Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Roger wins his first GP Overall in Czecho's rain • By Lori Hagman PR EROV, CZECHO ., J UNE 9 Heavy rains in Prerov, Czech oslovakia helped Roger DeCoster win his first Grand Prix of the year. Roger exclaimed after the second moto, "I wish it would rain every Grand Prix," but I'm sure not ever y rider had the same wish. The rains haven't st opped since the Danish Grand Prix , and they seemed especially heavy about three o'clock Sunday afternoon. Czechos lovakia doesn't seem to be one of the favorite spots for most of the GP riders. Getting visas and trying t o cross the bo rder is a major problem. The Maico team had more than their share of problems! The border officials were not going to let them en ter because Willi Bauer's mechanic had grown a mustache which wasn't on his passport but was on the visa picture. Finally after a lot of hassle and , I'm sure, a lo t o f bribing, they were allowed in but had to be out o f the country before midnight afte r the rac e. The Americans d idn't h ave as much trouble as we ex pected, but we di d have to ex change for Czech money at the border after showing them an official paper stati ng that start m oney was all that was necessary. American CZ rider Tony DiStefano was entered in the program which came as a surprise. On Saturd ay , h e showed up at the track for practice with the CZ team and fa ct ory Grand Prix bikes. Too bad Czecho was his first impression of, Europe. Otherwise, he might .have enjoyed himself. As usual, Mikkola set fastest time both Saturday and Sunday! DeCoster set fourth fastest time, but had a run-in with the promoter before practice, so they put him al most at the bottom of the list, in 16th position. A protest was made by the, Belgian federation and the Suzuki mechanics, but nothing cam e of it. Brad Lackey set 11th fastest time while Tony DiStefano got an impressive l Oth selection for the start position, acing au t many Cze ch riders. Brad cra shed a bunch of t imes in Ge rm a n y , still managed a se venth an d an e ighth racing w ith Hu sky te ammate A rne K rin g. everything ca lm ed down and th ey returned to the pits. In the meantime, he avy rain clouds were moving in. Everyone was hoping that they would keep moving, but they looked like they were over the track to stay. Mota 2 A very surprising start this moto! Mota 1 When the gate hit the ground, the bike in the lead was a H usqvarna wi th Heikki aboard. Not too unusual. Roger was sec o n d o ff the line with Suzuki teammate Gerrit Wolsink In th ird. Brad's start was very p oor with DiS tefano o nly a few bikes behind h im . He ikki led th e ra ce fro m sta rt to finish with Roge r only se co nds behind un til they sta r ted lapping riders. Then Heikki's lead grew to al m o st 15 seco nds. Gerrit Wolsink remained in th ird fo r most of t he race but two laps fro m the finish he was passed by Adolf Weil. Many of th e riders had problems while lapping Cze ch locals. None o f th e Cze ch boys would move over , and many wer e blo cking. Ad ol f didn' t see m to have any problem, th ough. He 's a lit tle to ugher than most. Brad crashed on the first lap , bending th e fron t end of h is bike, so he had to pull in for repairs. He hurt his ankle a little, but felt th at it wasn 't too bad, so was looking forward to the next mota. Tony DiStefano rode co nsist en tly to a twelfth place fin ish in his first Grand Prix attempt. A lot of people are looking forward to seeing more Americans over on the Grand Pri x circuit, hopefu lly placing well. After the first moto wa s over, there was a little scuffle a t the finish line. Wolsink had had it with the Czech riders and co uldn 't co n tr o l his temper any longer. The promoter had a t as k trying to so lve the problem because o f the co m m un ica ti o n gap, but aft er ' a few harsh words and some flying fists, Ad o lf was sm o oth as eve r but jumped the gate to outpoint Roger by fi ve GP points. Arne Kring to ok th e num ber one positi on . It seemed to su rprise him as much as everyone else. Rog e r and Heikki were back in third an d fourth position. Brad started in t he middle of the pack. It seem ed as thoug h the rain was j us t waiting for the start be fore it poured down. No w this was bou nd to make the race ve ry in teresting an d, nee d less to say , muddy an d slippery. After a fe w laps, Heik ki too k over the lead with Roger in seco n d an d Krin g dropping back t o fo urth . But as the tr ack got slippery , Roger seemed to go faster. Heikki cras hed threefirnes going down one hill, so he retired. Roger seemed to be the master o f th e mud. He was the only rider who st ill ro de with a little form while everyone else was sliding around c rashing. jaak Van Veith oven (Yam ) cras hed after a few laps of th e ra ce an d cracked his nose, which later requi red st itches. Brad had wo rked his way up to sixth position when he also st arted cra sh in g, los ing a few positions each time. Arne Kring, by now was ba ck in 11th posi tio n. Everyone was j us t try ing t o sta y up righ t and see the co urse. By th e time the checkere d flag cam e o ut, Roger had a fa irly subs ta ntial lead , wi th Ad o lf Weil finishing second . Willi Baue r finishe d third with Ge rrit Wol sin k. fourth. Brad fi nished eigh th after crashing th ree times an d Tony DiStefano finished 15 t h. By n ow. everyone was so wet and mu d d y that we weren ' t in an y rush to get back to th e pi ts. Everyone stayed in , victory circle with Roger. co n te n t in winning his first Grand Prix of the year. Then Bra d remem be red the re we re hot showe rs back in th e pits and rushed ba ck t o ge t th e m ud off. • Results MOTO 1 : 1. H . M ikko la ( H us) . 2 . R. DeCo st er (SU Z) . 3 . A . Wet! (M al ) . 4 . G . Wol si n k (Ma l ). 5. A . J o nsson (Ya m ). 6 . W . Baue r ( Ma i ) . 7 . O . T o ma n ( CZ) . 8 . B . Aberg ( B ul) . 9 . Z . St r nad (C Z ). 10 . J . V an Velt hoven ( Y am) . 1 1. C. H am m ar gre n ( K awi . 12. T. DiSt e f a n o ( C Z). M OT O 2: 1 . R. De Coster (SU Z). 2. A . W e il ( M a i ) . 3 . W . Bauer (Ma i ) . 4 . A . Jo nss o n (Ya m) . 5 . G. W o lsl n k (Suz). 6 . A. Bo t chk ov (C Z ) . 7. J. oncrvas rczi, 8 . B . La ckey (H u s) . 9. Z . St r n ad (C Z) . 10 . C . Hammergren (K aw) . 15. T . DiSte fan o ( C Z ) . O V E R A L L : 1. Roger DeCoste r (C Z) Belg . 2. Ad ol f W ei l (Mai) W. Ger. 3. W illi Bauer (Mal) w. Ger. 4. Ake Jonsson (Yam) S w e d . 5 . Ge rrU W o lsin k (Suz) Neth. 6 . Z de ne k Str na d (CZ) CSSR. 7. J iri Ondr ya s (CZ) CSS R . 8 . C ,:,rtst er Hamma gren (Ka w) s w ee . 9 . T ony gs~t~ ~a no (CZ ) USA. 10. I van S te p an ( C Z). WORL D C H AM P I O N S H I P PO IN T S A fte r 500 GP : 1. Heikki M ik ko la 129 . 2. R o ge r DeCoster 83 . 3 . Adolf W eil 77 . 4 . Willi Bauer 56. 5 . G err lt W olsi nk 52. 6. A ke Jo nsson 47 . 7. Ja ak V an vet tnovee 36. B. Arne Kri n g 3 5 . 9 . Bengt Abert 33. 10 . O t akar Toman 28 . 11. Brad Lackey 2 4. czecncsrcva x Wolsink denied win as Adolf jumps the gate to outpoint Roger By Lori Hagman BEUERN, GER.,\IANY ,j UNE 16 After living in Munich all week th rough wh at seemed like the same rains follow ing from Czechoslovakia, th e su nshine and hot weather W d S really a welcome in Beuern Frid ay. It almos t seemed like hom e becau se th ere wer e so man y Ame ricans in the militar y stationed' close by the track. and al l seem ed t o be at the race to see the American ride rs. They were a litt le shocked when th ey fo u nd out th at Brad was th e on ly A m erican riding 500 Grand Prix co m pe tition. T hey were asking whe re Wein ert, Hartwig and S taten were. We told them maybe next yea r they 'll be over, but fo r n ow, Bra d w ould have to keep th em ha ppy . They all gave him a lo t o f su p port, whi ch we reall y weren't used to since it's very rare to see even one American at a G ran d Prix. let alo ne a wh o le a rm y ! The track was located righ t in the middle o f th e to wn of Beu ern, It seemed to be th e town's m ain at trac ti o n. There was gre en grass everyw here a nd shade trees for hiding from the heat. T he co u rse re sembled a bobsled cou rse with a lo t o f banked co rn ers. The on ly pro blem th at some o f the riders had was an o ff-c am ber hill right afte r th e sta rt , a t the en d of th e s tr aigh ta way. Other than th at. the co urse was fast. Most riders th ou ght it was not too hard. But if it rained , tha t would c ha nge.

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