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/126045
.International dateline a: w ... ~ ::J I: Z I: o ~ > III III o l:i I: Q. Heikk i Mikkola (33) went 2-1 in Belgium wh ile Puch mounted Wor ld Champion Harry Ever ts (1) gave gro und reluctant ly . Bimbo goes for it but Heikki proves invincible By John Huetter BETEKOM, BE LGIUM , APRIL 25 Arnie and "Rubio", Jim Pomeroy's deadly duo of mechanics, staved up mos t of the night be fore the Belgian Easter Trophy building Jim a Bultaco GP engine. (Sin ce th e factory was on strike, they had little choice .) J im used the reed-valved re-ported motor to 12 grab the holesho t in both motos o f the Belgian 250 GP. He has seldo m, if ever, loo ked as fas t. When it was all over, however, t he irresistible , devouring driv e . of Hei kki Mikkol a had resu lte d in anot he r Gr and Prix vict ory, fur t her st rengt he ning th e Finn 's grip on the lead in th e 25 0 cla ss. Reigni ng Wo rld Cham p lIarry Ever ts was seco nd overa ll wit h a very ' strong p air o f rides th at , except for the p rese nce of Mikkola, sho u ld have been good fo r the win . When 'th e gate dropped for the first Jim's co ncen tration and mor o , co n fide nce in th e bike paid off. He came into the fir st lefthander a good b ike len gth ahead of J aroslav Fall a (CZ) and Raymond Boven (Mon). Before th e bubble 0 Lelation had time.uo .develo • there came a ter rib le cr ash as Raymond Boven go t on his fron t wh eel and was hit from be hind. Three or fo ur bikes went tumbling. When th e pack had finished running o ver everybody _ or missing the m bes t th ey co u ld in th e dust _ Boven wasn't moving. Fren ch rider a llier (:llai) was scurrying for the side of th e tra ck dragging his leg. Raymond was stre tche red to t he first aid station . The wo r ks Mon tesa loo ked like it had been twisted in a gian t vise an d t he n munched. Pomero y le d rap idly if ragge dly for 10 minutes. Un til Fal ta ca me in to th e seco nd tu m eve n more ou t of co n t ro l and bopped Bimbo and Bultaco with a new CZ. J im highsided and los t 10 po sitions before fin ding neutral an d re-st art in g the bi ke . Th e order had Falta . lI akan sudden ly become Andersson (Mo n) , Thorlief Hansen (Kaw), Vladimir Kavin o v (KTi\ I), Harry Eve rt s (Puc and . s :I . ' . Mikkola had co me away from the start about eighth but was immediately on the move. Within six laps, Heikki was up to sec o nd pl ace, ge tting p ast Hakan with surprising ease . ' Kavino v pl ayed bumper cars with Thorlief Hansen until he forced the Swede o ff the track. It seemed all of th e Czech and Russian riders had started this GP with the notion that m otocr oss w as a co n tac t spo rt . Pom ero y came up on Kavinov,' who is the KT:ll sec ret weapon with good rea so n - he's fast , an d managed to get by him afte r a brief, intense two-lap duel. Falla, Mikkola, Andersson and Everts moved away quickly together . Joel Robert (Puc) was moving up very steadily fro m a p oor sta r t and Gaston Rahier (Suz ) was flyin g th rough th e pack after crash ing on th e first lap and restart ing dead last. Gast on was rid ing this 250 GP just to show he co uld and was required , under FIM rules , to start fro m the bac k row fo r n o po ints. As yo u 've probably figu red o ut by .no w , there_ were seven curren t o r fo rmer ~ Wor ld Cha mp io ns st artin g in this G P: Ever ts, Moiseev, Ander sson , Robert , Mikk ol a , Malh erhe and Rahi er . It was q uite a ta lent poo l. Riding in th e 500 Support class was ano t her World Champion : Roger DeCoster . lie won both mo tos of the...Belgian Na tional ..::.;.. lem on ad e i sce ;" 'said Ro ?,o::: :at er. t With 35 m!.:",utes o f t he first moto go ne , t ~~ order of the to p 10 riders m oved up int o th a t ca tegory . Falta, loo king very good in h is firs t Gran d Prix in nearly a year, held off Mikkola so me how, fo llowed by Andersson, Everts , Maisch, Baborovsky (a t ransfer from the 125 class and riding a CZ Pomeroy, Kavin ov, like . . . craz y ), Ro bert and Dani el Pean (Mai). With the two lap sign out; Everts blew past lI akan with a determined charge that was even more impre ssive on a co urse th at offered few places to pass . It was all jumps and hairpins. Mikkola was pu tting supe r pressure on Falla bu t when he made his move to pass Falla a t the "2 laps" sign , he laid down the Husky . He was up without losing position to Everts but Falta cruised home the winner in his first GP mo to o f 19 76. Jim Pomeroy was very so re and limping after the firs t moto as was Ray mo nd Boven (he had amnes ia but was de termin ed to start th e seco nd heat) and Joe l Ro be rt (Barboro vsky had nailed him . bad ly bruising his th rottle arm) . No bo d y reall y expecte d it but Bimb o blast ed out of th e ga te;.-'t ne se cond time and into the_ fi !'~t "'-w m out fro n t. Sy lvain Gebo~ ~~"\ i\lai ) was seco nd an d Harry Ev~rt s was third . By t h<:_e nd of t he first lap , lI akan Ar.~'ersso n was up from six th to seco nd, displacing Ceboers, who lat er ret ired admitting to overwork an d not havi ng it together even though he is go ing fast er than he has in two years. Mikkola was fo urth at t he sta rt and fo urth at t he end