Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Luft , j ust out of bed after three days of flu , onl y nursed th e new 250 . KTM round th e course as a spectator. H is teammate, six-times West Cerman cha m p ion Felix Kr ahnstover rode the 330 KTM prototype th roughout with a bent swinging arm . a legacy of th e Fre nc h ro u nd a week ea r lie r , but he was not d isappointed wirh his 32 nd placing . '" a m not rid ing for points" sai d the six-foo t six-inc h German gi ant - o n ly t o get informat ion fo r f u rther d evelopment ," Schreiber sta rted his assa u lt on th e traps of Tara ssa in brill iant style. a nd wa s joint leader wi th An drew s . KarIsson and Belgi an j ean - Lu c Colson when they came to Carlets for th e first time. The stre a m test and second -gear blast here saw only eight riders go dean - Schreiber, Andrews, Karlsson, Couta rd , Span iards Alfonso Soler and Mart in Terra . plus . Martin Lampkin and Nigel Birkett. Former Suzuki team rider Birkett was going great , having ridden th e gripless, loose shale climb a t th e fir st haz ard for a prod - a performance matched only by local expert J oaquin Abad. Schreiber's lu ck held out wh en he punctured just before Ratoli , th e 12th section . for only a short distance fur th er o n, he stum bled upon Bulraco 's su p port va n. and was a ble to switc h tubes with little bother. - Vesteri ne n said : '" have had many problems toda y - a nd I'm not used to pr oblems." After th e fir st lap of 25 miles , British Montes a rider Nigel Birk el! was in co nte ntio n for a good haul of titl e points. lying joint fifth with Ka rlsson and Shepherd , but he tailed aw ay to eig hth a t the finish when th e d ry roc kery became pol ished and skid dy. Only Schreiber a nd Lampkin of th e top flight runners thought it had been a nything less th an a great trial. "Too easy. " cl a im ed the Yorkshireman . "Not wha t we have come 10 ex pe ct of Spain." a nd Schreiber ag reed . The schedu led appearance of th e home-spun four -stroke.Moto Gu zzis in the hands of Giuseppe Bartorilla and Lu igi Pegora ro , failed to materialize. , Gearing problems with the revarn pe d Stornell o machines persuaded th e two Italians to stay at home , whil e form er Au stri an c ha m pion Walter He went on to become the only rider not to have a "fiasco" ( five marks) on his fir st lap punch card , but Lampkin , who had opened his account with a pair of fives, was 'chasing him all the wa y, and the top two began their second tour with just four marks between th em. As th ey began the second lap , it was Schreiber's turn 10 sweat. A double five for th e American against a single five for the Briton put Lampkin into th e lead for th e first time - but it was 10 be short-lived. Unable 10 keep his feet on the pegs at Conill, a section he had cleaned so ea sily first time round , Lampkin ga ve 'ba ck three marks as he legged his wa y out of trou b le, and with his main rival string ing together 19 cleans in th e sec tion 25 sections,' it was in the bag . Schreiber's aspi ra tions tow ard s stu nt- work we re evident , when three sections from home, he gambled on leaping the Bu ltaco across seven feet of wat er , to a void taking 10 cambered rocks with wet ti res - and the gamble ' paid off with yet another clean ride . Un abl e to a d a p t t he Su zuki 's " fu rio us flywheel" cha racte ristic 10 t he many rock y turns he encou nte red, Malcolm Rathmell had vet anot he r m isera ble d ay, and by fi~ i~ hi ng in a very un fami liar II th be rt h , he vir tu all y waved goodbye to his cha m pio n ship cha nces . Sch reiber cou ld a fford th e luxury of addi ng half a m ark 10 his tot al wh e n finisliing five m inu tes into his final hou r , whi te Lampkin , charging the cou rse like a d ing -b a t , avoid ed ti me penalties for th e fo urt h tim e in the five ro un ds staged so far. Roun d six , ha lf-way stage in th e cha mpions hip fo llo ws on May 28 in G efr ecs , W eSI G e rm an v . wher e a no t her win wou ld pu t h i ~, t hird in th e worl d. • Resu lts ...... ... l-o 0.. < Charles Coutard on the new 320 SWM. on hi s way to a 10th place finish. M ick Andrews ret urn ed to f orm er sponsor Ossa. and rode t he 310 to third. 'l, Bernie -Schreiber (Bull 31.5; 2. Mart in Lampkin (Bull 37 ,0; 3. Mick Andrews lass) 46 .5; 4. Utf Karlsson IMon l 46,7: 5, Rob Shepherd IHon) 54.8: 6. Yrjo Vesterinen (Bull 55.1: 7. J-Luc Colson IMonl 62.2; 8. Nigel Birkett (Mon) 62.5 ; 9. Anthonio Gorgot (Bull 69.6; 10. C, Coutard ISWMI73.4: 11. M . RathmelllSuzJ 75,8; 12. A. Soler 18ull 80.4; 13. R. Edwards IMon) 85.3; 14. J , Wallman IBull 86.0: 15, P. Soler IBull B6.3; 16. A. Juventenny I05sl.89 .2; 17. M. Terra (Bult 89.5; 18. G. Tosco ISWM ) 92.0: 19, E. Baldini IBull 95,5; 20. M. Cirera {MonI97.5. Wor ld Championship Point Standings (five rounds gone. seven to corne l: r1. Lampkin 59; 2. Vesterinen 55; 3. Andrews 36; 4. Karlsson 36: 5. Schreiber 35: 6. Shepherd 33: 7. Lejeune 11; 8. Colson 10; 9. $ubira 8; 10. Rathmell 7; 11. Coutard 7: 12. Reynolds 6; 13. Wallman 6; 14. Edwards 5; 15. Birkett 5; 16. Gorget 5. 7

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