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/125821
.• The Mettet-Tiegem 750 Sidecars 1 ... '" .CD ~ < Tvvo days of ~ z By Tomie Lafon W ..J o > o METIET, BELGIUM,JULY 22 TIEGEM, BELGIUM,JULY 23 Only in Belgium can one find a two day Motocross with two 500 rides and a 250 ride per day with the tracks nearly 100 miles apart. I Just to keep thing lively, the Belgium round of the sidecar championship is thrown in. A t the Mettet round, Bengt Aberg was in fine form. The course was run on the hill sides around a creek with half a dozen 15 foot drop-offs and climbs. Most of the course could be seen from any hill side. Willi Bauer took the lead on the start of the first 500 round, but Aberg took over the second time around never to lose his lead. Things stayed much the same with Aberg, Bauer, Hakan Andersson, Adolf Weil, Roger DeCoster, and Torlief Hansen playing follow-me-leader. Joel Robert and'john Banks were next, coming up fast with Banks going just a hair faster. It looked like the BSA rider was going to get Robert, but, as they were lapping a slower rider, Robert went by him so fast he crashed in the tum. Banks almost hit him and ran off the track, losing a lot of ground and that's how it ended. The 250 was up after two national classes were run. Weil had the lead with the Kawasaki kid righ t on his tail. Hansen looked twice as fast but wasn't able to catch the slow-looking, smooth style of the Maico rider. Weil just kept the gas on and never had a thing to worry about as Hansen tried everything in the book to get by. Gaston RaJiie.r was going very fast and had his best ride of both days, but Aberg put him back to fourth ahead of Robert. Ake Jonsson couldn't get by the J. Laqu-..ye's Belgium Yamaha and had to settle for seventh with Gedders eighth. Banks pulled out after second row start. He said it just wasn't worth trying to work up. Andersson also pulJed out. The seocnd 500 round started as usual with a Maico in the lead: Weil, with Andersson hot on his tail. Aberg was thir~, followed.by Herbert Schmitz, Jonsson, DeCoster, Van VeIth oven and Banks tenth. Schmiz got by Aberg and Andersson went to work on Weil. It took a long time, but Andersson went up a 15 foot bank faster than anyone should. He jumped past and over Weil, going 12 feet up in the air, landing in a vertical position. Everyone thought it was the end of Andersson - and themselves as people fell over one another to get out of the way. But Andersson had everything under control and never looked back. Banks got inspired and flat tracked inside Van Velthoven and two other Belgiums on a big sweeper and then went up the big jump almost as high as Andersson. DeCoster got Jonsson as Banks set out to do the same. On the last lap Jonsson had a 50 foot lead coming out of the last tum, bu t Banks had the horsepower (!I and closed to within a wheel at the finish. No wonder someone wanted to prntest Bank's BSA in the states. It isn't a 500; it's a 499, same bore and stroke, valves and cam timing as the pld Gold 5 tar. It measures 85 x 88, not 84 x 90 like the B-50 BSA. I know; myself and Bill Crist were his pit crew for two days. So ended Mettet with Andersson winning the 500 overall. Aberg fell out giving DeCoster second, Banks got third overall, Ake Jonsson fourth overall. The best four riders over two days is the winner and Andersson is hot. John Banks, Bill Crist, Drake (my boy), and myself set out to fmd Tiegem, a very small town in Northeastern Belgium. After getting trhough Brussels we spent the night in. GenL We were a The world's best riders from both the 250 and 500 classes charge. It reads like Who's who: Robert (11, Van Velthoven (21, DeCoster, Geoboers, Weil, Banks, Hansen, Andersson, and Jonsson. Hansen's Kaw had Maico front forks. Strange; the Maico's don't use Kawasaki front forks. Andersson of Sweden gets the jump at the start of a sidecar race.