Sanders retains speedway title with full points

Press, 18 February 1980, Page 17

Sanders retains speedway title with full points

By ]

ROD DEW

Scoring a maximum of 15 points from five unbeaten rides, Billy Sanders, of Australia, convincingly retained his Australasian solo motor-cycle speedway title at the Ruapuna Park Speedway on Saturday night.

■ It was an immaculate performance, and it cast a giant shadow over the other 15 riders in the field.

Larry Ross, the. New Zealand champion for the last five successive years, looked a likely challenger until he me; Sanders in the fifteenth heat. But Ross had the misfortune to get in a tangle with another Australian, Steve Koppe, in the first turn. By the time he had fought his way clear, Sanders held the winning advantage. A flat rear tyre in his last heat robbed Ross of the runner-up position in the championship which he so richly deserved. The very consistent Australian test captain, John. Titman, claimed second place on 13 points and Ross was forced into an unexpected run-off for third with the Aucklandbased New Zealand representative, Mitch Shirra. Both men had 12 points when the last of the 20 heats had been completed. But Ross made no mistake in the run-off, leading all the way to gain third-place honours.

However, Shirra was not unduly disappointed because he, too, had aualified among the first five for the next round of the world championship chase — the Commonwealth final at London’s Wimbledon track on June 29.

The fifth qualifier was Rhil Crump, who was a mere shadow of the rider »’ho finished third in the world championship three years ago. He was struggling to get on even terms with the other top riders throughout the night and only scrambled through after winning a run-off with 17-year-old Tony Briggs, of New Zealand, for the vital fifth place. Both had scored 11 points, a score which most observers had earlier thought would be the cut-off, point. For the run-off, Crump was lent the very fast English Weslake used by Sanders to win the title. It quite clearly gave him an advantage. He was never headed by his youthful rival, finishing in his fastest time of the night, 74 seconds. However, the night belonged to Sanders, the 24-year-old Australian champion. He set the fastest time of 73.2 s in the sixth heat and will go through to the Commonwealth final ranked second only to the reigning world champion, Ivan Mauser, of New Zealand, who has been seeded direct to the Commonwealth event.

A modest and personable young man, Sanders never took any of his races lightly. “I worried all the time, right until my last heat,” he said afterwards. “If i had been beaten then, I might have been forced into a run-off for first with John Titman and Larry Ross. Larry got a puncture in his last ride and was beaten, but I didn’t know that then.” Sanders said he was delighted to win the title for the second time — the first

to do so since Australasia was granted a world title qualifying round five years ago. “I came here to qualify. Winning is an added bonus. But it will be a whole new meeting in the Commonwealth final. By the time we get there, everybody will have forgotten who won here,” Sanders said. cause to be grateful for a slow start. He was the only The meeting was an enthralling one, with more than enough drama to keep the

modest crowd of about 4000 in a constant state of excitement. Titman set the pattern for the night with a hard-fought win over Shirra, Crump and Koppe in the first heat. It was a splendid race in which every rider held the lead at some stage. In the second heat, Glen McDonald (Australia), Mike Farrell (Australia) and Mike Fullerton (New Zealand), collided in the first bend, slid across the track and into the concrete safety fence. None were seriously hurt, but McDonald was judged to be at fault arid was excluded from the rerun. Briggs, for once, had rider left upright. In the rerun he gained second place to Farrell. ' .

. A young New Zealand rider for whom high hopes are held, Wayne Brown, had his chances of qualifying all but destroyed when he lost control in the City Bend while chasing Sanders in the third heat. His front wheel appeared to dig in, and he somersaulted through the air to land in a crumpled heap on the track. He was able to walk away, but was never

again a threat in later heats. Ross accounted for Crump and Titman in successive races, and when the interval arrived after everybody had completed three. heats he and Sanders were the only unbeaten riders. They met in the fifteenth heat and it was obvious that the winner of this would take the title.

; Ross, off the difficult inside grid, and Sanders from the third position, sprinted into the first turn together. However, Sanders had the better line, and Ross drifted out. Koppe, riding right at the limit of his ability, dived inside Ross. Kopne’s front wheel lifted and he snaked across the track. Ross had to throttle back to avoid being pushed into the safety fence.

It was not until the last lap that Ross managed to fight his way back into second place, but he had no chance of catching the flying Billy Sanders. “I thought Koppe was going to climb right over me;” Ross said later. “I had to let him go.” In spite of this incident, Ross admits he hade a mistake in his choice of gearing for the race. “The track altered after being graded at the interval. It had been very grippyj then it became very slick. I was slightly undergeared.” Final points.— Qualifiers: W. Sanders (Aust.) 15, 1; . (Aust) 13 2: L. Ross (N.Z.) 12, 3, kt Shirra (N.Z.) 12, 4; P Crump (Aust.) 11, 5. Non qualifiers: 1. Briggs (N.Z.) 11, 6; M. Farrell (Aust.) TO, 7; P. Herne (Aust.) 8, 8; S. Koppe (Aust.) 7,9, G. McDonald (Aust.) and G. Taylor (Aust.) 5, 10 (equal); G - Stapleton (N.Z.) 3, 12; K. Wright (Aust.). D. Bargh (N.Z.), M. Fu«erton (N.Z.) 2 13 (equal); W. Brown (N.Z.) 1,

Detailed results (each race four laps):— Heat 1: Titman 1, Shirra 2, Crump 3. Time, 74.5. Heat 2: Farrell 1, Briggs 2, Fullerton 3. Time, 74.5. Heat 3: Sanders 1, Taylor 2, Bargh. 3. Time, <4.6. Heat 4: Ross 1, Herne 2, Stapleton 3. Time, 74.4. Heat 5: Titman 1, McDonald 2, Wright 3. Time, 74.9. Heat 6: Sanders 1, Shirra 2, Farrell 3. Time, 73.2. Heat 7. Briggs 1, Koppe 2, Taylor 3. Time,. 74.0. Heat 8: BOSS 1, Crump 2, Brown 3. Time, 74.0. Heat 9: Ross 1, Titman 2, Farrell 3, Time, 74.0. Heat 10; Shirra 1, McDonald 2. Time, 75.0. Heat 11: Herne 1, Koppe 2, Bargh 3. Time, 75.4. Heat 12: Sanders 1, Crump 2, Briggs 3. Time, 73.6. Heat 13; Titman 1, Briggs 2, Herne 3. Time, 74.6. Heat 14: Shirra 1, Taylor 2, Fullerton 3. Time, 75.3. Heat 15: Sanders 1, Ross 2, Koppe 3. Time, 73.6. Heat 16: Crump 1, Farrell 2, Stapleton 3. Time, 74.8. Heat 17: Sanders 1, Titman 2, Stapleton 3. Time, 73.4. Heat 18: Briggs 1, Shirra 2, Ross 3. Time, 75.5. Heat 19: Farrell 1, Koppe 2, Wright 3. Time, 75.8. Heat 20: Crump 1, Herne 2, McDonald 3. Time, 75.1. Run-off for second.— Ross 1, Shirra 2,. Time, 75.6. ' Run-off for fifth.—■ Crump 1, Briggs 2. Time, 74.0.