be en th e Wor ld Champion thi s year, as Vojens Speedway is his home track. Apparently someone forgot to tell Ton y Rickardsson that he wasn 't supposed to wa x Nielsen in the runoff. It's mu ch fairer to say that Nielsen was one of the 16.best riders. In a oneday World Final, all 16 qu alified riders have survive d seve ral tou gh qu alifying rounds. The y all deserve to be Worl d Champion, but on ly one can be. In 94, Nielsen was ridi ng perfectly befor e 20,000 excited Danish fans at his home trac k in Vojens, but a heart-brea kin g exclusion in his fourth ro und ride put his championship hopes in doubt. Then, in the final round two other rid ers faltered, allowing Nielsen ano ther chance a t the title. But it wa sn 't to b e, as Nielsen wa s defea ted in the cha mpi onshi p runo ff by Sweden ' s Rickard sson, who looked to be an also-ran early bu t mad e up gro und in the late rounds to be in position for th e titl e when it counted . At th e s ta r t of th e d a y, how e ver, Nielse n, like Rickardsson , defend ing World Champion Sam Erm olen ko and the rest of the field all had a one in 16 chance at the World Championship. That's what makes a one-day World Final so interesting. But the new Grand Prix will sev er ely limit the number 0 competitors who have a true chance a the titl e - after maybe one o r tw rounds - to perhaps three or four. Guy like N ielsen and Ermolenko, wh always carry hi gh po int averages i league competition, will always hav that second chance to make up poin deficits in the next round, while an allor-nothing rider like, say, Pol and 's Tomasz Gollob, who destroyed everybody at the Prague Semifinal but failed to a score a single point at Vojens, could never be World Champion. Personally, I'd rather see 16 riders fight for the title than four . In a one-day World Final every participating rider knows that he has to race to win ev ery time out because there are no second chances. But a Grand Prix would allow a racer who is leading the series the lu xury of sandbagging jus t to pad his points lead . I see enough of that in road racing, d irt track, etc., and I hate it when som ebody cl in ches th e title befor e the se ries is over. It's enough when such a practice occurs in the last round of the one-day finals . Imagine how mu ch more it could happen over six or seven races. Th er e is one.aspect of the Gr ands Prix that I do like, howe ver, and tha t's the format the series will utilize. The G ra nds Prix will pl ac e th e top fo u r points earners on the da y in a final heat to determine the winner. In fact, if the FIM were to adopt the Grand Prix format to a one-day World Final, I think we'd have the best of both worlds. But lea ve the se ries formats to the racing genres tha t need them. The World Speed way Final is more like a prize fight than a motorcycle race. The contestants come together, and at the end of the day, there is a winner and a loser. And that's the way it should be. a Tripes , 13, too k t he combined 125 / O pe n clas s win o n his Pe n ton. "He prob ably wo n't even start sha ving for th ree or fou r mo re yea rs," read the story . . .Mel Lacher collected the win at the Ascot Half-Mile. . . Suzuki earned their first profession al road race win when second-year expert Art Baumann beat Cal Rayborn in the 125-mile final a t th e n e w Sears Poin t Racewa y in no rthern Ca lifornia. "Little Fau ss and Big Halsey" actors Michael J. Pollard and Robert Redford were on hand. and Drew Smith... Yama ha advertised Mike "Mouse" McCoy and Erik Kehoe earning National Motosport Associatio n Grand National Championship wins on their YZSOs and YZSOs. . . The BLM and the Phanton Duck of the Desert signed a six-poin t stipulation regard ing the litigation for th e 1978 Phantom Duck / Barstow to Las Vegas trail ride. . . U.S. Arm y-spons ored Mike Kidd won the Indy Mile, nipping 17-year-old sensa tion Scott Parker and Steve Morehead at the line. . . Ter ry Va nce earn ed the Pro Stock wi n a t th e IDBA Summe r Natio nals in Washingt on, DC. .. Do ug Chandler took thre e class wins during the AMA Amateur IT National at Ascot Park... Goat Breker won $1200 for top p in g the Dirt Digge rs GP in Tra buco Canyon, California . advertised Tram pas Parker closing in on th e 125cc Wo rld Ch ampionship MX title. .. Scott Parker continued his perfec t sea son with h is si x th win o f " _ the yea r a t the ...... _ -.. ~ _ _ Indy Mile. "Every time ' I w in , I ca n see tha t title and the $100,000 just wa iting for me, and the two sure look good," said Parker . Doug Chandler was second, wit h Dan Ingram third . . . Yamaha- mounted Jeff Russell ea rned a victory a t the Jack Pine Cowbe ll Na tion al End uro in Moo restown, Michigan . Jeff Fredette was the runnerup . Series poin ts leader Randy Hawkins finished nin th overall, wit h rear brake problems ... Team Suzuki took ho me th e w in in the WERA/EBC Natio nal Endu rance Road Race at Summit Point, West Virgin ia. .. Race Tech and Answer Products did the ho nors on our Suzuki RM250 hop-up article. . . American Ronnie Correy quali fied for the Speedway World Final, despite rid ing wi th a broken wrist. . . CN ILOOKING.BA ...·. ,I C.K 25 YEARS AGO... september 16, 1969 " 80 L ov el Y TV actr ess " a nd Miss Cha mp ion Hel mets Paula Benn ell gra ced the cover in a d ash in g pai r of bell-bottomed .' . , , . pants. She was promoting the Los Angeles Sports Ar ena In door Speedway Series . Inclu ded in the caption were Bennett's meas urements, 3634-35. . . Ads tou ted a $4.50 entry fee for the Shamrock's M.e. Hare & Hound, and a $5.00 fee for the [ackas National Enduro. The Dirt Diggers Hopetown GP was a whopping $10.00... Ano ther ad - th is on e from Husqvarna announced that Bengt Aberg wa s the new 500cc World MX Champion . . . Bill y Sil verthorn grabbed wins in the 250 and 500cc Sen ior classes at the Mamm o th Moun tain Motocross . . . Terry Davis won the Open Expert divisio n at th e Sage H op pers European Scr ambles on Rosarito Beach in Baja California, Mexico. "Giant killer " Marty 1 5YEARS AGO.. . septemb 12, 1979 er , .. i ~ " 'J ' collage of Six 1:J":i~ '.:1'..:.J~ " OJ" ....., ; • ,.' . " " :' (: ISDrp".~':~~~ J Days photos f;,1tr~.I.~~ '-/ adorned the j, 6. I I co ver of our p re view I I I issue for the West Ger- I man ISDT. On the u.s. I Tr ophy team were . ~ f Dick Burleson, Jack ~;:';""".j Pen ton , Frank Gallo , Larry Roeseler, Kevin Lavoie and Ted Leimbach. The Silver Vase squad consisted of Mike Rosso, Dave Hulse, Jeff Fredette A I . . 5YEARS AGO. , . september 6, 1989 eff Ward earned a cover shot by winn ing th e 50 0cc class a t t he Washougal, Washington, National MX. Honda-mounted Mike Kiedrowski to pped th e 125cc division . . . KTM J

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