Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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World Championship MX Denmark 500 GP Who's really the bad dude in the 5 00 class? A personal trip through the Danish 500 GP z C( ~ G C( I 'o " ..J . Roger found t he f ast way a round a mixed terra in c ircuit in Denmark. For him. the cabbier the bette r. By Lori Hagman NAE.STED , DENMARK,JUNE 3 It loo ked like a repeat of the Ital ian 500 round last week with Roger DeCoster breaking in the first moto and Heikki Mikkola taking the win. Roger ca me back strong to win the second Heat with a twenty second lead over Mikkola in second. But o ne we ek and one day ha d gone b y th is Grand Prix. and to make things co n fu sin g for everyone. pra ctice was on Sunday and the Grand Prix. itself, on l\Ionday. There wa s a nati onal Holiday in Europe so the Naested Club figured th eir crowd would be much b igge r o n Monday. As it turned out , because o f heavy rains on Sunday, the promoters made a wise move. But eve n with good weather on Monday, o n ly an estimated crowd of 3000 turned out for the first G rand Prix in Denmark in the past nine years. T he nine year gap really showed on ra ce day in the organization of the event - or lack of it. The course itself was much like many tracks in Californ ia as far as difficulty not very. It certainly wasn't what one w o u ld expect of a Grand Prix co ur se. O ne thing it h ad, though, was a lo t of variety. T here was a sand section in the back a nd right before tha t gr ass. The start w as an 80 MPH c inder s t r a i g h t aw a y previ ously used fo r speedway and st ock c ars. There also was gravel and hard p acked dirt : No o ne reall y seemed too wor ked up abou t the co u rse, but w ere st ill loo kin g fo rwa rd to th e star t o f t h e first m or o. T imes on S u nday were fas t. l\lik kol a won p ractice. as usu a l, with Roger 's times seco nd fastes t, al mos t 1\\' 0 seconds slower t han l le ik ki's. Brad l.ackey "had four th Fastest t i rric, b ut by I ,;....., ~. t h, · "ff"r, j-, Ii... , w a ... n 't .... e-d nut . p Position s on t he line were not that impor tan t , h owever those that go t a good st art h ad an advantage because passing w as di fficult in most pl ac es. A t ap p roxi mately two o 'clock Monda y af ternoo n , the starting ga te fell , an d Adolf Weil w as th e firs t to the en d of th e st ra igh ta way. De Coster a nd Mik k o la we re in seco nd an d third with Rrad fourth. Bu t Weil's lead wa s short-live d . Before on e lap went by, Mikkola p assed both Roger and Ado lf to take the le ad till the end. A fter o n e more lap , Roger's bad lu ck struck aga in . Be fore h e went out for the fi rst moto, he to ld h is mec han ics that his p ipe was cracked and needed t o be we lde d. The m echanics. for some rea so n . over lo oked this. Consequen tly, Roger h ad to p u ll out of the race after the p ipe fe ll comp le tely off. This m ove d Bra d into third p la ce an d J a a k Van V el t h ov en , who had worked his way up from a poor start , in t o fou rth . The top fou r p o siti ons : Mik ko la, Weil, La ckey an d Van V ei th oven re mained th e same until 10 minu t es from the finish of the race w he n Brad's ignitio n failed . Talk a bout flas h back to 1taly! Brad Was now o u t of the race. Now Van Veith oven was in third p lace, Wolsink, fourth and Willy Ba ue r, fi f th . Tha t's th e way th ey fin ished, Mik kola o nce again wi th t he b ig 15 poin ts for first. A fter m echanics wor ked fra ntically t o prepare t he b ike s for the secon d time o u t, th e start was taken b y current World Champ, Roger DeCoster. Heikki was right behind Roger, riding flat out tryin g to gain so m e ground, but R oger j us t se emed to pull away. Br ad started b ack in th e middle o f the pac k b ehind Hu sky teammate Arne Kring. A ke Jonsson wa s in third posi tion for almost the entire race until he re ti red with a broken sw ingarm . His teammate, .Iaak Van Vcl th ov en, had an o ther poor sta r t bu t worked his way up to fifth p o sition, then reti red o n th e same lap as Ak e, Arne Kring, m idw ay through the ra ce, had worked up rig ht behind Ake , so Ake's pulling o u t moved Arne into third. Brad was still right behind him and stayed there till the e nd of the rnoto, Willy Ba uer also dropped out of the race after an engine bolt came out, another mechanical error. Bengt Aberg didn't start the second heat after being hit in the forearm with a big rock. lIis ann was swollen, so he watched the r ace while nursing his arm with ice p acks. At the finish line , Roger crosse d with a 20 sec o nd lead over Heikki! Arne K ring fin ish ed third, Brad fourth and Gerrit Wolsink fifth. Another Grand Prix fin ish ed . Hcikki Mikkola moved up o ne step by ge ttin g twenty-sev en p oints an d the Overall win a t t he Danish Grand Prix. Well - t ha t 's four Grand s Prix and Heikki's been Overall winner at each one. And this c o m i n g Sunday is Prerov , Czechoslovakia, where lIusqvama feels he should do equally as well. I L looks like Roger is having a very bad st art o f the season , hut if hi s bikes ca n hold together, he shou ld give lIcikki a run for his money an d show him th at winning a World C hampionship o n e time isn't a n easy thing to do. • World Championship standings after Denmark 500 GP 1. H e i k k i M ikkola 11 4 p t s. (Hus) Fi n: 2 . R o ger DeCost er 56 (Su z) Be lg; 3 . A dolf Wei l 55 (Mai)W . Ger: 4 . Gerrit W o lsi nk 41 (Su z ) H ol l; 5 . Willi Ba u e r 41 (Mai) w. Ger , 6 . Ake Jonsson 36 (Yam) Swe : 7. Arne Kring 35 (H us) Swe : S . Jaak V an Velth oven 3 5 (Y a m ) 8e19; 9 ., B e ng t A b e r g 30 ( B u l) Swe : 10. Otakar To m sa r 24 ( C Z) Czech: 1 1. Brad L ac key 2 I (H us ) U SA . Price s a t the T rack: Practice & Qualifying . . . Fri. $ 2 General Admissio n . . . . Sat. $ 4 Race Day General Admission . $ 7 Paddock . . . ' . .. $ 2 Grandstand . . . . . . . . . $ 2 TOTAL $17 Ava ilable a t a ll Tlc ketron Out le ts or use coupon below. Super Tickets THREEDAYIGENERALADMISSION. PADDOCK AND GRANDSTAND ALLFOR$12 .oo OR RACEDAY TICKETS $6.00 INADVANCE Kawasak i SuperB Ike In te rnatio nal I enclose $ (Mone y Order or Certified Check) for the fOllowing: _ _ _ _ _ Supe r Tickets at $12 .00 _ _ _ _ _ Race Day General Admissions at $6.00 Name Ad d re ss _ Zip MAILTO: Trippe Cox Associates Inc.. PO BOX 2078 . Monte rey, Ca lif. 93940 (408) 373-1811