World Team Cup : Denmark Outscores Americans by 2 Points to Win Third Straight Title

Denmark won its third consecutive World Team Cup of speedway motorcycle racing with a convincing victory Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 22,000 at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

The Danes, led by the trio of Tommy Knudsen, Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen, scored 37 points to defeat the Americans by two points despite a great performance by U.S. team captain Bobby Schwartz.

Schwartz, celebrating his 29th birthday, scored 11 points, losing only to Knudsen in his last race. Knudsen was clearly the class rider of the field, scoring a perfect 12 points and establishing himself as the favorite for the world individual championship Aug. 31 at Bradford, England.

The rest of Danish Manager Ole Olsen’s troops weren’t too shabby, either. Gundersen and Nielsen each scored 10 points while American Shawn Moran had 11 points. As expected, the English and Swedish teams were not a factor, finishing third and fourth with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Moran gave the U.S. team its last lead in the 10th heat with a dramatic victory against reigning world champion Gundersen. Gundersen got a quick start and was safely in front through the first turn when Moran somehow sling-shot through a stunned Gundersen and England’s Phil Collins to take the lead.

Moran managed to hold off a late-charging Gundersen to gain the victory and the win pushed the American team in front, 23-22. But two heats later, Knudsen won his third consecutive race and Denmark was back in front, 27-26.

The U.S. team maintained a lead throughout the first half until John Cook crashed in his second race and was excluded. Cook’s absence meant that the American team could not score a point and Denmark took the lead, 18-17, at intermission after Nielsen won the final race before halftime.

The event got off to a less than rousing start. The opening heat race took 25 minutes to complete with two exclusions and two restarts that resulted in a fist-fight in the pit area.

First, Bo Petersen of Denmark was excluded for causing a restart after he collided with Lance King on turn two of the first lap. Then, Collins of England was excluded for breaking the starting tape and suddenly this grand, international event was a two-man race and tempers were flaring in the pits.

King won the race to give the American team a quick three-point lead over heavily favored Denmark. Once the four-lap race ended, the real action began in the pit area. Both Danish team manager Olsen and English Manager John Berry engaged in a heated argument with referee Guenter Sorber of West Germany.

Innocently enough, technical inspector Irwin Moon moved into the middle of the argument and was punched by an unidentified Swedish crew member. It was the beginning of a wild night.

Meanwhile, the American riders were impressive in the first half of the program as Schwartz won two races and Moran and King were also victorious. Schwartz’s first victory came against Gundersen, his first defeat in the event in two years.

The most impressive rider of the first half was Knudsen, who established two track records in winning his first two races.