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/125818
... '" . N you take care of your own machine Ii' a.. .... M 5!! .... N > :; .., ~ w Z W ...J (.) > (.) • Andre Malherbe (Zun) sped away from the gang in Spain. ~(' afterwards take care of your hands... with Sta-lube hand cleaner EFFECTIVE - gels out dirt, grease, paint, oils, asphalt, grime ... and more. 4 SPECIAL FORMULASfrom ammoniated to lanolinbased. In tube, can, or with wall dispenser. (One of these is just right for your needs.) INSIST ON STA-LUBE. BECAUSE YOU CARE WHERE IT COUNTS. €f~ STA-LUBE, INC. 3039 Ana Street Compton, CA 90221 (i) Copyright Sta·Lube. Inc. 1973 . ..HANDLEBAR EXTENSIONS ADD 3 INCHES To the width of your present handlebars for increased leverage. better contrOl, stability and safety. Install easily with just a screwdriver. $3.95 per pair complete. Check or mo ney order to: LAMPRO PO Box 96 Garden Grove California 92642. 714/870-5243 Motorcvcle Corporation 172 Freedom Avenue Anaheim. California 92801 ... Most Powerful III ... '" x MAleC ... ... 110 E. Santa Anita Ave. Burbank,Ca.91502 . ... ... West of Mississippi ... ... COOPER MOTORS CD "" !:!:: "" CI'Q ~pani8fi by John Huetter MONGAY, SPAIN, July I - The "El Cluet" motocross circuit is laid out in the center of sun-seared Cataluna near no ci t y mas t Americans would recognize. It was on this rocky course that the Spanish round of the 125cc motocross world championship was held. Both course and climate were reminiscent of Southern California with red adobe clay that covered rock and shale which became exposed as the machines tore over it. There were even water sprinklers to keep the dust down in the corners. - a feature not normally encountered, or necessary, in Europe. The course seemed to consist of a series of steps about 10 feet high. Bump, bump, bump and up 30 feet over the rocky ledges. Then, bump, bump, bump and down 30 feet after making a. hairpin tum. But in two places on the COUTSe, the descent was just one big vertical downstep. Thirty feet in one drop doesn't sound like much, lintil you consider dropping your bike off the roof of your house, then double the height. A slight grade wore in at the bottom of these shock-busters as the racers eroded away the lip, a few wh;te fleecy clouds aPpeared in the hard, blue sky as the first mota got underway at six p.m. The late start hour allowed everybody to finish their siesta. Spain is still traditional in many ways. At the end of the first lap of Mota One, Ignacio Bulto (Bul) had the lead and the crowd loved it; a Spanish rider on a Spanish bike leading the Spanish 125 GP. Then, Frenchman Andre Malherbe moved up on the Zundapp g!'-fast machine. The two young riders diced for a couple of laps, then Malherbe powered past the Bulan the straigh t and things were back to normal in the 125 GP world: one of the super-quick Zundapps was out fran t. Belgian Rayman Boven (Man) held third; fourth was another Belgian, Jean-Paul Mingels (Bul) and fifth was Fritz Schneider. on the other Zundapp. The front ftve were all pretty close together and all way ahead of Beaumont on the sale Yamaha, who was next. . . Bulto dropped back and then, eventually, out with a mis-firing bi.ke and Boven moved the prototyp'e 125 Montesa in second followed by Mingels and Schneider. The front four were touring very rapidly and that's where most of the. racing was. Nobody else is as fast as these four (formerly five) in the heat on a tough circuit. Boven (Man) closed slightly on the leading Zundapp as the mota wore on bu t there was no way he was going to ca tch it. Malherbe kept turning impressive lap times even late in the rna to, moving by riders with ease as he lapped them; some for the second time. Mingels (Bul) had a comfortable margin in third ahead of Schneider. Dom;ngo Gris, Spanish 125 and 250 motocross champion, showed the speed . and consistency he is known for, to move up steadily and unspectacularly to ruth, right behind the Zundapp with about 10 m;nutes to go in the mota. The artificial watering of the cOurse 125 arand Prix produced several large mud holes which immediately coated riders' goggles. The fact that i~ had to be watered was due to the thick dust which then got in riders' eyes as soon as they pulled down their mud-covered goggles. It made it even harder to pick the few good lines. The dust swirled head deep ove"- much of the course and if your concentration slipped, so did your motorcycle. The mud holes stayed greasy and splashy the whole mota. At the end, Gris passed Schneider to move in to fourth and the finishing order was Malherbe (Zun), Boven (Man), Mingels (Bul), Gris (BuI), Schneider (Zun) and Michel Combes (Man). The Montesa-Bultaeo factory rivalry, which overshadows every motorcycling event in Spain, was not totally resolved. Almost all the qualifters made itpack for Mota Two, packed thick at the narrow start gate. Felice Agostini pulled the h'ole shot on his Aspes followed by the same gang: both Zundapps, Boven (Mon) and Mingels (Bul). What soon became very clear is that some 125 MXers have a lot more power than others. By the end of lap two, it was Malherbe (Zun), Schneider (Zun) and the Man tesa-Bultaco battle behind them as Agostini faded. It was kind of ho-hum as far as the overall went after that. Domingo Gris (Bul) moved up again, ahead of Mingels and Ignacio Bulla got ahead of Boven. Then maybe 15 or 20 seconds went by and so did everybody else. With Gris in third, both Boven (Man) and Combes (Man) set their sights on Bulla. There was factory pride at stake here! Oh yes, it was Schneider on the lead Zundapp this time circulating ungodly fast, even pullinl( away from teammate Malherbe, who admittedly only had to h;ong on to win overall. There was a lot of good, in teresting racing in this mota for positions three through seven. Gris couldn't match horses with the Zundapps but threw it away in a dusty comer trying. Mingels, Boven, Combes, Bulto went past before he could get sorted out and racing again. Mingels and Boven were deftnitely racing motocross for third, and first Spanish bike. Schneider got anxious and. bobbled, allowing Malherbe to get by on the other Zundapp. The Frenchman didn't need two ftrsts to win, but he took the lead and kept going. Boven put Montesa ahead of Mingels' Bulan the same lap and started stretching out a big lead before Mingels retired for good. Bulto's bike was mis-firing again and Michel Combes got by Gris and Mingels giving Moritesa third-fourth positions and making most of the Spanish happy. With five minutes to go in the mota, which seemed to be considerably longer than 40 minutes plus two laps as officially required, Gris had Combes in sight and aimed to be first Bultaco at fourth. The big riders' clock was only randomly updated which was confusing. Then, with one lap to go, Combes ran out of gas after a beautiful ride through the pack to fourth. Another bike ran out of pre-mix on the straight incre...ing the feeling (by Montesa) that the mota had been too long. Malherbe won easily, followed by Schneider. Zundapps have big gas tanks. The sun had set and trophies and laurel wreaths were handed out about 8 :30 p.m. in the long Spanish twilight to Malherbe (Zun), Boven (Man), and Schneider· (Zun) who ftlled out the top three in that order. RESULTS: 1. Andre Malherbe (ZUO) Fran .. 1·1. 2. Raymon Boven (Mon) 8e19. 2-3. 3. Fritz Schneider (Zuo) W. Ger., 5-2. 4. Domingo Gris (Bul) Span., 4-4. 5. Daniel Beaumont (Vam) 8e19., 7-7. Raymon Boven hetd ap the works for the locals, taking his Montesa to second OA.