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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126268
IAbovel World Champion DeCoster shows how to get a good start in the second moto. IBelow. right! Mikkola won again overall. without being the fastest. ..... SOOcc Motocross World Championship, round six DeCoster is the fastest as Mikkola lucks into Italian GPwin the top soil was wet but it didn't go By David MaltaislAsahi Pentax SETTIMO-TORINESE, ITALY, JUNE 12 W "nnin g the first moto in Italy. Team Yamaha's Heikki Mikkola totaled a 36 World Champion- ship Series point advantage over Suzuki's Roger DeCoster who placed fourth. But DeCoster, the five-time World Champion. took the second race from start to finish, leaving second place to Mikkola , and shaved the point spread back to 33 as the 1977 500cc series reached the halfway mark. 14 Sertimo-Torinesc, just outside of Torino in northwestern Italy, was the site of the sixth round of this season's minimum width of 12 meters and lots of steep uphills, 90 degree turns with fast, long drops-offs and 90 degree turns at the bottom taking the riders ' up another steep rocky hill . Fast offcamber straights, blind wooded turns and lots of rocks and dust was the type of terrain that the Grand Prix riders faced on Saturday afternoon for their first practice session. Even though it had rained steadily the week before very deep, and underneath it was hard and slippery. Graham Noyce was still out with torn ligaments. Willi Bauer had crashed heavily in a 500cc National Championship race in Wipperfurth and injured his right shoulder and he looked like he would not ride even though lie tried to go out in practice. Gerrit Wolsink was not feeling 100% with a headache and upset stomach. Drama unfolded in the Honda camp as Brad Lackey got up Sunday morning and had his wife Lori summon the doctor. The doctor arrived at Brad's motorhome to find Brad white as a sheet, sweating heavily with pain in his lower back. left side of his throat and also with dizzy spells and the urge tovomit , Brad had been hit on the forehead just above the eye with a large rock thrown by a rider's rear wheel during Saturday's free practice and later in the evening had felt a chill coming on. The doctor diagnosed Brad's symptoms as a mild concussion and recommended that Brad not race. Brad was in position four in the Championship and only 21 points behind Wolsink. The doctor agreed to give him something to raise his blood pressure and assured Brad that he would check him after practice and if he was feeling better, he wo~ld give the organization the O .K. for Brad to ride. Many people were getting worried about Roger becoming demoralized by Heikki's streak of six outright wins and two second places in the last eight races . On Sunday morning, Roger hushed everyone as he took his Kiyo, . Yamaushi -tuned factory Suzuki and clocked fastest qualifying time in 2.27 .7 with Bengt Aberg second in 2.28.9 and Heikki Mikkola in 2.29.1 , Filling out the top 10 were Schmitz, van der Broeck, Colombo, Angiolini , Banks, Wright , van Velthoven. Brad qualified l Sth: Gerrit was 18th. Pierre Karsmakers was 22nd. Willi Bauer, in 39th, decided to give this GP a miss to let his injuries heal properly. 40 riders qualified. When the gate slammed down for the first 40-minute-plus·rwo·rounds heat it was Italian Italo Forni who rocketed' his Montesa into the lead to the delight of 40.000 spectators . followed by Gerrit Wolsink , Afro Rustignoli, Heikki Mikkola , Bob Wright, Herbert Schmitz. Sigi Lerner and Adolf Wei!. Brad was down in 15th. and Roger had gotten held up by a big crash on the back section of the course. He came around on the first lap in 26th position. Forni held off Wolsink until the fourth lap when Gerrit poured it on and took the lead . Heikki moved up to fourth place on the second lap and passed Rustignoli for third on lap five, held it for two laps and then moved ahead of Forni onthe seventh. __ Roger was blasting ' through the pack as he has all season as a result of his bad luck and poor starts. On lap two he had cut through the field and was up to 17th place and by lap four he was up in lIth. He passed van Velthoven for ninth place on lap six and kept moving steadily upward passing Wright and Angiolini until he made it up to fourth . Schmitz made the most of. his good start and moved up to third position by lap nine which he held until the end. Up ahead of the 'pack the Wolsinkl Mikkola battle was getting hot and heavy. When Heikki made contact, Gerrit punched his "Captain Boche" tuned factory Suzuki into overdrive and tried to get away from the Flying Finn. Heikki wouldn't let Gerrit get out of touch and kept hounding him, pushing him faster and faster. Heikki followed from lap seven until he made his move on the 14th lap on the back part of the course. It was a steep down hill with tight right turn. Gerrit had been taking the outside and Heikki the rutted harder inside. When Gerrit felt Heikki getting too close. he moved over to take that inside line. But Heikki was ready for the move, and as soon as he saw Wolsink setting himself for the inside line . Mikkola swept wide and drove past Gerrit who got caught in the rough terrain.