eco
in pre p aring Huskies for the most severe
co m pe tit io n.
Paolo Piron
The la tes t addition to l Iu sq va rn a 's
Eu ropean factory team. Paolo is a
21-year-old Italian from Turin in
No rthern Italy. lI e wo n th e Italian 500
National Championship last year and his
potentia l caused Husky to offer hi m a
factory bike to rid e in most of the GPs
this year. He is certainly the fastes t,
most competitive m o t o cro sser to come
out of Italy in m a ny yea rs. Paolo is,
however, more fam iliar wi th the lo ng ,
uphill-downhill tracks of Northern It aly
and Austria and it w ill be in teresting to
see how q uickly h e ada pts to th e fas ter ,
tighter sty le o f American m oto cro ss.
Ba cking up t his co ntinge n t of
non -Ll.S, rid ers in t he Superho wl wi ll be
int er n a t io n a l
o t he r t o p -r an k e d
m o to cro sse rs suc h as J a n- Eric Sallqv is t,
forme r S we dis h
125
Na tio na l
Champion , now ridi ng for Kawa sa ki of
Ca na da; J o z e Zupin o f Yugoslavia;
Claudio Pesce of Arge n t ina, an d ano ther
CZ factory rider to be named by the
Strakoniee wor ks, probably Miro slav
Halm or Jiri Churavy, both of whom
have ca m p aign e d U.S. international
series in previous years and hath
wi nners of Grand Prix m o to s in this and
previous years.
Marty Tr ipes
'
.
'
.'
,
..
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Roger DeCoster
It
will cost $70,000 t o build th e
Sup erb owl moto cro ss track inside th e
Los A ngcles Coliseum and 70,000
.l thr ough
Saddleback /OCIR's J im .lIa >I >Iing. But
th e reaso>l that th e mo " ey , th e
specta t ors, and th e high school fina ls are
com ing together, th e co re: reas o n, is t hai
so me of th e fin es t m oto cro ss racers in
th e w orld will bring th eir b ik es in to th e
stadium lured b y th e pro m ise of cas h
and pr estige and, p ossibly, b et t er
fa ctory c o n tra c ts. (Ca >l·A m, fo r
ex a m p le, has promised a wo rk s / 25
Can·A Tn MX machin e to th e m ost
promising high school ridcr.} Nearly 5 0
riders in national and int ernational 250
classes ha ve b ee n sign ed for th e eucnt, A
f ew of those w h o could be at th e h ead
of th e pa ck are identified 0>1 this page.
So m e you already know. som e you
migh t h ave "ever h eard of. But no" e of
th em . either Eur opean. or American arc
slo uch es.
Wha t m ore can he said abo ut th is man ?
Cha mpio n of the wo rld in 500cc
mo t o cross for th e last t h ree years.
Win n er o f ne arl y 30 m o t o cro ss Grands
Pr ix ; wi nne r of the ~ I ot ocro s s d es
Na t ions fo r the last th ree yea rs in a ro w ;
Roge r DeCo st er, Be lgia n by b irth and
residence a n d interna tional by
pro fes sio n and in cl in at io n , defines th e
co m p le te motocross racer. l le may just
be th e best. th e fastes t motocrosser in
the w orld righ t now exh ibiting that rare
co m b ina tio n of ski ll, in te lligence, and
determina tion t hat make a champio n in any sport. If a poll we re taken fo r the
top motocross rider in interna tio nal
competition cu rre n t ly , Roger DeCoster
would be at the top of most lists. Roger
is 30.years-old, married and is a factory
'rid e r for Suzuki.
Gerr it Wolsink
Th e hig hl y respect ed Du tch GI' rider
uzu k i to
accepted an offer fr om
cam p a ign the \I' a rid Ch ampionship
circuit this year a fre r a very successfu l
season on Mai co in 1973. Gerri t has led
the 500 cl ass in points standings, was
second in last year's TransA~J.\ a nd has
put h imself in to the to p five in th e
c u r r e n t 500 m o t o c r o s s Wo rl d
Cha mp io ns hip ra ce . li e is a gr adua te o f
de ntal school in his native lIoliand and
is preside nt of th e Gra nd Pr ix Rid ers
A ssocia tion, the official hody of
m ot o cro ss GP competitors , Ilis steady ,
unspectacul ar, con tro lled rid ing sty le
ha s p ut h im in th e lead o r near it of
m an y
G Ps
a nd
i n te r na t iona l
mo to c ro sses while o the rs h ave cras hed
t ry in g to ma int a in his deceptive p a ce .
Ge r rit is d e fin it ely a thin ki ng m an 's
m o t ocrossc r
and has shown th a t
app roac h to be a Rood way to vic tory .
l le has adapted to his new S uz uki ride
very imp re ssivel y . Like Roge r, he speaks
seve ra l la ngu ages Fluently .
Jaroslav Falta
16
Th e CZ fa ct ory rider h as. in only two
years, sh ot to th e top of the list or
mo t oc ross compe ti to rs from Easte rn
Europe an d R u ssia. T he 23-year-old
Cze ch is from lI o liee , where h e first
rode a CZ m o t oc ro sser a t th e age of 18 .
li e is fas t , condit ioned, a nd spec tac u lar
in the wi ld wa y he t hrows h is
l ig h t w e ig ht wor ks C Z around a
m o t o cro ss cou rse. Fah.a is curre n tly the
to p conten der for th e 250 World
Cha mpions hi p ti tle. li e trains rigorously
wi th th e fact o ry tea m bu t , like m o st
Cze chs , see ms to subsis t on a d iet of
ca bbage soup , gray b read , sa usage a nd
Pilsener beer.
Raymond Boven
The 2 J -year-o ld Flemish Belg ian is one
o f the most p romising young riders to
emerge from Belgium, the Cradle of
~Iotocrossers in
so me years. A fte r
fin ishing third in the 125cc world
mot ocross c lass last ye ar, he was offered
a fac tory con trac t by ~I ontesa to
ca m p ai gn the m ore prcst igious 250
\l'o rld Championship Grands Prix , li e
did not disappoin t them by winning the
first moto o f the 1974 G P season in
Sp ain, his firs t 250 G I'. lie has
continued wi th consistent placings in
the top 10 as th e seaso n has p ro gresse d,
riding a p ro to ty p e ~I on t e s a w orks bike .
This will be Boven's first ap peara nce in
Xor th America. li e is very fas t an d
quick, pe rhaps to o quick, on th e
throttle hut always a n exc it ing racer in
in te r na ti o n al compe ti tio n.
Nils·Arne Nilsson
The 23-year.o ld l lu sqv a rn a fac to ry ride r
was the winner of t he U.S . round o f t he
125 Wo rld Cha m pio ns h ip se ries las t year
and has since ta ken u p resid en ce in th e
U.S . as an R&D r ide r for l lu sq var n a,
Swedish -born a nd bred, h e wi ll be
campaigning thi s year under a Swed ish
cornpc t i tio n lice n se . li e is a very so lid
ride r w it h the c o n t ro lled , p o wer fu l
moves of the curren t generation of
Swedish-trained motocrosscrs. lie is also
:. verv hang-loose. c o m pc ri rive ,l{Uy wh o
has adapted well to California lifcstvlcs.
Nils -Arne is known as a topflight expert
Returning to try and ma ke it th ree
straight overall wins in the Superbowl of
Motocross is American wu nderki nd,
~Iarty Tripes. Officially 17·ycars-old,
~Iarty will be the youngest ri der in th e
. international class. He is now sponsored
by lI u sq va rn a and will be rid ing one of
the new lightweight Husky 250s. ~ larty
won the Superbowl MX first year
( 19 72 ) on a Yamaha, th e n last year o n
Ho n da , so switching bike b rands hasn't
see med to hu r t his chances for ano ther
overall win. Su rprisi ng ly, fo r a ri der so
yo ung, ~I ar t y has gained h is victorie s by
fast . co ns iste nt ridin g, pas sing wh er e
o the rs co u ld n' t a nd being qu ick er wh e re
ot he rs h ave slowed dow n . H e got o ff to
a slo w start t h is year w it h h is new
Hu sky ride b ut has started to come on
th e p ip e in t he last few we e ks and m ay
he re ach in g h is peak j us t abou t Sa turday
nigh t,
Brad Lackey
T h e f orm e r U .S. Nat io na l 5 00
Cha mpio n comes to the Superbowl
fro m t he Wo rl d Ch am pi on sh ip ro unds
o f 5 00 class m ot o cro ss wh er e he has
been ridi ng Hu sq varn a thi s year. After
early season problems ge lling the ne w
ride so rted ou t , Bra d h as asto u nded
in ternat ional observers b y tak in g a
fou r th an d a t hi rd in the las t tw o Grand
Prix motos, proving that he is t he best
American 500 class rider. Brad will
revert to the 250 d isplacemen t m ach ine
he has used in international m otoc ro ss
in Europe for the Superbowl but see ms
to be gct t ing familiar enough with the
works lIusqvarnas to win on any of
them on anv U.S . track . The main
problem Brad will en counter in the
Superbowl is gearing himself up fo r the
shorter 25 -minutc motos. lie has been
used to the 45 ·minu le GP m o tos,
making so me of h is m o st im pressi ve
mov es and doi ng h is fas tes t ridi ng in th e
last 20 m in ut es. But at 20.y·ea rs-o ld,
Brad has six years of expert an d
p rofessional ra cing ex perie nce b ehind
him a n d has learned to hand le just
about any track an d rac in g con ditio ns.
Bra d is smooth.
J im Weinert
Kaw asa ki pu t t he ir fa ith in .l im this ye ar
as the ir only fac tory mot o cross rider
a n d h e h as shown to be up to the task ,
cu rren tly sta nding secon d in t he 5 00
Nat io na l c lass . J im was th c firs t
Ame ri can 10 ever w in a n inte rn a tional
Trans i\ ~ lA m oto c ro ss overall. w h ich he
d id in Ho usto n . Texas las t y ear. You
may no t be lieve i t 10 see h im in act io n
bUI he has actua llv tamed dow n h is wild
ridin ~ style with ;mt losing any speed.
whi ch means he is c rash ing le ss and
fini shing in th e lOP three more.
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