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
XG a Mot oc ross G rand Prix. Ma ny were hope ful of seei ng an American rid er out front in t his most prestigeous race . bu t many of th e real istic ob servers of world champion ship competition felt tha t most of th e specta tors would be amazed to see how fast th e European riders reall y were when there was some thing more im po rta nt to them than money at stake: World Champion ship points. Am erican rnotocrosse rs were gell ing bett er every yea r , but th ey were not yet fast enough to challenge th e Europeans wh en it gOl down ' to some seri ous racing . The po ints a t sta ke make th e difference . 1I The spectators were certainly not disappointed as Willi Bauer, Roger DeCoster and John Banks fought ' l t out in the first moro before finishing in that order. t The battle for the 500cc World Championship in 1973 was between two riders, challenger Willi Bauer and the current and two -time champ Roger DeCoster. Of the Eu ropeans, DeCoster was, and still is, th e most popular with th e U .S . spec ta tors; he was known and liked by many wh o had watched him race in th e Trans·AMA series for th e past two yea rs . Aft er the first moto , th e stage was set for a confronta tion between these two in particu lar, bu t <; u nfort u na tely Decoster broke a rear shoc k and was for ced to ret ire in t he first half of th e race. Bau er went on to win the second moto and the race ove rall ahead of Yamaha's Jaak Va n Velthoven an d British BSA rider J oh n Banks. Va n Velt hoven a nd Banks tied on po ints but th e Yama ha rider , who finis hed th ird to Bank's fourth in th e seco nd m ota , had a total ti me for both races tha t was 15 seconds fa ster than Ba nks a nd sna tched second ove ra ll. Brad La ckey was th e best Am eri can with a 10th in th e first rnoro a n d a sixt h in th e seco nd to clai m eight h ove ra ll, his best finis h 10 th at tim e in th e 500cc World ,C ha m pionship compet ition whi ch he was co ntesting for t he first tim e in 197 3. Desp ite his bad lu ck in the second mota at Carlsb ad , DeC oster co nti n ued his st ri ng of co nsec u tive World Championsh ips a t th e end , of th e yea r . It was, however , a close ra ce to th e end ; Bauer only lost by a . mere two points. Bau er's win a t Carlsb ad had ca rried him fro m 22 points behind DeC oster to j ust fou r po ints be hi nd . Lackey ended up 13th in the fin al sta ndi ngs of the year , a n excellent first yea r ef fort on th e only Kawasak i in 500 cc Worl d Champion sh ip com petition . Gerri t W olsin k ma de the switch to Su zuki in 1974 and bega n his fou r year do mi na tion of t he USG P . Wolsink didn't start off t he race at Carlsbad in 1974 by setting t he world on fire , howeve r. T hat honor went 10 d Brad Lackey who ha d a lso switc hed brands, to Husqvarna , and was making his presence felt on t he championship trail. Lackey topped th e qualifying times at Carlsbad by y'ot h of a second over Heikki Mikk ola , who was leading the championship points bailie when the "ci rcus" came to California . Am erican hopes were high ; maybe t his was th e yea r we could see an American win th e USGP. Ga ry Semics, another young American rider on a Husqvarna, led the pack ou t of the first turn and held the lead for the first six laps before being passed by Wolsink. Semics gradually dropped back to fini sh l l th while Lackey slowly worked his way up to again fini sh First American in fifth SP 0 1. Wolsink was pressured in th e ea rly laps by John Banks, rid ing a CCM , until Banks dropped ou t with heat exhaustion brought on partially by a vir us infection. In th e last half of th e mot o DeCoster closed on W olsink , passed him with 10 minutes to go in th e 45 -m inute moto and sm oothly pulled away to a 17th seco nd lead. In the seco nd mot o , Wolsink ha d th e lead and DeCoster was in second wh ile Mikkol a worked his way through the p ack fro m the start into th ird. Every on e ex pected DeCoster to mak e a move and go on 10 win th e second USG P, but he was ha m pe red by so me mi no r p roblems and d ro pped to t hird . Mikk ol a gOl on th e gas ha rd a nd was right on Wolsink's tai l for the last few la ps of th e race wh ich resulted in the most spectacu lar fin ish to d a te a t th e Gr and Pri x. W olsink chargin g ha rd for the chec kered fla g out of the last co rner hit a b ump , ran up th e side of t he ba nk a t t he fin ish lin e and crashed just as Mikkola swep t by for second. DeCoster fin ished a d isappoi nted t hird in the mot o for second overa ll behind W olsink , Mikkola was thi rd overall. La ckey had wheel problem s on th e hard packed co urse , didn't fini sh t he seco nd mot o and ended up sevent h ove ra ll. J im W ein ert took eig ht h overa ll wit h" 10th in th e firs t mo to a nd a seven th in th e second , b ut lOp Am erican honors for the ' 74 GP went 10 Yamaha's Pierr e Karsm akers in his second year of living in th e U.S , a fte r movin g her e fro m H oll and . Ka rsm ak ers had a six th and a fou rt h to clai m fifth overa ll: A bail ie for th e Wor ld Ch ampion ship titl e was ragi ng between Hei kki Mikk ola and Roger DeCoster as t he part icipants flew 10 Cali fornia for th e 1975 round of th e USGP . Mikkola had stopped DeCoster 's str ing of Cha mpion ships in 1974 by grabbi ng the title , and DeCost e ~ wasn 't abou t to let him keep it more than •x r Former 500cc World Champion Roger DeCoster a crowd favorite anywhere on earth as demonstrated by this swarm of autograph seekers presently holds third in the series point standings. 31