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; 1:1 ~ DeCoster repeats, t ...~~ Ithoven doubles § Luxembourg 500 GP Jaak Van Velthoven took his KTM to a dual mota sweep . while (below) Brad Lackey suffered his usual bad luck . By David and Margery Malta is ETTELB RUCK,LUXEMBOURG AU GUST 8 Gerri t Wolsink's a ttempt to overtake Suzuki teammate Roger DeCoster for the 500cc . World Championship title was stopped ' b y KT M rider Jaak Van Velthoven who won both motos at the final Grand Prix on the "An der Wark" ci rcuit outside the town of Ettelbruck , Luxembourg. 25,000 spectators came to witness the final dramatic event of th e '76 season with many fans from Great Britain to cheer on Graham Noyce , V ic Allan and Vic Eastwood. Amer ica's sol e co m pe t i t o r , Husqvama's Brad Lacke y, ca me to Luxembourg in fifth place and only four points down from Noyce wi th 99 points to Graham's 103. Brad had put fo rth a tremedous effort the second half of the season to jump from tenth p lace at the halfway point to fifth place. 14 The Luxembourg circuit is regarded as one of the finest, and this year they had made it even better with widened sections and good watering before the weekend. Br ad h as always do ne we ll on this track; last year he won the second mo t o when he p assed Roger late in th e race for the wi n. He was p um ped fo r th is one. The b ig duel was expected to come from four time Wo rld Ch am p ion R o ger DeC 0 s t er and his teammate Gerrit Wolsink . Wolsink needed to win both races an d h ave ROller DN F in both to become th e new World Champion A s th e ride rs got read y to s tart the firs t race , Christ er lI ammargren fou led a pl ug o n h is fac tor y Kawasaki and di dn ' t m ak e it to the star t in time . T he gate dr oppe d and V ic Ea st wood ju mped in to the lead abo ard his fo ur -s troke Stadium-spo nsored Clews Competition Machine with Brad in second at the first corner.' The infield area is a series of long US" turns and on the third H " S there was a big crash. It started when DeCoster's throttle stuc k open on his works RN370 Su zuk i and h e sidepunched Brad 's Husqvarna , knocking Brad down. Brad's throttle c a b l e was torn lo ose and he was helplessly forced t o re tire. Seven or eight riders were inv olved in th e pil e-up in cluding Willi Bau er wh o also retired. Roger's throttle cou ld not be repaired in order to have him in co n ten tion for first 07; second pl ace which was all that mattered to him at this point, so he pulled out also. As th e leaders came around to co mplete the first lap Vi c Eastwood was still ahead with Noyce in second, Weil in th ir d- fo llowed by Heeren , Va n Ve lt hove n, Sigmans and Wolsi nk. Graha m took over the lead on the se cond lap as Gerrit passed Frans Sigmans' and lI ee ren dropped down to sixth. O n the third lap a spe ctator, han ging out on to the circu it, thrust his ann out as Graham raced by and knocked the M ai c o pilot so hard th at Graham cra she d into three wood en sta kes lining th e co urse and wen t down hard . lie was tak en to th e h osp it al with a suspec ted br o ken b o ne in his b ack. G rah am was so dazzed from the crash tha t he ke p t weaving aro und m u ttering, "T hey h it m e . Wh y d id th ey h it me ? I d id no t h i n g . " Sp e ct ato r s a n d safe ty personnel provided no aid to the yo u ng Englishman; it was mechanic George Utting who finally cam e to his aid and got Graham to lie down until a stretche r could be br ough t to carry him to the ambulan ce. With Noyce out Eastwood to ok the lead again and held until the eighth lap when his clutch broke , forcing an en d to h is great effort. Weil in herited the lead position wi th Van Velthoven and Wo lsi nk close together in second an d th ird. §igmans was still holding fourth with Schmitz in fifth and Vic A llan six tho V an Velthoven an d Wolsink passed Weil on lap te n, Weil repassed Gerrit o n the ne x t lap , and the cro wd went wild as Gerrit go t h im back agai n on th e next lap. G erri t charge d even harder .and caugh t up o n J aak b u t crashe d tw ice trying t o p ass the lanky Belgian .ri der. Gerri t would open his works S uz uki to th e stops an d move out of the fast line in an attempt to get by Jaak. Just as Gerrit would be ready to take him Jaak would' move over and block his line. J aak kep t up this tactic all the way to the checkered flag and won the race by seven seconds as G errit finished second. Sigmans was in fifth p os it ion behind Weil and Schmi tz but lost it on the last lap when his Mai co ran ou t of gas on the back part of the course. In th e second race, Ea stwo o d again took th e holesh ot w ith Brad tu cked in cl ose b ehind h im. A t th e end of the first lap Vi c and Brad were foll owed by Van Veith oven, Sigmans , Hammargren and Wolsink . D eCo ster was down in fifteenth after a bad s tar t . . Vic and Brad raced for seven laps in one and two until Brad dropped back to third in the eighth lap when his rear tire went flat. J aak got by him and on the next I,,!, Gerrit slip ped past and started charging after Van Vel th oven . Van V e I thoven passed Eastwood on lap eleven with Gerrit steaming past the CCM on the fo llowing round. Gerrit moved up b eh in d an d tri ed to pass him several ti mes in the last three lap s of the rac e b u t once again J aak used the same blo cking te chnique and kep t Gerrit in seco nd p lace. R oger had moved stead ily up through the pack so that he finished in fourth place behind Hammargre n. Vic Allan finished in fifth place despite having clutch problems th at pl agu ed him all da y. Farns Sigmans had another race of badluck when his gearbox broke on the last lap while in fifth position. Brad kept ra cing the whole d istance despite his flat tire handicap and finished o n e lap down in fifteenth place. Had he not slipped past sixth position he would h ave collected five points and would have edged o u t Noyce by one point for fourth pla ce ·i n the Championship standings. But when yo u look back at th e first half of the season, his fifth pla ce on the World Championship is a tribute to his dedi cation and determination to beco me World Champion. He also . improved his 'sixth place finish in last year's standings and as anyone knows: the closer to the top y o u get, th e farther ap art the ru ngs are on the ladder. To get to the nex t one is m uch harder than th e last. The ra ce for the 1976 500cc Wor ld Cham pionship is now over. Roger has no w no tch ed his fifth title and, as we all know, is the best 'rider on th is p lanet to throw a leg over a motocross machine. Results Moto one: 1 ~ Jaak Van Velthoven : 2 . Gerrit Wolsink : 3. Ado lf wel l ; 4 . Herbert SChmitz : S. Vic Allen ; 6. Raymond Heeren B Mon; 7 . Arne Lodal OK HVA ; 8 . Korneev ; 9 . De Roover ; 10 . Ch ristoPh H usser CH Yam. Mota two : 1. Van Velthoven : 2 . WOlslnk ; 3 . Hammargren : 4 • .Decoster : S. Allan ; 6 . K h u di a k a v : 7. Aberg ; 8 . Korn eev ; 9 . Loda l ; 10. Heeren.