Racing Review
RACING REVIEW
AMERICANS WIN SPEEDWAY
It was hard to believe, but at the end of the International Test Series in California, the American team had triumphed over the United Kingdom squad. Score: Yanks, 140, U.K., 129.
While former World Speedway Champions Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs put on the expected strong show against the Americans, they were carrying the whole U.K. team. It’s not that Jim Airey, Bert Harkins, George Hunter and Jim McMillan aren’t good. It’s just that they had trouble getting used to the tiny track at Orange County Fairgrounds where two of the series nights were held.
So while Mauger and Briggs racked up a monotonous number of wins in their various four-man match races, the Americans—including Sonny Nutter, Lightning Larry Shaw, Rick Woods, Wild Bill Cody, Mike Konle, Mike and Steve Bast—always seemed to have a man in 2nd and 3rd.
At Ascot, on the quarter-mile oval, the U.K. did better, but not enough to eliminate the sizeable lead piled up by the Americans at Orange County. The American heat wins were amply shared by virtually the whole team.
So the U.K. team went away with a strong impression of American speedway riding, which has improved tremendously in the last two years.
With the series over, some U.K. team members participated in an event on the Ascot half-mile oval and showed considerable finesse at the higher speeds obtained there.
Mauger dominated, as usual, but American Scott Autrey got the cheers as he nipped Briggs for 2nd in a hair-raising semi. In the Scratch main, Rick Woods scored a 2nd behind Mauger and ahead of Briggs, while American Les Chankey managed to hold off Mauger to win the Handicap Main.
An interesting sidelight was the track record attempt by several riders of the 500-cc “fuel”-powered speedway machines. Mauger ran the fastest at 24 sec. flat, which is nowhere near the current record of 22.31 sec., established in 1969 by Mert Lawwill on his 750-cc KR flathead.
Even in the old days, when the gasoline-powered Gold Star 500 Singles ruled the roost at Ascot, the record was in the 22s.
Moral: Speedway is speedy, but flat track is faster.
U.S. ISDT HOST IN '73
The Federation Internationale Motocycliste, the world governing body for the sport of motorcycling, has granted the American Motorcycle Association the opportunity of hosting the International Six Days Trial for 1973. As organizers of this annual motorcycle endurance event, the AMA will host 300 motorcyclists from more than 30 nations throughout the world.
The ISDT, run each fall by an FIM member nation, is considered the Olympics of motorcycling, and consists of riding six continuous days over rough, mountainous terrain.
American riders made their best performance to date at the 1971 ISDT, hosted by England on the Isle of Man. They finished 4th, and are hoping for an equally impressive performance in Czechoslovakia in 1972.
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As preparation for the 1973 event, a three-day trial will he run, allowing FIM officials an opportunity to scrutinize the efficiency of the American operation. Plans already have begun though, and with the support of motorcyclists in this country, there is ample time to prepare.
UNADILLA TRANS-AM
In spite of heavy rains, and an unbelievable amount of mud, 4550 spectators watched what had to be one of the slowest motocrosses in history.
Since the last event at Unadilla, the course had been changed to incorporate a hill. Hills are usually no big thing, but with heavy mud, it was nearly impossible for all but the strongest riders to make it over the top. In a 43-rider heat, most would only push over once or twice, causing it to be incredibly difficult to make laps. What’s more, 10-min. events were taking 30 min. to complete, and it was dark before the program could be completed.
Mud also made it impossible to tell one rider from another. Likewise, spectators were caked with the stuff, and after battling knee-deep mud in the parking lot, some looked worse than the competitors. [Oj
