round to qualify) until Moran had to withdraw due to injuries from a practice crash, Steve Gresham was called in as Moran's replacement. However, Gresham was left stranded at the Heathrow Airport in London (as was a hurried third replacement Ron Preston), Penhall was forced to ride the meeting with the reserve riders as teammates. He would score 14 out of a possible 18 points with four wins and two third places to finish in 5th place. The 1981 season was Penhall's all-conquering year. At the last World Final held at the famous Wembley Stadium, 92,500 people witnessed Penhall come from behind to pip both former World Champion Ole Olsen of Denmark and later another Dane Tommy Knudsen on the finish line. His only loss of the night was finishing second to England's Kenny Carter when he only needed to finish third to clinch the title. Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne had won the second ever title at Wembley in 1937. As a previous World Championship winner at Wembley, Milne was a special guest of the meeting and saw Penhall break America's 43-year drought. Also in 1981, Penhall partnered with fellow American Bobby Schwartz to win the World Pairs Championship in Katowice, Poland, and alongside fellow 1981 World Finalist Erik Gundersen of Denmark (himself a future multiple World Champion), led Cradley all the way to their first ever league title victory, topping the individual league averages on the way. On top of a clean sweep of all the SWAPA personality awards was a special citation from US President Ronald Reagan. However, Penhall had less than one year left in speedway before moving on, firstly to the world of Hollywood movies and later to powerboat racing (where he would become a world champion again). In 1982 he won the World Team Cup with the USA at the White City Stadium in London. Penhall caused a stir at the 1982 Overseas Final, also at White City. Heat 19 of the event involved 4 riders from the USA (brothers Kelly and Shawn Moran, Penhall and his childhood friend Dennis Sigalos). Penhall, having already scored enough points to qualify for the World Final, deliberately finished last in the heat (ending his chance of winning the meeting) to allow Kelly Moran and Sigalos to also qualify for the Intercontinental Final in Vetlanda, Sweden. English commentator Dave Lanning