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/125873
.... ; World Championship Motocross: IlQ ; DeCoster closes on championship ~ as ikko a twists ankle r-, Cl By Martin Christie o N MARKELO. HOLLAND , JULY 28 The deeply rutted black sand of Holland has turned this year's 500cc World Motocross - Championships into a real cliff hanger for th e 'two final ro unds. With CP s to come in Belgium and Lux em bourg in the next two weeks, Heikki Mikk ola has to sco re maxi mu m po ints in o ne m ore race to assure th e titl e. . Mik ko la wo n the firs t mota in Holl an d , but twisted his foot unde r t he 'peg wh ile co ntesting the lead w ith even t ual winner DeCoster in the sec o nd race. and retired. Under the system of co un t ing the net to tal of half-plus-one of a r ider's best performances. Mik ko la. with eig ht wins to DeCoster's five. can clinch the ti tie at the next round . But with that round being a t the Citadel at Narnur, the tension is going to be on. Brad .con tinued his assault on the top Eur ope with another excellent ten ride despi te appearing to .•have trouble with a foot he injured whue ba ck n the States , and definitely in trouble wi th .. ::1 cracks in frame and m ot or. Markelo is 2.2 kms lon g, set in t hick dar k sand. with a lot of heavy wo odland, two speedway-style co rners an d o ne very high jump. D u ri ng S a tu r d a y' s p r a c ti c e , Ham margren came a good one pu lling handstands over the j ump and managed to detune himself for th e rest of the wee kend , Timed train ing on Sunday mo rning saw Mikkola quickest with DeCoster second and Brad third. First moto A large crowd. pac ked dozens deep on the finish straight was rooting for home hero. Amsterdam dentist Gerrit Wolsink (Suz) , who kn ow s the track like his ba ck yard. So it was no surprise when he shot into the lead from the s tart , chased by :'likkola (Hus ). wen (.1\ la i). Brad (Hus) a nd van Velth oven (Yam). But after eight laps the flying Finn even tually overhauled him, and though he pulled o ut a com for ta ble lead . Wolsink kept p ace. and th e pair drew out a good 25 seconds on the rest of the field. Third man. DeCoster (Suz) . making up an ind ifferent start, just co uld not get them in sight at all and had to stay where he was . Big J aa k van Velthoven pushed past Weil to follo w him home. but was never really happy in the sand, and when J aa k 's uncom fortable, he lets everybody know. Brad p ulled in af te r 11 laps with wha t he suspec led was suspension troub le. A closer inspection revealed a cracked frame un der th e seat , alo ng with sp lits in. his cran kcases for good measure . Bengt Aberg retired , unable to hol d o nto the ba rs af ter eigh t lap s wit h bru ised and b liste red knu ckl es f ur th er battered by flyi ng stones . Willi Bauer (:'Iai) managed II laps befor e crashing and bending his new long reach fro nt forks . Ake Jonsso n (Ya m) and Arne Kring (Hus) came on q uicker in the later st ages, fin ishing sixt h and seve nth, but thei r turn of speed came too late to get in with the leaders . In the second race , they were a bit faster off the mark. Second moto DeCoster took the lead con fiden t ly at the start of this race, pu rs ued by :'Ii kk ola. Weil and Kring. The real bat tle sha pi ng up was between the tw o leaders. For four laps they tussled ne ck and nec k, but then ':' li kko la came through a rutted co m er and caught his foot badly Come along on Cycle News' under the p eg. He d ropped o ut imm edi atel y to have it loo ked a t. With out him . th ere was no o ne to ma tc h DeCoster wh o p ut on an impressive sho w of speed. Wolsink foll owed him fo r a while, but soon gave up any hope of catc hing his teammate. In stead , he co n ten ted himself with p ulling · off wheelies for a deligh ted crowd. Kring and J o nsson came in ne xt. with excep tionally good rides. But somehow Jonsson has never quite struck the form this year whic h helped him win the same even t in 1973. Still, the pair were the last two men not lapped by winner DeCoster at t he flag. . Brad was in fift h place. but it was no disgrace considering his ride nearly started with disaster. As he came to the line. he made to kick the Husky over and it backfired. with the kickstart lever whipping back and smashing the top t Camerino, Italy September 9-14 Inclusive, 1974 u.s. cities Talladega, Alabama September 1st, 1974 • \0'1,0 (l~ (l~\C[)1Ontario Road Race Ontario, California October 6th, 1974 Interested? ~ Send coupon for complete informati~ d e pos it mon i es, bei ng ac cepte d by Cycle News . send to : - CYCLE NEWS, INC. ONTAR IO ROAD RACE I [ I TALLADEGA ROAD RACE [ ] ISDT TOUR [ Please send all informat ion to: Name _ Address City _ State ,,-=-_ _ Z ip _~ _.- - - - - - P.O. Box 498, Long Beach CA 90801 I Travel Dept . 28 Please rush me further info rmati on on the flights I have checked below : ~ (l~1-~~ \0'1,0 - -- - - - - - - - understand that all part icipa nts mu st co m plete a nd sig n th e P a ss en ge r Pro t ec t ion Co ntract . pr io r t o any fl ight reservations. or -s» o (lS Talladega Road Race See the biggi es and save lot s of money on . ou r new Tour Packages aboard regularly scheduled air transportation to a number of major motorcycle events throughout the U.S. A special package program is included for the upcoming INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS TRIAL. We are offering th is as an additiona l readers service. Fl), with us! Heikki Mikkola isthe new 500 World Champion. He won the Luxembourg GP and the title when Roger DeCoster dropped out of the first moto with engine problems. Details nextweek. Int ernat ional Six Days Trial - It aly otorcycle Racing Tours From most major Presstime flash! Telep ho ne (------J __ _