Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

•••••••••••••• ~"~"~~"~te." How I Went To Europe, S Raced Motocross And ~ Grew In Understanding l ...:l ~, 1i!1U4 '[)4lUldt : . Continued from last week 'De _xt time I raced ,... at TIllioD, -..cII . . tile ftr'st l'OIIDd« t!Je &'1 tisII '="Ip• .AgalD I rode t!Je 400 for i!IrJaa Leask. TIlton was ft17 rrassy, Ud tIIere ,... 5DOW 011 tile rround. Very .udI:f III a. 500 class, I 1ecI t!Je race for . . 1Irst lap lIIeD Dave Nlcbol, a BSA WEb rider', pUaed me 1IbeD 1 missed a .... I tIIen rlll!lll1JW! second UDt11 t!Je ____ a bIIDdred yards from tile t1D1sb _ _ 11oII1ed a plug. It was upbll1 to the fbdIIII..s I could not pusIl It so I was 0IIt. I4F ..ue, Cheri, said t!Je lUIIIOUDCer at 'I'Wa1 WIllI really Ye1l1nc about me . . . I ~ In tbe lead, aDd then second. No one at tbe race bad seenanAmerlcan rider before, so I bope I made a good impression. I bougbt a Mercedes diesel from Dave, and we bougbt a 140foot bouse trailer In BeJi1um. We left from Dover on the boat to Zebrucp on t!Je 14th r1 March• Daft aDd JolIn Banks went wltII us on tbeIr way to a race In Holland. We arrived In Gent, Belgium at about 6 In the evening. Gent 1& where our bome base 1& now. All our mall comes here. We stayed tile nlcbt In Gent, and the next day beaded for St. Anton1s, Holland. We decided to go to the races to watch be- calIA it,... rtebt 011 our way toSwlldeD. wIlere we were rcUc to the HlISQ9VII& factory. At St. Antoa1a we were treated to some real Europeu rac1QC atmospbere for the flrst UJDe. It 1& ree1I7 Uke a circus. 'Ibey baft a parade aDd mU51c, all t!Je countries' flap fIyq, and btmdreds of Utt1e stands to get tb1Dgs to eat. Very colorful. Daft led t!Je 500 class tmtll be bad trouble, then Hammarrren took over to win. Torsten Hallman ran into a man wa1Idng along t!Je course seJl1.ng frencb fries and knocked tile poor guy's potatoes all ewer tile track. The crowd loved It. From St. Anton1s we crossed Holland, Germany (where we were snowed in for one night), Denmark, then Sweden. We arriVed at the factory at 4 in the evening r1 Marcb 19tb. Next day went to tile factory, and took a tour gu1ded by my friend Gunnar Lindstom who works in development for Husky. The day after I picked out my new bike, a 400cc bot off the assembly Une, and they gave my wife a guided tour of the sewing machine factory. The sewing macbine part of the plant 1& very large and ultra modern. We stayed wltII Gunnar at b1s bouse, then lett tile next morning for a Husqvarna tra1D1ng scbool In tile south of Sweden. Bill NleUson was the leader of the scbool. Bengt Aberg was there and also Bengt Anme BonDe, Swed1sb champion. In t!Je morning we would go for a rtm cross-country. We ran from six to elgbt RY E C OSS SE BY RL o cz SIIHPS Bee Swiss GP Apri I 20, 1969 1st Joel Robert - CZ CZ 4th Konecny - CZ 5th Strnad - CZ 2nd Geboers - Paul Friedrichs, shown above, is offered the finest motocross available from manufacturers all over the world. He selected SPECJFICATIONS and has been 500cc World 250c:c Champion in 1966, 1967 and 1968. The 250cc cz. has been World Champion in 1964, 1965 and 1968 as well. Choose CZ and you can ride wirh the champions. The rest is up to you. If you're 360cc 980 Mod.1 Bor. Stroke 969/01 80mm nmm 70mm 64mm Compression biiO 10.5:1 Horsepower 29 " 6.800 rpm Ory W.,g~t 227 lb•. 10.5:1 l6 (1 6,400 rpm 234 lb<. serious about motocross why spend your money for anything but the best. AMERICAII ... • LTD. EAST: 38-15 GREENPOINT AVENUE LONG ISLAND CITY. N.Y. 11101 PHONE: (2121 786-9199 ~ ~ •••••••••••••• RUSS DARNELL is an American who is living and racing in Europe this season. sponsored by the Husqvama facand Edison Dye. tory •••••••••••••• to Gent at 6: 30 p.m. on the 23rd of March. We got a race for the weekend, so we just sort of relaxed all week long. My. first European race was at Marcbe en Fammen In Belgium. We camPed In the pits tile night before the race. After we bad gone to bed, we awoke to bright flasblng lights and a bonking horn. It was Daft and bls mecbanlc Sten pulllng In beside us with Dave's trailer. The course was lined with trees; quite dangerous. On one bad downhill section, Torlief Hansen broke b1s leg when he hit a tree. I did notdo very well as I got a twenty-fourth and a twentieth. We traveled to Louvaln next as It was a two-day event. At LouvaIn t!Jey bad a big tent featurIng go-go girls, loud music and cheaP beer. I got a good start In this race, and was next to Hallman until a CZ rider crashed In front of me and I went down also. Another CZ rider ran Into me as I was getting up and knocked me down again, and bent my rear fender down on the lyre. Pulled that back up and went on. Finally worked my way uP to twentieth. Not the same as home I'llguarantse you. The competition 1& really tough. I Uke It. My next contract at Paal the next weekend. We leave on t!Je /lay before tile race so I can look things ewer and sometimes get a Uttle practice on thecourse. My wife made dinner wbile I practiced for about ten laPs, then we ate, wrote letters and went to bed. About 10: 30 we were awakened again by flashing Ugbts and bonking horns. Dave again with John Banks this UJDe. They beat on tile door of my trailer until I came out. John brought me a big sack of frltes (french fries) and be didn't want tIIem to get cold. Next day was very nice. The weatller was sunny and hot, between tile times It rained and snowed. I'm not kidding. It was 80 degrees and bot then It would rain all of a sudden or snow. VerypecuUar I In the two legs of tile race I got a seventeenth and a fifteenth, and In tile first leg I got bit In the face with a big rock. Tbat hurt. SpUt botll my Ups open. John led the first leg until b1s tbrottle stuck open and he bad to retire. Dave got third both times. John got fourth In the last one. My next race was the 20th of April, yesterday. The event was at Stokrool In Belgium. We got to the course on Saturday and I practiced UDt11 the bike ran out of gas. Then I refilled and went out again. The course was very rough and bad some nice banked corners. A lot of sand and trees. In the flrst race (tllere were two, 25 minutes long) I got a fair start and was In about 14t11 position and coming uP. On tile tenth lap I tried to go Into a bank too bard and t!Je bank gave way letting me down. I lost some places and just as I passed tIIem back I fell in the same spot because tile bank gave away again. On the very next lap I laid into a deep rroove between some trees to t1nd that someone bad fallen and knocked tile grove dawn. I went stralgtit Into a tree but did not fall. I did ftn1sb the race In about 20th place. The next race I rode smoothly and wltllout mlshIp, coming from last to 14th at the flnlsll. Tbe course was the rougbest thing I bave Imlr ridden. It was so rougb that both front and rear suspension would bottom at the same time. There werE!' many endos and bad crasbes. Also I saw four bikes with broken frames, none of them Huskies. I am learning over here. It 1& dlfflcult but I know American riders can be as good as any In the world. was FRIE RIC S cz. mues a day, aDd at tile end of each m1le would stop to exerciser Nlellson la reaJIy ftt. After t!Je rtm we took a _ _ bath, then an lee cold lIIlower. After lWICh we went to dUrerent race courses to ride for four or ftft hours. NIIl taught a scbool at each r1 t!Jese sessions and I learned some good things about proper tecbnlque. He didn't just say go taster, be told bow, then Bengt Aberg would demonstrate. After the scbool (wblch lasted for one week) we returned to tile factory to get a paper to clear tile bike througb all t!Je customs we bave to pass through. We returned to Belgium by about the same route as we bad come and got back we WEST: 1325 5, LA BREA lOS ANGelES. CALIF. 90019 PHONE: (2131 933·9119 IN CANAllA: sKOOA & JAWA MOTORS CANADA LTD" 7600 TRANs·CANADA HIGHWAY MONTREAL 3n, P.Q., PHO E: 15141 336-3131 (Continued Next Week)

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