Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

and passed Aberg for third place. Then on the very next lap he passed Wright and got by Graham when young Noyce stalled his engine in the mud and then got going only to crash out. break his clutch lever and retire. Bengt moved right up with Brad to take second place. The two were locked in a terrific battle until Bengt faded back with fatigue in the broiling sun and Gerrit caught and passed him on lap 20 with four laps to go. Wolsink made his climb to the top by moving up to seventh on lap eight , fifth by lap twelve then passing Schmitz on lap 17 and finally getting by Aberg three laps later. Wolsink actually caught up to Brad and was making contact to pass but Brad's physical condition and his ability to give that extra push that is needed to stay ahead paid off. He held off the hard charging Wolsink to take the win at the checkers by four seconds. Talk about luck; on the last corner of the last lap Gerrit hit a hard bump and his chain jumped off. When he gave it a handful there was no response and he actually coasted across the line to collect 12 points. . Aberg was able to hold off Herbert Schmitz to take third place with 250 GP contender Andy Roberton scoring no points for his fifth place. Bob Wright, Adolf Weil , Hakan Andersson, Ivan van der Broek andJaak Van Velthoven filled o~t the top 10. Roberton and Hudson were non scorers in the 500cc table , and Wright was disqualified after the meeting. Brad stayed cool and calm be tween the races. There was one more race to go , and he wanted a high enough placing to win the Grand Prix . With Heikki and Roger out in the first race his main threat for the overall win was Gerrit Wolsink who had finished second in the first race. Wright and Noyce took the start of the second race with the Un ion Jacks waving frantically for the two British riders in the lead. John Banks also got a good start and the home crowd was pumped. Their delight did not last long as Wright crashed out and both Lackey and Schmitz moved ahead of Noyce as they came around to complete lap one. Herbert passed Brad on lap two and held onto to the lead until Graham rallied and pulled ahead of Herbert for the lead on lap eight. Brad's RC was having throttle problems coming out of the mudhole, and Brad was forced to take it easy and use the clutch and throttle to keep the revs right and prevent the throttle from sticking wide open. Heikki got a better start in eighth place and moved up to sixth by lap three. He jumped up behind Brad for fourth spot on lap eight and then got by Brad's ailing Honda on lap 10. Noyce and Banks were racing in th e number one and two spots and Heikki swept by both the British stars on th e . 15th lap for the commanding lead that he took unchallenged to the checkered flag in 23 laps in a time of 44.41 compared to Brad's 24 laps in 45 .32 . DeCoster's bad luck dogged him again when he was forced ' to pull out on the first lap with a sticking throttle. He watched as Mikkola stretched his World Championshiplead by another 15 points. Herbert Schmitz had fallen down to fifth pla ce when he ran off the course. Noyce passed him and then he cr ashed on ce more on lap 21 . whil e lying seventh which put him out of th e ra ce. T wo laps from the finish, Banks rallied and got by Noyce for second. Wolsink ha d m an y p robl ems in his ra ce for 10th pl ace. His throttle stu ck wide ope n twice , on ce when coming out of th e water hol e and with his engine wide ope n he sidepu nc hed Honda's Mr. Sagagushi and Fred Bauch stand by as Lackey talks to supporter Patrick Wygaers, who makes it to all GPs to help Brad. Adolf Weil right off the course. Gerrit crashed, and before he could get his 385cc Suzuki restarted , another passing rider rammed Gerrit who was on the edge of the course on a sharp bend. Gerrit straightened out the front end as best he could, carried on and had the throttle stick again . He kept going, got things under control for his 10th place. Brad was warmly congratulated by Heikki, Roger . and Gerrit who can remember what their first GP win was like . Brad has finished in number two spot several times, to win a Grand Prix is now the highest peak of his five years in racing for ' the World Champion, ship. As Brad said after the race, " I was consistently high this weekend when everybody else wasn't. I came to England to win and it feels good to ' have done it. " What does he feel about the rest of the season with a month lay-off until the Belgian GP on the seventh of August? _ " I'm not going to telephone Lori ; I want to be there to tell her myself. My birthday is on the sixth, daughter Lia's is on the eighth, and then I'm going to spend the month of July training hard but relaxing a lot also. No racing, maybe we'll head for Montana to do some backpacking and camping in the mountains, get back to nature and take it easy . I'm coming back to Europe enough ahead of the Belgian GP to get my head tuned up again for the three remaining races. I want to win as many of those six remaining motos as I can. " The only bad note of the day was Bob Wright's disqualification from the -, first race . He was riding a 600cc CCM , everybody knew about it , and when the International Jury members were approached and asked what was going to be done about it th ey wer e obl iged to request that the first five machines scoring W orl d Championship points be measured . Alan Clews , owne r of th e Clews Com peti ti on Machi nes, refused to ha ve the bike mea sured an d th e machin e was tak en aga inst the or - ders of the 'International Jury from the pare ferme. Clews argued that his machine had finished sixth and that the In ternational Jury was discriminating. The matter will be reported to the ACU and the FlM for . action against the cheating matter. The offic ial results weren't published until nine in the evening. In the first ra ce with Roberton and Hudson scoring no points and Wright di squalified. seventh place through 13th scored World 'C h a m p io nsh ip points. In the second race , Roberton and Mayes scored no points, so eighth through 12th picked up points, out of sequ ence. Brad . was joined on the winner's rostrum by Andy Roberton whose 5-7 score was good enough for second overall. Gerrit Wolsink was third man fort he day with his 2-10 score . • Results 1tit Mota: 1. Brad lackey (Han); 2. Gerrit W~sink ISuzJ; 3. BengI Aberg (Yeml; 4. Herbert Schmitz (Meil; 5. Andy · Roberton IMon) ; 6. Bob Wright ICCMI; 7. Adolf Weil IMeil; 8. Heken And8nlSOn IMon); 9. l\/8n \/8n der Brook; 10. Jook Ven Velthoven IKTMl; 11. Neil Hudson IMeil; 12. Arne Lindfors (Husl; 13 . Frens Sigmans(Hus) . 2nd Moto : 1. Heikki Mikkola (Yeml; 2. John Benke ICCM); 3. Grehem Noyce IMei); 4. Bred Lackey IHan); 5. Hoken Andersson (Monl ; 6. Jook Von Ve/thoven IKTM); 7. Andy ROberton IMon); 8. Ivan von der Brook 9. Geoff Moyes; 10. Gerrit Wolsink ISuzJ; 11. Andre Vromans; 12. Adolf Weil IMoi). 5OOc:c World Chempionship MX points standings: 1. Heikki Mikkola 1220); 2. Gerrit Wolsink 1172); 3. Roger DoCooter 11581; 4.Brod Lackey 11301; 5. Herbert Schmitz 1671; 6. J..k Von Ve/thoven (52);7. Haken Anderoson 1491; 8. Grohem Noyce 1421; 9. John Banke 1391; 10. PierreKarsmokersl28l. Heikki Mikkola fattened his 500cc points lead with a win in the second mota. 37

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