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/141050
N M FROM BRIGGO- . ~ en 11. ... '" ... M N . ~ ::; ~ W Z CYCLE INSURANCE TOP COMPANIES w -' U Low Rates - D i5Cou nt s >- Monthly Pay Pla n Can Frank ( 2 13) 78S-880S U .JONES MOTOCROSS PRODUCTS (714) 595·9100 20868 Cu rr ier Rd. Wa lnut, Ca . 91789 , Ca talog availabl e fo r $1 .50 NOGUCHI PRODUCTS GO FAST AND SELL FAST • . . A sk Dick or Fred Cycle Trend West. Inc.. 709 W. St uart S t .• Fresno, Ca lif. 93 7 0 4 . (2 0 9 ) 439·3330 . Mik e Patrick 's YAMAHA of CORONA 1101 E. 6th St. - Corona (714) 735 -7721 Fo ur"t imes Wor ld Cham p Barry Briggs returned from a succes sful England -New Zealand ma tch ser ies to wo w t he speedway fans at Daytona . He's Coll ins & Sons 12 6 5 E. Lincoln A naheim (714) 535-5000 Hodaka Montesa f,;'Jfabe'a n "'~J #IV then off t o Germany fo r long tra ck compe t iti o n. And he said he was "retiri ng" this ye ar. Bloody likelv . __.. fl.....· ... ~ue~M Motorcycles til ~~~~:Spo rt GU Y R . LO UIS 72 19 Westm inster Cycle (7 14)893-7057 A ~ .• Westm inster , Ca. Valley w ide Catering, Inc . Special Even ts an d Concessions 1146 6 Cha ndl er B l vd . N o rth H o ll y w ood , C a . 916 01 (2 13) 7 6 6 -4 31 3 - b y Barry Briggs T he British b o ys su rprised everybody by sh o wi ng th at th ey still had a sting in thei r tail with a stim ula ti ng o ne-poin t victory" 54 ·5 3, in th e third spee d way test agains t New Zealand at A uckland 's West ern Sp rings Stadium. I wasn't pr e p a r e d t o rid e becau se o f a disagreem ent with the promo ters at th e track . 1 tho ugh t the Kiwi s wo ul d win eas ily enoug h with out m e afte r the hiding th ey h anded o ut to the Porn m ies in th e second test a t Ch ristchurch . How w ro ng can you get? T he meetin g h ad to be postponed fo r tw o d ays because of rai n and in this ti me the differences between the p ro mote rs and m y self we re settled. However. it w ould h ave been wrong for m e to co me in to t he New Zealand team at that tim e because . it woul d have m e an t asking someone tp stand d own after being sele cted. A Clif f -hanger "''''~ ('115'(: ..·:·:lj • j ".j.~ " P.O. 80x 444, c vee ess C A. 90630 (71 4) 821 ·7 427 COMPETI TI O N MOTORC YC L E W H EELS DESIG NED, BUI L T AND REPAIRED ~l M) !5( r OR ( " l.,\ LOt .' WHITTIER HONDA DSS~ (!jY , Motorcycl e Trail ers WH ITTIER HON DA 14 32 4 ~.. Whittier Blvd. (2 13) 698-0065 ' Complete steer of parts and accessories IECHAlICS w~ tra in ~ c;h.anlc; . for t hr MOlorc yc l~ Industry. "-e ked by VeI n of ex perjeece , Wr ite t oda y tor dt1anl . Vete ra ns , tJ. a UIT to Inq Ui r e about IpprO"lt'd COUrllel' Anyway, the test was a real cliff-hanger. The Bri tish riders were clearly keyed u p for this one and ' we re rushing around the pits beforehand like nobodv 's business. T hey liked th e track and the thought that only two o f New Zealan d's w o rld ch am pio ns, Ivan Mau ger and · R o n ni e Mo ore. would be o p posing the m ap peare d to give th em new h eart. , , T h e o ut come de pen ded o n th e final heat a nd wh at a grea t tactical b attle th is turned out to be ! I didn't th ink I co uld ever ge t reall y ex cited sitting up in th e stand with m y wife - an un usu al ex perie nce fo r me - but I w as almos t jumpin g out o f my skin . Graem e Staple to n , w ho h ad really es ta blished h im self as a te st rider o f ab ilit y fo r th e Kiw is, drifted wide ea rly on and with h im took -Scotsman George Hun te r righ t o ff the track and o n to the co ncrete cycle tr ack surroun d ing the shale . T hey we n t righ t u p the steep b an kin g lo cked together be for e swooping back d own and re-j o ining th e race. In th e me an time fo rmer double world ch am p io n , R on n ie Mo o re had b een d oi ng a m agn ifice n t j ob of slo wi ng the race an d th is enab led S t apl e ton to ca tc h u p an d follow hi m th rough to th e Ne w Zealand o ne-two finish neede d for victory. The .fans we n t crazy with excitement but th e British team quickly sla m me d in a protest against Stapleton for fouli ng H un te r. This was upheld an d a great victory for Ne w Zealand turned into a n equally gre at " in for Bri tain. Now New Zealand, wh ich see me d lik e gai ni ng an e ff o rt less win in the se ries , finds it self t raili n g 1-2 in th e series an d th e best it can hope for is a draw by w in ning th e fo urt h a nd final . te st at Well in gt on 's T e Maru a track . ' I am back in for thi s o ne' an d d e termined that th is tim e vic tory sh all not escape us. Top score r in th e thi rd tes t, i n c ide n t a l l y , " w as rei gn in g wo rld champion Ivan Mau ger . Stapl eton got 12 an d Mo ore I I. Top for Britain wer e Bob Kilb y with 15 an d Arnold Haley with 14. S t ran gely e n o ugh : these tw o at one stage we r,e so dejec te d that th e y wan ted to cu t th e to ur short an d fly h om e , No Nitro As I m entioned earlie r, I patche d up m y d isagree me n t with th e A uckla nd p ro mote rs a nd agreed t o ra ce in a c ha m p io n -o f-ch ampions. in ternati o n al soon afte r th e test . As soon as I kne wI was in th e fiel d I im m edia tely started looking around for so me nitro. This is pe rm itted for league racing in England and for a ll ope~ eve nts there . Ho weve r . J quickly d isco ve red it was hands -off in New Zealand. T here is a new rule here covering this a nd if you are ca ug ht usin g it au to matic sus pens io n fo r 12 m on th s fo llows . Horro rs - j ust as well I fou nd . o ut! T hi s, of co u rse , hi gllJights the ' r id l c u l o u s s i tu at io n ·w hi ch exis ts . through o ut th e w orld in ' rela tio n to th e use of nitro me th an e. It sh ould either be permitted fo r all eve n ts o r banned enti rel y . Re member the tro ub le R ussian star Valerie Gordev go t in t o for us in g nitro in a w orld ch am p io ns h ip fin al a year o r t wo ago . He was di sq ualified an d banned for 12 m onth s. Perso nally , I am in clined to th in k tha t ni t ro sho uld be permitted for all racing. If a fell ow wan ts t o expe rime n t with it , he sho uld be ab le to d o so . T here a re , o f co urse , a lot of time s wh en it is n o t a n advan tage . It o n ly m akes for an uncontro llable m o t o r on a slic k track . A nyway, the firs t th ing I wiII d o whe n I reach Da y to n a will be to get a can of nitro. Get t ing b a ck to t he champio n-of- champions - at A uckland. this w as won b y Ivan Ma uge r but only after a cou n t -bac k fro m 1971 world champion O le O lsen, of Denma rk. Stand -up Meals I finished a clos e th ird b u t I d id h ave a sp o t o f bad lu ck in one heat . While I was h avin g a terrific d ice with O lsen, my ch ain flew up my back sid e. N ow I sta nd up for all my m eals. Even so, thi rd was p re tty good in th is com pa n y. T he field in cl ud ed tw ice world ch am pio n R o nn ie Mo o re , t he A us tra lian c ham p io n J im Aire y (flo w n o u t , specially for t he con te st ) an d the t op -scorin g En glish ma n from th e th ird test , Bob Kilbv - as well as Mau ger and Ol sen . Yo u would have to go a lo ng wa y to find a st ronger fie ld than that. ' I had a lo t of d ifficulty with the e lasti c start an d I was no t alone . T his re min ds me of another pe t subject. It sho uld be co m p ulsory for all licensed speedways to have elec tri c starting gates whi ch go up. Wit h the elastic tape , the rider on the in sid e ca n often get hi mself all tangled u p if h e is off the line smartly . The races for the Champ ion-of-Champ io n s we re d ecided ove r six-man heats. After racing all the tim e in four- m an races, J fo und life a bi t hect ic with six of the best rid e rs in the world all divi ng into the fi rst come r to gethe r. Whe n I first came out t o New Zealand it w as fo r wh at I tho ught was a ho lid a y with a little b it of te st in g th rown in. [ h ad pl enty of t ime on my hand s at firs t and so se n t fo r my wif e, J u n ie,. to fly o u t fro m Engla nd. She no sooner arr ived than I find I have a full bo o k. T he th o ught o f wa tc h ing me race for the nex t seven nigh ts in su cce ssion is n o t her id ea o f a h oliday in th e sun . My New Ze ala nd visit e nds with a bi g inte rna tio nal at T em p le t o n in m y h ome town. Ivan Ma uge r and Ron n ie Mo ore wiII be the re as well as Live rp ud lian Li on Ch ris Pu sey, Scotsman Bert Har ki ns and A ust rali a n Ph il Crump . T hat 's so me fiel d . To win thi s would be a real fe ather in my speed way bonne t. Where ·s t hat ca n of n it ro ? Addenda I wai ted so lo ng to po st this tha t I . h ave th e results o f the final test aga ins t th e Br iti sh Team at WeIlin gton . New Zealand w on co m fo rt a bly with Ivan ge tti ng a ma ximum 18 p o in IS. Engla nd's top w as Eric Broadbelt w ith ' six second p laces for a 12. I dropped a nothe r chain (a hack this t im e) 5 0 yards fro m th e finish while leading so th is spoiled m y ma xim um . I'll have to ta ke some lessons in chain lin ks. Bye, Barry Briggs.