Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Practice on Saturday didn't seem to go well. Heikki Mikkola crashe d after going au t for a few laps. knocking the wind out of him and injuring h is back. He was determined to go back out but when he did, he set fast time for the day . He later felt th at he should go have the back problem ch ec ked out to see if anything was serious. Do ctors a t the German hospi tal took x-rays but co uld n' t see too much, so they advised him not to race and have it checked again. lie decided to fly home to Finland a nd the hospital there, so Sunday morning he was on his way. It was too bad the injury happened but if it had to, at least he has three weeks to recover before the next 500 Grand Prix in England. His points lead is still substantial. Roger DeCoster crashed in the same spot as Heikki, but he only suffered a few scratches on his elbows. Brad's time on Saturday was the same as Heikki's, but everyone agreed that Bengt AbeTK seemed to be the one really gassing it. His times that day 'weren ' t as fast as Brad's but Sunday he was fas test- when the official list was passed out. Bengt was first; Bauer, second, and Brad, third fastest. Most people expected Weil to be fastest in practice, but he was fourth. Mota 1 . Well, Ado lf wasn't going to let his countrymen down, so he lived up to his reputation as the Holeshot King and took the start. Roger was right behind with Gerr it Wolsink third. Brad started in 10th place. John Banks (CCM) got a good start, seventh pl ace, but had to retire after a few laps with a flat rear tire. Christer Hammargren (Kaw) was stung by a bee on Saturday and his arm was swollen up almost the size of his leg so he pulled in after a few laps of the first mota. J aak - Van Ve lthoven surprised everyone, even his family and mechanics , by sending a telegram from Belgium saying t hat he would not be riding. No explanation was given, but ru mor was that .he ma y have broken his hand. That was only a rumor, though! Weil led the whole mota but the mai n action was back in th ird and fourt h place. Willi Bauer (Mai) seemed to have gotten a charge and was racing wi th Gerri t Wo lsink (S uz) . Just as Bauer pas sed Wolsin k, Roger crashed into a hay b ale so Willi got by both of them in to secon d place. Brad had moved up into seventh pos it io n and Arne Kring was in eighth whe n Brad stalled h is engine, in a corner . and Arne got b y him. Brad had a ha rd time restarti ng hi s bike , losi ng almost 20 seconds. By the tim e the fin ish ca me, Brad was a few inches away from pass ing Arne. Bengt Aberg (Bu l) fought for fo urth position for much of the race with Wolsink, a nd Ake Jonsson (Yam), b ut at the finish l ine, Gerrit was fourth ; Bengt fifth and Ake, sixth. Should-hav e-bee n winner Ge rr it Wolsink lead s win ne r-in- Germa ny Adolf Weil in the seco nd m o t a . . _- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The heat seemed to be getting to everyone after the moto was over. Most of the riders were trying to find shade. The U.S. Army had brought a big water truck for them, so many were there pouring b uckets of water over their heads. But when it was time for the second rn o t o , everyone seemed refreshed and ready to go . Moto2 The start of th is mota was a little d iffer en t. Adolf Weil jumped the gate and took off. T he race should have been black flagged an d re-started, but the Ge rman organizers let it slide. Gerri t Wo lsin k, after one lap, was leading th ough w it h Adolf rig ht behind h im . Roger DeCoster go t ' a very poor start, ba ck in 15th, after thinking the m o ta would be res tar ted . Brad got a good start in fourth with Bauer in third. Most of the mota was a battle between Gerrit and Adolf, but Adolf was never able to get by. Willi Bauer st ayed in third fo r the whole ra ce, but Brad crashed several times and dropped to seventh. By the middle of the race, Roger had worked up to eighth place. By the finish, he was fifth . Bengt Aberg also had a fairly poor start but came up to sixth right behind Roger. English riders John Banks and Vic Eastwood (Mai) scored a few points with eighth and ninth finishes and Werner Schutz, now on a monoshock Yamaha ca m e in 10th. After the ra ce, Roger submitted protest of Wei l's jumping the gate. If they penalized Ado lf, Gerrit Wo lsink would be t he overall winner, but the German federat ion only' gave Weil a ha nd slap and a warn ing n o t to do it again. Well. even Grand Prix aren 't always run th e way they're supposed to be . The international jury claimed, after an hour's debate, that they could not uphold Roger's protest or penalize Adolf for jumping the gate under the rules of the German federation. That German rulebook seems to be written in contradiction to Fll\l regulations. • Resu lts MOTO 1 : 1. Adolf Wei! (Ma i) . 2 . W ill i Bauer (Mal) . 3 . Roger DeCoster (Suz). 4 . Gerrlt Wolsink (Suz). 5. Bengt Aberg (Bu l) . 6 . Ake Jonsson (Yam). 7. Arne Kring (Hus) . 8 . Brad La c key (Hus). 9 . Serge Bacov (Ma i) . 10 . Vi c Eastwood (Mail. MOTO 2 : 1. Gerr i t Wolsink (S uz) . 2 . Adolf Wei! (Mai l. 3 . Willi Bauer (Mai). 4 . Ake Jonsson (Ya m) . 5 . Roger DeCoster (S uz) . 6 . Bengt Aberg (Bul) . 7 . Brad Lackey (Hus). 8 . John Ban k s (CCM) . 9 . Vic Eastwood (Mai) . 10. Werner Schutz (Yam) . WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT S after German 500 Grand Pri x : 1. Heikki M ikkola 129. 2. Adolf Wei! 104. 3 . Roger DeCo ster 99 . 4 . Willi Ba uer 78 . 5 . Gerri t Wolsink 75 . 6. Ake Jonsson 6 0 . 7. Bengt Aberg 44 . 8. Arne Kring 39 . 9 . Jaa k Van Ve ith oven 36. 10. Brad La ckey 3 1. Roger tr ies to make up posit ions after being stuck in 15th at t he st art. His protest-wa s d isallowed by the F IM ju ry . Dutch 250 GP Another Suzuk i sandstorme r! Falta looks the quickest, bu t Moisseiev is touring home for the t it le. , Ji m - he breaks a no ther gearbox. By Martin Christ ie VALKENSWAARD , HOLLAND J UNE 16 = Jim Pomeroy's Grand Prix toll so far includes four broken gearboxes in 1974 - his fourth came at Valkenswaard, when he lost second and fourth gears in the first mota. This is the second time gears have actually broken - the other two have been selectors. Spectating Bultaco Co m pe titio n Director Oriol Bultd was baffled. "We don't know what Jim does," he said. "We have had no trouble with Vic Allan's bike, or with J a Lammers'. And the gearbox is identical to Aberg's ." Well, whatever the cause, Jim is not too happy, and h is relations with the Bultaco factory right now are what you might call .. . strained. They haven ' t been too good all season, really, and the collection of broken gearboxes isn ' t helping any. T he factory sees J im as a little wild and a little irresponsible. Jim thinks the factory doesn't give him all the support it c o uld , be cause they don 't do everything he wants when he wants it , Personally, I would say the calculations being made in Barcelona at the moment are not whether they can afford to lose Jim Pomeroy, but _ whether they can afford to keep him . a f all the hazards faced on the Grand Prix circuits, the deeply rutted black sand of Holland is the most treacherous and the hardest to ride. Jaroslav Falta arrived three days ear ly to try and get used to it. And though he learned the tri cks well enough, the toughest hazard to be at was undoubtedly GP veteran Sylvain Geboers, who is als o the sand track specialist. Hardly surprising on a tr ack just on Sylvain's back doorstep, and the Belgians were out in force. with three-quarters of the 7,000 cro wd made up o f fans from ac ross the border. The tra ck was very narrow, running dangerously tight between trees making passing difficult, and crash ing easy. Gaston Rah ier (S uz) was fastest in timing, followed by Harry Everts (Puc), Kalevi Ve hkonen (H us) and Miroslav Halm (CZ) . But the- pi cture changed dramatically in the actua l race . One o f the bravest appearances was that of reigning 250 World Champion, Swede Hahn Andersson (Ya m) . A six week layof f afte r his crash in Czechoslovakia included two weeks in the hospital. where surgeons cut a two-inch gash in his back to relieve a ruptured vein. Itching to get ba ck in the figh l, Hakan turned up to ride in his first 27

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