Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

EWolsink upstages ichampionship ; battle with ~ Carlsbad win c-, ..:; By Richard Creed OCEANSIDE, CAL., JUNE 22 The sixth round of the 1975 500 World Motocross Championship played out its one day stand at nearby Carlsbad International Raceway before an estimated crowd of 33,429 avid m ot ocr oss fan at ics. Fans began arriving well before the gat es op ened at 7 a.m, 6 Sunday m orning and co ntin ued to pour into the Car lsb ad fac ility until j ust before the gate dropped for th e start of the first 25 0 Support class moto, But the an ticipated battle between three time World Ch ampio n Roger DeCoster of Belgium and Finland's Heik ki Mikkola, who upset DeCoster's winning st reak las t year, never mat eriali zed. Poor starts in both m o te s and a crash on th e firs t lap of the round kept th e cu rre nt second champion out o f co n te n tion. Mikkola showed wh y he is called th e "Fly ing Finn" though, as he ca me from dead last in both motos to eighth in the first and fourth place in the final to ta ke fourth overall at th e end o f t he day. Roger DeCoster won the first moto after a fierce 11 lap battle with CZ mounted " Rocket Rex " Staten which ended when the rear motor mounts on Staten's 237 pound 400 broke. It was almost impossible for Staten to hang on the vibration was so intense. With Staten having problems, Mikkola out of contention with a low first moto finish, the challenge to DeCoster for the overall victory came from American Brad Lackey who passed Rex Staten and last year's U.S. Grand Prix winner, Gerrit Wolsink, on the last lap at the bottom of a hill to take second behind DeCoster. But Lackey's challenge ended abruptly on the fourth lap of the final moto when his front wheel began collapsing. Lackey was running 10th on lap three, but dropped to 16th when he pulled into the pits on the fo llo win g lap . Pierre Karsmakers (Ho n ) benefited from Lackey's and Staten's woes and posted third overall and top American placing with a lOth in the first moto and a third in the final. The Dutchman with th e French name, who now lives just a brief drive down the freeway from Carlsbad in Mission Viejo , was still suffering from injuries sustained two weeks ago at the 500 Na tional in Kansas and had de veloped an ear infection which made wearing a helmet painful. Sacked shocks in the first moto held Karsmakers back to l Oth after runnirrg as high as eighth in the closing stages. So, who won? Why , the Dutch dentist, Gerrit Wolsink. The 25 year old President o f the Gran d Prix Rider's Association, who was suffering from an eye inflamation and qualified 11th fastest at 1m , 59.98s, ro de consistently fast and spectacularly when he needed to an d walked o ff with the winne r 's garland of flo wers for the sec ond year in a row. In 25 0 Support class action the Honda duo of Marty Smith and Tommy Croft easily outdistanced the field from the start in both 20 minute motos and even indulged in a short in-house match in the final moto before Smith pulled away to post back to back wins. Following the Honda team home were Wayne Boyer (CZ) and Yamaha's Tim Hart. Boyer posted a sixth and a third place to t ake third ove rall while Hart ove rcame a nin th in th e first moto ca used by los ing a footpeg and came bac k t o finish third in th e final. • Bru ce McDougal (Yam) an d Gary Wise (Kaw) suffered problems in the sec o nd moto after finishing third and fourth in the first moto. Wise lost hi s fro nt fe n de r and t wo places wh en he p ulle d into t he pi t sign alling area to have th e dangling fender removed. The Grand Prix Th e firs t m o to looked like a replay of Saturday aftern o o n's uno ffi cial practice sessio n when local hero "Rocket Rex " Sta ten pu t h is Carlsbad experience to wo r k and ble w o ff Ro ger DeCost er j ust be fo re the sess ion closed at 5 p.m, A small cro wd of spectators chuckled as Stat en and DeCoster started to tangle, con fide n t t ha t the th ree time world champion would h ave little trouble con tain in g the youthful Staten 's ber ser ko style. But Staten didn't get tired, he didn 't crash and he did pass DeCoster and in so doing posted an unofficial time of 1m 56.8s for fastest time of the day. DeCoster wisely decided to wait until Sunday to race Gerritt Wolsink gives a victory salute as he crosses the finish the winner of the U.S. Gran and pulled into the pits. The Americans got the hole shots in the first of two 40 minute motos with only DeCoster ab le to break in to the Wolsink catches Staten just before the uph ill run to the hairpin. top five led by Rex Staten. DeCoster held onto second p lace ahead of Gaylon ' Mosier (Mai), Jim West (Ma i), and Gary Sernics (Kaw). Staten and DeCoster quickly established themselves in front and began pulling away from the field and indulging in their own con test, The crowd was shocked and screamed its encouragement as Staten slammed into berms, blasted off ju m ps and assaulted uphills in heart stopping style. DeCoster never let up the pressure and started to move closer and as the laps went by he took the measure of Staten and applied more speed. Finally, on lap II, DeCoster shot past Staten and into t he lead. DeCoster was never headed or approached after that and attention shifted to th e fight that was shaping up fo r second between Brad Lackey (Hus ), Gerrit Wolsink (Su z), and Rex Staten. Brad Lackey had gotten away poorly at the start and came round the first time in about 12 t h place. Shortly thereafter he began his drive to the front. Gerrit Wolsink (Suz) got aw ay in eigh th place at the start and moved forward co nsistently until he passed Gaylon Mosier (Mai) on lap eight and took over third place. Mosier had been o putti ng in a surprising ride a nd had held onto third pl ace behind Staten and a: DeCoster fro m the first lap . Mosier u finis hed fifth in the first moto and l l th o a: in the second for nin th overall. « As Staten dropped back with motor 1: u mo un t problems and Lackey (Hus) a: rumbled up from behind, Gerrit Wolsink >found himself in the middle of an 1Il American squeeze play. Wolsink tried to III o get away from Lackey as Staten tried to Icontain WoIsink. On lap 21, Wolsink o 1: and Staten mo men tarily locked bars and Q.L...:'-''--''--_ _---' --'':.....:. _....:......:.:......::t'--''''--' '--...;..;.:.o........:....~ .......:='''"_ ..;r.=''_'' . ....:.::J . "' "'

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