Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

co I o .... Ol ..... N " o ~ w LlNNVILLE, OIDO, Oct. 19, 1970 "rve never been to a worse scored race, either in Europe or in the United S ta tes," said Russ Darnell today following Sunday's highly criticized Inter·Am here. "Nobody knew who won, they had riders names in races in which they hadn't raced, some were left out completely...it was just a mess," he continued. "In fact, we had to wait until 10:30 last night just to get paid and even then they weren't sure who f"tnished where. They ~d say that Ake Jonsson won and Bengt Aberg was second but that was easy because they were way out in front, anyway. It was frigh tfuI. " "To get the official, official, official results will take them three weeks or more," he added. "When the pro~oter goes around asking who was first, second, third, etc...well, it's terrible." Today, the promoters and officials went into conference in Zanesville, Ohio, to attempt to work out the official results. But, as of press deadline, the only official winner to be announced was Jack Penton in the 125cc class. Aberg took the lead in the f"rrst moto and was being pressured by Jonsson when he went down, allowing Jonsson to take the flag. In the remaining two motos, however, Aberg was able to hold off the charge and won each with Jonsson second. General feeling is that Darnell took top American honors ahead of John DeSoto and either Bob Grossi or Tim Hart, but this, too is not verified or denied by race officials. A mudhole at the bottom of a 90-degree hill had to be filled in at the end of the frrst moto as the riders were getting stuck up to their knees in the shallow places and up to their gas tanks in the deeper sections. Adding to the trouble, mud covered the number plates making it difficult for the lap counters. But, this could have been corrected had the promoters used the back numbers which were available but never issued. Several riders were injured including Torston Hallman, who was involved in a chain·reaction, eight-man pile-up in the f"rrst International moto. Hallman tried to avoid running into a rider and attempted to go around him when he collided with another rider and set off the chain reaction. The accident left him unconscious for a few moments, but Hallman was able to leave the track under his own power when he was revived. He suffered only face lacerations and a skinned nose. Roger DeCoster may have suffered foot injuries when he was involved in another wreck. The controversy which has erupted over results of the Inter-Am comes at an awkward time since the Maico factory has disputes with the official results at Elkhorn, two weeks ago in which Bengt Aberg is listed as the winner when, in reality, Jonsson won but was denied points in a tabulation error. Z W ..J U >- U Dust wasn't always low.

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