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/125828
October 2, 1973 Page 7 trouble on the trail and dropped 5 vital poin ts.. The luck of the Irish was the worst; their A Vase team lost 184 points, making them 25th after the fJrst day. KTM (Italian, Pentons) were the top manufacturer's team and the Triumphs were fJrst 4-strokers at 15th. Rokon USA lay 2!lth l but clean and the Belgian Husqvarna's were 50th, and last. Of the club teams, the 1talians were fJrst, West Germans second and the Golden Gators of the USA were third. Twenty fourth and last was the ill fated Zambia Motorsports Association. the Second Day Tuesday was wet. It rained all night and was still coming down hard from the 1?ewter New England skies at the 7 a.m. start. Fat drops pelted riders faces at 80 MPH like buckshot. Great weather for Italians. The Latins flew down the slippery slopes, which tossed American qualifying star Jim Honander on his head, causing .a concussion. Riders were trucked to. the hospital, where broken ribs were· taped up as they demanded to be let back into the action. Their teams needed them. One hundred points a day were lost for each rider out. Trials Director AI Eames put the "B" schedule into effect on.the second day. This meant the men didn't have to destroy themselves on the dangerous trail, keeping on time. It would have been easier to invoke the faster HA" schedule, force maximum retirements and eliminate a lot more scoring, bu t Eames told a reporter, "that's not the narne of the game." What is the name of the game, he was asked? "Perserverance at a conservative rate of speed," Eames responded. When the computer spit out the scores for Tuesday, there was astonishment and consternation. The U.S. Vase A team, with Malcolm Smith, Dick Burleson, Ed Schmidt and Ron Bohn, all on Huskies, had moved into second place, despite Bohn's 5 mark loss of Monday. All the other Vas<: contenders had lost more than twenty marks in the rain, except West Germany's BMW heavies, who gave up only two. Was there a chance? The East Germans, who had suffered strange engine seizures these two days discovered that the oil they were mixing with their gas was fork oil. The motors would have had to be tom apart and degummed, which is not allowed in 6-Days. They loaded up and went home, bitter at this blow to their long standing rivalry with the Czechs and West Germans. I talians were swimming in the rain, with tearns on top of the manufacturers and club standings. The Golden Gators slipped back to fourth place with poorer showings in the speed tests. The Third Day -The rain was over, bu t the woods were dark and cold. U.S. 'trophyman Bill Ubi got word that his mother had died of cancer in the night. Wednesday was "Now where could he be?" Rays of late afternoon filter through the New England woods, and the trail goes on. "Oh! Here he comes,too fast!" "No. A double endo:'