Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

- o in the second go and reinjured his knee at the beginning of the final round and was forced out. Wilson left Monday mommg to compete in next Sunday's Trans-AMA event in Texas. In the second moto, it was Jonsson again, after Aberg started making stops for repairs on the third lap. Blackwell, with a 13th overall, was top American, followed by West_ In the third round, Aberg dazzled the crowd with a wire to wire performance, with second place going to fellow Husky rider, Arne Kring, who ended up second overall. ' The much taunted Suzuki of SyLvain Geboers was always near the front of the pack but never a real contender. Geboers took a heavy spill 'on the long downhill during practice, causing' a good deal of work for the many Suzuki mechanics accompanying the Belgian rider. And another Belgian, Roger DeCoster, was obviously not a.t his best, as he is still recovering from a painful leg injury incurred two weeks ago at the Inter-Am in Ohio. "I just can't put my left foot down," DeCoster said. "I just do the best I can." The CZ factory rider said he liked the course, as did most of the other Europeans. "It's a nice circuit," he said. "Except for the dust. " And dust was a problem Sunday. Strong morning winds virtually destroyed hours of work by two water trucks. By afternoon, the winds had resided hut the winds had so dried out the track, it was all but impossible to keep the dust manageable. Never-the-Iess, some very good racing made up for the dust-induced irritation, which, incidentally, was nobody's fault but the wind gods. The whole spec~cle was filmed for ABC's Wide World of Sports and should appear on TV in the near future. Motorcycle's oldest teenager, John Rice did the Camera-on-the-helmet trick -ror the mm crew, and still had time to take a fourth place in the 500cc National class. Bob Messer won that event, followed by three other Maicos (Are you listening, Frank Cooper?) Messer also took home a first in the 250cc National event, while AJS mounted, Doug Grant won the 250cc Jr. event and Dave Rodgers topped the 125cc Seniors. (Results on page 22) ~ w Z W ..J o > o Jim West wound up as top American. John Rice used this helmet camera for ABC's Wide World of Sports. Bauer Wins, But West Hero Of Ascot's Night Inter-Am By John Bethea Bill Clements rests before the start of the third mota. ... ".. ~ ... "1 4-.... ~ ., '._'~ ......... ~~, ,,,";II"j \ ' H. • GARDENA, CALIF., Oct. 30, 1970 Jim West. If the European ,riders hadn't heard the' npne before, they certainly have now as the spirited AJS hot-shoe led the parade around the re-arranged Ascot motocross course tonight during the th'ird International moto for more than 20 minutes. Bobbing and weaving with the same skill as any European racer on hand for the Inter-Am series, West was second off the line and passed Willie Bauer half-way through the first go-around. Spurred on by the cheering fans, the fantastic Number 34 regained the lead five seconds after Bauer had passed him in lap three. He held rust while holdinp; off Bauer's desperate efforts- to pass, who was, in tum, being pressured by Andy Roberton. Late in the race, however, Bauer finally got by and ·really opened the throttle in an attempt to leave the impressive American. Now it was a battle for West to retain second as Roberton closed in. It appear.ed that West's AJS was going to claim second but on the last lap, the English star sped past and West finished in third. The entire night's set of races seemed to be a tossup as to who would eventually be the overall winner.. Bengt Aberg, Swedish Husky rider led from flag to flag in the fust moto but collapsed his wheel in the next. This appeared to PILt Ake Jonsson in the front position as he had a fourth along with his second moto win. But Bauer, the German Maico rider, made his best showing of the series by winning the all important third moto. This, combined with a second and a fifth, gave him overall honors with Jonsson second. Although West was so impressive in the third moto, his performance was not as well overall Rich ~~o~alds,?n as (Ric) had a first, second and third against fellow Americans and was declared top American and third overall with West fourth.. Most of the Europeans appeared to have trouble with the Ascot course. Rob Taylor found his way into the duck pond putting him out of commission. Arne Kring, after a poor start in the first moto in which he finished 22nd, could only battle his way to the mid top ten in the next two motos. Sylvain Geboers took a second in the first moto but slid out on a tum during the second and was unable to 'finish. In the third, he grabbed a fourth. Ron Bunn took first in the 500cc Jr. class aboard a CZ with a third and a first, while an unidentified No. 145 took second. The mixup in lost identification was due to the fact that many riders had pre-entered and were sent pit passes but were not required to signup before the races. The pre-entry forms did not contain the nlLffiber the riders were running with. The same was with NlLffiber 292, who took ruth overall in this class, and 74, 12th in the 250 Jr. class. Added to this problem was a near mishap in the second running of the 250 Jr. class in which the International class, in haste to reach the starting lIne for good positioning, broke the restraining wire and the entire field took this as permission to line up - which they did. The problem was the 250 claSs hadn't finished and the International stars had formed a road-block across the course. It appeared that the first one through the pack of riders would be the winner and Dave Rodgers was first through, taking over the lead from Glen Lund. Lund, however, regained the front position as the race continued while the riders at the starting line eventually pushed their. machines to the sidelines. . .. , .. j~esu.Jts.o,!pag.~ 22)

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