Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Mikkola, De Coster split Italian GP motos; Brad finds his Husky form. By Lori Hagman ESANATOGLlA, ITA LY , MA Y 26 The Esanatoglia Club had not had Grand Prix visitors to their track in over six years, and it showed in the organization of the two days. One th ing they did have that no other Grand Prix has had so far was a true, to the core Italian res taurant serving lasagna, spaghe tti, ch ic ken , salad, - wh atever you wa nted, a nd it was n't too bad. The main attraction see med to be the waiters, with much h an d gesturing and a neverending son g and dance. One waiter admitted b y the time we left that he was tired and would everyone please leave so he co u ld take a nap. Pierre Karsmakers ca me to I taly to watch the Grand Pri x a ft er ra cing a national race in Holland. He seemed right at h ome with all th e co m m o t io n while having lunch. Heikki Mikkola o nc e again won the timed practice with a time two second. faster than Roger DeCoster. Brad La ckey 's tim e on Saturday was only a fraction o f a se cond slower than Roger's, but on Sunday was faster than Roger or H eikki. This gav e him third fastest time when the official ti mes w ere released. Getting th e start here was very im p o r t an t be cause the whole co urse was hard gro u n d with gravel and asso rted sizes of ro cks ever y w here. Brad h adn 't brought a ch es t protector or a face guard with hi m so he was trying to man ufacture his own out of a number p late. Things we re n 't working out too well so Roger lent him a face guard, and he was goi ng to h ave to do wi thou t the chest protector. Adolf Weil surprised everyone by ri di n g p ractice with n o shoulder pads, c hest p rotector, o r even a Jofa. Eve ryone knew he never used any p rotective equipment in any other races, but a t this co urse ? The man m ust be m ad e of steel! 1 was a little n erv ous when i t cam e time for the first moto to start. Everyone ag ree d that th e co u rse was . very fast, li ke a ro ad r ace . and there was one downhill th at Brad talked ab out t aking in six t h gea r. Bu t whe n t he gate dropp ed, Roge r DeC oster was t he first away , w ith Mi kkol a righ t b eh ind. Afte r t he second lap, wh en th ey just ha d come on to th e stra igh taw ay - Mikk o la passed Roger as if h e was stand ing still and he cou ldn't fig ure out w h y . Roger's piston ri ng had bro ken and he p ulled into the pi ts. The pass n eve r would have been th a t easy had Roger 's bike not broken. Now Mikkola h ad the lead an d kept it. once again . to the end of the m oto , Ake Jonsso n, who a lso we nt well in p rac ti ce , was in se cond , posi tio n on ly to be passed by Gerrit Wo lsin k . Ger ri t he ld secon d for over hal f the race til h is front hub b ro ke a nd he had to re ti re, leav in g Ake agai n in second. Brad Lac key got a fa ir s ta rt b ack in eigh th pl a ce a nd wa s beginning to rac e w it h Ch riste r Ha mmer gr en w he n h is ign i tio n wen t o ut. He had t o ret ir e . Vi k t or Po p en ko see med to be goin g again after h is c ras h the T h ur sd ay b efo re wh e re h e cracke d hi s ch in , but the n h e crashed ag ain and b en t his f ro n t forks so he also had to re tire. Bv the e nd o f the race, at le ast ten rider~ h ad p ulled o ff w ith prob lems . b UI Mikko la ha d n o ne . H is on ly co mplai n t ba c k in the pits was tha t his fron t b ra ke was n 't wor kin g as well as he would lik e it to . so th at was immediat e ly corrected . Ben gt A b erg once again stu n ned everyone by ri d i n~ a stock Bu ltaco to a fourth p lac e finish . Bengt will h ave a Grand Prix b ik e by next week's Danish Grand Prix. He said after the ra ce th at h e liked his BSA better, but maybe once h e ge ts th e Grand Prix bike he won't think so. Bengt really seems to be getting serious aga in, and he m ay be one of the top five by the ti me the season is o ver . He's hoping so . Ake Jonsson kep t second position and finished there with Adolf Weil third. Jaak Van Velthoven finished fifth behind Aberg. . . The Suzuki mechanics definitel y had their hands full before the secon d moto started. Roger and Gerrit co uld h ave finished fir st an d second, until th eir b ikes failed them. Bu t o nce th e mechanics work was do ne, all th ey co u ld do was chec k and re-check. And when the ra ce started. they were sure th e y did something right because Roger DeCoster took the start with Brad Lackey only in ches behind. The fourth lap Brad was passed by Mikkola, Wolsink and Wei!. Roger was first and kept it til the en d like. th e Champ that h e is. Mikkola held on to second place and later in the pits remarked that Roger was too fast and he co u ldn ' t have caught him. Twelve points were better than none for Heikki . Wo lsink was running third ; Weil, fourth and Brad La ck e y , fifth , when Adolf crashed going down the sixth ge a r - downh ill. H e got right ba ck up, but p ulled in to the pits. Brad was now gaining o n Wolsink when the D utchman crashed and Brad was in th ird p lace. Ge rrit got u p only nine se conds be h ind Brad, b u t by the end of th e race , Brad had stretched it to eighteen. Heikki was twe nty seconds in fro nt of Bra d a nd Roger w as close to thir ty in fron t of Heikki , Bengt Aberg was going very fast in th e sec on d mo to, but crashed to fini sh eigh th. Gerri t Wols ink finished fo u rth, and Jaak Van V elthoven , fifth . Willi Bauer didn't even st ar t the rac e. Whil e he w as si tting o n the st artin g lin e, h e not ice d t hat h is gas tan k w as broken, so he sp ec ta t ed th e secon d he a t. Back in the Husqvam a pits. everyone seemed 10 be fairly happy . Bra d had earned 10 G P points, b ut felt he co uld have m ad e m ore, and Hei k k i w as the w inner Overall with 27 b ig ones . Eve ry one finished six bott les of c ha m p agn e while the traffic jam was clearing out. By the time we got ba ck to the Hotel afte r awards p rese nta tio n a nd d inner. all we co u ld th ink abou t was sleep. We had a 15 ho ur d rive b ac k to Belgium, to make a ll in o ne shot. • The fi e rcest battle since , uh . . .las t y ear goes on for t he SOOcc motocross World Championship. Roger DeCoster won the se co nd moto; Heikki Mik kola won the first at the Italia n GP . Ake Jonsson smac ks h is 390 Yamaha monoshock off the berm . Brad Lackey borrowed a prototype rock catcher from Robert and t ook th ird in the second moto after losi ng spark in the first round. Gerrit Wolsink. 1 97 3 TransAMA runnerup, is getting down to business with his new Suzuki ride . He favors the TM-400 engine . Piston ring destructo ON Fed Roger while leading the first moto. Results M o t o 1 : 1. H ei k k i Mi k k ola (Hus) Fin; 2 . Ak e Jo ns son ( Y a m ) S w ed j 3 . Ad olf Wei! ( Mai ) W . G e r j 4 . B en q Aberg (Bul) Sw eda 5 . Jaak V an Veith o ve n (Y a m ) B elg ; 6 . Will y Bauer (Yam) W . G e r; 7. Pa ol o Pivon (Hus) Ital; 8 . O t ak ur To m de n (C Z) CSS R ; 9 . Jean Paul Mingel s (Bul) Be lg; 1 0 . Vladin v i r Kloudidk ov (CZ ) U SSR . M ot o 2 : 1. Roger De C oster (SU Z) Be lg: 2 . Heikk l Mik k ola ( H us ) F i n ; 3. B r ad La ck e y ( H us ) U SA; 4 . Gen it W ol sink (Su z) N eth ; 5 . Jaak V a n V e l t n oven (Ya m ) B el g ; 6. Ota ka r "r o m c an (CZ) CSS R; , . A k e Jon sso n ( Ya m) Swed; 8 . B eng Aberg (B ul) S w ed: 9 . Pa ol o Pr von (Hus) I t al ; 10. I van B esso n e ( Mai ) t tat , Po i n ts af t er I t alia n Gran d Pr i x : 1. H eik k i Mik ko la ( 87) ; 2 . Ro~e r D eC o st er (41 ) ; 3 . A dol1 W ell ( 3 8 ) ; 4 . Wil li Ba u er (35 ) ; 5. A k e J on sson (31) ; 6 . Gen it worst nk (2 7); 7. Benqt A berg . ( 27); 8 . Jaolk V an veuncven ( 25 ) ; 9. Ot aka r To ma n ( 24); 10. A r ne K r i n g ( 21); 11. Bra d L ac k ey (13); 12. Vikt or Pcpe n k o (1 3 ); 13. Paolo p tr cn (6 ); 14 . Ar ne Lind fors (3); 15. Jean Pau l Mi nge!S (2): 16. Frans Sigm u n ds (1); 17 . Iva n Be ssone (1); 18 . V ladi mir K h oudi akov ( 1 ) . 13

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