Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Continued/Tom page 9) 500cc GP of West Germany at Beuern 13 July 1969 "I don't know wh y but I was afra id of making a clean , unhesitating sta rt at Beu ern , As a result , I foun d myself at th e ba ck of the pack each tim e a fter the gate d ropped , I d id have m y first o ne -o n -o ne duel wit h Willi Bauer , a German newcom er to Grands Prix. " T he overa ll win wa s in dispute between Aberg an d Fri edrich s wh o bo t h finis hed the da y with six points, The East German was awarded a two second , tim e advantage on the clocks . It must be wri tt en somewhere th at Ben gt A be rg will never win at Beuern. " 500cc GP of Belgium at Namur 3 August 1969 " I won the fi rst m oto and I felt in perfect co nd ition , I didn't fee l t ha t way after 30 seconds of ra cing in the second ro un d . I could cro ss off the ove ra ll win , A littl e after leaving the st a rt a rea , I got invo lved in a cras h by t he En glishm an , Hi ckman . Trying to avoid it, I cha rged in to th e fenc e. I lost about 25 seconds t ryin g lo retrieve m y bik e -from its iron skewer. At th e end of th e first lap , I came by in 23 rd pl a ce . From that m oment o n, I started to do everyt hi ng per fectl y. T he jum ps, th e co rners wer e all ridden with millimet er pr ecision a nd without th e slig htes t error. En couraged by the unsuspected efficiency of style - eve n though I had kissed off any chance of re-establish in g position in th at m ot a - I slowly real ized wh at had see med im po ssib le . .. and kept go ing. - -, "B y mid -more . I had come up to seventh . But I wasn 't willing lo rem ain th er e . During th e last lap , I came up o n W eil , worked p ast him (somet h ing I' d a lways h ad trouble with before) and charged tow ard the finish lin e . I got the re second : 7.2 seco nds after the arrival of John Banks: .But I had a lead of 10 .6 seconds at the end of the first moto whi ch gave me ove r a three second adva ntage. I won the Belgia n Grand Prixl A Belgian had fina lly won , I I years afte r the la st nationalist victo ry by Rene Baeten in this event. "T here are a lot of people who swea r tha t . ra ce was the most significant accomplishment of my ca re er.... In any ca se , th at . Gra nd Prix will always be un forgettable . " As for John Banks, he vented h is black mood on his mechanics fo r not giving him timely signals on m y pos ition. Otherwise - so Banks maintained - I wou ld . ne ver have threatened his overa ll win ." 500cc GP of Luxembourg at Ettelbruck , J 10 August 1969 " People celebrated with m e so much after t hat victo ry at Namur , that I was still slightl y drunk the next day. It seem ed like th e parties went on forever. T o the point that at Ettelbruck , I wasn't able to find the rh ythm of that course . Very happily, I got lucky - sort of. I was the unplanned victim of a fla t tire whi ch gave m e a rea son to pull off. That Grand Prix was marked for Dave Ni coll. The Englishman , rid in g a BSA , got away both times at the head of the pack and then co vere d his get aways with such a cloud of dust that none of his would -b e pursuers could get past him to deliver some of the same treatment ." 500cc GP of France at Laguepie WR 250. WR 400- WR 450 9.25 ' INCH TRAVEL FRONT AND REAR • ELECTRONIC IGNITION • VDO SPEEDO • CENTER STAND • SKIDPLATE ' • WR GEARBOX • READY FOR YOUR 15 August 1969 ENDURO AND CROSS CO!JNTRY WINS. " I was not definitely not the deliverer of good luck to John Banks. At Namur, I had blown his victory that would have been a lot of help to-him in the struggle fo r the World Champion. This time , I was handlebar-to-handlebar with him going into the first turn after the sta rt. Both of us kept the gas wide open to the last moment hoping - and wa iting- - for the other to shut off firs t. So much for that idea , T he re was probably some justice in that crash. . "Sho rtly after that , Banks went out with mechanical problems. I was th en asked by the CZ team manager to help out Paul Friedrichs , which I tried to do to th e best of my ability in the second moto. I wasn't much help to o ur #1 rider. Aberg was the better rider that day and cl inched the World Championship ." 500cc GP of Switzerland at Wo!J.len 24 August 1969 " I was one of the few non-Swedish riders to be invited to the party Bengt Aberg threw to celebrate his first World Championsh ip . Afterwards , I was privileged to have a -deep friendship with Bengt. The race itself? Aberg won on a sti cky circ u it. But with a little bit of luck , it would have been me who won . It didn 't happen as I had the back tire go flat in both th e first and second o ut ings. Tha t put an end to m y ambitions ." J , 500cc GP of East Germany at Schwerin 12 April 1970 "J oel Robert and Sylvain Geboers had switched to Suzuki. I had become designated th e top rider for CZ with,the formal assurance of be ing totally supported , no matter what , with no restrictions. In any case , I wasn't exactl y filled with joy th e even ing after that first Grand Prix of the season . "A problem with the brake in which the wheel kept locking up put m e a lo;-g ,way from Joel and Sylvain in the first moto. Between motos , I bl ew up in a rage a nd th e Czech mechanic got chewed out by the m anager. Already, th in gs look ed gri m . . ." 250 GP of France atPernes-les-Fontaines AT TEXAS TWO -DA Y QUALI FIER . FIRST OVERALL . . . MANUFACTURERS ' TEAM AT TEXAS QUALIFIER . FIRST OVERALL •. . MANUFACTURERS ' TEAM A T ALABA MA QUALIF IER . ,., SEE YOUR DEAL.ER OR WRITE FOR F R E E BROCHURE EAST : Ma ico Mo torcycl es. I n c • • 109 E l ec tr ic A ven ue. Le w istow n , Pen n . 17044 MID~ENTRAL Debe nh em I m p o r t s ~ : R o u te 1, Box 21 1 • WEST :. Maico Wes t , I nc . - 110 Ea ~t Santa Anita Ave n ue . An ti och, I llinoi s 6000 2 Bu r b an k , Cal i f o rn i ~ 91502 31 August 1969 " It wasn't only in Switzerland that I bl ew victory by so little. It was th e same in East Germany, when the carburetor started coming loose a t a cri tica l point in th e race . T o finish the race without losing th e carb , I had to slow down and lost preci ous seconds. That made the rest of the sho w Arne Kr ing's busin ess as to wh o won . The clocks were in h is fa vor. I wrote off one of many Gra nds Prix th at season. "As a result, I was on e of the biggest losers of th e d ay. I was passed in th e final World Championship standings by Arne Kring wh o be a t m e by on e misera b le point: 66 to 65 : For th e third consecu ti ve time , I found m yself in fifth overall for th e championship." 250cc GP of Spain at Sabadell FIRST OVERALL . . . 19 April 1970 " O n that narrow, rock-hard and rock-strewn circuit , Torlief Hansen a nd Mi ro sla v Halm demonstrated a first class ex hib itio n of skull -crack ing riding. They crash ed to the ground together. twice butsomehow without breaking ei the r rider or machine . And so they continued on the verge. of to ta l d isaster. I was con vin ced at th at point that ne ither Hansen nor Halm would be able .to keep the lead . In both m oros, I demonstrated ex treme care and j ust paid attention to m y rid ing . Mo ra l of th e ~tory : I finished third overall behind th e berserk riding of Hansen and H alm . The o ne time I succeeded in withholding m y com bati ve impulses, yo u co u ld n't reall y say it was a su ccess ." • ~L.~~ New HONDA location to serve you better 328 EI Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024 714'43&'9771 Bultaco Maico KTM Honda Ossa Racing Motorc ycl e s & Eq u ipmen t Grand Opening Speci al ' 7 7 2S0 Pursangs Riders Wa nted Shop Su pport A v ailable ,We are the people our parents warned us about Sam my Ta n ner D istr ibu t ing -lUBI- EH BTC 213 ·924 ·2111 KENNY ROBERTS RACING SPECIALTIES 9600 Pioneer Ave, Oakdale. Cil 95361 Frames Swing Arms Shocks 209-847·2572 Wheels 37

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