Ross brilliant on borrowed bike at Ruapuna

Press, 14 January 1986, Page 4

Ross brilliant on borrowed bike at Ruapuna

By ROD DEW Inspired riding by the fivetimes New Zealand speedway champion, Larry Ross, of Christchurch, carried him to a brilliant victory on a borrowed machine in the demanding eight-lap final of the Champion Spark Plug World Jubilee Series meeting at the Handy Hire Speedway, Ruapuna Park, last evening. Ross settled in behind the series leader, John Cook (United States), soon after the start, and the pair quickly had the edge on the rest of the world-class field. Cook, under some pressure, locked up slightly on the second-last lap, allowing Ross through.

Ross held the lead to the finish in good style. Cook, although beaten, maintained his reputation as “the wheelie king” by finishing with his front wheel high in the air. Third place went to the sixtimes world champion, Ivan Mauger (New Zealand), making his final appearance before a Canterbury crowd. He achieved this in spite of two spills, neither of his own making, and received resounding applause from the 7000-strong crowd at the finish.

Afterwards, his appointment as one of New Zealand’s sports ambassadors was announced in a telegram from the Minister of Recreation and Sport, Mr Mike Moore.

“It is a great honour, and I hope I can do New Zealand proud,” said Mauger. This was a night of nostalgia for many. After the final, Mauger led a parade of former riders from the old Aranui Stadium, including such wellknown competitors of the 1950 s as Sid Harrison, Brian McKeown, Ted Tolhurst, Bernie Le Grosse, and the former double world champion, Ronnie Moore, back on a bike in public for the first time since the accident which ended his racing career. The evening, however, belonged to Ross, who now holds second place behind Cook in the $lOO,OOO jubilee series, being held to celebrate Ivan Mauger’s 30 years' in speedway. Afterwards, Ross said that he did not find the eight laps

tough going. “I was concentrating to hard too notice. I was catching John about a yard on every corner. He made one mistake, locking up a little on the second-last lap. That was all I needed,” said a delighted Ross. "This was fierce competi- 1 tion, and I am delighted to do well in front of my home crowd.”

Ross has now won three finals in the series, and is looking forward to the next round at Wanganui next Saturday for his fourth. He confirmed he would be returning to Britain this year for one final make-or-break season in the British League. He is under contract to Belle Vue, but expects to ride on loan to Halifax. Mauger, stiff and sore after his two falls, was high in his praise of Ross. “This series has inspired Larry. He is riding better than ever. If the world final was next week, I would expect him to finish in the first three.” Nevertheless, not everything went well for Ross. He was leading his semi-final when his motor lost power and he drifted to the rear of the field. Fortunately, two of the six starters failed to finish, so he reached the final by default. In the pits he discovered a small fuel blockage and thought that this must have caused the loss of power. But in the final, his bike again lost power right on the start and he was only saved when the talented Englishman, Neil Evitts, hit a hole leaving the first bend, reared up and crashed heavily. Mauger, with nowhere to go, dropped his machine in professional style and the race was stopped. This enabled Ross to borrow another bike from Mauger’s son, Kym, who had missed the final. Mauger and Evitts both returned to the grid for the rerun and the field got away well. But with less than half a lap completed, the highly favoured Englishman, Simon Wigg, had pulled up with engine trouble. This was a great disappointment, because earlier in the evening he had broken the lap record /with a time of 16.55,

and lowered the four-lap race record to 695. Both were previously held by Larry Ross, at 17s and 70.4 s respectively. In the first lap of the first heat Mauger swung out to avoid another rider, preparing to drop his machine, and it slid out from under him. He aggravated some of the injuries he received in his bad crash in Poland last year, and it was not until the semi-finals that he started to show his old fire. Points in the series with two rounds to go are: Cook 146, Ross 93,1. Mauger 86, Wigg 82, B. Schwartz (United

Results were.— Motor-cycles Champion Spark Plug World Jubilee Series.— First heat: S. Wigg (England), 1; J. Cook (U.S.), 2; E. Kyllingstad (Norway), 3. Time: 70.4. Second heat: L. Ross (N.Z.), 1; N. Evitts (England), 2; G. Dzilowski (Poland), 3. Time: 71.5. Third heat Cook 1, Evitts 2, O. Tyrvainen (Finland), 3. Time: 70.4. Fourth heat Wigg 1, Ross 2, Kyllingstad 3. Time: 69.0. Fifth heat Wigg 1, Cook 2, Evitts 3. Time: 69.0. Sixth heat: Ross 1,1. Mauger (N.Z.), and B. Schwartz (U.S.), equal 2. Time:

71.0. First semi-final: Cook 1, Wigg 2, Evitts 3. Time: 70.7. Second semi-finals: Tyrvainen 1, I. Mauger 2, Moksunen 3. Time: 74.0. Final.— 8 laps: Ross 1, Cook 2, I. Mauger 3, Tyrvainen 4, Moksunen 5. Time: 2:19.6. Sidecars Scott’s Breakdown Services handicap: M. Slade and John Sullivan (40m), 1; J. Warwood and Craig Williams (10m), 2; W. Turner and L. McMahon (60m), 3. Time: 77.0. Gary Hutchison and Auto Electrical handicap: Warwood and

Williams 1, Turner and McMahon 2, C. Robert and T. Gough 3. Time: 78.0. Cars Three-quarter midget cars.— Acme Auto Dismantles handicap (10 laps): S. Duff (120 m 1; D. Fraser (80m), 2; S. Button (25m), 3. Time: 2:27.4. (Six-lap record.) Midget cars.—Tait handicap (6 laps): S. Everett 1, B. Horrobin (Auckland) 2, R. Denson 3. Time: 1:47. L.P.G. Centre Feature.— 6 laps: Everett 1, L. Johnson, (Auckland), 2; A. Time: 1:47.