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/127789
SPEEDWAY '. .W orldChampionshipQ ualifier Series Overseas Final su bmi t his report to the FIM in Geneva after the event, which took place without his involve ment, or th at of FIM referee Mr. Dar ago and Deleg ate R.W. Smith. The riders chan ged back to the ir conven tio n a l Dunlo p tire s a n d ra ced a mee ting w hich is now unlikely to stand as a World Championship roun d, and so American Chris Ma n ch es te r, who w on the event, no w faces the realistic prospect of m issing ou t on a place in the Gran ds Prix. Three ride rs - Au ssie du o Mark Lem on and Jaso n Lyons, togeth er wi th Engl ishman Kel vin Ta tu m - have been report ed as s ay in g th ey would have been prepared to race on the new t ires, an d th e y co u ld ye t be s ee d e d . through to the next stage. , It bring s in to que sti on th e w ho le future of the World Ch am p ionship, and many experts are alrea dy predictin g a br eakaway World Champion ship event next season . It was ir onic that wh en the racin g s ta rte d a t 7:30 p .m . there w a s some en tertaining action to reward th e loya l and patient fans, with Ch ris Manches ter co n firmi ng h is arriva l o n the world stage wi th a superb performan ce. Manchester is starting to m atch th e likes of Bill y H am ill a nd Greg Hancock o n a regular basis in British Lea gue action, and m a ny are claim ing he will be as good as bo th these bo ys . H is engines look quicker than eve r before and the fact t hat laydown engi nes a re now allowed in the British League has obvi o usly helped the young Californian. No t only is he looking sharper on the track, b u t h e seems to have a m u ch m o re determined attitude, and he is starti ng to look li ke th e top p rofess ion a l racer everybo dy knows he can be. Manch este r started in b rilliant st yle wh en he shot from the gate like a bulle t in heat tw o, makinga perfect start off the inside gate fro m To ny Langdon, By J ohn Hlpklss COVEI'JTRY, ENGLAND, JUNE 9 e 6 ontroversy over a new tire regu lation th rew th e FIM Overseas Final at Br a n d on Stadium in Coventry into chaos as the riders staged a m ass strike jus t w hen the ev ent w as abo ut to start. Over 4000 fans at Bran don were left wonder ing w hethe r th ey woul d see any racing at all as the sta rt was delayed by an h our - and even then the m eeti ng m ay have been a waste of time. The FIM dramatically p ulled out of the m ee tin g when all but th ree of the co mpetitors refused to use n ew tires which bad been made compulsory for this stage of the World Championship q ualifiers. Many riders fe lt the tires were d an ge rou s, particul arl y as th ey h ad o nly a lim ited amoun t of time to test them before goi ng into such an im portant event." O ne rider eve n t h re a t ened legal action agains t the FIM if the m eetin g went ah ead on the new tires and he got injured, and it soon became obv ious tha t the me et in g would not tak e pla ce with th e tires in use. The even t ma y ha ve been one of the most sensat ion al ever in the history of th e World Championship speedway, and it wa s only the quick actions of th e British au thorities, th e BSPA andsth e SCB which sa ved th e meeting fo r fans , who w ere furi ou s at th e dela y - and some were on the verge of demanding their money back a s they w e re ke p t wait in g on th e terrace s and in th e grandstand sea ts . When the FIM pulled th e plug, b oth Briti sh au thori ties go t together and appoin ted th eir own officials to run th e m ee tin g as a do mestic British eve nt not recognized by the FIM - in effect it was no longe r the FIM Overseas Final. The FIM Jury P resident was Bill Boyce of the AMA, and he was quick to (Above) Chris Manchester was the winner of a meeting at Brandon Stadium In Coventry England which mayor may not be recognized as a World Championship qua lifier. The American finis hed on a brilliant 14 points (Above) The root ofthe problem: Riders refused to compete on these solld-block tires, which were mandated by the FIM. In the end , the world sanctioning body pulled out of the event, which was taken over and run by the British speedway authorities. (Left) Manchester (left) defeated nearest points rival Ryan Sullivan (20) to all but lock up the title In heat 15.