The World Pairs Final 1980
By Tracy Holmes

A new decade and a new team for England. No, hang on. Peter Collins and Dave Jessup rode together in the 1974 Final. Oh well, they were back together and very nearly knocked out at the Semi-Final. Dave Jessup broke down in his first two races. What? Dave Jessup with an engine failure? Surely not! Frantic behind the scenes work got him going again and they just managed the task, eliminating Australia, Billy Sanders/John Titman in the last round.

Drama from the other Semi as USA, Bruce Penhall/Scott Autrey and CZ Jiri Stancl/Petr Ondrasik both went out.

The World Pairs Final was held on June 22 at the 'Stadion Matije Gubca', Krsko, Yugoslavia. A beautiful afternoon where around 14,000 witnessed the biggest speedway event in the country's history. And they all got see The Lions give everyone else a right old mauling. Five straight wins and they were World Pairs Champions. Needing no points from the last round, Sweden's Jan Andersson sneaked a point. A magnificent performance by Edward Jancarz got Poland the Silver Medals. He was only eaten, I mean beaten by the Brits. And followed Plech home in heat 11 while he took care of his old friends.

Defending Champions Denmark were not at all disgraced finishing third but they probably were not happy. The rest were just that. New Zealand and Finland, most disappointing! Kai Niemi started in a blaze of glory but fizzled just as quick. While the home team were not in the same class, they did their best and proudly represented the host nation.

Heats

1 Mauger Hellsen Andersson Ross ef
2 Niemi Nielsen Olsen Teromaa
3 Jancarz Plech Kekec Kocuvan
4 Collins Jessup Mauger Ross
5 Andersson Hellsen Teromaa Niemi
6 Olsen Nielsen Kekec Kocuvan
7 Jessup Collins Jancarz Plech
8 Mauger Teromaa Ross Niemi
9 Olsen Nielsen Hellsen Andersson
10 Collins Jessup Kekec Kocuvan
11 Plech Jancarz Mauger Ross
12 Andersson Hellsen Kekec Kocuvan
13 Jancarz Teromaa Plech Niemi
14 Jessup Collins Olsen Nielsen
15 Mauger Ross Kekec Kocuvan
16 Jancarz Hellsen Plech Andersson
17 Jessup Collins Teromaa Niemi
18 Olsen Ross Nielsen Mauger
19 Jessup Andersson Collins Hellsen
20 Niemi Teromaa Kekec Kocuvan
21 Jancarz Olsen Nielsen Plech

1st England 29
Dave Jessup 2 3 2 3 3 3 16
Peter Collins 3 2 3 2 2 1 13

2nd Poland 22
Edward Jancarz 3 1 2 3 3 3 15
Zenon Plech 2 ef 3 1 1 0 7

3rd Denmark 21
Ole Olsen 1 3 3 1 3 2 13
Hans Nielsen 2 2 2 0 1 1 8

4th Sweden 18
Jan Andersson 1 3 0 3 0 2 9
Richard Hellsen 2 2 1 2 2 0 9

5th New Zealand 16
Ivan Mauger 3 1 3 1 3 0 11
Larry Ross ef 0 1 0 2 2 5

6th Finland 14
Ila Teromaa 0 1 2 2 1 2 8
Kai Niemi 3 0 0 0 0 3 6

7th Yugoslavia 6
Stefan Kekec 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
Vlado Kocuvan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

This article was first published on 5th October 2014