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1st World Semi-Final - 1974
MEETING DETAILS
Date : Sat, 13th Jul
Venue : White City, Manchester
PROGRAMME (FRONT COVER)
CHAMPIONSHIP GRID
RACE RESULT
RACE REPORT
With the weatherman smiling on the meeting, the Grand Parade preceding the race was all the more colourful and aided the tension building as each group of supporters cheered their favourite driver. All the qualifiers were present and as the cars began the rolling lap, the atmosphere could have been cut with a knife!
When the flag fell it was Smith who powered into the lead, but not the Smith one might have expected. The man was Gordon Smith, who did a very nice bumper and wheel work to nip through between Noddy & Stu. This state of affairs lasted one lap only as Stu Smith came back with avengance to take back first place. The two Smiths then retained the two foremost positions throughout the race.
With four laps gone, Brian Wignall relieved Mick Noden of third spot and Mike Close had moved up the pack to 5th position. On about the 5th lap chaos reigned as Dave Berresford had difficulties as regards to staying on four wheels and he rolled onto his side. Roger Bowyer and Doug Cronshaw (In his old car borrowed from Pete Guinchard) were involved in the fray. Cronshaw and Berresford ceased to take part in the proceedingsand on the opposite bend Brian Wignall had to withdraw on contacting the fence when place 3rd. Brian Wallace spun out whilst in 7th position, he later came back to claim 10th spot
The first three were still the Smiths and Noden, with Close now beginning to challenge Noden. It took him till the 14th lap or so to pass Noddy. Stu Smith had now gained a sizeable lead and John Hillam began to pressure Noden. With three laps to go Hillam took over 4th spot. Rodney Falding held a steady 6th position all through the race, having settled into that spot since the 1st lap. Bryan Thorn moved up to pass the two Blundells, Brian Wallace and Tony Leicester and he settled down in 7th position. Wilf and Graham followed him through to the flag and Brian Wallace just scraped int his first World Final in 10th position.
Graham Blundell made a good comeback after spinning early in the race, and he too qualifies for his first World Final as did Bryan Thorn and Gordon Smith.
To a huge roar from the crowd, Staurt Smith powered past the flag to make sure of his first front row position at Coventry in September. Could he be on his way to a third World Title, who knows? The most peculiar things happen in World Finals, but remember what happened when Stu held the same grid position at Belle Vue in 1969? DON JARVIS - Brisca News
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1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022
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