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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126263
trees but still maint aining the safety
margin of control . He admitted later
that he had made a couple of mistakes
which took him off the fast line, but
Roger couldn't get by him . Heikki
finished out ahead with Brad and
Roger crossing the line a bik e length
apart.
"My bike wasn 't fast enough to over take Brad: I tried to get him in the
comers, and could close in on . him,
but on the straights he would just pull
away ," Roger said afterwards.
.
Wolsink, one of the heavy favorites
because of his sand ability, _had suffer ed a bad sta rt in 16th a nd worked
h is wa y up to fin ish fifth . Pierre
m oved up two places from e ig h t h
to fini sh sixth with Weil cr as hing
a nd fin ishing 14th a nd Herbert
Schmitz retiring when a jet ca me loose
in his ca r b u re to r and his bik e
blubbered to a stop.
Of th e 34 rid ers th at qualified .
only 15 finish e,d . and Heikki lapped
all but the 10th pla ce man .
In the second race, Mikkola put it
all together again with an ultra fast
start that carried him unchallenged to
his second win of the day. In doing so,
he collected 30 valuable World
Championship points which put him
in the lead for the Championship by
one point over DeCoster.
.
Pierre Karsmakers , on the works
Yamaha, gated well in the second race
and was second after the first lap with
Frans Sigmans in third and Aberg in
fourth. Gerrit had a better start and
was in fifth , Wei! sixth.Schmitz, J aak,
Roger, and Yvan -van den Broeck in
the top ten.
At the start in the first tum, Brad
had come in tight on the inside but
was forced to squeeze hard to the left
to avoid contact with Sigmans who
had squared-off the comer and was
moving in to where Brad was heading
for . Brad leaned it over farther and
. farther until his Honda finally went in to a wheel drift and slid out from under him . His bike lay at an angle in the
tum with his back to the other riders
but he ' was miraculously untou'ched
and hi got up and got going last. J oh n
Banks and Andersson went down
trying to avoid Brad.
. Before the end of lap one, Brad
had passed half of the riders and was
in 15th place. He moved up to 11th
on lap two .and then on each la p he
picked off one rider until he got to
fourth place behind Roger where he
finished . On his surge to fourth place,
Lackey collided with Arne Lodal
coming off a jump in mid air. Arne's
footpeg ripped open Brad's leathers at
the left knee and tore the kriee pad
from it s pocket. Arne crashed, but
Brad maintained his and the Honda's
balance and kept going. Pierre Karsmakers struck bad luck while lying in
second place on lap five when his
monoshock came undone and poured
all the oil out on the track . A
locking nut on one of the bolts backedout and the three piece unit came
apart. Sixteen riders finished the
Karsmakers chases DeCoster in
ope ning mota.
The opening mota Sigmansl
Wolsink dice.
second race; Heikki lapped all but the
top six.
Many people seem to have the impression that Mikkola is a fearless
charger who muscles the bike and uses
his power to bust through the course.
Heikki is sm ooth , graceful and sen sitive to the fast smooth lines of the
technically demanding circuits so
that he ca n have 100% of his body's
pow er at the end of the race as
well as having the feel to save the bike
as well. Sp eed , strength and stamina
are the winning ingredients. and both
Mikkola and his Heikki Penttilal Abe
- Teruo-tuned Yamaha OW 27 found
the right com bination toda y. It 's still 'a
long road with onl y two down and 10
big ones - 20 rn ot os - 10 go before
the Championship is decided .
•
Results
1st Mota: 1, Mikkola; 2. Lackey; 3 . DeCoster; 4.
Noyce; S. Wolsink; 6. P. Ka"maker.; 7. Sigmans; 8.
van Velthoven; 9. Banks; 10. Hensen.
2nd Moto: 1. Mikkola; 2. Wolsink; 3. DeCoster; 4.
• . Lackey; 5. Noyce; 6. Herling.; 7. van den 8