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/126042
; i French 500 GP == Maicomeister ~ - Weil puts it -e togeUler .... I-< 0.. By John Huetter PERNES·LE5-FONTAINES, FRANCE, APRIL 11 Church bells ring the hour in the walIed, moat-surrounded town of Pemes, resounding off crumbling walIs that define narrow streets first built in the 16th century. It is a crisp, late spring morning in the south of France. Housewives tottering up steep streets with bread 10 loaves as long as your ann stop and stare curiously. Gray alley cats jump out of the way as top-heavy vans rumble past: vans with things like "Team Husqvama" and "Team Suzuki" painted on them. Twenty-four hours later, the second round of the 500cc Motocross World Championship has been decided on a twisted, tree-dotted rockpile surrounded by vine yards - in favor of West German AdolfWdI. Adolf showed just how much at a Maico track it was by grabbing the all-important holeshot in the first mota. He never looked back . Behind him were Wolsink, Aberg, Herbert Schmitz (Puc), and Vic Allan. DeCoster and Pierre Karsmakers, in his fourth GP for Honda, were buried back abo ut 10th or 12th. Brad was even worse off in the dust cloud that followe d the leaders. After three laps, Willi Bauer was up to sixth, looking very swift and controlled on the KTM. Wolsink took off after Weil an d Schmitz powere d the 380 Puch · p ast Aberg's near-stock Bul taco, Fifteen m in u tes into the first mota, Karsmakers' and DeCoster's personal duel carried them past Ake Jonsson. There was little position-swapping on the blue-grooved track where p assing was a very dangerous proposition. Schmitz closed the gap on Wolsink as the first three started going away from everybody. Behind them the order was still Aberg, Allan, Bauer, Karsmakers, DeCoster, Jonsson, Lackey, Khudiakov (CZ), Andre Massant (Yam), and Arne Lodal, Husky-mounted Dane. At just about 30 minutes of the mota, DeCoster snapped past Karsmakers and made it stick. Aberg, Allan and Bauer were at it very hot and very tight. each bike only a few feet from the other. Adolf started to stretch out a little lead while Gerrit was in complete control of second. Roger moved up on the trio battling for fourth, made it a foursome and they all moved away from Pierre, searching for a line, any line, that would allow them to pass on the bumpy pavement. Bauer and DeCoster began a high-speed duel as both high-revving horsepower bikes, Suzuki and KTM, got a little sideways coming out of the flat, gravelly comers. The mutual pressure too k them past b o t h Vic Allan and Aberg, wh o started fallin g back with a recurren ce of transmission pro blems. Pierre got moving again and passed Aberg as Bengt, missing several gears, faded back to 10th at the finish after some masterful opening laps. Vic Allan had chosen to start the first heat with his pract ice tire, thinking he didn't want too much traction from the CCM out of the hard-packed comers. The rocky course wore the knobs completely off in 40 minutes. He circulated the last few laps on a shredded carcass and Karsmakers got past him with two laps to go. Brad never was able to get out of mid-pack and finished a disappointing 12th, though closing on Ake Jonsson very strongly at the end. Adolf was comfortably out front at the finish, with six seconds over Gerrit, Then, past the checkered came Schmitz, Bauer, DeCoster, Karsmakers, Allan, Ital ian Alberto Angiolini (Mail, Khudiakov, and Aberg. With the im portance of a good start graphically de monstrated in the first moto, Roger D. took the lesson to heart and went for it. The RN Suzuki's front wheel stayed a foot in the air up to the first jump and DeCoster came out of the tum in front, barely. On the outside of him was Pierre Karsrnakers, whose Honda is certainly not hurting for horsepower, whatever the other problems in the "Type I" GP bike. Christer Hammargren, now on a privateer basis but still on a Kawasaki, was third. Then, three-quarters through the first lap, came one of the worst multi-bike crashes ever observed in a GP . Most riders seemed to agree that Herbert Schmitz dropped his Puch in the blind hairpin at the bottom of a downhill. In the roiling first lap dust, Brad hit the bike an d bailed off as about 10 more riders and machines piled in to him from behind. Young British star Graham Noyce endo-ed over the pile, nearly back onto the track running the opposite way. Efimov and his CZ tumbled over the berm and down the steep embankment as more riders kept adding to the pile of bikes and bodies. Miraculously, nobody was hurt beyond bruises and cuts and all the bikes re-started , except Lackey's. The shock and frame were ben t. If it weren't fo r ba d luck, Brad wouldn't be having any. Ake kept moving. right past Karsrnakers, and went after Roger who already had six-eight secon ds lead. Adolf with an unprotected face set in grim determination closed on Pierre, still looking for the right place to pass: closing a few feet every lap by traveling a shorter distance at a slower speed. Four laps after beginning his attack, the wise German went past Karsrnakers. Then Gerrit got past him; then V Velthoven, The Honda's frame cracking up. It eventually flexed to th point of tossing the chain and Pie retired. I Adolf kept the pressure on Ake finally getting into second place as th 40 minutes ran out. Only Bengt Abe was still doing any passing by the end a the heat. His renovated Bul carried hi up to fifth. There was no touchin Roger. His lap times were consistentl 2:14 and 2 :15 on a track that ha deteriorated even more. He had a I second lead over Adolf but Adolf ha the overall victory. Roger's comment: "I finally won one.. " • Results M OTO ON E : 1. A dolf Well (Mal ) Ge'. 2 Gerrlt Wolslnk (Suz) Neth. 3. Herber Schmitz (Puch ) . Germ. 4. Willi Bauer (KT M Ger. 5 . Roger DeCoster (S uz) 8 e1 6. Ple r r 9. K arsmakers (Hon) U SA. 7. \lIe Alla n (CCM Uk. 8. A lberto Anglolin l ( M al) Ital . 9. Vlkt o Kh udlakov (CZ) USSR. 10. Bengt Aberg (Bul Swed. MOTO TWO : 1. Roger DeCoster (Suz 8elg. 2. Adolf Well (Mal) Ger. 3. Ake Jonsso (Mal) Swed. 4 . Gerrlt wcrsrnk (Suz) Netn , 5 Bengt Aberg ( Bul) swee. 6 . Daniel Pean (Mai Fran. 7. Jaak Van Veltnoven (KTM) BeICiJ. 8 Alberto An9iolln l (Mal) t tal, 9. cnrrste Hammargren (Kaw) . Swed. 10. Arne L1ndfor (HusJ swee.