Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

by Peter White • Australia continued its trouncing of Great Britain in the Test series Down Under b y winning the seven th and final Test at th e Sydney Showground on Monday, Janua ry 29. Match w as held on the Australia Da y h oliday to com m e m o ra te th e discovery of this cou n try b y one o f o u r bl essed English forefa th ers...but o ur A ussie rid ers h ad n o sy m p a thy fo r Lim e y s d e sp i te th e aus picious o ccasion ! A us tr alia again troun ced the British to w in b y 6 2 points to 46. T he Li ons were o nce again a h apless sq ua d . Only visitor to show any fire was S cotsman, Geo rge Hu nte r, w h o scored I I points - top of the British c h ar ts. H unte r, who h as raced at Cos ta Mesa (Cal ifo rn ia ), was drafte d in to th e tea m as a las t-minute re pl ac eme n t for injure d star, Pete r Co llins, who had to fly ba ck to En glan d with a broken leg after the fo urth Test at the S yd ne y circuit . Hu nte r sho\l'e d flash es o f brilliancy a n d tw ice turned in exci ting rides to defeat Austr alia's to p tw o, sk ip pe r Jim Aire y and A d elaid e h ero J o hn Boulge r. But, th e S cotsman ap art, there wa s preci ous little to en th us e o ve r from hi s six Eng lish teammates . Captain. -Nigel Boo cock, ro de va lian tly for a total o f ' nine p oints... Lan castrian Chris Puse y sh o we d a fe w flashes o f fire fo r ano the r nin e p oints.. .bu t that wa s their lot. A rno ld lI al ey and Er ic Br oadbelt, tw o seaso ne d En glish internati on als. floundered... as did Bob Kilby wh o co uld score o n ly three p oin ts. For Kilb y, this t otal was ridic ul ous. li e h ead s th e ride rs ' on Bri ti sh Lea gu e averages and sho u ld be a do u ble figu re man in every mat ch . It all se e me d to a mou n t to a c o mp le te lack o f app lication. By co n tras t , th e A ustralia n s showe d n o let-up an d ro de the Li ons in to the gro und. Their victory ga ve the m the T est 'ashes' b y six ma tches to o ne . A m o st d ecis ive result an d o ne that w ould have been m ore p ala t able t o u s patriotic Diggers h ad it b een 7-0 ! Howev er, a sligh t slip -u p in the secon d T est in Adelaide bl otted th e copybook. JI M A IREY BACK AFTER IN JU R Y Hi ghlight of th e match w as th e return to racin g o f regular Australian cap ta in , Nati on al Ch ampion a n d Sydn e y Sh owgr ound hero, Jim A ir ey. Aire y , th e go lde n b oy who ha s j us t as ma n y fans in California fo llo w in g h is sco rch ing performan ces at Cost a Mes a and o the r spe ed way ci rc u its during th e American in ternatio nal season in recent years, had b een o ut of action for more than two m on ths with a fra ctured arm . lie sustained the inj ury - the only break of his m otorcycle ra cing caree r whil e te a ching c h ild ren t o ride ' m in i·b ikes in a S ydney su b ur b one S unday af te rno o n . ( Bring o n Bruce Brown and a ca me ra for a new sw tic h to ' An y S un day'! ) . Aire y had a special try -ou t a cou p le o f day s be fore th e m atch, ca me through wi th fly ing co lo urs an d was d eclared fi t to resume racin g. H is retu rn, h owe ve r, was slightly d em orali zin g. Sandak ~~~~~ 'w o r l d speedway ~c:>\ON~ S A L ... C S' ~~~ ~ ~ ?qRc'(t~ 0> ~ e, S .... '" '" ..... E R V I C N .c '" u, Ul ;,: E HusCI,varna W z H 0 DA KA MOT O ftCY C L II. S "We hav e the p a rt s" Desert and Moto-X Preparation Co mplet e mach ine & welding shop 785-4289 87 3 0 securvec e, Se pu lve da, Ca. (Just n o r th o f Pa rt he n ia) Ivan M auger leading John Boulger in Adel aide. In his first r ace h e was e xcluded fo r br eaking th e tapes! In h is se cond o u t ing h e had to give secon d b est to Ge orge Hunter - quite a fe at th a t as Airey is co ns id e re d virtually unbeatable at th e S ydne y S ho wg ro u n d . T he n Airey go t t o grips with th e meeting and re ele d o ff fo u r s traig h t wins. He totall ed 14 p oints wh ich w as a gra n d effor t in th e int ern ation al arena after be ing o ut of action fo r so lon g. Absolute t op score r fo r Australia was res id e nt Syd ney ace , Joh n Lan gfi eld, wh o we n t thro ugh with a clean sweep and t otall ed a ma ximum 18 p oints. Lan gfield , who h ad b een o ff fo rm fo r so me weeks. was pe erles s in this match. He received able support fr om S outh A us tra lia n, John Boulger, who score d 17 p oin ts. Boulger's o nly defeat w as b y Hunte r. Best o f th e rest w as young, Bar ry V an Praag, so n of th e most fa mo us pre-war speed way s~ar, Li onel V an Pr aa g. Old Li o n el. who is still alive and well and flying sm all'"aer oplanes as a h obb y, i s th e fir s t -ever World Champion. Barr y rode at re serve for this match and kept the A ustralian fl ag flying with a so lid seven p oin ts fr om fiv e ride s. Englishman, Barry Thomas, rode a t reserve for Britain but was next to useles s be c ause o f a cu t kne e ne cessitating 15 stitch es in the sixth Test in Brisbane a fo rt n ight earlie r. Despite the score , the m ee tin g provided so me first class racing and gave th e thrill-hungry patrons plenty to che e r. OLSEN A N D M AUGE R STA R In o t he r Australian me etin gs , World Champion Iva n Mau ger and forme r World Champ Ole Ol sen . have b een se t ti ng th e tr ack s aligh t in V ictoria, Sou th Aust rali a and Queensland. T h e d evastatin g du o h ave b een making 'open' appearance s in a ligh tn in g tour embraci ng as many ci rcuits as po ssibl e in as short a time as p ossibl e. T o date th eir sco re is abo u t even. Ol sen open ed with a sh eet o f good win s but Mauger h as put in a late ru n and claimed the cas h a t quite a few bi g m eetings latel y. Their clashes alwa y s produce su p e rb speed way a n d fa n s througho ut A ustralia h ave mu ch to b e th an kful for th is su m mer. SCOTT AUTREY TO ENG LAND It h as b ee n c o n firm ed tha t A merican so lo wh iz. S co tt Au trey . ,,;11 ra ce in Englan d th is y ea r. A u trey has signed f or the British League First Division team, Exeter . In so d o in g h e be comes the th ird Am erican of th e c urre n t sp eedwa y era t o tackle th e tough British Leagu e co mpe titio n. DeWayne Ke e ter, th a t so-pop ular and very impressive b undle of speedwa y tal en t, was th e fir st wh en he join ed Leic ester in 1969. Then in 1970 Steve Bast h ad a sp ell with th e mi ghty Wembley Lions. Find it fast in th e Cycle News Dealer and Services Directory Autre y fac e s a hard sea son as it 's far from easy going in First Divi sion racin g in Britain . How ever , Second Division racing is prohibitive to fore ign ers so you ng S cott hasn't much ch o ice about which Division he tackles. A sh a me. because a sp ell in th e lower sphere would do wonders while h e find s his l eagu e f e et. N e vert heless, th e 20-year-o ld is a high ly tale nted rider w ho sh o u ld adapt co m fo r tab ly an d Eng lish fan s are eagerly awai ting his appe aran ce. He is due to arrive in Britain in the seco n d w eek in Marc h so th at he 'll have a fortnight t o settle d own be fore Exe te r's o pe n ing mee ting o f th e 1973 se ason . S aid Autre y : " I think I've go ne as far as I can in Ame rica and realize that if I'm to suc ceed in sp eedw a y I n eed to ride in Britain ." b v Erm a Reddin g CORO:\A , C A L. , f eb. 4, 1973 Fo u rteen year o ld Vin ce Mead ( Ka w) w on afte r a qu ick see-saw ride agains t John Erickson (Ka w ) in th e 100 No vice Main, The 100's rode together with E xp ert Wayne Whis enant winn ing and A ma te u r Ri ck y Naymola (Y am) offerin g pl enty of com p e ti tio n to take second. Th e largest class o f the day , 25 0 Novice, w as h eaded by J eff Clark ( Bul) from Apple Valley . 250 Expert cl ass we nt to Mike Me yers and the 250 Amateur win was by Doug Perrault. T h e 500 Novice clocked a little sw ifter th an usual t od ay on th is rai n ta cky track , AI Wighton (Mai) won . Sandy R ob e rtson (Gre) took se cond by a fraction fr o m Rory H oll ad a y (Mai) third . Rick Milner won the 500 Exper ts by a sw ee p with J ohn Sperry gain ing eve ry lap . SOUTH BAY SPECIALS For Most Makes Of Bikes * Su n b ur st H e ad s * T e fl o n Control C abl e s * Pla sti,c F uel Ta nks • Un b re a k ab l e Pl a st ic F en ders -l ik e O r i9i nat s * Re e d V a l v e U nits * Mik u ni And B i n 9 C a rb ur eto r s · Bar u m Mo to c ros s D es e rt , a n d T r i a l s Tires * A ll o y S k id Pl a t e s * M o t o c r o ss H a ndj e b ar s ' G e n u i n e CZ C h a in Us ed b y F a c t o r y T eams * Quality P i 9 sk i n Glov e s * R ae i~~g n ililii Wooowee! Sho am gett in' wahm in heah. w ' ..J 1'»E:!!P """BSA ~ TT- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A n un-trlck CZ - but it works . '" U >o

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