Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

International dateline Jim trailed Bauer in the second mota. It turned out his win was safe. Jim Pomeroy wins Belgian 250 G P By John Huetter R ETINNE, BELG IUM , APR. 2 7 With a first moto performance that even three time World ChampIon Roger DeCoster called "formidable ," Jim Pomeroy clinched the overall victory in the 250 Grand Prix . He won 46 minute mota and fourt h in the second. It Belgian the first finished was the same pattern he'd followed in wi nning his first GP in Spain sligh tly more than two years ago. That the win cam e in m o t o cr oss-er azy Belgium was do ubly spectacular. Even though Pomeroy again set fast qu al ify in g tim e during official p rac t ice Sunday morning, it lo o ked like he 'd be presse d to m a ke t he top 10, let alone win a GP . The first start was re d-fl agged as th e Belgian co u rse offici als d e te rm ine d tha t some riders had ju m pe d th e flim sy , slightly ille gal st art ga te. Harry Even s go t th e lead in th at start wi th Jim fourth. Th e second sta rt was eq ual ly " false, " with th e gate- ju mping fo llo wed by a five-man crash in the firs t tu rn. J im was about 18 th in th e tum ; l Zth at the en d o f one lap. He was m oving well, hut. . . . Pom er oy wasn ' t be in g pi cked by anyone to win th is one. Eve n me chanic Arnie Beamon said, " I knew we'd win. I di dn't thin k we'd win this soon." After Joel Ro bert 's st unnin g se co nd t o Falta's first in Aus tria, th e Belgian m ult i-ch am p was getting rave revie ws. Everts , the hot 250cc Belgian , was also t a b b e d . But wh en it came d own to serious racing, it was all Jim Po meroy and th e German s: Weil , Maisch and Bau e r. Jim wen t to th e gate firs t both times on th e lo n g, sin uous co urse laid out in the Bel gian h ills. But Thorlief Han sen (Kaw) go t the hol eshot o n t he start that co un ted and led un til he bobbled , go ing Adolph p ushes, Bimbo boogies by , and sudden ly J im 's win is a possibility . over a berm and dropping ba ck to six t h. Ad olf had the lead, a fairly com fo rt a ble o ne, followed by Falta and Bauer both on potent m achines . Pomeroy m oved up t o seventh in only three laps from hi s ab ysm al stan. People, other than hi s own pits, were be gin ning to notice. A half lap lat er , J im was in fifth, ri ght be hind Harry Everts who had be en holding down the fourth position sin ce lap two. With 15 m inu tes gon e, J aroslav Falta 's CZ (which is closer to stock than you believe at first glance) h ad a failure in its Czech -built ele ctronic ignition. It would fire, b ut only o ccasionally. Vic Allan pulled off from a good position, his Bul without a ch ain. Zdenek Velky inh erited Falta 's secon d place. T wen ty minutes plus two la ps cam e out on the pit board when Jim passed Harry Everts to m ove into third. Everybody in the fro n t five was movin g incre di bly fast. Mar cel Wiertz we nt o ut, messed with h is Bul a mi nute, then returned to racin g almost a lap down. An atoly Ouchinnikov (KTM) an d Pave l Rul ev (CZ) we re out of the mota. Thorlief Hansen (Kaw) pitted for some fr o nt end atten tion without losing his sixth p lace . Shortly after that, however, J o el Raben cam e broadsliding ar o und the last t um to p ass both Thorlief and Hakan Andersson. With 10 min utes to go , Pomeroy got a wheel inside Willi Bauer (Suz) . The next lap, J im passed Willi and, witho ut hesit ation, 'con tin ued after Velky (CZ). Less than a lap later, the incredible Am eri can passed Velky. With compl ete confidence, J im then started after Adolf Wei] (Mai), who had the lead. 11,e cro wd wa s stunned. Jim's pits were a m ass o f grins that co ul d no lo nger be co n tai ned. Three laps remained in th e first m o t a as Jim hel d it o n goi ng d own on e of the lo ngest , hairi est d o wn hills on the c ou rse and passed Adolf Weil . J im Pomeroy Gran d Pri x ! He was leading a im m e dia t ely pulled o u t a two second lea d on Weil. With one lap left , Adolf closed a lit tle b ut both Arnie Beamon and "Rubio" indicated to Jim " Good pace." Bauer tri ed to pass Vel ky t o take thi rd. He ca ught him on th e long straight at th e top of th e hill , lost 'h im in t he co mer a t the bo ttom . Pomeroy mai n tained th e p ace in first. The Belgian in th e necktie and F.M. B. blazer grabbed th e checkere d flag barely in time fo r J im t o com e rolling across t he finish, still with two seconds on Adol f. Th ere was very lit tl e to be sai d. Pomeroy had 15 big pain ts and a shot at an ove ral l GP win . Hakan An dersson had been comp lai ning for a co up le of GPs abo ut - th e actu al p erformance of his Yam ah a 's ex o tic -loo king forks. He swi tc hed t o Marz o cch i ZTI m agn esium slider units in be t ween m o t os in Belgium . Th en, Ha kan go t th e ho lesh ot and led th e m ota from gate t o flag. He was closel y followe d at the start by J arosl av Falta (CZ) , Harry Evens (Puc ), and Ado lf Weil. Vic Allan (Bul) After a m id -race fork change, Hakan cleaned up. ' Maisch says, " Mu sh , you Maico '" and Uno Palm (Hus) also got ex ceptionally good starts. Pomeroy o nce again was st uck ba ck about 12th behind half a dozen Czech - and Russian-ridden CZs. J im starte d to move im mediately, b ut so did Hans Mais ch (Mai) . Hans im mediately jetted into th ird, be hind Hakan and Jaroslav. Jim's bad start had ju st about killed his ch an ces for an ov eral l win - or so co n ve n t ional GP wisdom would have it . Falta we nt out with Th en , mechanicals, again . Pomeroy was up to eighth ; especially m a kin g up distance on the downhills and pi cking fast lin es on th e uphills of the serpentine circuit. Eve rts had a little get-off. Bauer passed Uno Palm to inhe rit fourth, but Pomeroy was now up to fi fth . Vic Allan crash ed an d wen t out as Palm was p ressuring Jim. J im starte d cl osing o n Willi Bauer whe n Adol f's Maico threw a chain at t he bo ttom of a near vertical ju mp . Ad ol f h ad the c hai n ba c k on so quickly , it looked lik e he merely stalle d th e Maico in th e d eep ru t a t th e bottom . Bu t Bau er and Pomero y we n t by him as he stood th ere , kicking. Weil was bac k to fifth, follo wed by Pal m , Ry baltch enko, an d Ra be n. If y o u 've been kee pi ng score fr om th e firs t m ota, you 11 re alize what o the rs n ow di d: Po meroy had a very real chance to win th e Bel gian 250 G P. Th e Bul kep t hummin g stro ng . J im m ad e so me good moves on Baue r , but co uld n 't sus tai n t he m long e n ough t o get aro un d . The Bul was bo uncing aro un d a little more and it lo oked lik e either Pomeroy or t he Bilstei n gas dampers we re ti rin g a little. Fo u rth, as it turned ou t, was go o d en o ugh in th e second m o t a. Jim had won th e Belgian 25 0 Grand Prix. Ha kan Andersson won th e mota fairly eas ily aft er Ad o lf went o ut, even with Hans Mais ch flyin g afte r him to th e fini sh . He was definitely pleas ed with his switch in for ks. Bu t it was Pomeroy's day and he whooped with joy as the re d-clad Champion sparkp lu g girls squeezed around him for picture-taking. 500cc Belgium National Q uite by co in cidence , the support race in this G P was a Belgian 500cc National Championship m o to c ro ss. Sin ce there was no 500 Grand Pri x this weekend, you11 never guess who won it . Give up ? Yeah , Roger De Cos ter. The Man took both 45-rnin ute m o t o s fairly handily . He di d get a lit tl e awkward in the final round wh en h is 5.00x 18 Dunlo p K 88 knobby went flat with 30 m inu tes left in the mo ta, b ut kept the lead ahead of Van Velthoven, et al. J ust thought you'd like t o know what Ro ger does on his weekends "off." He wi ns _ Natio nals. Results 6 BE LGIU M 25 0 G P O V E RALL : 1. J i m Pom eroy ( B u l) . 2 . Ad o l f We i! (Ma l) . 3 . W il li Bauer (S uz ). 4 . Hakan A nder sson ( Yam) . S. Joel Ro bert (S uz). 6 . Ha rry Eve r t s ( Pu c ) 7 . Evge ny R y bal t c h e n k o (CZ) . 8. Oldrich H am ersm i d (CZ). 9 . U n o Palm (Hu s} , 10. Da n iel Pean (Ma i).

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