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(Top) Dennis Sigalos (left) and Bruce Penhall made the World Final field. (Above) Kelly Moran, leading Kenny Carter, also made it. (File photo~.) Inter-Continental Sp~edwayFinal - Americans qualify for World Final By John Hipkiss -- VET LAN DA, SWEDEN, JULY 23 American Speedway Champion Bruce Penhall, along with his buddies from southern California Dennis Sigalos and Kelly Moran, all qualified from the Inter-Continental Speedway Final the first World Final to be held outside of Europe, at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Aug. 28. 10 Penhall started the meeting by break ing the track record on the fast 364-meter circuit and went on to record one more win. Surprisingly, fro m then on he could only muster three third places, although he had already qualified after his first two rides. His total point tall y was nine, a joint fifth with Kelly Moran who score d three wins and two laps place rides, while top points man for th e Americans was Dennis Sigalos . Sigalos won a run-off for third place against Derimark's Hans Nielsen after both riders had tied at 10 points. The title of Inter-Continental Champion goes to Englishman Les Collins, brother of former World Champion Peter. Les won the meeting with 12 points, one more than fellow Englishman Kenny Carter. . It looked as though the Americans were goint to steal the show from the word go. After two rides Moran and Penhall were joint top scorers with six points after both had won the ir opening r ides convincingl y, and Sigalos had only dropped one point. But the pressure was on for the riders below them to go for the points, and the Californians began to lose points unexpectably. Heat II saw Sigalos have a battle royale with English hope, Kenny Carter with the lead changing several times before the ' American got the better to take the flag. Race 12saw Penhall (on six points) and Moran , (also on six) battle it out against eventual win ner Collins and Dan e Bo Petersen. So far the Americans hadn't dropped a point, bu t it was th e Englishman wh o sto rmed to a win, and th e Yanks were left to fight it out between themselves for the th ird place point, which went to World Champion Penhall. With four rides gone the leaderboard looked like this: Collins (II), Sigalos (10), Carter (9), Moran (9), Nielsen (8) and Penhall (8). In race 17 Sigalos needed to win aga inst Penhall, Dane Hans Nielsen and New Zealander Larry Ross, who was out of the competition. But it was the New Zealander who stormed into the lead and never looked back as Siggy fin ished in last place. . Another piece of uncanny luck for the Americans fell on Kelly Moran in race 19, when a win would have put him in a run-off for first place. He was up against Englishman Kenny Carter who also needed a win for a run-off chance, but they were both beaten by another rider desperate for points, EnglishmanAndy Grahame, and young Moran finished last. The meeting didn't pass without controversy. Former champion, the great Dane Ole Olsen, was accused of using an illegal silencer and a bitter row developed with Finland's Kai Niemi making the accusations. At first Olsen had a point deducted, but later the referee changed his mind and gave the point back . Olsen was also at the center of a similar situation to that of Bruce Penhall at White City. when the American caused uproar by helping his fellow Americans. Olsen was clearly seen helping another Dane gain points, and by being motioned past, Bo Petersen was able to get enough points to go into a run-off for the last q ualifying place against Englishmen Peter Collins and Andy Grahame. However the run-off went" against the Dane as he finished last.• Results INTER-CONTINENTAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Las Collins (12); 2. Kenny Carter (11); 3. Dennis Sigalos (10); 4. Hans Nielsen (10); 5. Bruce Penhall (9); 6. Kelly Moran (9); 7 . Dave Jessup (8); B. Kai Niemi (7); 9 . Phil Crump (71; 10. Jan Anderson (7 ); 11. Peter Collins (6). CONTINENTAL FINAL QUALIFIERS: 1. J . Stenz! (15); 2. E.Jancarz(ll); 3. V. Verner(11);4. G;Hack (10); 5. M . Starsotin (9).