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/143869
a (Clockwise from top left) Penhall's night started out on down note when he lost a tough race to Englishman Les Collins. Carter pleads his case with FIM officials. Penhall and Sigalos met in race 12; Bruce wasthe winner. Wheel in the air, Penhall wins his last ride for the championship. Dennis Sigalos turned in a fine performance in his first World Final for third. A stagecoach carried the riders around the ,t rack in pre-race ceremonies. r 8 fence afte r a hard get-off. He walked away from the crash, but then it was an nounced tha t the race would be restarted - without Carter. Federatio n Internationale Motocycliste rules require that if a race is red-n agged, the rider causing the red flag must be excluded. In excluding Carter the referee, T. Kittl esen, ruled that Penhall was not a t fault in the Carter crash. Carter did not agree. He was in discussion with race officials as the heat was being restaged and his mechanic brought his bike to the line. But the heat went off and Carter was not in it. Kenny continued to plead his case until security officers almost manhandled him off the track . On the track, Penhall led all the way to secure another three points and in doing so, virtually put a lock on his second successive world championship. Collins was second with Crump third. The controversy heated up when Carter did a trackside interview with field announcer Margo King. "T he referee won't even meet me. I've come to say that Bruce Penhall knocked me off! I'm going to sue the referee." Carter barely got those words in before being booed off the track. Carter was insisting that the, referee view video tape of the incident, but FIM rules specify no video tapes shall be used by the referee. Penhall's version of what happened was somewhat terse. " We had a helluva race , bumping in every corner. What,was I supposed to do? Shut off and let him go by? I was clear and the rider in fron t has the right of way. The referee made his decision and I won the race." Reporters talkjng to Phil Crump, who was behind Penhall and Ca rter when' the crash occured, say that Crump ag reed with the referee 's decision. After Jessup had won a heat, Les Collins and Sigalos squared off in a race that would decide second pl ace. Collins jumped into the lead, but the red flag came out on the second lap. Hack was on the ground in turn two . Vaclav Verner was excluded for having caused the crash, and it was a three-rider restart. Again Collins took the lead and he won the race to put himself a point up on Sigalos,and only one point behind Penhall. Beat 17 featured four riders with good scores: Moran, Les Collins, Carter and Jessup. Moran was out of the gate the quickest, but Jessup stole the lead in the first turn. Collins went from third to first ina superb move down the backstraight and in to turns three and four, and he led for the duration. Moran ran second and Carter third. Collins had 13points, Moran II and Carter 10. Penhall's final ride came in event 19, where he was up against Stand, Verner and Starostin. Penhall had to win to avoid a run-off, and Stancl wasn't able to pull off the upset he had earlier in the night. Penhallied wire to wire for the 1982 World Speedway Championship. America's only two-time speedway titlist was mobbed by his crew after the finish , and the Coliseum was al ive with applause. The only' issue left to be settled was wh ich of the other two Americans would join Penhall on the rostrum. That was decided in the final heat. Sigalos was untouchable, defeating Andersson, Niemi and Crump and picking up three points for a total of 12. He was in the winner's circle in his first World Final appearance. "I would like to thank my family, my friends , my sponsors and my crew . I won it for them," said Penhall '. as he stood atop the podium. Most of the crowd had stayed to watch Penhall receive his laurels for perhaps the final time. "I was lucky again tonight," admitted Penhalliater. "You need a lot of luck to be world champion." Collins was the only rider in the top four to be riding a Jawa (the other three rode English Weslakes). "I feel I had more power than the Weslakes. I had my Jawas squared away pretty well . They're just standard machines that you buy in the shop." ' . Sigalos, facing a fan dub section directly across the track from the winner's circle, said, "I made a few J mistakes, missed a few starts. Btit il really feel good about tonight, and . . there's always next year." . • Results WORLDINDIVIDUALSPEEDWAYFINAL: 1. Bruce Penhall (14); 2. Les Collins (13); 3. Dennis Sigalos (12); 4. Kelly Moran (111 5. Kenny Carter (10); 6. ; (TIE) Jan AndersSon/Dave Jessup /Hans Nielsen (B); 9. (TIE) Edward Janearz/J iri Stancl (7); 11. Georg Hack (6); 12. (TIE) Peter Collins/Kai Niem i (5); 14. Phil Crump (4); 15. Vaclav Verner (2); 16. Mikhail Starost in (0) . HEAT 1; 1. Sigalos; 2. Moran; 3. P. Collins; 4 . Starost in. TIME: 1:13.60. HEAT 2. 1. Carter; 2. Jancarz; 3. Andersson ; 4 . Verner . TIME: 1:14 .22. HEAT 3: 1. Jessup ; 2. Hack; 3. Crump ; 4. Stane!. TIME: 1:15 .13. HEAT 4: 1. L. Collins; 2. Penhall; 3. Nielsen ; 4 . Niemi. TIME: 1:14.00. HEAT 5.1 . Penhall; 2. Andersson ; 3. Moran; 4 . Hack. TIME: 1:13.89. HEAT 6: 1. Niem i; 2. Jessup; 3. Verner; 4. P. Collins. TIME: 1:13.59. HEAT 7: 1. L. Collins ; 2. Janearz; 3. Crump; 4. Starostin. TIME: 1:13.94 . HEAT 8: 1. Carter; 2. Sigalos; 3. Stanc!; 4. Nielsen . TIME: 1:12.47 . HEAT 9 : 1. Moran; 2. Nielsen; 3. Crump; 4. Verner. TIME: 1:14.26. HEAT 10: 1. Stane!; 2. Andersson; 3. L. Collins; 4 . P. Collins . TIME: 1:12.65. , HEAT 11: 1. Carter; 2. Hack; 3. Niemi ; 4. Steros tin. TIME: 1:12.70. ' HEAT 12: 1. Penhall ; 2. Sigalos; 3. Jancarz; 4 . Jessup . TIME: 1:13.23. HEAT 13: 1. Moran; 2. Jancarz; 3. Stane!; 4 . Niemi. TIME: 1:14.03. HEAT 14: 1. Penhall; 2. P. Collins; 3. Crump; 4 . Carter. TIME: 1:13.43 . HEA~ 15: 1. Jessup; 2. Nielsen; 3. Andersson; 4 . Sterostln. TIME: 1:12 .60. HEAT 16: 1. L. Collins; 2. Sigalos; 3. Hack; 4 . Verner . TIME: 1:12 .84. • HEAT 17: 1. L. Collins; 2. Moran; 3. Carter; 4. Jeuup. TIME: 1:12.83 . , HEAT 18: 1. Nielsen ; 2. P. Collins; 3. Heck; 4 . Jeuup. TIME: 1:13.42. HEAT 19: 1. Penhell; 2. Stenel; 3. Verner; 4. Sterostin. TIME: 1:13.11 . ' HEAT 20: 1. Sigaloa; 2. Anderaon; 3. Niemi; 4 . Crump . TIME: 1:12.88.