Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

OllS TO· A~NOTHER TRANS-AMA WIN ,,; ,; o Z also overtook hom on the next lap, and Cram, DeWAyne Jones and Burleson all got by. Hart took the win, with Rapp second, followed by J ones and Burleson. Chaplin finished fifth. Rapp, with a first and a second, took first overall. Burleson was second head of Cram and Jones. Hart and Grant were f"Ifth and sixth. The 500cc fnternational class was eager. The first two starts (false) saw Adolph Wei! jump into the lead, but the red flag came out both times. Weil's ~ w Z W ..J U > U early going. All were aboard Husqvarnas. One in the lead, the stocky Finn was just impossible to catch. Hansen finished second, followed by Palm, Dave Bickers (CZ) and DeCoster. Joel injured his· foot and dropped out. Adolf Weil reappeared for the final round, which saw Sylvain Geboers take the lead from the git-go and hold it for four laps. Mikkola,. moving up one position per lap, then got by to stay in front. The contest for second was then between Weil, Geboers and DeCoster. Weil soon outdistanced the others and displayed some fearless rna tocrossing trying to catch Mikkola. But the equally fearless Finn stayed in front, although Weil got up close several times in heavy traffic. They rmished one and two, trailed by Geboers, DeCoster, Hansen and Pierre Karsmakers. With a s<:cond place and two firsts, Heikki Mikkola was a solid rlrst overall. . ~ Sonny DeFeo is racing again. Maico was hit with electrical problems that sidelined him for the first and second motos. On the third (true) start, Torleif Hansen got away smartly with Sylvain Geboers (Suz), Heikki Mikkola (Hus) and Joel Rober (Suz) in pursuit. Hansen hied the lead for half the race, then Mikkola got by and ran in front for five laps until Hans<:n passed him. Hansen held on to win, followed by Mikkola, Robert and Geboers.· Dick Mann (BSA) was running in the middle of the field in the early going, but his engine soured and he pulled off. He didn't want to talk about it afterwards, so we didn't. Mikkola dominated the second mota, dicing with Hansen and Uno Palm in the Hansen took second spot, with Geboers and DeCoster third and fourth. John DeSoto was first American, 16th overall. Mikkola, 26, was Husky's premier rider in the 250cc World Championship Series. He is also curren t Finnish Champion in ice racing and snowmobile competition. The fact that no American finished better than 16th place at Delta is some indication of the track's deceptive appearance. It only looks easy. It's difficulty lies in a number of sections studded with rippled whoop-de-humps, known henceforth as "stutter bumps". Now stutter bumps induce in motorcycles an effect we might call the "slithering wobblies", wherein the challenge lies in keeping the front end directionally stable so it won't swap positions with the rear end (which is sliterhing and wobbling). The wobblies are not kind to swing arms, low pipes, brake rods, arms, legs or kidneys . One rider hit with a severe case of wobblies was Gunnar Lindstrom, who came away with a broken arm. He will now be unable to complete the series, and plans to return to Sweden and work at the Husqvarna factory. A look of determination. .,....-Bryan Kenney on his new Yamaha. International Report ••• Barry Briggs has finally lost the British League riders' Championship. Briggo had held the title since its inception six years ago but Ivan Mauger was able to ace him during the October 16 meet... While John Cooper was out collecting $20,000 for his Ontario win, Percy Tail was out campaigning a works Triumph Trident at the last round of the British Championships. He won the race and pocketed a whole $80... Sylvain Geoboers has been granted a reprieve. The Belgian sanctioning federation had suspended him for some upcoming Trans-AMA motocrosses, claiming he had bac.ked out of some previous contracts to race in the A.merican series. They later reviewed the case and decided he did, after all, have permission to ride the series...Meanwhile, the same folks are now blowing the whistle at John Banks, Perre Kearsm.. kers and Ake Jonsson for breach of contract. Writing in "Motor Cycle News", John Cooper said that the last 100p c,aught him by surprise, thanks to the poor job the scorekeepers did. He ran his BSA to 10,000 rpm through the gears to catch Kel Carruthers when the machine normally red-lines at 8700...Coop wryly calls the 6040-pound ($20,000) purse "a slight profit" and tells of his plans during his California vacation: "We want to visit Hollywood and Disneyland and someone has asked me to appear on one of the Roger DeCoster is sleek and fast on his Suzuki. late·night TV chat shows in Los Angeles. We will fly hack to England when we are fed up."

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