Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Ba borovsky. The Italian Gran d Prix on May 8 at Apiro was the setting for the seco nd Moisseev double win . His 30 points took him near to the " ton" with 96, 22 . points m ore than nearest rival Ka vinov, ITop) Marty Moates is America's sole 250cc contender. He rides well, but has been hampered by mechanical troubles. lAbove, left) Harry Everts and his Bultaco have done well against the Russians. lAbove, left) Tarao Suzuki is a brilliant privateer on - what else - a Suzuki. IBelow) Andre Malherbe beat t he Russians with consistent rides in West Germany. In the first race it took Moisseev just four la ps to overhaul early leader and lo cal b oy Albert o Rustignioli (Montesa) and from then on ' he was never headed . At the ha lf distance t he Italian still held second pla ce while in sixth place W est·German Hans Maisch was storm ing through the field after a bad start. Challenging the leaders , Anatole Ovchinnikov was in fourth spot when he struck trouble 10 minutes from the end. He lost the seat of his KTM and, then retired. That put Maisch further up the field but with two laps to go disaster struc k - .Maisch's bike's front wheel spindle collapsed. It was left to Maico teammate Hudson to grab the factory their only points - he came through to eighth a t the flag. In the second leg the Russian army was in command after four laps , wit h Ka vinov, Ovch innikov and Moisseev in th e first three places. Th ~ir domination was short lived , for by the half distance Swede Torleif Hansen and Frenchman Jean Jacques Bruno (KTM) had pushed Ovchinnikov back . to fift h with Moisseev a head of Kavinov. Stocky little Japanese Tarao Suzuki ca rne ver y close to winning the Au strian Grand Prix overall held at Schwanenstadt the follow ing week (May 15). In third place on the strenuous, tight and hilly track early on in the first race his rear tire ' punctured, yet amazingly at half distance he was still there . But the sheer effort of controlling the sliding Suzuki in the heavy mud began to tell and 10 minutes from the end" he was relegated to a very creditable fifth place by wilmer Kavinov in super form . Not lett ing bad luck get him down Suzuki went out in the second looking for victory and very nearly fou nd it . Everyt hing went rig ht for Suzuki b u t he.just could not ho ld off Ka vinov , and after a superb d ispla y of close- quarters combat he had to be content with seco nd place as Kavinov came past two laps from the end. Kavinov m ade overall victory by a single poi nt fro m Suzuki - 19 to 18 points. The se co n d race was a real disappointment fo r Moisseev who made no impression on the proceedings in the first race at all and retired early on when his head gasket blew . The Russia n round-of the series at Kishinev just nonh of Odessa by the Black Sea was something of a farce. The Russia ns as usual had been very awkward with Visas and refused them to Jean Pa ul Mingels and Harry Everts ' mechanic. Not surprisingly, on home ground, and with an over 50 ,000 crowd of pa triotic fans Moisseev won both races with Kavinov behind him each time. After th at performance in the thick mud Moisseev had collected 14 1 points to Kavino v's 117 . Ma naging one of his best rides of the series J aroslav Falta broke up a Ru ssian 1-23 in the firs t race by beating Vla di mir Khu d iakov for t hird place. In the second, however , it was Ovchinnikov (KTM) who com pleted th e Ru ssia n 12-3. In sha rp contrast Moisseev had a d isappointing d a y at the next rou nd of the series two weeks later at Karlovac in Yugoslavia on June 5. He was slowed with a mis -timed engine in the first ra ce, but ne vertheless managed to just get in the points when he finish ed ninth. He did some what bett er in the second rac e but th e motor still didn't seem to be ru nning quite right and the best he could do was sixt h pla ce, T hat upped his championship score to 148 b ut Ka vinov's fourth a nd eighth meant that Moisseev's lead was now just 20 poi nts . In a day of changing fortunes Czech Antonin Baborovsky managed his second win of the series in the first race from Frenchman Daniel Pea n ( Ma ico ) with Belgia n J ea n Pa u l Mingels (Mont esa) third ahead of Kav inov and young Br ita in Neil Hudson (Ma ico) , . Not one of the first five in the first race managed to repeat their performance in the second. This time the winner was Anatole Ovchinnikov ( C Z) , He beat Belgian Andre Malherbe (KT M) with. German Ha ns Maisch (Maico) third, followed by Sweden's Torleif Hansen and Belgia n's Harry Everts who was having a disappointing ride. Events took a dramatic turn, however, at the most recent grand prix - the West Ge rman rou nd held June 19 at Beu em - when the formid able R ussia ns were beaten ove rall by winner Belg ian Andre Malhe rbe ( KTM). T he ope ning race was d r amaticall y led off the , line b y Bri ta in's Geoff Mayes (Kawasaki) who I has had a pathetic non -scoring ride up u n til now. Bu t al though q uickly relegated by Moisseev and Evens , Mayes clung on behind the latter's Bultaco, Moisseev rapidl y p ulled out 10 seconds on Everts as Hansen , who had started 14th, came storming through to fifth on lap 12. But he was unable to find a way past Suzuki who had come through to fourth place and held that spo t by a fraction of a second at the checkered flag . . Malherbe pressed Everts hard for second place but was never able to squeeze through and he lost ground in the closing stages. Ka vinov had crashed on the third la p while lying sixth and failed to score any points, bu t he was a ble to m ake am ends in the second race. Makin g t he m ost of rear tire pu nc tures which sidelined early leader Moisseev and the on-form Ha nsen , Ka vino v was ab le to come through to victory in the second ra ce , Hansen looked invincible when he took the lead as Moisseev retired b ut sudd enly seemed to go off form two la ps from home and slid agonizingly down to th ird spo t. Everts was ou t after five laps wit h a broken gea r box, leaving Malherbe and Baborov sky figh tin g for the places, clear of a tig h t scr ap between Suzuk i a n d Ma isch , wh ic h wa s resolved when the former su ffered an engine seizure with onl y five minutes of racing left. So that's the way t hings stand at the moment with Moisseev firmly .plan ted at the top of the ta ble with Kavinov 20 poi nts be hin d , and Evens trailing on 103. An y on e of these three coul d beco me worl d champion. But with only three rounds remain ing the odds are that the en d resu lt will be a Russian 1-2. The man who could u pset the a pple cart, of course , is wily Belgian Andre Ma lherbe, who has p roven that he is ca pable of extremel y good resul ts and could conceivably beat countryman Evens for third place overall. • . Results CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONSTO DA!C: 1. Gennady Moillll88Y IKTMI USSR 163 pointll. 2. Vladimir Kavinov IKTMJUSSR 143. 3. HlIfl'Y Evertll IBul1Belgium 103. 4. Andre Malherbe (KTMI Belgium 98. 5. Antonin Baborovsl

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