Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

International dateline ola'wiDs 'strue Race of Champions BELGIAN EASTER TROPHY WEEKEND By John Huetter MARCHE AN D JODOIGNE, BELG. AP RI L 18-1 9 It ' undoubtedly the single biggest motocross event m the world. Two days, four 45-minute motos split between 250cc and IS 500cc classes, and two differe nt tracks in separate linguistic areas of Belgium . It's kind of like running two Grands Prix on two 12 different bikes, ba ck to back, wi th the be st guys from every class. When it was all over, Heikki Mikkola had won the 19 76 Easter Trophy with a stunning three moto wins an d on e fourth. It wasn 't quite the runaway the statistics indicate, though, as Suzuki 's 125cc World Champ Gaston Rahier demonstrated his considerable abilities on 250cc and 400cc machinery to finish second. One DNF, while leading, hurt Gaston's point total, beyond repair. Behind Gaston in the overall ranking were Adolf Weil, winner of the French 500 GP o Gerrit Wolsink, current 500cc World Championship leader; and Brad Lackey , whose impressive consistency was highlighted by a very rapid third in the fourth and fmal moto on Monday afternoon at J odoigne.. The circuit at Marche-en-Famenne is laid out mostly around a stony, tree-dotted hill with long loops out into the field in front of ' the town 's h igh school. It is narrow, making it very difficult to pas s, and at the speeds of today's motocross machinery, increasingly dangerous. It has been used for over 35 years but is hardly your ideal Belgian track with its barbed wire fences and jutting stone walls. Jim Pomeroy, whose mechanics are still trying to piece together GP bikes out of parts they scavenged before the Bultaco f.aetory strike, dido 't like the place at all; At the first gate drop on Sunday, Gaston Rahier pulled a tremendous ho leshot with an RH250 Suzuki on which he had spent weeks t ry ing to eliminate de tonation problems. He was followed by Sylvain Geboers, now p art of Maico 's 250 team, wh o had set fast time in practice. Some distance behind, afte r only half a lap, were Adolf Weil, Gerrit Wolsink, andJaak Van Velthoven (KT M). Pomeroy was about sixt h, ahead of young Belgian star Raymond Boven (Mon) who had been sick for two days with intestinal flu. Five-time winner of the Easter Trophy , Roger DeCoster, was buried in the single-file pack as a result of a poor start - something that continued to plague him all weekend. Gaston was going for it and had a 5-6 second lead after two laps. Pomeroy moved up one place but then suffered a little lay-down on the next lap . Brad Lackcy came zapping past Jim, seemingly coming up about four positions in half a lap. Brad and a re-mounted Pomeroy went at it in fifth and sixth positions virtually a bike length apart. Gaston stretched his lead as, almost unnoticed (except by those, he was pass ing ), Hei kki Mikkola began his predatory surge to ward the lead ers. Abou t 15 minutes into t hat 25 0 moto, Gaston crashed into the crowd; Ra ymond Boven retired, unable to hoi the p ace in his weakene d condi tion ; Jim go t ba ck past Brad afte r a very nice dice and suiiden1y , Heikki was in third place. Gaston got going again but was now in fourth and trying to de al wi th the maladjusted handlebars t hat had caused his crash in the first place. After his second crash, he packed it in. Pomeroy came bouncing past the rocky, steep hillside yelling at lapped riders 0 move over. You know what he was calling th em - in vintage English. Then Jim seized the 250 and spectated for a lap . until it cooled down enough to restart. The order had now'been reshuffled so that Geboers was first, enjoying the lead his chase of Gaston had given him, followed by Weil, Mikkola, Van Velthoven, Jean-Paul Mingels (Bul), Lackey, and DeCoster, Next lap, Heikki passed Adolf to take second and Brad passed Mingel. to take flfth. Four laps from the end but with seemingly glacial inevitability, Mikkola passed Geboers who had led for nearly 30 minutes. Brad was closing on Van Velthoven but ran out of time. Jim was circulating right behind Adolf, but a ~ down. Ileikki kept up his devouring pace in the dwindling minutes , well ahead of Geboers, Wei!, Van Velthoven, Lackey, Mingels, DeCoster, Belgian Guy Huynen (KTM) , 250 World Ch amp Harry Everts and J ean-Claude Lai:quay e (Bul ). Gaston, somewhat upset about his loss of the 250 moto, proceeded to clic k-shift his RN400 into an other holeshot when the gate flop pe d for the 500 moto at Marche. This time , Harry Everts used the stunning power o f his 380 Nch to stay right on Gaston and when the 125cc World Champion bobbled on the fnt lap, the 250cc Wo rld Champion dicln't wait for a second chance to pass . j ean-PaUl Mingels was third, while Bimbo .and Brad were back seventh and eighth. DeCoster was about 15th on the first lap; Mikkola rode ju st ahead of the two Americans. On the next lap, Gaston passed Harry right back and Brad went past Jim following Gerrit Wolsink. (Gerrit had retired from th e 250 moto with rear suspension failure.] With five laps gone , Heikki had passed Van Vei th oven, Weil, Wolsink and Lackey : a lot of talent to dispatch in abo ut 13 minutes. Bimbo, riding a standard 3 70 with last y ear 's sw ingarm and standard Bilsteins, came bouncing up behind Mingels while, up front, Everts passed ~er back again as the crowd roared and bo oed with unabashed favo ritism. But Mik kola was closing stead ily on both of them. Heikki made his move ; it worked like everything has been wo rking fo r h im all ye ar and, wi t h th e 500 moto hal fway co mplete d, the order read : Mikkola, Rahier (who had passed Ever ts again when Hei k ki d id ), Everts, Van Velthoven , Weil, Wolsin k, Lackcy, Pome roy, De Co ster, and Hans Maisc h (Mai ). It was like a list of recen t and current mo tocr oss Worl d Ch am p io ns. Two laps lat er , Pomer o y was ou t with another broken transmission . The remaining questions were: co uld Brad hold o ff Roger an d what would happen behind Mikkola and Rahier? The p urple lIus)tY an d ye llow Su zu ki ' t waved bye-oye t o everybod y : Heikki looking hunched and bear-like; Gaston . 1o.oking like a lit tle kid who'd somchow found' himself on a GP bike, having a grand tUne. Gerrit W.olsiDk put on an iJII!Pectal:11lar tiu otally effeCtive late mote c~ oing 'PUt do1f Weil o n a lo~ bUDi~'9.' straight. Gemt !

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