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a matt er of co nvenience.] The lack of a flagm an as per F.I.M. rul es was pro bably an ho n est oversight by the promo ter but, then again, maybe it wasn't. At any rate, the jury's decisio n based on t he missing flagman was directly the opposite of what an F.I.M . jury had decided in Germany inJuly. Based on limited experience. serving on two F.I.1\:!. juries in Europe, I had co me to t he unha ppy conclusio n that the machinations of F.I.M . motocross juries ma ke American mo to-polit ics look puny if for no other reason than that there is so much at stake: the World Cham pio nship. Too often, the juries' deliberations an d decisions have almost nothing to do with the efforts of, the riders and the fact that a Grand Prix is bei ng hel d. Too of'te n, features such as rider safety, acc urate ti ming. and the like are deferred to the expressed or im plied wishes of the race o rga nizer based largely on F.I.M . seniority. or whatever he can get away with. There is a lo t of talk about "My ho nored colleague ... " (That one th rew me the first ti me it was addressed my way.) but very little about wh at is going o n ou t on th e co urse. There is some st udied fu m bling in F.I. M. ru leboo ks by the secretary of th e organization but. as so bl at an t ly obvious in this case, selective application or n on -ap pl ica tio n o f these rules. J uries seem to be composed mainly of old men or bureaucrats afraid for the ir posit ions who, through action or i indi ffer en ce, manag e to crea te th e mo st ' difficulties o r inco nveniences for th e yo ung ride rs in the Gr an ds Prix. Generally, this is pretty small-ti me stuff like "It is too much trouble to put more haybales in front of the trees on the downhill," or "It is impossible to allow another practice session for rider familiarization with the changed track conditions since it has rained all night.~ So so mebody gets blinded in the dust and smac ks the tree. Or riders go slithering out in the mud with all their practiced lines destroyed and crash a lot. Or a deserving young rider is robbed of a World Championship because his side can't muster a majority of the votes in the jury room. regardless of his championship performances on the track. The fact that a Russian beat out a Czech for .th e 250cc motocross World , Cham pion sh ip through some dirty play may not mean m uch to you - it's of little importance in your lives as Americans or motorcyclists. But the U.S.A. doesn't have much influence with the F.I.M ., either, and very few Americans have any experience as international jury rep s in Europe . What if it were an American who was running neck a n d neck for the World Championshi p? That will be happen ing in just a very few seasons. Wha t if, for example , J im Pomeroy had bee n crashe d twice and the n vot ed o ut of a 250cc Grand Prix win in the j ury meeting? J oh n "Light Brown" Lancione was on the 1972 Motocross des Nations jury and knows it could happen as well as 1 do. The Czech federation should protest the results of the Swiss 250 Grand Prix and the World Championship at the F.I.M . Competition Congress which meets in October. They may be too in timidated or feel, correctly or incorrectly, that there will not be enough support to overthrow the. deci sion of the jury in Switzerl and and go agai ns t the Ru ssian s. Falla deserv es to he World Champion based on m o to performances and F. I.M. rules. When the international motocross cli mate has shifted to th e point that political considerations have come to outweigh sporting resul ts (The politics have at least been second most yearr.), then it is past time for that climate to change. • C'I2 !:a ~ I:lQ • I:lQ ... g ~ CE» "d'" ..... O'l ...... . 37