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/126268
500cc GP of Holland at St. Anthonis 28 July 1968 "After his success at Belleme, John Banks was brimming with total confidence in his abilities . That race in Holl and was one of th e most remarkable Grands Prix of his career. Nobody could 'stay with him . Not evenJefTeu wissen who . on a circuit made exactly to his personal tastes. put in the best per formance he ever realized in a Grand Prix . As the result of a cr ash in the second moto , I lost th ird pl ace overall which up 'til then appeared to be mine. In so far as th at race affected worl d titl e sta ndings. th ere were st ill four riders with a chance: hero of the day John Banks, Friedrich s, J on sson a nd me. Theoret icall y, I cou ld still become World Champion th at seaso n. " 500cc GP of Belgium at Namur 4 August 1968 "T heoretically .. . but in real ity, that last small chance d isappeared on the 'Cit adel' circuit that afternoon. Not in the first moto. I fin ished fourth with all my hopes still ?live. But I didn't finish the second moto at all . The ca rb uretor float on my CZ Jam me d stuck. Goodbye, World Ch ampionsh ip . . 500cc GP of Luxembourg at Ettelbruck 11 August 1968 "T hat race was over during practice. A cr ash effectively put me ba ck in th e pits before the first rnoto . I had hurt my thigh again . where I'd al ready suffered a torn mu scle. I was witness to the maneuvers of J ohn Banks used to bring Vic Eastwood the overall win . That was a performance watched enviously by Paul Fried richs also with even more interest as it would have en abled th e German rider to put an end to his rivals' ambitions toward the world title." 500 GP of Switzerland at Wohlen 18 August 1968 "On th e 'skating rink' a t Wohlen , where I did th e famed start gate som er sault . .! suffer ed the whol e race from the pulled thi gh muscle which still handicapped me. Despite everything, I fin ished seventh overall. That was th e limit of my performance that day . "Herr Ramsch , chi ef of the East German team a nd certain of seeing Paul Friedrichs take his third world title. got so carried awa y with his enthusiasm that he lost all conta ct with reality during the last seconds of the final moto , H e ran ou t on to the track , signaling to his top rider that the race was over. Friedrichs pulled off. falling int o th e arms of his team director. Their wild em braci ng was rudely interrupted by a CZ fact or y team representative who was brutally awar e th at th e celebration was premature. There was on e more lap to go . " Bu t Friedrichs had such a lead over the next rider. Jeff Sm ith (third -ra nked a t that time) that he took off to cover that last lap just as the Englishman came into sight. Old Ramsch was about ready to collapse. For h im , that last lap by his golden boy Friedrichs was like a walk up Calvary." 250c~ GP of Belgium at Borgloon (Above) DeCoster gets dow n t o Trans-A M A business at Lake Sugar Tree. Te xas last year. IBelow) The tr ophy for th e prestig ious Inte rnational motocross at Hove. Belgium is this copper eag le crafted by the Belgium sculptor Pinten s, Roger won it four years in a row. and wife. Laurie. is faced w it h the pleasant problem of f'ming it into the anti que decor of their home. (Bottom) This w as the sto'r y of the 1975 Grand Prix season. Roger was better prepared tha n ever, knew how to w in and did. in 12 motes, to take th e #1 plate from M ikkola, (w ho trails Roger in this photo ). 30 March 1969 " O nly seven rid ers were ab le to fin ish both mot os in th e sea of mud that d ay wit hin the tim e limit. Th at was the finishi ng list for th at Belgian Grand Pri x that d idn't pa y points towa rd th e World Championship . I won th e first heat ahead of (Ado lf) W eil. In the other. I finally rect ified a situation th a t ha d been com p romised for too long and won the Grand Prix overa ll." 500cc GP of Austria at Sittendorf 19 April 1969 "The F.I.M . had pu t into effec t a new scori ng system . T he first 10 posit ion s in th e overa ll finishi ng or de r wer e th e only ones that won points. "At Sittendorf. I also m ade a really hollow effo rt d ue to th e timekeep ers listing me as two laps down inst ead of one in th e first mot a . . "A big rock 'ben t th e ge ars hift lever. When I had to sto p to bend it back , I was lapped . According to th e officials. I fin ish ed 20th . two laps behind th e winner : Bengt Aberg. As a result in the overall sta nd ings I was put down as 11th. Even though I sho uld have figured a t ab out fifth overall. " I had hesitated a long time before d eciding to rid e th e 360 CZ with which I'd won th e Belgian East er Trophy instead of the 400 set up by the factory for this GP . But the bik e seem ed d ifficult to ha nd le. For th e third time, Sittendorf was a synonym for d isappointment." _ 500cc GP of H olland at N org 18 May 1969 "I still wasn 't tot ally recovered from the knee injury incurred at the sta rt in Wuustwezel. The result was a Grand Prix that was better forgotten - at least as far as I was concerned. I did meet Arne Kring, an unknown who in a week had become one of the better International riders. In only eight days ..the likable blonde Swede had become on e of the major stars in 500cc racing. After the Swedish Grand Prix. he dominated the Grand Prix of Holland. He was the undisputed leader of a World Championship toward which I had yet to score a single point." 500cc GP of Italy at Lambardore 25 May 1969 "Finally, I had some. My first points in the race for the title. I finished th ird behind an extraordinarily quick Bengt Aberg and a surprising Dave Nicoll. But the ride of the da y was turned in by Adolf Wei!. He broke his handlebars but was still able to get his machine to the finish line. He got more applause and congratulations than the winner, Aberg." . 500cc GP of Czechoslovakia at Prerov 15 June 1969 "At a narrow uphill a little after the start . there was a crash at the head of the pack. A few riders were able to escape the pile-up of men and machines blo cking the track . But me , I had to wait until the track was cle ared to get by. So I started ofCan entire lap down on the leaders. I rode withou t much enthusiasm. It seemed like every year during th is time. I fell into th ese blanked out . hollow periods . They seemed to last from two weeks to a month ." 500cc GP of the U SSR at Kishinev 22 June 1969 " Because of th e administrative ha ssles th at have to be over com e by We stern European riders, the Russian GP is always an adv enture before it even starts and in which the actual riding onl y partly d et ermines the final outcome. 'ja ak Van Velthoven learned th is to his dism ay when he was stop ped at th e Ru ssian Roumanian border since there were no order s' from Moscow to allow him ent ry to the country. As far as I was concerned, I was able to get to Kishinev. But I had to ask myself if it was worth the trouble. The rac e had hardly started when I found myself going down a little downhill ahead of my bike. I flew about 20 meters int o a clump of trees. I was knocked out on impact but, thankfully, nothing was br oken." (Cont inued on page 37) 9