Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Austrian 500 Motocross Grand Prix Mikkola flashes in 500 World Championship Opener By John Huetter SITTENDORF, AUSTRIA, APRIL 21 The tops and sides and,bottoms of the Tyrolean Alps we re already coated wi th sn ow from t he long winter and now big wet wh ite l Hak es were fly ing a t th e win d.sh icld like golf balls as Brad slith'ered the rent-a-ear down the au tobahn toward Sal zburg. Last year, th e Austrian 500 GP wasn 't cancelle d even after a spring snowstorm covered the track . tw o fee t deep and to uche d o ff a rider wa lkout , an end of season co nt ro versy over \\ororId Championsh ip points and th e fo rmation of th e Grand Prix Riders' Association . On ly 15 or so riders competed last year after DeCoster, Wolsink, J onsson an d Lackey we re instrumental in leadi ng a wa lkout of most Western com pe ti tors. T he autocratic promoter, Herr Basch, was no t happy bu t w as dete rm ined to avo id a rep ea t in front o f the TV cameras. Th er e was little threa t of snow this year. When we finally fo und th e circuit, th e hills over which th e co urse was being laid o ut we re steep, rocky , rutted , ra ce was abso lute ly ne cessary since th e starting gat e was a j ok e. Its width co uld be covered in 17 m ed ium-size p aces. T he su pp lem en tar y reg u lat io ns for thi s GP noted th at 'o n ly th e to p 18 qu alifi ers would ev en be o n the fro nt r ow. T hen there would be a second line of ride rs and even a third lin e . .. this in a World Championship. Unfortunately . the F I ~l rules say on ly th at riders " should" sta rt in o ne lin e. T he rul e ne eds some serious. r e stud y in g . So me of t he m ore c o n s ci en t iou s memb er s of t he in terna t io nal jury tried to a ttack th e problem through de monstr ating that the Kate was t oo n arrow to allo w one meter p er rider but t he Kate measured ou t t o 18 .1 meters , barely legal, It also turned out that the o rgan izer had a lo t of pull with the FIM, th o ugh for the life of m e . I could n't sec why. Austria has tracks with be tter starting areas.) The rest of the q ualifyin g times were as screwed up as they usuall y arc in these mo tocrosses but Bra d still ended up with ninth fastest ti me, at least assuring him self a fro nt row start. Lackey looked good but nobody really looked su per - except Mikkola. Heikk i grabbed the far outside of the start gate and in the mad scramble that followed the gate drop, grabbed the lead . He held it fro m h ole shot to finis h . He was n ever really pressured fo r nearl y 46 m inu t es and aft erw ards, back in the pit s, exclaimed, "Too easy!" His lead was a s much as 20 se co nds a t times , n orm ally abo ut 15 and he ·wo n with a 13·se cond margin over Adolf Weil, even after kil ling the en gine o nce wh en he hit a fence. He mad e it lo o k easy eno ugh, Gerrit Wols ink (Suz) was seco nd for th e fir st lap b ut by th e sec o nd lap Beng t Ab erg and Willi Bau er were past him and Wolsink fa de d to fift h in his fir st GP rid e for Suzuki. Ab erg kept th e Ch en ey / BSA thump in g after Mikkol a fo r abou t hal f t he m o to . Willi Bau er (Ma i) wa s in third and Adolf Weil. fourth. Brad La ck ey cra shed o n one 0 f th e rutted bumpy u p hills on the second lap . It was 'a sad waste of a good st art American hope in the 500 World Championship, Brad Lackey . looked good all week, set ninth fastest official time but crashed in both motos. He needs more time on the new Husky 360. and very dusty. The downhills and uph ills were definitely up to Grand Prix stan d ards - lo ng and bumpy with off-camber turns at the top and bottom . It was th erefor e wi th co nsiderable co ns ternation th at riders , me chan ics and o thers watched the constru ction o f an ar tificial wooden j ump just be hind th e arrow start ga te. The jump was for th e V cam eras , whose cre ws outnumbered the rid ers four to one on pract ice day . Heikki Mikkola won practice from lap one to the end o n the 36 0CR Husq varn a . Everybody agree d o n th a t. [h en the organizers made it official and wa rded him fast tim e and first p osition on the starting gate which was crucially imp or tan t in this Grand Prix. (Leng thy side : Q ual ifying with fas t times in th is ' and his effor t for the first heat was over by the tim e he fina lly wa s able to restart on th e uphill. ' He just m o tor ed aro und ti l the end. Joh n Banks, n ow o n a CCI\I. los t a chain im mediately and was out. J aak Van Veithoven (Yam ) a lso retired. His reason was his fourth n at tire o f th e d ay. ROKer DeC ost er go t a so-so sta r t but didn ' t se em to m ov e up very quickly. lIi s works R;>; Su zuki was d own on power w i th a crac ke d cy lin de r head during most o f the fir st m oto. Brad later c o n fi rm ed th at p assin g eve n wit h a healthy bike was d iffi cult on the vertica l trac k. In most of the down hill c o rn ers, the re was o n Iy one go od lin e, l f yo u m issed it. you kept sliding on down the slope off th e track. Mik kola, Aberg, an d Baue r held a tight group a goodly distance ahead o f Adolf Weil b ut the sm ooth, sw ift, steady Mai co 'p ilot ca ugh t Aberg with abou t ei gh t minutes to KO and th en caugh t and passed Bau er with abou t five minut es left in th e rn ot o, There wa s n o wa y he co uld touch lI eikki , th ou gh . ~le ch anics worked feverish Iv but th oroughl y prep ar ing th e hikes {or th e second h eal. T he a tte n tio n to d et ail, cha nging rear wh eel s co m p letely, Koi nK ov er eve ry t h ing . is impressive. R o ge r 's Adolf Weil was as smooth and fast as ever but Mikkola was Quicker when it counted. This was the gap with 5 minutes to go. Former World Champion Bengt Aberg pulled the hole shot in the second moto and held off Adolf Weil (left ) and Will Bauer (right!. It was his fir st GP ride on the Cheney/BSA. 25

• Cover