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/126263
T CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, JUNE 1: The greatest field ever assembled for an International moto-cross, either in America or the rest of the world, is slated for the HANG TEN UNITED STATES MDTD CROSS GRAND PRIX - co-sponsored by BEL RAY OIL - at Carlsbad Raceway in Southern California on June 19th. _The quality of the entry prompted three-time USGP winner, Dutchman Gerrit Wolsink, to term the event "the toughest Grand Prix ever" in a recent TransAtlantic phone conversation with race promoter, Gavin Trippe. 12 " This year the World Champi on ship series is at its to ughest " said Gerrit, "wit h new machines from Yama ha an d' Hon da extendi ng t he Suzu ki team (Gerrit and five-time World Cha mpion, Roger De Coster of Belgium) to th e. limit. Every one of th e top ten competitors - and th en some - will be at Carlsbad for t he HANG TENIB ELR A Y eve nt and then you have to add in a nu mber of top-class American racers who do n't contest the whole World Cha mpionsh ip series bu t who are totally co mpetitive with any of us on their own groun d. "Wh en you t a ke that i n consi dera t ion t here's no escaping the fact that this is t he toughest Grand Prix moto-cro ss so far!" The 30 rider field fo r the USGP includes four current and former World Champions, shar ing a total of 10 World Championships between th em . Not on ly that, the winner of every World 500cc title from 1969 onwards will be starting the Carlsbad event! Sengt Aberg. who will t his yea r ride th e on ly Yam aha fou r-stroke in Grand Prix moto-cross, was Champion in 1969 and 1970 for Husqvarn a. Since th ose da y s h e has rid den fo r Husky , Chen ey -BSA, Bultaco and now t he specia l Yamaha "thumper" built in Swede n as a result of collaboration bet ween a tri o of ex-title holders. T hese are Aberg himself, Torsten Hallman (four- ti mes World 25 0cc Cham pion and the Swed ish Yamaha importe r) and Sten Lund in, a former dou ble World SOOcc title winner. F ro m 197 1 through 19 73 ' th e fantasti c Belgian, Roger De Coster, held a stra nglehold on the Cham pionsh ip, spear headin g a Suzuki b litzk rieg which was well·n igh invinci ble. Then, in 1974, the blit zkrieg was halted (t ho ugh only for a season ) by one o f t he toughest men in moto-cr oss, Finl and 's He ikki Mikkola . Riding for Husqva rna , Heikki edged Roger out of the Championsh ip but t hen gave best to t he Belgian once again in t he followin g season . De Costertook th e t itle both in 1975 and 1976 wh ile Husq varn a switched Mikkola to th e 250cc category last yea r...a move wh ich resulted in th em ann exing th e 250c c Wo rld Championsh ip. Thus we have the unprecedented sight of BOTH of the current World Mota Cross Champion s battling one another. Mikkola switched over to the Yamaha team and back to the 500cc class for 1977 and he and De Coster come to Carlsbad hold ing the first and second spots in current Championship standings. And to t his line-up of Cham pions comes an other recent con vert to th e tough 500cc class, Sweden 's Ha ka n And erssen, who was World 250cc Cha mpion for Yamah a in 1973. Now he rides for t he Montesa factory and is a definite GP contend er on the Spanish _ tw o-str oke. _ In addition to the array of World Champions, no less than 17 of the 30 riders in the HANG TEN/BELRAY USGP have won the National Championships of their respective countries at least once! Nat ional Championships cove red in this list are those of the USA, Great Britain, Belgium , Holland , Germany, Finland and Sweden ! Cu rr e n t a n d former American Champion s ridi ng at Carlsbad are Jim Weinert , Pierre Karsmakers (who has also been Dutch Champio n ), Brad Lackey, Mart y Smit h, Bob Hannah, and Kent Howerton . Bo t h De Coster and Jaak Van Velthoven have been Belgian title winners, Gerrit Wolsink (who has won th e USGP for the past three years in succe ssion ) and Pierre Karsmakers have both held th e Dutch national title , Bengt Aberg and Hakan And erssen .a re ex-Swedish Charnpion s. . Mikkola is a man y-tim e Finnish Champ, Graham Noyc e is current British Champ ion and his com patriot , John Banks has tw ice held t he title ! And bo th Willi Bauer and vet eran "iron man" Adolf Wei! have top ped th e Germ an sta ndings. And if all of the previous statistics about the Carlsbad entry haven 't convinced you that t he HANG TEN USGP - co-sponsored by BELRAY OIL : is at the absolute pinn acle of both Amer ican and World moto-cross, t ry this one..... No less th an 13 of the riders have individua l Grand Prix wins to the ir cred it ! De Coster, Wols ink , Aberg, Mikko la, Brad Lackey and fellow Am erican Honda team ride rs, Jim Pom ero y and Marty Smit h, Pierre Karsmakers, Ado lf Wei! , Willi Bauer, Jaak Van Velthoven , Hakan Anderssen and John .Ban ks have all won Grands Prix and th e total number of GP victor ies bet ween t hem runs well into th e hundred s! Need any more statistic s? How about these .. . . . Carl sbad entrants have accounted for four Championship wins in the International Trans-A!'JIA Series, two w ins i n the Inte rnational Inter -AMA Ser ie s and four Championship wins in the International Supercross Ser ies! Roger De Coster has won three Tran s-AMA t itles (1974 /5/6) while veteran Adolf Weil took t he hon or s in 1973. Both Heikki Mikkola (1973) and Ton y Di Stefano (19 75 ) are Int er -AMA S e r ies Ch amp i o n s w hi le Pierre Karsmak ers (250cc, 1974), Gary Sem ics (5OOcc, 1974), Steve St ac kabl e (50 0cc, 1975) and J im Weinert (1976 ) have t ake n top Su pe rcro ss Se ries ho·no rs ! Pierre Karsm.kers leads World Champion , Roger De Coster, in the 1977 Austrian GP.