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/126265
....... HANGTEN t Juniled slales grand By Dave Hawkins n American motocross so popular with W orld C hampionship ride rs that the promoters have A 10 to turn away Eu ropean ra cers? A race in th e new country that attract s mor e int er est than th e ra ces held in Eu rope . the homela nd of motocross? It m ay seem hard to bel ieve . but th at 's exac tly t he ca se with the Un ited States Grand Prix , co -sponsored th is yea r by Hang Ten and Bel Ray Lubricants. As in years past , promoter Gavin Trippe of Tripp e . Cox Associates made his p ilgrimage to Europe to sign the fastest ri de rs competing in th e battle for th e 500cc Motocross World Championship . But this yea r, T rippe had to weed out scores of vaca tion-seek in g riders befor e signing the 14 absolu te best World Championship riders in Eu ro pe. It wasn't always so. 500cc W orld Championship Motocross eve nts a re held in 12 co u nt ries. incl....d in g the U .S. ro und in Carlsbad. The 1973 Ha ng -T en G ra nd Prix was the first· ever po ints-pa ying World Champion ship -Mot ocross held in the Unit ed Sta tes. At t ha t time motocross was al most un known In Am eri ca . N ow : mot ocross is vi rt uall y a ho use ho ld word . and t he Carlsbad race is very popular. In 1976 . 33 % of all television sets turned on during th e ai ring of th e ABC W ide W orld of Sports covera ge of th e U.S. GP wer e tuned in to th e ra ce. The Hang-Ten GP has be come an ext ravaga nza . Hollywood hype-types are see n in t he pits . TV ca me ras roa m all over the pla ce - it reminds on e of th e football Super Bowl. This yea r will be no d ifferent only bigger. Olympic Gold Med ali st Bru ce J enn e r will d o th e co lor co m me nt ary fo r ABC . Aft er breakin g his leg on a m otocrosser ea rlier th is month . j enner shoul d kn ow some thi ng abou t the skill required to pilot a race bike . be seve r a l S pect a t ing will cha mpions: j eff Sm ith . the 500cc 1964 and '65 W o rld Champion ; Rol f Tibb lin , cham pion in 250c c in 1959 . 500 cc in 1962 a nd 1963; Sten Lund in , 500cc Cha mp on a l ito in 1959 a nd -'61, (he now helps with Bengt Aberg's Yam aha ); T orsten Ha llm an . Ab er g's spo nso r , fou r time 250 cha mpion : a nd ' Da ve Nic ho l. t he first T ra ns -Ajvt A winn er. Traditionall y th e U .S. G ra nd Pri x ha s paid th e richest pu rses in th e Champion ship Seri es. Posted in hard cas h this ye ar ( no t includin g co nt inge nc ies) -is over $38,000 . Pla ces are pai d in th e Intern at ion al Class down to 20th an d th rou gh 12th in th e Support Cl a ss. l a st year Gerrit Wol sink won a ro u nd $5 .000 . As well as pa yi ng th e la rgest mot oc ro ss p urses to the riders. T ri ppe Cox ha s not ign or ed th e need s of th e spectator . A big problem in the past has been th e poor q uality of th e food offered the pub lic at t he G P . T hey ha ve t ried in th e past , but things haven't worked out as pla n ned . last year T rippe -Cox t ho ught they had th e food thing ta ken ca re of when Bob's Big Boy was co ntracted to cook at the race site . However, before the race t he U.S . government said a big " NO" the trac k site d id n ' t meet ce rt a in heal th standards . T his yea r th er e will be several very large self'-contai ned ca tering tru cks in an effort to bri ng to p qual ity food to the track . Also . b leac he rs a re bei ng added so spec ta to rs ca n sit a nd watch t he action fro m a cho ice va nt age point . Th e bleach er s cost $3 a foot to pu t u p and take d own . and si nce t h e average person's sitt ing ar ea is a little wider than 12 inches -the cost for a gra ndsta nd sea t is $4 . As you ca n see th e bleach er s a re not a m on ey m aking co ncession th ey a re th ere so le ly for specta tor com fort . Art Scho ll. world fa mo us sky pi lot will ente rtai n du ring the intermission . While the mech an ics a re fra ntic in th e pit. cha ngi ng tires. cy li n de rs an d assorted parts, wa tchers can kick-b ack and cat ch some " 360· t urns wh ile do ing fou r t urns in th e o ppos ite d!rect ion" sp ins by t he magicia n of th e ai r . All in a ll, Ca rls bad has a lways bee n t he prem ier motocross even ts in t he U.S. With the promoters out to make a good thing eve n better . nob od y sho u ld miss th is race! Heading the list of entrants will be cu rrent World Champion Roger DeCoster. Finland's Heikki Mikkola, thi s year's point leader will be hand to try and stretch his lead over DeC oster, Mikkola has won World Championships in th e 250cc and 500cc class es-. This yea r he has switched to Yamaha to ride what he considers th e most competitive bik e in th e Grands Prix. Heikki desperately wants to win th e 500 Championship once again . H e has always been an all -around sportsman. Besides th e 250 titl e in 1975 and th e 500 title in '74. Heikki has been th e Finnish National Champion in iceracing. snowmobile ra cing and motocross. T he current point stand ings have Mikkol a in front with 157 . DeCoste r with 124 in second a nd Wolsink third with 114. This year Mikkol a wants t he " big one" a nd nothi ng short will satisfy hi m . Carlsbad ha s been called a Gerrit Wolsink benefi t. The Dutch d en tist ha s won th e last three Grands Pr ix at Carlsbad. Graham Noy ce , th e 19 yea r · old Brit ish flash will be representin g the Maico factory a long with vet eran Adolf W eil and Herbrt Schmitz. The KTM factory has two riders with yea rs of international expe rience beh ind them: j aak Van Velrhoven from Belgium a nd Willi Bau er from West Germany . Sweden has three ent rant s. Hakan Andersson on a Montesa , Bengt Abert on a four -stroke Yamaha and Arne Linfore on a Husqvarna . j ohn Banks will rid e a CCM to challen ge Aber g for to p four -stroke . The Am eri can fa vorite is Brad lackey, who place second in last yea r's U.S. GP and who is cu rrently fourth in 500cc World Championship po ints . jim Pomeroy. wh o until 'this yea r contested th e 250 Grands Prix, will be a rid er to wat ch a lso. Tony DiStefano . Kent Howerton a nd Ga ry Semics fro m th e Un ited States Motocross des Nations team will be on th e gas and could do very well th is year. Bob Hannah and Marty Smith, Yamaha and H onda's hope for th e fu tu re are always very quick . Ga ylon Mosier, will be racing in his backyard , and has to be one of th e fastest open bike riders at the Carlsbad track. Rex Staten and Marty T ripes will be on Harley P. Da vidsons and if the bikes hold U might surprise a lot of people. Wi th entries like these and more, th e 1977 U.S . round of the Wo rld Champi on ship will be th e best racing ever in th e States. Now , to stick our neck out and give som e predictions: For top European , Mikkola will be tough , DeC oster 's Carlsbad bad luck is bound to end soon , but Wolsink likes th e big pay checks. Ou r vote goes to Ge rrit Wolsink . th e th ree- time winner of Carlsbad . T op Am erican co u ld be T ommy Croft . Ga ylon Mos ier , Ga ry Semics, Marty Smith, Bob H annah , Tony D, Rex St at en or j im Pomer oy. (W ha t a list of rid ers!) Our vote in this group, goes to Brad La ckey. After switching to Hon d a for 1977 . Brad has been very fast a nd d oin g a fantastic job in Europe . And in a easy choice. our Eu ropean! American vot e goes Pierre Karsmakers. For th e first overall we predict Brad Lackey. Gerrit Wolsink , Roger DeCoster. Marty Smit h and Heikki Mikko la will round out the top five, Sign -in for riders will be at ].C . Penney's in th e Plaza Camino Rea l Shopping Center . The cente r is located east of th e San Diego Freeway. T ak e. Hi ghway 78 to th e Escondido exit. From 10 :00 a .m . 'til noon you ca n wat ch th e weigh -in and hi t your favori te sta r up for an autogra h.