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/125985
New bikes and 'old' pros -~ Harry Everts : victo rious on Puch . Joel Robert: th e giant at rest . , Spanish 250 GP Jaroslav Falta looks pleased with his new two t oned CZ. Sylvain Geboers slithers up a slick Spanish hillside t o a first moto fo urth. By John Huetter SABADELL-TARASA, SP AI N , AP R. 6 Harry Everts (Puc) lived up to all the pre-season predictions about him while Willi Bauer (Suz) surprised a lot of people on a newlydesigned RH Su zuki he'd seen onl y a week before this GP season o p e n e r . The Belgian and th e German tied for first overall on the soaked , muddy h ills outside Barcelona with the win decision goi ng to Everts based o n fastes t total ti me for both motos. Third was Andersson, Weil, or Falt a, depending on who you t al ked to . The first two had equal GP points. Neither of the t wo top points winners won a mota t oday . Ha kan Andersson overcame Zdenek Velky 's (CZ) b erserko r ho lesho t in t h e fi st leg to lead t he rest o f that mo t a at a blistering p ace on a Yamah a with a n ew monoshoc k fra me and engi ne design . Everts ca me fr om ab out fifth on t he first lap to pressure Andersson in th e closing mi n utes o f th e mot a bu t co u ldn't get by . Hakan looked very, very good and was quite quic k on the gloppy, slippery track. He could well re peat as Wo rld Champion. Ironically, after setting fast qualifying time by over a second, sale American rider in the 250 class J im Po meroy (BuI ) failed to score po ints in either mo t a . J im wa s reall y p um pe d after t urni ng faste st time in the mornin g qualif ication for start position (over An dersson, who was secon d by 1.1 seconds). That was reflected in a good position b ehind th e gate and fo u rt h place on the fir st lap. The fr ont f our r i d er s : Velk y, Andersso n, Thorlief Hansen (Kaw ), and Pomeroy were all jus t a bike's length apart. Syl vain Geboers, Jaroslav Falta and Willi Bau er made up the nex t group of fast -movers. Han sen and Pomeroy were so cl ose th at they hit on the second lap . Jim went down. Thorlief recovered only to retire a few laps later due to the effects o f the c ra s h. Pome r oy ben t his handlebars in t he crash b ut re mo unted, only to fall agai n about halfwa y ar o und th e long uph ill-downhill circuit. J im co rrectly concluded he co uld not race co m pe ti t ively wi th bent han dl ebar s and p a ck ed it in fo r th e mo ta after c o ns u l ti ng m e c h an i cs A r nie and "Rubio. n Andersson le d fo r t he re mainder of the mota as Everts came out of the pack to pressure him into a blist erin g pace. As the two front-runners clear ed off from everybody to indulge in their own race , they had even veteran GP-watchers agog with t hei r sp eed and skill . Willi Ba u er kept coming to fm ish third almos t a minute beh ind them. Notable rides we re turned in by Sylvain Geboers, now o n Hu sqvarna, w ho ra n third most of the mota to fmi sh fo urth cl ose behind Baue r an d by Su zu ki ve t eran J oel Robert , wh o is not as far o ut of it as some doomsay ers have b elieved. He ended u p eigh th and im prove d that position by o ne pl ace in th e s e c ond mota. He st ill makes mo t ocross look effort less. Adolf Weil made on ly two lap s before ret ir ing in the first leg but made up for it the second time the gate dropped. Mr. Hol eshot (Herr Holeshot?) lived up t o his rep uta t io n and led the second mo t a fro m gate to checkered. He stretch ed out abo ut five seconds advan tage right away and was never really t h reatened fo r 47 minut es. Evert s, Hansen, Pomer oy , Bauer and Hans Maisch we re t he nex t five , all running nose to t ai l. T his round, it was t he first six who us ed a now-tacky track to put d istance on the rest o f the pack. J im Pomero y ran strongly in fifth place fo r ab out 15 min utes. Then, an Italian r ider who he was lap pin g grabbed t he insid e line goi ng into a gnarly uphill left - hander and woul d n 't shut off. P om e ro y 's stro ng, aggressive second m ot a ri de en de d wh en he was force d ove r t he ber m and off t he trac k by the lapped rider. He stalled t he engine in the mu d ' th a t st ill covere d eve rything o utside th e groove. The fast Bul's Bing- ca rb ure ted motor flooded as Pomero y futilely tried to kick it back to life. The o ther world class Bultaco pi lots didn 't far e even that well in the second m ot a . Vic Allan bange d together wi th Hideaki Suzuki (who, like his equally banzai brother Tarao, rides for Yamaha) at the t op of a long drop aw ay and wen t into the fence at the bottom of the hill . Englishman Malcolm Davis we n t at least 10 feet ve rtically in the pain ful p rocess of endo-ing his Bul down a fast stretch of whoop-de- docs in the cra sh of the day. Jim Pome roy was b itt erl y disappointed at h is o wn crashes which he felt were th e result of his mist akes. Bu t he was re asonably pleased with his fas test time effo rt and satisfied th at h is curr en t 250 GP bikes are th e best m o t ocrossers t hat Bultaco has ever built . Th ere are still 20 more motos to score poi nts Champions hip. t ow a rd th at Worl d - Results FI RST M OIO : 1. Hakan An d ersso n (Ya m) Swed . 2. H ar r y Ever ts (Puc ) Bel g. 3. Will i Ba u er (S uz) w. Ger. 4 . Sy lva i n c eecers (H us ) B eg l. 5. Jarcst av Falla (CZ ) Czech a (CSS R). 6. Kalev i V e h k o n en (H uS) Fi n . 1. Evgeny Ry baltc hen ko (C Z ) U SS R. 8. J oel Robert (Su z) Belg. 9 . Si egfr id L ern er (r<.TM) Aus. 10. V ic Allan (B u l ) Sc o t . S E C O N D MOTO , 1. Adolf Well (M al) W . Ge r. 2. Willi Bau e r (Suz) W . Ger. 3 . Ha rry E ve r ts (Puc) Belg. 4 . Th orlle f Hansen (Kaw ) Swed . 5 . Hans Ma isch (Mal) W . Ger. 6. U n o Palm (H u s) Sw ed . 1 . J oe l Robert (Suz) 8elg. 8. Ja ro slav Falta (CZ ) Czech . CCSSR) . 9. Z de nek Vel k y (C Z ) Cze ch . (CSS R). 10. Ka l evi v enk c nen (Hu s) F in. W O R L D C HAM PI O N S HI P STANO INGS/pO I NTS: 1 . Harr y Everts-22 . 2. Willi Bauer- 22. 3 . Haka n Andersson- 1S . 4 . Ad ol f We il - 1 S. 5 . Jarc srav F alta-9. 6 . Sy lva in Geboers- 8 . 7. T n o rtiet H a nsen-e-B, 8 . Jo e l Rober-7 . 9. Ka l ev i V eh konen -5 . 10. H a ns M ai sch-6 . I ~ I \. 35