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/126054
wi th a rsmall smi le, "b ut I it- was ·be tt e r th an I was." A t this point in th e series, o n ly win s are use ful to DeC oster . Placing in the top five just isn't good enough. A 1ap after D eCoster pulled off, Lackey overtook Noyce. Grah am he ld o n close behind, ready to re tu rn the favor at a m oment's notice. A few laps later, his opportunity came , and once again the Marco ride r held down second beh ind a long-gone Ge rrit Wo lsink. It was Brad's turn . again to play the pressure-and-wait gam e. Pierre Kar sm akers was nex t to drop out of the race when he got sideways on a fourth gea r straightaway and planted the RC4 00 firmly into the fence. " I almost hit one of those steel p oles!" h e describe d it la ter. " I went ove r the b ars and it just missed m y neck." T hen he ad ded philosophically. " It's all part of the game." Near th e thirty-five m in u te point, Brad Lac key found another way to get in front of Graham Noyce where he'd stay fo r the remainder of the m o to . Wolsink wrap pe d up h is second I- I overall victory in two wee ks fin ishing twe nty seconds ahead o f second p lacer Bad Brad. ·No yce took th ird th irteen seconds b ack un der heavy p ress ure fro m KTM's J aak Van Vel thoven . J aak h ad starte d back near thirteen th pl ace an d, riding a strong steady race, picked his way up to almost take third from Noyce on th e final lap . The fou rth, however, was good enough for a third overall for the day . Jaak's team mate Willi Bauer had a rough day, quitting the final moto when his seat cover came loose. Th e problem was apparently more mental than mechamcal. Herbert Schmitz also dropped o u t of the second round after hitting the fence twice and falling far behind in the standings. In FIM Grand Prix events, no points are awarded for placings lower than ten th, so such D N Fs are commonplace. Overall scoring seemed unfair to s e v e r a l American riders who, accustomed to our Olympic scoring system, fou nd the FL'\I points system giving top five placings to riders who di dn't .fin ish both motos. The system awar ds points as follows: 1st - 15, 2nd· 12, 3rd - 10, 4th . 8, 5 th - 6, 6 th - 5, 7th . 4 , 8th · 3, 9th - 2, lOth - 1. A dding the to tal points for both motos gives a final score which puts the em phas is o n to p perfo rmances in individual motos rath er t h an a steady p ace for b o th . For example , a 2·DNF . score (12 po in ts) is better than a 5-6 to tal ( II points) . In Europe, it's defin itely a different ga me. 250cc Support Kawasaki rider Bob Levy staged a co me-from-behind Support c la ss win that h ad spe ctators shaking their heads in wonder. Levy's first tric k came w hen he got caugh t in first turn traffic in the opening mota and had to come up from . the back of the pack. Masaru Ikeda on a Suzuki and Frank Stacv on a Penton had been leading the wav, but Levy was able to catch Stacy and score a second placing. F r a n k grabbed the lead at the beginning of round two, but Ikeda and Levy were hot on his tail and both were able to get past. Levy m an aged to keep Ikeda at bay for the re mainder of the race to take the win by the closest of margins. • Results 500cc GP 1. Gerrit Wols ink 2. Brad Lackey 3. Jaak Van Velthoven 4 . Ake Jonsson 5. Roger DeCoster 6. Graham Noyce 7. Tony 0 iStefa no 8 . Steve Stackable 9. Pierre Karsmakers 10. Nicky Kinosh ita 11. Jim Turner 12 . Adolf Weil 13 . Bob Harris 250cc Support I. Bob Levy 2. Masaru Ikeda 3 . Frank Stacy 4 . Marvin Wilson 5. Ted Foltz 6. Jorma Rautiainen 7. Bob Thompson ' 8. Leo Wilson 9. Denn is Edm ist o n 1·1 3·2 5-4 4·6 2·DNF DNF·3 6·5 8·7 5·DNF 10·8 9·9 7·DNF 11·10 Suz Hus KTM Mai Suz Mai Suz Suz Hon Yam Suz Mai CZ Kaw Suz Pen C·A Mon Hus Suz Hus (Above) KTM ace Jaak Van Velthoven scored third overall with a 5-4. (Right) Even R.D. has a rough day sometimes. (He didn't fall .) (Middle) Maico men Graham Noyce (5) and Ake Jonsson (4) had a close thing going. (Bottom left) Bob Levy took the250cc Support win. (Bottom right) Pierre Karsmakers started out happy, then stuffed a snow fence. "It's all part of the game," he said . .