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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125991
-' International dateline On the track; a muddy mess. In the pits; a luckless Lackey. Mikkola survives, Lackey victimized By John Huetter C ASAL E MO N FE RRAT O , IT AL Y , MAY I I Heikki Mikkola won. Roger DeCoster was fastest; most skillful. Brad Lackey was not allowed to start. Neither were about 10 other international riders entered in thi s seco nd ro und o f t he 5 00 c c M o t o cr o ss Wo rld Ch ampi onship . It w as, by almos t 14 an y st an dard, e xcept po ssibly Mikko la's. a d eb a cl e c reated o u t o f ch ro nic ine ptitude o ve rlai d with injustice . The a t mosp he re and t h e crue lly m ean ing less ou t co m e o f th e GP we re al so co rr up te d wit h th at p a r t i c ul a rl y It ali an d isorgan izat ional ability th a t featu res m an y p re · an d post -even t cel ebra ti ons ( w i t h wine a n d s peec h e s ) to co m m emo ra te an act ual di sas t er. But that w asn 't La ckey ' s m ai n p rob lem in b e i n g de n i e d va lu abl e Wo r ld Ch ampio nsh ip points ; possib ly a m oto win. T he c ru x of Brad ' s problem was that AMA competit io n d ir ect or Bill Boyce could n't be bothered to come to the ph one o r re turn my call any of the three ti mes I te lep honed West e rville , Ohio to vo lunteer to represen t U.S . rid er s on the i n t e r n a t i o n a1 j uries in Grand Prix m oto cro ss. T h ese j u ries are in cr edibly p o li tic al in th eir m ake-up ; n ot in th e real sense of th e wo rd : representin g th e people, b ut in th eir By zantine p ower m ach in ati on s th at o fte n ign o re wh at 's really go ing o n out o n th e trac k. A rid er wit hout a rep from h is co u n try is o fte n ; in f a ct , u s u a ll y, sc re we d . It h as happ ened to U.S. ride rs b efo re but ne ve r th is b adl y . The . Italian time rs sc rewed up the o ffic ia l qu a lify in g times fo r sta rt p o sm on - as they always do-but then ad de d a new tw ist bv not co rrectlv co un ting actual la ps co m p le ted. The GP's supplementary regs said that three (3 ) qualifying laps were necess ar y . This w as verbally c ha nged to five lap s to s atisfy a vagu ely worded Ft:\ 1 requirement wh ich d ocs not say when the five laps must be co mp le ted . Xot all riders were awa re o f this if th ey co u ld n ' t understand the Italian or were act ually doing laps when the I' A system ga rbled this announce ment. But then the f irst lap wasn't co un ted . or sometimes th e last. or any of th e other laps the score rs missed be cause number p lates we re obscured by clinging, heavy, slo ppy mud w hich was the co u rse . So the start list was m ad e up: the club p resid en t (an ad mitted amateur at all this G P stu ff) accep te d it n o t wis hing to offend the timekeepers and presen ted it to t he i nte rnationa l ju r y w h o a utomatically ap p ro ved it , n ot wis hing t o offend th e La tin sensi tivities of th e cl ub president. Only on e p er son o n the j ury knew any thin g abou t m otoc ro ss and n o o ne n oted p articu larl y th at " LAC KEY , Brad Gene--US A" had b een specifically exclud ed from starting this Grand Pr ix d ue to officially com p leting o nly four qual ifyi n g lap s. (Brad h ad , in fac t, co mp le ted b etween seve n and nin e l a p s i n th e hub -deep m ud .) Also speci fi ca lly e xcl u de d were othe r fi rs t-line rid ers lik e Arne Li nd fors and Pu ch fac tory rid er Herb e rt Sch mitz. O n e of th e t hr e e R u ssi an s, Khudy ak ov , I b el ieve . h ad also b een excl u de d b ut la te r m o st observers agreed th at th ree Ru ssia n s started the fi rst m o t o . Three was, of course. a Russian j ury rep , interp reter . etc. Five or so other ri ders w ere simply ignored. The organizing cl ub p resident refused to accept a fo rmal written p rotest prepared on Brad's be half: a req u isite un d er FIM rules he is ob liged to ack nowledge even if the protest is later d en ied . The p resente r of t he protest was ph ys ic all y remo ved fro m the start grid. So w as Brad when he went to t he start l ine. Wh en told h e could n' t sta r t through much hand -wavin g and ye lling in It alian , th is w as the first ins tance in which he h ad act ua lly be en n otified of any th ing b y anybody in the club o r th e FIM. A dr enching d ownpo ur h ad been falli ng all day. The tra ck w as a sticky , cli ngi ng so up of d eep mud with th in n er riv ers of b rown run -o ff go ing in a ll r utty d irect ions. Brad sa t st ea d ily, refu sin g t o move twisting his th rottle regularly al o ng with the twen ty -odd remainin g rid ers in a parti al re lease o f ad re n alin e 11 0w . The Italians st arted to drag hi m aw ay from the st a rt grid, Brad d idn't bu dge . T h en so m e bo dy s t arted threatenin g in se m i-En glish th at th e "federa tio n " (w h ich federa ti on w as not clear, nor is) wo uld take away h is licen se for a y ear. The risk o f lo sin g a n entire Wo rld Ch amp ion ship season w as too great . Brad sp un the 360 Husk y ar o und and showe re d th em with a roostertail of m ud as h e squi rted b ack to the p it s in a co ld fury . If you thin k you sho uld n' t be rea ding th is; that yo u sh ould instead be reading ab o ut wheel-to-whe e l battles an d 60 MPH be rm shots in G P competition, yo u're wron g. T his kind of h assle is th e stuff World Ch ampionsh ip standi ngs and final res ults are made of. In terna t io nal juries have th e p owe r to d o or undo man y of the critica l aspects of GP co m petition . Remember wh a t h appened to J ar oslav Fa lta in the 250 Mo to cros s Wo rld Ch amp ionship last year. It became cri tically clear tha t 8 0 % o f Brad 's p roblem in It aly was tha t th e AMA is u n abl e , or unwilling, to lo o k o ut for t he inter es t s of AMA-licen sed Am erican rid er s in World C h a mpio nsh ip co m pe tit io n. Nor is Brad Lack ey . o r anybody el se , li ke ly to forget th at fac t wh en the tw o b ig ze ro s are chalked agai nst hi s n ame fo r resul ts in th e third and fourth moto s of th e 5 00cc World Ch ampio n sh ip . The re we re o ther sa d or d isappo intin g n on-ac t io ns in th e dismal se ries o f events th at led to o n ly 2 8 rid ers sta r t ing t his GP . ( Forty i s n ormal .) The H u s q var n a factory re p d id nothing effective to have Lack ey ad mitted to t he G P . T he Gra n d Prix Riders Association to ok n o visible action: unfortunate but possibly explainable in part d ue to individual an d facto ry rivalry. Applying the legal doctrine o f " last clear c h ance " , ll ei kk i Mik kol a ha d a final oppo rtunity to restore some justice to the GP and, in the estimation of other experienced riders, fo rfeited it. lIeikki was first to go to the gate, h as the st atus of a current Wo rld Ch a mpion , and rides fo r the same fac t o ry as Lackey: lIusqvarn a. If he h ad refused the start. o ther riders wou ld also h ave refused it. Iron ically, the often- maligned Joel Ro b ert has m o re than once used th is tactic to rectify an inj ustice to rid ers in his years as World Champion. When t he ma n with the 1'\0. I pl at e parks h is bi ke in front o f the start gate before the firs t m o t o , it has a stunni ng effect on th e organ izers . He ikki sp u n a nd slip pe d up be h ind the ga te wi th fier ce but so mehow sad d e ning eage rness. The o t hers in th e dec im at ed bun ch allo we d to start fo llowed h is examp le. An Ame rica n j ury rep cou ld h ave sq uelche d all this nonsense in the first pl ace by refu sin g to sign o ff o n th e sta rt ti mes and starti ng list whic h are n o t m ad e "official" un t il the j ury ap proves th em. Th e re was n ob od y to d o tha t for Brad Lack ey Th e r e were two m oto s of 40 min u tes pl u s two laps cond ucted th is g ray. m i s e r a bl e mudbat h of an a fternoon in No rt he rn Italy . Brad 's p ro test will probably be further ignored or rejected and this will probab ly be cal led the 19 75 500cc Ital ian Grand Prix. Some of it went like this. Ger ri t Wol sink (S uz) got the h o le sh o t in both st ar ts. Roger DeCoster led most of both motos unt il his bike broke. Christer Ha m m argren won the first leg with a much-powered Kawasaki engi ne of unspecified larger dis pl ace ment--afte r Ro ger's COl box q u it . lIeikki Mikk ola wo n the seco nd m o to - afte r Roger's chain guide/tensio ner came loose an d p a c k e d i n to the sprocket-ran d th e ove ra ll for th e d ay . There were b e tw een six an d eigh t official fini she rs in each mo to . Co nd ition s o n a h ill y circ uit th at ran in small rivers were eve n worse than t he st a ti stic s w ould ind icate. DeC oster is a skilled m ud rid er and built up easy lea d s o f n earl y tw o min u t es o ve r se co nd pl ace in ea ch m o ta . Mik k ol a is a st rong pe rsis te n t ri de r and gaine d ano th er first and a third o u t of this event o n a me ticulously prepared Husky th a t never co ughed once in th e rain an d muck. Cr edit Pella Persson . Ch r is ter Ha m margren's ridi ng was i mpre ssive , st ron g. amd controlled . Th ere we re several othe r go od rid es turned in under the m os t m iserable co nditions th at s till p ermitted rid in g at all. A ke J onsson w as sec o n d at th e en d o f 53 minu te s and th e sec o nd m o t o . J aak Van Vel thoven was co ns iste nt an d Ge rrit Wol sin k, agai n, wen t very we ll thoug h h e crashe d in the second m o to , h alf-blinded wi th m udd y grit under hi s co ntac t le nses. G err i t was lat er h ospital ized to h ave his eyes irrigated an d t reated after remo un ting to fin ish fift h. All ri d ers w ere in p ain with visio n problems. In ge ne ral, it was su rvival o f t he experie nced, w hic h m ean t m ainly Swe des and Bel gian s. D e c o ste r th in ks he has Mi k kola's measure, desp ite two m echan ic al DN Fs today " I will b eat h im in Fin lan d," said Ro ger , grinning t h e next m ornin g fro m be h i nd d ark g lasses that co ve red mud -sw ollen slits of ey es. • Resu lts F irst Moto : 1 . Chrl st er Ha mmargren ( Ka w) ; 2 . G er r lt Wo l sl nk (Su z) ; 3 . He lkk i M ikk ol a ( Hus): 4 . Jaa k V an v ertn cven [ Y am ) ; 5 . A k e Jon sson ( Y am ); 6. Paol o P ro n (C Z) : 7 . Jean -Pa nt M ingel s (Bul) : 8 . Go te Ltueare n ( Hu s) . Sec ond Moto : 1 . H eikkl Mikkola: 2 . Ake Jonsson ; 3 . J aak V a n v ermovem 4 . canster Ha m ma rg ren ; 5 . Gerrlt W ol slnk: 6 . Pao lo P f r c n t 7 . E v g eny K h u d y ak o v (eZ) : 8 . Jea n -Pau l M ln gels. O ve rall F ln lshersfPoi nt s: 1. He lkkl (2 5 ) : 2 . C hrlster H ammargren (23) ; Jonsson (1 8) ; 4 . Jaak Van Ve lth oven Gerr lt Wolsink (18) ; 6 . Paol o Plr o n .Jean-Pau ! Mln gel S (7 ) . M ikk o la 3. Ak e (18) ; 5 . (1 0 ) ; 7 .