Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.SPEEDWAY USA vs. England Test MatchSeries downward spiral The Americans were bro ught onto the track in fine style via a U.S. Army transporter from World War Il, but their big guns were to fail at this rna tch. Schwartz seemed adrift of his usual h igh scoring capabilities and ran tw o last places in his only rid es before being replaced by Werner, who, in his international debut, returned three points. England domin ated the ear ly part of the match with race wins by Gary Havelock and Davis Norris, and by the sixth race the U.S. was trailing, 21-15. They then became furthe r adrift when England's pair in g o f Ma rt in Du gard and Dean Barker, both Eastbou rne tea m riders, smashed in a maximum heat wi n in race 11 to exten d Engla nd's point lead, 39-27. The next race saw some dazzling action fro m Billy Hamill and Chris Manchester, who rep lied with America's 'only maximum heat. However, England re plied with a 5-1 win in the next three races to stretch the lead, 5G-34. In the final race, Dugard and Barker led Hamill and .Manchester home to take the first leg, 67-41. Eastboume Speedway Eastbourne, England Results: September 4, 1994 (Round 1 01 3) I. England 67 (Gary Havelock IS. Martin Duganl 14. David Norris 12., Dean Barker 11, Mark loram 10, Joe Screen 5); 2. USA 41 (G"'lI Hancock 10. Bobby Ott 10, Chri s Manche st er 8, Bill y H ~mill 6. Dulcie Ennolenko 4, Bren Werner3, Bob Schwartz 0). t by (Above· left to right) Martin Dugard, Dukie Ermolenko, Dean Barker and Greg Hancock square off In round one 01 the Test Match International Series at Eastbourne Speedway. England deleated Team USA, 6741. (Left)Team USA, less Bobby Sch wartz and Bobby Ott, came back strong during the second test at Arena Essex to tie England, 54·54. (Below) America's MVP: Greg Hancock (right) battles with England's Dean Barker. Hancock scored 35 points over the three tests, but it wasn 't enough to win the series lor Team USA, who lellto England In the IInaltest at Poole Speedway, 69-40. By John Hipklss POOLE, ENGLAND, ocr. 18 ~ 0\ 0\ ...-i 0\ l-< Q) E Q) :> o Z 32 eam USA ma y have dominated th e w orld sp eedway p ictu r e in 199 3, bu t its o ve rthrow in 1994 continu ed a t th e h ands o f England, who hand ed the Yanks a fi n a l defeat in Test Match International Series ac tion in G r e at Br ita in du ring th e months of September and October. The USA fought valiantly over th e course of the three meetin gs wi th Eng lan d, but despite the valiant individ ual efforts on the part of team regulars in combination with gallant attempts by rese rves to boo st their scoring, the USA could do no better than manage one tie T l I and two defeats to England through out ~~Easlboume Speedway,September 4 First Test: ne of the biggest crowds of the season turned ou t for the opening match at the track that is the home of the British League Eastbourne Eagles team. The tight circuit at Arlin gton per ha ps favored the Americans, but team boss John Scott was left juggling around w ith the ab sence of America n capta in and for me r World Champion, Sa m Er molenko, w ho was out due to injury . In his place, Scott elected to call upon the untried Brent Werner and vetera n campaigner Bobby Schwartz. O second Test: Arena Essex,September23 T he Purlleet track at Arena Essex on the outskirts of London staged the second test match. and with England 'already holding a one-match advantage over America , something had to give. The American team looked more powerful at Arena, as Ermolenko returned 10 lead the sq uad to be tter fortunes. However, Ott, Schwartz a nd Man ch es ter were all excluded from the team. Team manager Scott called up Doug Nicol, who flew into Londo n jus l hours before the first race. Following a team talk just before the match, the U.S. team all knew their mission, but p roblems faced Nicol in the first race w hen he was excluded for tape touching. This left Ermolenko on h is own aga inst Dugard a n d Barke r. Ermolenko raced hard behind. Bark er but could only manage second place. In the second, race, Greg Hancock stormed to the win but did no t receive any help

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