By taking out the 1981 New South Wales Championship, Billy Sanders notched up his fifth consecutive success in this event. This meeting, staged at Liverpool on December 12th 1980, was a Championship to remember. Sanders won his first three heats. In his fourth race, he came up against Gary Guglielmi who had dropped his only point when beaten into second place by Phil Herne. The result of this fourth round heat....Guglielmi won from Sanders.

Going into the final round of heats, Sanders and Guglielmi had each dropped one point but Phil Herne remained unbeaten. Herne had to face Sanders in his final heat. If Herne won, he would be declared the Champion...... He finished second behind Sanders. Herne, Sanders and Guglielmi had all finished on 14 points...there would be a three-rider run-off for the Title.

When the tapes rose, Sanders gated brilliantly and was never headed. Guglielmi finished second and Herne third. What marvelous performers and crowd pleasers these three New South Welshmen were.

By winning this (his fifth) New South Wales Championship, Sanders joined Aub Lawson and Jim Airey as the joint record holders for the most wins in this event.

The 1982 New South Wales Championship staged at Newcastle was won by Billy Sanders. This was his sixth consecutive success in his State Championship. Sanders returned a 15 point maximum to defeat the ever-trying Phil Herne who dropped just the one point to Sanders. Sanders now held the record for the most New South Wales Championship successes.

 

     In 1982, the Australian Championship was staged at the Claremont venue in Western Australia.

Before Billy Sanders took to the track for his final heat (Heat 20), he knew he needed to win the race. Gary Guglielmi had finished his heats with a score of 14 points. Sanders had 11 points against his name with one race remaining. He needed to win to force a run-off with Guglielmi for the Championship.

When the tapes rose, there was an early battle for the lead between Sanders on the outside and John Titman on the inside. Sanders hit the front to lead down the back straight on the first occasion. Titman pressured Sanders for the duration of the race. Titman also had a battle to keep Western Australian Glyn Taylor behind him. This race was an entertaining spectacle.

Sanders collected the three points for the win to force the run-off.

Although Sanders led the run-off throughout, the battling Guglielmi kept on his tail, eventually being defeated by some four bike lengths.

Sanders had registered his fourth Australian Championship victory and third in succession.

 

     An Australasian Championship had been scheduled to take place at Wellington in New Zealand on February 27, 1982.The field to start in this World Championship qualifying meeting had been decided from the results of the Australian Championship and the New Zealand Championship. The top four scorers from this Australasian Final were to progress to the Overseas Final to be staged at the White City Stadium in London.

I won't go into the controversy which erupted but this meeting in New Zealand never took place.

The decision was made by the speedway governing bodies in both countries to each stage a further meeting to determine which riders would continue in the qualifying process for World Final places.

The Australian qualifier was held at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground on March 13. Billy Sanders recorded a 15 point maximum to win. Second was Phil Crump on 14. The next four finishers were Gary Guglielmi, John Titman, Steve Regeling and Phil Herne. 

 

     Following Australia's embarrassing 7-0 loss to England in the 1978/1979 Test Series in this country, the lovers of Test Match speedway had to wait three years before another English team toured. The 1981/1982 tourists were a Young England team and the five match series conducted that season was a memorable one. The stars of the touring side were Kenny Carter (he scored three 18 point maximum scores during the five match series), John Davis, Phil Collins, and the Grahame brothers, Alan and Andy.Young England won the series 2-1 with the other two Tests drawn. Billy Sanders rode in all five Tests for Australia top-scoring on two occasions. He scored a total of 57 points during the Series, 14, 11, 10, 11 and 11.

 

 

 

     Billy Sanders had another new home track for the 1982 British season...King's Lynn. 1981 had been a most disappointing season for King's Lynn with a 14th. place finish in the League and elimination from the Knockout Cup in Round 1. King's Lynn had, however, reached the Final of the League Cup but were defeated by Coventry. Michael Lee and Dave Jessup had been the top two riders at King's Lynn since 1979 and Sanders was brought to the club in 1982 to replace the departing Jessup.

King's Lynn fared no better in the League in 1982 finishing 14th. of 15. The club finished second bottom of their qualifying group in the League Cup. The best result posted for the season was a Semi-Final loss in the Knockout Cup.

 

     Sanders rode in 48 of King's Lynn's 50 League and Cup matches scoring 444 points and 13 bonus points for an average of just under 9.10. Michael Lee relegated Sanders to second place on the club's averages list by recording 9.65.

 

     In the 1982 British League Riders' Championship Final at Belle Vue, Sanders scored 7 points.

 

     In 1982 an International Fours competition was staged over four meetings in Britain between teams from the U.S.A., England, Denmark and Australasia. Australasia performed poorly in this competition and finished a distant last. Sanders rode in three of the matches for Australasia scoring 6, 2 and 5.

 

 

     There was little joy for Sanders in individual meetings though he did finish second to Dennis Sigalos at the Littlechild Trophy event at King's Lynn.

 

     As for Finals of World Championship events, Sanders competed in just the one, the World Pairs Final in Australia during December. Australian speedway history was made in 1982 when the country staged its first Final of a World Championship event.

On December 11, the World Pairs Final was decided at the 328 metre Liverpool Raceway in New South Wales in front of an estimated 15,000 spectators.

Sanders' form in Australia during the weeks leading up to this Final had been outstanding. He won the Peter Warren Masters at Liverpool one week prior to the staging of the Pairs Final setting a new track record along the way. Quite a number of the riders who would be competing in the following week's all important meeting rode at this event.

Gary Guglielmi was selected ahead of Phil Herne to partner Sanders in the World Pairs Final. The competing nations were New Zealand, England, Finland, Czechoslovakia, the U.S.A., Denmark and Australia.

The Australian pair were in the opening heat opposed to New Zealand's Mitch Shirra and Larry Ross. Sanders finished second to Shirra while Guglielmi finished last...a 4-2 to New Zealand.

In Heat 5, England outrode Australia registering a 4-2. Sanders again finished second.

Australia registered a 4-2 against Finland in Heat 9 with Sanders winning and Guglielmi finishing third.

In Heat 12, it was an Australian 5-1 against Czechoslovakia with Guglielmi winning and Sanders finishing second.

The rampaging Americans scored a 5-1 in Heat 16 with Sanders limping home at the tail of the field with a sick engine.

Heat 19 is the race most who were at the venue for the meeting still speak about today. The Australians were up against Denmark's Ole Olsen and Hans Nielsen.

The Australian pair gated brilliantly and led into the back straight on the first occasion...Australia was sitting on a 5-1. Sanders was riding the high line and Guglielmi was covering the lower section of the track. On entering turn three on the first lap, Guglielmi's bike picked up unexpected drive and he lost control veering up-track and crashing into his team mate. Sanders fell.The race was stopped and Guglielmi was excluded from the re-run for causing his own partner to fall. Sanders finished second in the re-run to Olsen...a

4-2 to Denmark.

Australia came out on top in only two of their six races. Sanders finished with a total of 11 points and Guglielmi 5.

All credit is due to the winning team, the U.S.A. The pairing of Dennis Sigalos and Bobby Schwartz took to the track on six occasions and registered six scores of 5-1. They didn't drop a point to an opposing rider all meeting !!!! The U.S.A.'s manager for this World Pairs Final was none other than ex English International, Nigel Boocock.

The first four placings were :-  1. U.S.A  30...Dennis Sigalos 18, Bobby Schwartz 12.   2. Great Britain 22...Peter Collins 15, Kenny Carter 7.   3. Denmark 21...Hans Nielsen 11, Ole Olsen 10.    4. Australia 16...Billy Sanders 11, Gary Guglielmi 5.

There wasn't a New South Wales Championship held during the 1982/1983 season.

 

 

     The 1983 Australian Championship was staged on January 21 at Speedway Park in Adelaide. Sanders had won four of the previous five Australian Titles conducted, the last three of them in succession. While contesting these last three Championships, he had dropped just two points in 15 races. I have a taped interview conducted with Billy Sanders while he was preparing for this 1983 Championship and he mentions the special significance of the occasion. Having already recorded four Australian Championship victories, Sanders mentions he was keen to register a fifth victory to equal the record held by Aub Lawson.

 

     Sanders' first appearance on the track was in Heat 3. He won the start but lifted a front wheel entering the first corner. Gary Guglielmi seized the opportunity to take the lead. Sanders then had to try to find a way past his fellow New South Welshman. What an amazing spectacle the remainder of the race was with Sanders trying everything to pass Guglielmi. Going into turn three of the final lap, Sanders moved up on the outside and hit the front to take the win.

Then followed two easy victories for Sanders. With three rounds of heats completed, Sanders was unbeaten.....as was Phil Crump. They were to meet in the next round of heats. I should mention that there was considerable crowd support on hand for the popular Crump. Sanders knew he would have his work cut out to defeat Crump in their fourth round clash and I'll explain why...Crump had won his first heat in a time which equaled the track record...in his second heat he set a new track record....in his third heat he set yet another record time !!!! 

 

There has been a lot written about Heat 14 and it will go down in history as one of the more controversial heats in Australian Championship competition. The riders taking part were Northern Territorian David Jackson from gate 1, Crump was in gate 2, Queensland's John Titman occupied gate 3, and Sanders was drawn the outside. Both Crump and Sanders knew that the result of the Championship could well be determined by which of the two won this race.

The tapes rose and Crump beat Sanders out of the start...the red light came on...an unsatisfactory start.

All four lined up again...could Crump repeat his brilliant start of the first attempt ? The second attempt to stage the race didn't get past the first bend......the tapes rose and Crump headed Sanders into the first corner. Sanders was pressuring Crump on the outside and neither gave an inch....their bikes touched. Sanders fell and slid into the first corner fence...the red lights came on again. While Sanders was receiving medical attention on the track, the announcement was made that Crump had been excluded by the referee having been deemed responsible for the stoppage. The crowd booed the referee's decision. Crump appealed to the referee but to no avail. His Championship chances were over.

The re-run resulted in a victory to Sanders in a time which set yet another track record. Instead of the crowd applauding the feat of Sanders, loud booing was heard.

 

     Crump came out for his final ride in Heat 19 and recorded another victory. He received a rousing ovation. Crump finished on 12 points from his four completed races.

Sanders came out and won Heat 20. He had recorded a 15 point maximum to win the Championship.

Sanders was most upset when he was booed at the presentation ceremony. Although he had achieved an outstanding personal feat on the night, the occasion was soured for him by the behaviour of sections of the crowd present.