Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125587
, .... "" '" "0 co 0... co se .... '" .... .. ",,' 'e: " '''"" " .Q Q v.l ~ t.l :<: t.l -J U ~ U SECOND WESTERN ROUND OF THE INTER-AM MOTO-CROSS...wesllake V illage, Calif. EllffJpeflbS Weill/WilY the hfJllfS leflti WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Nov. l 6- l7- The r olling moto-cr os s circuit was beautiful but a little too fast for man y; tnc luding s ome of the Eur opeans who prefer the ir co ur s es to be more demanding; It wasn't r ough enough. Part of the track led uP a steep h11l, through a barn and down the Main Street of a movie s et. Farther on there was a gully, a dee p s and was h and a loop that swooped ' way uP a hill and down, giving almost 100% visibility to spectators - and there were abo ut 20, 000 of them . Brian Set On Fence Above : Dave Alda na looks a li ttl e surpris ed to fi nd Gary Ba iley slic ing past him on the Inside. Be lo w: Val ek lea ds Bic ke rs aroun d a foot. draggln g Americ an rider while pa rt of the nea .. 20,0 00 . crowd spectates up cl os e. Saturday saw the running of the 250Cc - and under machine s and a confus ion that put Greeve s - fa ctory-rlder Bryan Wade out of the 250 Interna tio nal. Edi s on Dye, promoter of the series , claims Wade was scheduled to ride at Dallas but appeared at Hopetown Instead . Under FIM rules this constl l::1tes an a utoma tic suspens ion. Wade and Greeves-dlstrlbutor Nick Nic hols on claim Wade had bee n withdra wn from Dallas earlier and that the y had wr itten per mission for him to ride Hopetown as an exhibition from theACU. Br ian, however, decided not to r i de until mo re Informa ti on was received. That night a call was made to England and by morning a cable came back from the ACU saying there was no ban on Wade whatsoeve r, including the res t of the Inter-Am 's . So Sunday, Wade competed. The 125 Senior saw Joel Robert, reigning 250 Wor ld Cha mpion out on a Sachs, with Claes Nils on (Penton) and Belgium champion Marce l Wei rtz on a Bul taco finishing In tha t order , and not without pr oving they had as much style on the s maller ma chines as they had on their full s ize bikes. Weirtz's Bul was the faste s t but atter l eading for a while a bolt came l oos e up fr ont causing so me han dling problems . The front end began flopping around. Gary BaIley an d Lars Lars son (Pentons) put on a great ba ttl e , especially BaIley who was hit with mechanical trouble s again. He had to pull In for a pl ug change . Axthelm First Yank Al though three of their s tars were s idelined by Injuries, in cl uding To r s ten Hallman , Husqvarna s till did all r ight for themselves, getting, a mong oth er thin gs, " fi rs t American" on Sunda y. In the 250 International It was Joel Robert (C- Z) the winner by Huskymounted Chr ls te r Hammargren really gave hi m a go In the second r ound . Fellow t e a m m a t e Torlelt Hansen ended thi rd. In ninth place and fir st Amer ican was " Iron Man" Walt Axthelm on a Maico. Behind him In lOth was Barry Higgins all the way from the East Coast where he got a t1tth place In one Inter-Am moto a t Pepperell. He fared well against the West Coast' s finest and sh0V;ed wb.Y he Is rated as one of the top Eastern r iders . Marc el Welrtz, the Belgium Bulta co champ, lived up to his publicity by riding a P ursang that was freshly uncr ated and put together r ight In the pits In front of anyone who cared to stop by and watc h. We did, and he ended 6th behind Dave Bickers (C - Z) on a real s tocker . the Montesa marque also did well. John De Soto was 11th In the 250 and the 500. Ron Nelson picked uP 12th In the 500. But It was Bill Dekk1ng who surprised everyone. In the combined 500Open Junior he won two s tra1ghttollowed by a third place, beating off the likes of Mike Han ey (Triumph) and de sert number one Steve Hurd (Norton). W atch Russ Darnell The 500 international was , of course, what the crowd had come to see. It was tre mendous racing. Robert grabbed off the lead but dropped It. Fo r three laps Br ian Wade (Greeves) had It and was flat flying with Dave Bic kers (C -Z) and German y' s Adolph Weil (C-Z) In hot pursult. As the laps progres sed It was Weil taking over . At one point, lapp ing at 2,2 seconds , he had a 28-1/2 s econd lead on the second place man. Gary BaIl ey (Greeves) ended up firs t Ame rican In th e fi r s t r ound with what, unoffic ially, was abouta fourth place. But then he had had luck again. He dropped a chaln and there was n' t a replacement available. It was Hus ky- rider Russ Darnell who ended tI r s t American over all with a beautiful r ide . Once again we' r e saying he' S under - e s tima ted by most bec au s e he's quiet off the track and s o s mooth on It he doesn' t appear to be doin g anythin g. Second American and 7th overall was BSA-rlder Chuck " F eets" .Mlner t, He was followed In by Dick " Bugs y" Mann on a Greeves who was firs t Ame r ican at Ohio. • Wilson Wheelies Backward Next came what was prohab iy the mos t enjoyab le part of the pr ogram. While the offic ials were busy figuring uP who were the fastest Americans, the European s got to playi ng In the huge s tarting area. They charged and circled to throw mountai ns of di r t at each other . Robert put a little gi r l uP before him on the tank and with hands on hips and hers on the bars de mo ns tra ted that thos e fearsome C- Zeds can also be pussycats. They played tag, dodgi ng In amongst the other r iders and spectators and showering all and sundry with dirt. There '-wer e wheelie conte s ts wher e they were joined by Amerjcans John De Soto, Feets Mlnert and Gary Bailey., And young American Gree ves. rider Jim WilsOn; who got a ninth In the' 500 International, did something no one else did, a wheelle while kneeling on the seat. •