A rough time at Coventry

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32349, 15 July 1970, Page 15

A rough time at Coventry

(By

RONNIE MOORE,

, a former double world champion

who recently qualified for the European championship in Russia.)

'THE British-Nordic final of the world championship is now behind us and I, for one. am thankful for that. Ivan Mauger, who has worn New Zealand's colours on the victory dias for the last two world championships, and Barry Briggs, who already has five world titles to his credit, both qualified for the next round, the European championship in Leningrad next Sunday. I managed to get through, too, so New Zealand will be well represented in Russia. That is more than can be said for Great Britain. Not one English or Scottish rider managed to qualify, in spite of the fact that the British-Nordic qualifying round was held at Coventry. One Australian. Jim Airey. qualified for the European championship and if he reaches the world final, to be held this year in Poland in September, he will be the first from his country to do so for eight years. Four Scandinavians. S. Sjosten, B. Jansson, A. Michanek (all Sweden), and 0. Olsen (Norway), also qualified at Coventry.

Sadly, that great Swedish rider and six times world champion Ove F"ndin. lust missed out He scored seven points and will be the first reserve for the European round. The British-Nordic final was not one which many riders will hold fond memories of. It was one of the roughest, hardest, and dirtiest I have ridden in for ouite some time. Some of the battles for the first corner were quite fantastic. Quite often everyone was locked together and nobody was prepared to rive an inch It was amazing that nobody was hurt. The first race eave everybodv a warmne that it was tn he a nieht of surprises when Ivan Maueer sot squeezed out on the first

corner and finished last. Mind you, he was in the race with three Swedes and I suffered the same fate later in the evening. 1 made the gate on my first start and won. Reidar Eide fell on the first bend and that, surprisingly, turned out to be the only spill of the night. My next ; ride was against Mauger and he made no mistake about getting out of the gate this time. However, 1 rode ’ round him on the last corner and with six points from ’ two rides I was breathing a 1 bit easier. Mauger. with two from s two rides, must have been 5 going through hell. Barry t Briggs started with a first, t had a second at his next out-

ing and then followed it with a third—he was not too bad but his position was still a bit dicey. I got my third successive win and gave a big sigh of relief. Nine points should have been enough to assure me of qualifying. Ivan won his next tw, rides and he was up to eight with one to go and so was also able to relax a little. On my fourth ride I got a back wheel stuck into me on the first corner and finished up scraping the fence. 1 finished last Briggs won his fourth ride to qualify with nine and Mauger settled for second behind Olsen in his last race to qualify. Briggs and I were out together for the last race, along with Airey

and Michanek. We were all on nine points so the outcome did not really matter. Airey made the gate and as I tried to go round him “Briggo” went under him. We were all jammed up on the fence down the straight. Briggs finally got clear and in the confusion I finished up last Briggs kept his lead to the finish and I managed to get through to finish second. Now I have to work out how to get to Russia. Practice is on Saturday and the meeting next Sunday. lam at present building up a new machine. I have been going too long on the one I have. I haven’t even got a spare motor for it