The World Pairs Final 1977
By Tracy Holmes

No Danish Delight this year as Ole Olsen and Finn Thomsen failed to qualify from the Semi-Final. Their 18 points saw them 4th behind West Germany 25, Australia 24 and Finland 21.

With the World Final back at Belle Vue, the home team picked itself. World numbers 1 and 2, Peter Collins and Malcolm Simmons went in as home and hot favourites. It was another bright, sunny afternoon in Manchester on July 2nd and the crowd was treated to a brilliant days racing, full of dramas, thrills and spills. At the end of it all, England were the victors, making it all look too easy. Beaten only by Ivan Mauger, the home team were never in any trouble.

Sweden took the Silver Medals but they did it the hard way. In the first heat, Anders Michanek and Bernt Persson tangled with the West German pair of Egon Muller and Hans Wassermann. Mich went down and Persson was excluded. It never got much better for Bernie after that but Mich had a magic day. Winning 5 of his 6 heats, only he and Phil Crump beat Ivan Mauger and Mich was himself only beaten by England. Big shock were the West Germans, taking the Bronze Medals on the same points as Sweden, Michanek beating Muller in the run-off. Their torrid scrap against Finland a huge talking point. Ila Teromaa took a right bustling and went into the fence only to be excluded. Then Kai Niemi won from the back and Wassermann had a point deducted for unfair riding!

The Kiwis were in trouble before the meeting started with Ivan's new partner, Larry Ross from Christchurch having his bike smashed up when he was rear ended on route. On the track, he was left to fend for himself and his 1 point reflected a shadow of his ability. Czechoslovakia enjoyed the day apart from an engine failure for Jiri Stancl and his partner, Jan Verner gets a very special, unique mention in Speedway history. 1977 was the year that he rode in all of the seasons 5 World Finals; Ice, Pairs, Individual, Longtrack and World Cup. An astonishing achievement that I believe was never repeated. If I'm wrong, please let us know. And Australia ? Crumpy got his second half right but overall, an Ocker Shocker !

Heats

1 Michanek Muller Wassermann Persson ex
2 Collins Simmons Crump Sanders ef
3 Stancl Teromaa Verner Niemi
4 Michanek Mauger Persson Ross
5 Collins Simmons Muller Wassermann
6 Stancl Verner res Lawson Crump ef chain. Sanders ex 2 min
7 Mauger Teromaa Niemi Ross
8 Collins Simmons Michanek Persson
9 Muller Wassermann Crump res Brett. Sanders ex 2 min
10 Mauger Stancl Verner Ross
11 Michanek Niemi Teromaa Persson
12 Muller Wassermann Verner Stancl ef
13 Collins Simmons Niemi Teromaa
14 Crump Mauger Sanders Ross
15 Michanek Stancl Verner Persson
16 Niemi Muller Wassermann ex Teromaa ex
17 Mauger Simmons Collins Ross
18 Michanek Crump Persson Sanders
19 Mauger Wassermann Ross Muller
20 Simmons Collins Stancl Verner
21 Crump Teromaa Sanders Niemi
run-off for 2nd Michanek Muller

1st England 28
Peter Collins 3 3 3 3 1 2 15
Malcolm Simmons 2 2 2 2 2 3 13

2nd Sweden 18
Anders Michanek 3 3 1 3 3 3 16
Bernt Persson ex 1 0 0 ef 1 2

3rd West Germany 18
Egon Muller 2 1 3 3 2 0 11
Hans Wassermann 1 0 2 2 ex 2 7

4th New Zealand 17
Ivan Mauger 2 3 3 2 3 3 16
Larry Ross 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

5th CZ 17
Jiri Stancl 3 3 2 0 2 1 11
Jan Verner 1 2 1 1 1 0 6

6th Finland 14
Kai Niemi 0 1 2 1 3 0 7
Ila Teromaa 2 2 1 0 f/x 2 7

7th Australia 12
Phil Crump 1 ef 1 3 2 3 10
Billy Sanders ef x x 1 0 1 2

Track reserves;
Steve Lawson - 1 - - - - - 1
Jim Brett - - 0 - - - - 0

This article was first published on 7th September 2014