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/125822
CD 1 .... Cll M French champagne for Swedish World Champion ., .. - World 250 Motocross ~ z By John Huet1er w HYVINKAA, FINLAND, AUG. 5 t3 Scandinavia really does surround you with an ambienic of striking blue-eyed blondes, birch forests and beer. The Nordics also take <{ ~ their sports with all the solemnity, ritual and orthodox practice of a religion. Motocross is no exception. Most people have only the vaguest idea of where Finland is on the map but the 30 international riders on the 250 GP circuit managed to fmd the small country town of Hyvinkaa as they reassembled from a month spent competing in the U.S. Inter-Am series or a surprisingly tough July round on the Belgian National circuit, in which Hakan Andersson and Adolf Weil seemed to grab most of the 250 class wins whenever Robert didn't. That rivalry, which has also put them firmly one·two in world points standings, didn't slacken a bit today in the wet woods of Finland with the result that they are still one-two in the Championship race. Bu t it's really all over. Much to nobody's surprise, Hakan Andersson on his very special Yamaba, won both 45·minute motos and in doing so became the 1973 World Champion in 250cc Motocross. With the advantage of post-race reflection, it was entirely predictable. Hakan is in fantastic condition, won nearly everything he wan ted or needed to in Belgium, and has had his Yamaha break only once all year. And he is going so quick it's hard to believe... except that everybody starts to take it for granted that of course Hakan rides that fast - a World Champion motocrosser is supposed to ride fast. Everybody here was a professional in the best sense of the word and the World Championship resumed as if the riders had only been away from it for a week instead of a month and a half. Of course, most of the races in Belgium and Holland were like GP's since unprecedented big purses and fat start money envelopes kept the bulk of both 250 and 500 pilots in Europe rather than migrating across the pond for American competition. Hakan Andersson clinched the 250 World title with two dear cut wins. MotoOne Steady rain on Saturday night left standir'g water between the sodden sand whooJH1e-doos on the long course. It tapered off into sudden downpours and sprinkles by race time but the course was sloppy on the level spots with short, nasty whoops on the uphills and downhills. uHere's mud in your eye," was not a friendly toast. Jaroslav Falta (CZ) led into the ftrst tum by executing the jump over the earth dike at the end of the start area better than anybody else. Behind him were Sylvain Geboers (Suz) and Jim Pomeroy (Bul) at the end of lap one. The front three extended over maybe 30 feet of ground as they caromed around the bumpy course with Heikki Mikkola (Hus), the local favorite, a fair distance back but abead of Adolf Weil (Mai). Huan. was back about seventh or eighth when he started moving smoothly, irresistibly up on Weil and went past him. At the same time, Geboers and Pomeroy went by a slowing Falta. The Belgian and the American were abou t 10 feet apart way up front and the ftrst five had cleared off from the rest of the pack. Joel Robert (Suz) was coming up strongly from a mediocre start and Gunnady Moisseiev (KTM) challenged Mikkola before retiring with abou t 20 minutes gone. But the crowd's attention waS focused on the action up fron t where Hakan had switched places with Jim making the Swede second and Pomeroy once again, third. Sylvain, showing some of the pre-broken leg form, was still in front of everybody. Torlief Hansen (Kaw) crashed and shortly afterwards went out with mechanical problems, ie., suspension which had probably con tribu ted to the crash. Sylvain dropped back after 30 minutes as his pinned, shafted, grafted leg gave out on the sandy circuit and Joel hung it up after crashing his new Suzuki on the giant downhill. If Joel is crashing, you know the course is getting rough. He never gets off. Well, almost never. Hakan got the lead a little sooner than he had planned as Sylvain gave up racing for that moto and Adolf got by young Pomeroy on the off-camber comers on the back section of the course. Age does have some advantages and Adolf has been passing on comers 15 years longer than Jim. Hakan stretched out a fairly comfortable lead and his mechanic informed him via chalk and lap board that he was 15 sec. ahead of Weil at the same time Adolf's mechanic informed him that he was 15 sec. behind Andersson. Pomeroy's mechanic, who claims to have mastered English during his month in the U.S., informed Jim that he was about six seconds behind Weil. Jim closed the gap on Adolf in the last three laps to abou t five seconds and that's the way they finished. Mikkola was a good distance behind Jim in fourth. The fron t three wen t very fast the whole 40 minu tes of timed running. Hakan seemed to coast the last two laps, secure in his win and not wanting to crash. Of course, coasting for Andersson still involves leading a Grand Prix. One of the most impressive performances was by Miroslav H'alm, back riding for CZ after two months out due to injuries. He moved up to finish . seventh in the llrSt leg right behind Czech hero Falta. The Russian, Pavel Rulev apparently wasn't going fast enough to uphold the glory of Mother Russia and lost his KTM ride. He may be back on a tractor or shoveling salt or whatever happens to Soviet MXers that don't make it. It started raining again just as the last riders were taking the checkered at the end of moto one. Pomeroy was already in the pits rinsing mud from his eyes and the Bultaco factory people were obviously quite pleased with Jim's ltrst ride back in Europe. Third behind Hakan and Adolf ain't too shabby. Between motos the Belgians t in the rain eating waffles (the national food), the Swedes drank bizarre hot soup concoctions, and the Finns looked stolid and austere. MotoTwo Moisseiev pulled one of his patented explosive hole shots and literally rocketed to the lead in the air more than on the soaked track. After two laps, Hakan pulled ih behind him followed by Mikkola; Uno Palm, giving one of his best rides on the newly suspended Puch; and Falta. Pomeroy crashed in a big puddle of water, mud and sand on the first lap and Adolf Wei! hit him, also going down. By lap 5, both riders had started passing up through the pack from positions in the low twenties, about 23rd and 25th. The newly wetted course was really getting churned up and bounced into deeper whoop-de-doos which in tum bounced the rear ends of the bikes from side to side. With 20 minutes gone, both Andersson and Mikkola got by Moisseiev wh.o was fading sligh t1y from his runaway start. Jim was holding off Baborovsky, Weil and Halm as those four sprayed through the mud and moved up. With 30 ntinutes gone, Hakan was again way out in front and just moving faster than anybody. He wasn't takIng any chances on being caught or. getting any'but the maximum 15 points .for a win. This molo was, after all, a race to determine the Champion of the World in 250cc motocross. Moisseiev had gotten back up to second place about fIVe seconds ahead of Mikkola. It's a shame these Russian riders don't get to compete in the U.S. They are unbelievable to watch as they full-bore everything WFO: comers, straights, jumps, downhills. Most of them never heard of strategy but they know about speed. As a matter of fact, in Europe a quick-turn (eighth-or-quarter) throttle is called a "Russian throttle" because there are only two positions, really: on and off. Moisseiev usually just keeps his in the "on" position and hangs on to the KTM until he breaks, wins or crashes. Joel Robert didn't faD and was running quickly in fourth ahead of Uno Palm (Puc). The new suspensions on the Suzuki and the Puch (and just about every other bike for that matter) have made a significant difference. Then there was a long wait until Falta, Pomeroy and Lars Ohberg (Mon) came around. Yes, ungentlemanly Jim had insisted on getting ahead of everybody up to seven th place, passing on downhills and splashing water around to move into the second pack of con tenders and the few riders that Hakan l1adn't lapped. Then with about 3 laps to go, Jim killed his Bultaco side-hopped til he went over the bars re-injuring the shoulder he'd landed on at Unadilla a week ago. He circulated very slowly after that, sitting down for the most part and, in the fmal two laps of the Grand Prix dropped from seventh