Ivan Mauger V Britain's Best
Part 5: Chris Morton
By Tracy Holmes

Was there a more spectacular thrill merchant in Speedway? Yes. But Chris Morton was right up there with the very best. You-tube the 1981 World Team Cup Final, Olching. World famous from Western Springs to Wembley. And he was hugely successful at club level, for Belle Vue and on the International stage. Winning a World Team Cup Gold Medal and was World Pairs Champion with Peter Collins. British Champion and he also won the BLRC and Cradley's Golden Hammer. As for the biggest stage of all, the World Speedway Final, seven appearances gave him the following scorechart;

1976. Chorzow. 6 points to finish 11th.
1980. Gothenburg. 8 points to finish 8th.
1981. Wembley. 5 points to finish 12th.
1983. Norden. 7 points to finish 10th.
1986. Chorzow. 8 points to finish 9th.
1987. Amsterdam. 9 points to finish 13th. [ 2 meetings over 2 days ]
1988. Vojens. 6 points to finish 10th.

Why didn't Chris Morton win the biggest meeting on the Speedway calendar? He had the desire, the passion, the dedication, the fitness, and defied the odds even after a broken neck! Surely he was going to be the next Belle Vue Master. Following Peter Craven in the 50s & 60s, then his great friend Peter Collins in the 70s.

Well, if the 1983 World Final had have been staged at Belle Vue that year, the British Champion may very well have been! However, the same could be said that year of Billy Sanders at Liverpool. Mike Bast at Costa Mesa. Jiri Stancl at Pardubice. Or Egon Muller at Norden. But THE Glamour event of the year would never have been held at any one of those venues. Oh hang on, oops, it was at Norden and Muller did win! Now, you see what I'm getting at? Chris answers the 'why' question later.

Every year from his debut in 1976, Chris was good enough to be there. And in the six that he missed, the Final was missing one of its brightest stars. When you look at those seven appearances, 1980 may very well have been his best shot. Ivan Mauger was the defender but his days of winning the World Final were over. Had he qualified, maybe a score of 10 or 11 points was a realistic possibility but would not have been enough.

The four favourites that year were Peter Collins, Mike Lee, Dave Jessup and Bruce Penhall. With Ole Olsen stuck at reserve, Chris along with John Davis were considered 'dangermen'.

Now, life as we all know can be wonderful and also unbelievably cruel. For the Morton family, tragedy struck shortly before the World Final. Dave Morton lost his three year old son due to an accident. Chris attended the funeral of his nephew before flying out to Sweden. We can only imagine the pain and while he would have done everything within his power to focus, it would surely have been a mountain too high to climb.

Chris describes his first heat in a 1997 Five-One interview;

"... if I hadn't shut off after 3 laps, things could have been quite different. I put so much into chasing Jan Andersson that I thought the race was over, just as I drew alongside him. Ole Olsen gave me a right rollicking afterwards. I put it down to the tension and the mental effort."

Heat 2 result; Andersson, Morton, Muller, Dryml. That was followed by two third placings but he bounced back with a win in round four, beating Kai Niemi, Bruce Penhall and Finn Thomsen! After another third place in heat 18, he could only watch from that vantage point as Mike Lee overtook John Davis and became the Champion of the World.

The Gothenburg scorechart; Mike Lee 14. Dave Jessup 12. Billy Sanders 12. Jan Andersson 11. Bruce Penhall 9. John Davis 9. Peter Collins 8. Chris Morton 8.

"I went to Wembley in 1981 convinced it was going to be my year. I had had a good season, I knew I could ride the place and I was up for it. As it turned out, I was absolutely crap. Five points, I was devasted. I still believe Bruce Penhall won that 1981 Final in the Gothenburg pits the year before. He wanted it so badly. He couldn't live with not winning it. I would say that World Final was the biggest disappointment of my career."

Indeed, Penhall had a fire in his soul that no-one else could match, to honour the memory of his parents. He went to Wembley the red-hot favourite and at the end of the night, it was mission accomplished.

"Maybe I was never good enough on the night to be World Champion or had enough belief. To be totally honest, I never had the mental arrogance. I always thought, I'm going to be a Speedway rider and I'm going to make a good living out of it. What I should have thought was, I am going to be World Champion. Ivan Mauger always knew. My mistake, because I could win around Belle Vue without having to trap, was in thinking it was enough to sharpen up my starting technique in the few weeks leading up to a World Final. I should have spent the whole year doing it. Ivan Mauger once told me 'the secret of gating is either to cheat or be scientific'. It is an art. I always felt Ivan was the master of cheating and Hans Nielsen the master of technique. You watch Hans and even if he doesn't drop the clutch first, he's usually first into the corner. That's technique."

Sadly, Chris did not make it to the 1982 Mickey Mouse Club in LA. But the following year as British Champion, he breezed into the Norden arena. With the defender Bruce Penhall having retired and Peter Collins failing to qualify, Chris was as good a favourite as any from the west.

"Like many, I was disappointed with the choice of Norden, as the venue sent out the wrong message about the sport. I was pleased with my build-up and my form was okay, although I was aware I would have to lift my game."

At the end of THE most forgettable day in Speedway history ...

Scorechart; Egon Muller 15. Billy Sanders 12. Mike Lee 11. Erik Gundersen 10. Kenny Carter 10. Ole Olsen 10. Hans Nielsen 9. Karl Maier 8. Dennis Sigalos 8. Chris Morton 7.

"I was bitterly disappointed with my own performance, but you become immune, somehow resistant to the emotional pain it can inflict ..."

To this day, I don't know why Poland was axed from hosting the World Final that year. But I do have a wonderful conspiracy theory. Don't worry, I'm not about to share it. What I do know is that Germany had influence in the FIM, using it to full advantage. So instead of Chorzow or Wroclaw hosting the Speedway world's ultimate showpiece, as both venues had done, so majestically before, the glamour event of the year was held in a countryside paddock full of sauerkraut! And for many, the World Final could not be taken seriously again. Yes it was the same for everyone but I still believe Chris Morton was robbed of his very best shot, but that's a whole different story.

1984 saw Chris and his life long friend and team-mate Peter Collins win the World Pairs Final. They did so in Italy relegating Denmark's Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen to the Silver Medals. I'm glad they did this at Lonigo rather than Belle Vue. No-one could scream 'home track advantage'!

However, as for the World Championship, it was now too late. Even though Chris was knocked out of the 1984 competition at the British Final, he could never have won in Gothenburg anyway. It was now the era of the 'Main Dane'. Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen dominated the next six World Finals, winning three each. However, the 1984 season ended on a wonderful high for Chris as he won the BLRC at Belle Vue, winning the triple run-off. Against? World number two Nielsen and new World Champion, Gundersen!

For Chris, 1988 in Vojens was to be his last World Final appearance.

"Vojens is a good race track, but just like Norden in 1983, it wasn't really a location that was suitable for the grandeur of the World Final."

Winning round one was as good as it got. Two ducks followed and it was all over.

"I was never one to go down without a fight, so in my final ride in heat 20, I fought hard and bravely for a good result. It was a race that was considered by some to be the best race of the afternoon. Sam Ermolenko and I did a display of determined close-contact racing, which was made doubly hard by the onset of driving rain. We battled for four whole laps, changing the lead several times, and it was the type of race we both revelled in, with Sam squeezing into the lead as we went over the line."

Result; Ermolenko, Morton, Kosco. Jankowski retired.

"Although the World Final was disappointing, I took some consolation from that race as it turned out that was my last World Final appearance. That last race was a metaphor of my whole World Championship quest. I genuinely gave it everything I had, the record shows I wasn't good enough to win the title, but it also shows that in qualifying for the seven, I could beat the best at their best. But I never did myself justice on World Final night. I still carry that frustration, but take solace from the fact that I provided some raw entertainment for thousands of people and, on many occasions, some personal satisfaction and great times."

And there we have it. When you think about Speedway from the mid 70s to the late 80's, the World Final winners readily spring to mind. Now, think of those who despite never joining that group, kept them on their steel shoes and made them fight for those Gold Medals. Too many to name right? For me and I bet for anyone who followed the sport in that era, Chris Morton is one of THE Aces in the pack!!!

This article was first published on 14th July 2024