Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

IAIIY IIJGGS "Speetlwtly tlntl me..• Somebody said to me the other day, b ac k in England, that it would b e easier to get an au di ence with the Queen than t o pin down yours truly for a few minutes conversa tion. A. particular journalist had b een o n m y' trail fo r sev eral d ays but , whenever he ca ught u p with me , I was in th e middle o f a job that couldn't b e left . " If there were 48 h ours to a d ay, yo u wo uld st ill be busy," he said...and I agr ee . A day before I left m y Southampton, Engla nd, h ome for th is lat est trip to the States, I t old a b usin ess co llea gue th at even if I wasn 't d ue to depart for anoth er three weeks it st ill wouldn't have b een lo ng enough . You will h ave gath ered, no d oub t , that the world of Barry Briggs has b een a hectic o ne of late. The new sp eedway seas on in England is d ue to c om menc e in less t h an four weeks time (with the first meeting at Ha ckn ey , Londo n o n Mar ch 17 ) bu t I haven' t really h ad the time t o even think about it . My curr en t t rip to A merica and Australasia was fo remost o n m y age nda. Despite th e p ressures of busin ess - all co nnected wi th mot orcy cle racing - I m an aged t o put in some solid and, I hope, b eneficial practic e fo r m y visits t o Los Angeles , Ne w York and H o uston. A ft er ridin g in these centers, I go o n to New Zeal and and m y hometown of Christ church . I am d ue to rid e for New Zealand aga ins t Swed en in a series of • AUSSIE SPEfDWA Y (Continu ed from pr evious page) identical in weight. Jolly h as spent five years and $35,000 getting the project off th e ground . To date he has manu factured two machines bu t after the track tests, if su ccessfu l, h e will tum o u t another 10 fo r overseas export to America, New Zealand and Europe. Full scale man ufacture is expected to com m ence with in three months. Further information on this revolu tio nary new speedway ma ch ine may be o b t ained from Jolly's co mpany , the South ern R acing Manufacturin g Corporation, 3 Cooper Place, Beaumont, South Australi a, 5 066 , Australia. ' WORLD CHAMP IONSHIP .M ost starting n ews of the week is th at Aus tralia has ap p lied officially to th e FI~I to stage the World Speedway Championship individual Final in 1973 . boss Frank Arthur, A ustralian chairman of Empire Sp eed ways Ltd. and one of the very first stars of the ;port wh en it w as originated in this country in t h e 1920's, has applied through all co rr ec t channels to fl y all 16 qualifiers to Australi a and stage a gra nd fina l in Sydney . Although the app licat ion m ay not be taken lao serio usly in some quarters, Ar thur believes Australi a has every right to stage the Ch am p io nsh ip. A t present , this country - like doesn 't even h ave a America qualifying round. Yet the sp ort originated h er e ; Australia su pp lied the very fir st World Champ ion, ano ther two champion s and speed way is no w reall y on the crest of a wave. T he recent Test results ind ica t e that th e Kan garoos are every bit world class on their own t ra cks and Arthur fee ls it is hi gh time th e A ustralian public was given a bite at the cherry - a very lu cra t ive o ne at t hat , no do ubt ! It will be interest ing t o see th e rea ct io n his applicat ion receiv es in Europe...and Am erica should keep h er ear s to the ground as we ll for the results could have q uite a bearing on her future in teres ts in speedway racing . II internationals and am looking forward to racing in Ch ris t church esp eciall y . Mind you , I sent a b ike off to New Zeal and some three we e ks befo re leavin g England b u t because of a sh ippin g strike it was d ela yed and may not b e there when I arrive. Int ernat io nals against the Swedes are always keenly cont ested affairs . A lo ng with Ivan Mau ger and R o nnie Moore, I rec k on the Kiwis can t u m th e ta b les on o ur Scandanavian o p ponents. But b efore tac klin g th e Sw ed es - all of wh om ride fo r English teams in the Brit ish League - I h ave a few scores to settle in A merica. I recko n I h ave had a fai r am o unt of success over h er e but a few victories in Los Angeles, New York and Housto n would p ut m e in the righ t frame of m ind fo r th e new speedway seaso n across th e Atl an t ic . This contin ual switching from one type of ra cing to a nother is not easy. Vastl y di fferent techniques are required for the American brand and I am ho pi n g th a t th is t rip will prove that I hav e learned a great deal . The physical effort required is much greater at places suc h as Madison Square Gardens a nd th e Houst on Astrodome. I used to su ffer in my earl y days of Stateside riding through 'b urn ing m yself out' in the in it ia l st ages o f a race; leavin g noth ing for the last st retc h. It is p ossible to m ain ta in a sust ained effort for p erhaps 10 lap s but over 25 lap s o ne must learn t o pace o neself, Aft er a lifetim e of puttin g every thing into a short, fo ur- la p even t, taking it relatively easy fo r a tim e d id not come natu rally . T here is no ra cin g in the world in wh ich the road t o th e final of an even t is as tough as it is here. But th at 's only the beginning. Then comes 25 laps of what can b e 'p ure h ell.' At Madison this year I will use a bike borrowed fr o m J immy Od om, who I ra t e as the b est 'concrete-racer' in th e Stat es . Last year I rode a st andard Yamaha. My leathers are also a little b it differe nt, with extra protection for m y knees an d hips should I co me to grief. Befo re I left England th ere was n ews of a possible Wo rld League taking p lace in Great Britain. The b asic idea was that the natio nal , teams of Engla nd, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Scan danavia (N o rway and Denmark ) should meet in a 21·match ser ies. The idea has b een agreed in prin cip le b y the Brit ish p ro moters bu t wh eth er or n o t t he governing b odies of the sport in the other coun tries says yes re mains to b e seen. Personall y , I h ope th at the scheme does get off th e ground. G reat Britain won t he Wo rld Team Cup las t year - in Po land - but it wo uld b e nice fo r A ustralia and Ne w Zealan d to b e ab le to have a team of the i r own. Perh aps in the not-too-distant fu ture we sh all see th e USA sending a side t o participate in a major co nfro n ta ti o n o f the speedway co u n tr ies. I sh all be rid ing for Swiden aga in this year and would lik e nothing more th an to lead them t o vic tory in the British Leagu e ch am p ionship . It would be nice , o f co urse, t o wi n t he World Tit le aga in . With fo ur win s under m y belt, I'm hankering for a fif t h . T he fin al will b e held a t Wembley S tadiu m on Sat urday, September 16 . September ap pears t o b e a long wa y o ff bu t time r eall y flies these d ays . ~I y pro gramme fo r th e fo rthco ming mo nths is a full o ne, with n um ero us b ookings in Europe t o fulfill in addition to my raci ng co mm it m en ts in Britain. As I said ear lier... the life of Barry Briggs is a h ectic one, bu t I'm not co m p lain ing. ST RONG D&S MOT O RCYCL E CARR IERS 3332 Reta St ., La Cresc enta, Calif. 912 14 (213) 248 ·2850 Dea ler Inq uiries In vit ed We sell &setp~ptrRfl> MAleO~here! .. ~ ~ AMERICAN ' HAaU'f' CHOPftfas "(MON W'LDCA7I D & R CYCLE, Inc. DON. vrv,AH 1 1111 WESTMINSTER AVENU E WESTM IN STER. CAl.lfORN tA OJ '" 894 ·~3 IllOE OIWlGETHOIlPE ' UlUR TON CAlI' . 171C1 I7D · . ,17 '1 SUZUKI WEST NOW YOU CAN O RD ER YOUR SUZUK I GEN UINE PARTS AND K IT-PARTS THROUGH OUR MAIL ORDER DEPARTMENT . I DEPT. CN-W P,O. BOX 2446 ISANTA FE SPRINGS, CALIF. 90610 ~ SIGN S M/C PRODUCTS FAST MA I L ORDER S ERV ICE 2St fo r S e nd Ca t a lo g u e (fo r postage) 44 E. Market St ., Lo ng ~ea~~ , Ca 90BOS. 12 131 42 2- 19 08. INCREASE YOUR SERVICE PROFITS! DO YOUR OWN CYLINDER REBORING' CYCLE BOREMASTER BRONCCO 1, SKI-DOO ZERO Ano th er ro u nd in th e p rotract ed lega l batt le b etw een Eng ine Specialt ies, Inc . a nd Bo mbard ier, Lt d. (B roncco) (Ski-Doo) has been decided in favor of E .S.I. , Cro ydon , Pa. distrib utor of B r on c c o M i n i-b ik es , Mini-cycle, Motorcycl e. and Fun Karts. In a ruling handed down in Boston on January 20 , 1972, the Un ited States Co urt o f Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed an ear lier Boston Federal Order enjo in in g District Court Bombardier from car ry ing o ut th eir announced plans t o enter t he mini-cycle market with Bro ncco-t ype mini-cycles manufacted b y Agr ati-Garelli , S .P .A ., Milan, It aly , former supplier to E.S .1. In one part of its appeal Bo mbardier q uestioned wheth er Bo mbardier was su bject to the jurisdiction of t he Boston Federal District Co u rt . On this matter, the Court's opinion, writ ten by Uni ted State s S en ior Circuit J ud ge Breitenstein, held th at , " Bo mbardier significantly entered th e busin ess life of Massach usetts. Having d o ne so , it ma y now avoid the 'dist ast eful not consequences' of sui t ." * * * * Quick and easy to use Unattended operation. Shuts off automatically Bore Honda 50 t o Harley 74 Fully Guaranteed ATTENTIO N PROMOTERS PASADENA, CAL., Feb . 14, 1972 T he Speedwa y R acin g Ass ociation will h old a sp ecial mee ting for prospective racin g promo t ers Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the As sociatio n's offi ce a t 135 W. Union Stree t. Pasadena it was annou nced today. "Tb ls meetin g is no t a gener l a membership me et in g a nd we will be discussin g o nl y info rmat ion and explan ati ons to p oss ibl e racing promoters co ncern ing dates, fa cts and requirements," exp lained S RA president Pater Palmer, "o ff ering all th e assis tanc e we can and answ eri ng questions:' A tentative date fo r the next general meeting has been memb ersh ip est ab lish ed for. March 7 at the same ad dress. Fully Guar ateed $798.50 F.O.B. Torrance, Calif. PATRACO HI-PERFORMANCE EQUIP MEN T 1801 Borde r Ave. To rrance , Calif. 90501 r = = = = =(2·13 )-3 28·2955========;:=====- .... M ~ <>. ~ Cl ("II N .g 11. ~ w Z ~ o ~

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