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/126314
5 Brad lackey, America's sole GP t itle contender, will be trying to beat the world's best - four-time USGP winner Gerrit Wolsink (6) and SOOcc World Champion Heikki Mikkola (2) - shown in the 1974 USGP finish line sequence above. 30 By Suzie Mann Photos by larry littlefieldl Escondido Times-Advocate and Charles Morey A t 3 :45 p.m . on Sunday. June 24 . 1973 the checkered nag came out for Team Maico's Willi Bauer, winner of the first -ever. points-paying World Championship MX Grand Prix to be held on American soil. This historic event (10 all those concerned with mo tocro ss racing) had been in the planning and tria l stages since the end of 1970 whe n the two principals of T rippe , Cox Associates, Englishmen Gavin Trippe and Bruce Cox decided 10 promote and stage a World Championship motocross race . Trippe and Cox, former motorcycle jo urnalists in Europe, came to the States and established a week ly motorcycle newspaper the spring of 1969. They then branched off into promotion by running the weekly flattrack show at the famous Ascot half mile in Gardena, California . Though tpey hav e promoted other races. the USGP is the most presrigeous. Though it has grown, the large amount of work in organizing this race is still done by Trippe , Cox and Gerard McCaffrey who joined them in 19 71. Motocross was still a fledgling sport in those days : America's largest and most powerful sanctioning body, the American Motorcycle (now Motorcyclist) Association didn 't really acknowledge its existence until 1970 when they created the Trans-AMA series. The forerunner of the USGP at Carlsbad, California was part of that original Trans-AMA series. a nd was a 250cc event won by the legendary Joel Robert on a Suzuki. Gary Ba iley. riding a Bu ltaco , was the highest placing American in that race. ninth overall. The sport of motocross grew literally by leaps and bou nds over the next two years, thou gh we were still dependent on the European stars 10 draw the really big crowds, ma ke the racing more exciti ng and continue . 10 teach the Am erican riders all the subtleties of going reall y quickly on a motocross course. I n 1971 . Trippe and Cox applied (through the AM A) to the Fed eration lru ern a tio na le Mo torcyclist e , whic h controls th e sanctions of interna tional motorcyc le races throughout the world , for World Championship status for the Ca rlsbad race . It was granted end ing the fulfi llment of running an approved (by several F IM observers) international 500cc motocross race for the ma ndatory two co nsecutive years prior to t he first full points-paying Grand Prix race. Carlsbad remained part of the Internationa l T rans-AMA series for 1971 a nd 19 72 as . it moved towards that goal. The 197 1 race was won by Suzuki team rider Sylvain Geboers of Belgium. It was the first race in the TransAMA series that year. and Geboers went on to dominate that series. The Trans-AMA was also used to determine our own 500cc National Champion in 19 71. and though no American rider placed in t he to p 10 of the final 197 1 T rans·AMA standings. th e ba tt le was a close o ne bet ween CZ ·mounted Brad La ckey. the somew hat wild rising star of American motocross, a nd Husq va rn a's somewhat steadier young lion , Ma rk Black wel l. Lackey posted the bes t American finis h . a n unprecedented fourth place overa ll in the Carlsbad race. Tha t overa ll p laci ng was eq ualled two weeks la ter by Blackwell in Elk horn, Wisconsin : the H usky rider then went on to take the 500cc American Championship over La ckey by the narrowest of margins - one point - a t the end of the series. By 1972 . American motocross was really booming; we had our own series of races to determine 500cc and 250cc National champions. The U.S. 500cc National Motocross C ha m pio n for 197~ was Bra d Lackey who dominated the class completely for the year. Lackey scored nearly two and a half times as many points as his closest competitor. Yamaha rider Gary J ones who dominated th e 250cc class standings from 197 1 through 1974. Team Maico rider Ake J o nsson won the Ca rlsbad race in 1972 . Ca rlsbad was the seventh event in the 11 race Trans·AMA series that year and the fif th st raight victory for Jonsson who continued on to win the T ransAMA series with an u n p recedent ed nine straight victories . Bra d Lackey again took best American honors a t Carlsbad in 197 2 with a sixth overall . He was also t he best American at seven other Trans -AMA races a nd was the only American rider 10 break into the top 10 in the series point sta ndings . Lackey had switched to Kawasa ki a t the end of t he U,S, Nationa l series a nd rode t he "mea n, g reen mac hi ne " to sixt h overall be hi nd J onsso n. reigning 500 cc W orld Champion Roger DeC ost er. Heikki Mikkola . H ans Maisch and Arne Kring . Anticipation was high among the esti mated over 40 .000 specta to rs at Carlsbad on June 24, 1973; they came 10 see ri ders from I I different na tions ba tt le for the honor of win ning the first Hang T en U.S.