Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125870
Ridingm Petrozavodka reveals " Th e Leningrad Method " of Faaasst M X By Mi cheal Krikorian On ly last week I had the rare an d line ' o pportun ity to att end a moto cross sc hoo l ba ck in t he USS R. It was ce rta in ly the most exciting, ex hilara t ing and fr ighten ing tim e I' ve ever had in schoo L When I got in to th e airpo rt a t Mos c ow there was a lo ng d el ay . T he n a stewa rdess w ith a "Do wn wi th Bimb o butt on co mes in and says the re will be a tw o d ay delay c a used by a d e fec t ive w in ds h iel d wi per. Now I have he ard o f dela y s a t a irp o r ts but tw o d a ys is a bou t as unh eard of as a goo d mot o cro ss track a t Ascot. Especia lly to fix a windshield w iper, a j ob I think sho u ld n o t take more than a day even if it is on an I1vushin 14 4 . . Well, b ei ng a jun ior h igh sch o ol gr aduate , I cle ve rl y deduced th er e m u st be some other reason fo r such a delay . So I corne r the stewa rdess. wh o is not a bad-looking Na tas ha, an d af t er some questions a nd a few threats, I w as t old the real re ason fo r the del ay. It seems th at a ll th e pilots for th e Russian a irline , Ae roflot, ar e also moto cro ss e nth usiast s and thi s weekend there w as a tw o d ay moto cro ss sch o ol near Leningrad . Seeing how rare ~IX sch ools are in Ru ssia, n one o f the pilots cou ld af ford to mi ss it. Well, th is exci tes me no littl e because, not co unting bein g in Ch icago, th ere is no th ing I w ould prefer to mot o cro ss in Russia. I go t th e d ire ctions to th e Len in gr ad tr a ck a n d am o n m y w ay . In ap prox imate ly 4 .24 se conds . It is over 400 mil e s from Moscow to Leningrad but ' I managed to sec ure the use o f a st reet legal Maico 50 I a nd arri ved a t th e track in two hours 25 minutes. I tell th e gal e attendant that I a m short o n rubles but that I am an American an d, if he lets m e in free, I will send him four gallons o f ho t w at er and th ree Whop perburRers with e x tra fr ench fries when I get back to California. li e lets me in . li e even lets me usc h is bike : a stock 12 5 CZ , for th e sc hool. I ha ve no o ther bike t o use so I accept. There arc abo u t 15 other rid ers (mo s tly Aeroll o t pilots) a t the school. The teacher is a gu y n amed Ara Petroz avo dka, wh o was a t op national rider in the late 1960's. In fa ct , he o nce passed Paul Friedri chs l :l times in the first moto of th e 19 6 8 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix . Un fo r tu na te ly , h e crash e d 14 times. Professor Petrozavodka began the schoo l with a short statement disclai ming any responsibil ity for the injuries that will occur during the d ay . Then he says to watch him do a lap on the track. The track is fairly fast with three major hills including one huge downhill w ith an 89 degree dropoff. Well, Ara went aro und th e tra c k pretty fast and pret ty wil d . I mean he was wild. II was one full lap of tank-slappers, lie to o k the downhill flat out in fourt h, llew all t he way to t he bottom, la nde d on his front wheel, fle w over the bars, gOI up and con tinued on with the tank slappers as if nothi ng had ha ppened. I mea n he m ad e J arosla v Falta lo ok like Adolf Weil . He m ade Billy G rossi loo k like a ca utious Pow d er Puff O ld Ti mer o n a Honda SL 12 5. Professo r Ara m o t ors b a ck and an nounces "As you can sec th e ins an e sty le is th e o n ly way. I am sick o f th e Americans a nd Ake Jonsso n say ing smoot h ness is th e ke y to success. li as Ak e J onsson o r any A merica n ev er be en World Cha m p?" A k e being one of m y favo rite GP ride rs, I h ad to defend h im . " Al thou gh Ak e has never w on the title," I spo ke up, " yo u m u st ad m it th a t he is o ne of t he great es t ride rs of all t im e," Petro za vod ka nodded reluc tan tl y and replied , " This is tr ue but A k e is . , . unu su al. 1\Iost o f the great H motocross riders arc craz y. es pe cially now. Look at the 250 World Championship. G unnady ~Ioisseiev is leading (Whe n he sa id Gunnady's name eve ryo ne stood up because " G u n ny " is a big he ro in the U.S.S.R. "Th e Mojse" is another of my favorites SO I stood up. too.). "Jaroslav Falla is seco nd a nd Torlief Han se n has w o n two Grand Prix :' he co ntinued. "These riders arc a ll crazy a nd great. In the 500 cl ass, Heikki Mikkola. w ho is no t exact ly smooth has a h uge lea d . Whal 1 am say ing is the o n ly way 10 be a su c cessful rider is ride crazy . "Th e secre t is in the lines. You mu s t take the abso lute w o rst lin es and try to mak e up for using these ro tten lines w ith ext ra throt t le. It is rea lly sim p le. This is w h y y ou se e the great R us si an riders landing fro m ju mps o n th eir fro n t w heel. T hey cannot w ait t o steer th eir front wheel on to a bad line. " Afte r this ins p iri ng speech h e made us ta ke some pract ic e laps so he co uld o bserve o u r sty les . T he othe r rid ers w ere pr ogressing we ll since th e y were all berserk ers. I, however, was conside red a regu lar Smo oth Willi, although I was try in g very h ar d to b e ins an e. J felt kind of b ad that I was the least crazy, Pr of essor Petroz avodk a looked con fi de n t , though, and took me off to one side . He told me to take off my he lmet an d my "Wh at · are ·you-doing-on· July·14th?" racing shirt. Then he made some adjustments to his bike, a red tank 250 CZ, a nd said to take a few lap s. Well , I usually do not ride without a hel met or shirt but he ins isted so J got o n the CZ and took off. At the en d of the start straigh taway rapp ed out in to p revs in fift h gear, I discovered exa ctly what adjus t ments Petro zavo dka had m ade on the b ike. He had arranged the th ro ttle so it w ould st ick o pen in fi f th Rear. Well, I was no t exactly overjoyed abo u t th is sit ua tio n , especially when I co nsi de re d that the re was a se cond gear l e f't-hande r appro ac hing me in an ex trrne hurry . I tried t he b ra k es t o di sco ver that these had also bee n a dj us ted so th ey do not wo r k. Fifth gear crashes ar e n ot much fun under any ci rcumstances bu t without a hel met o r a shir t t hey are decide d ly unap pealing. Therefore, I reso lved to attem pt n ot having such an experience. I lean t h e CZ over an d 1(0 through that turn quic ker then Joh n DeSoto use s up rear wheels, So mehow I don't kno w how - but so me how, I co mpleted th at lap plus th ree m ore until the CZ ran o ut of pre- m ix. I coasted in to the pits an d everybody is givi ng me a standing ovation. Well, I felt very proud at that mo m en t and I must a d mit that I ne ver had a more " interesting" ti me ridin g a mo t ocross bi ke. This goes o n fo r tw o d ay s. Al though I crash 49 t im es, I rid e better th an I ever ha ve . I am d isa ppoin ted when the school e nds b ut am now eager to ge t ba c k to Cal ifo rnia and d o it to the locals with my ne w st yl e. Nex t Sunda y at the Indian D unes Sh ad ow Gl en track, mo un ted on my 125 Ho nda, I take a huge lead in my class riding truly crazy in the best Ru ssian style . After five laps I h ave a two lap lead . Unfo rt unate ly, o n th e six th lap I cras h in a very big way and brea k every b o n e in my b ody exce p t for three . This crash induces im mense quan t it ies of p a in an d , riding to the em e rgency ro om, I am planning to forget th e style of Moisseiev and try riding like A ke a nd A do lf next Sunday. If I a m still aliv e. • 27