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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126325
Ra thm ell stopped three times to adjust the slide and nee d le settings after
each of the first three sections - but he
finally threw in the towel at the end of
the first lap, 56 marks down , and
suspecting a blown oil seal on the
timing side.
Mick Andrews was similarly d isen cha nt ed by the performance of h is
Ossa , which had been prepared for
him by the Italian im port ers.
Blaming a badly set ·up ign ition for
a visually obvious shortage of pulling
power, Britain's 33-year·old former
European champion was 39 marks
adrift after his first lap - and after ex periencing gearbox problems too ,
made up his mind to pack in .
Andrews had even changed into
swimming trunks to soak up the
sweltering heat . but persuaded by
Snr. Borga relly, the Ossa importer, to
carry, he set out for the second lap all
of 90 m in u tes behind schedule .
Rat tl ing like a train he finished the
course before his final hour had ex pired - but could only finish in 17t h
place. It was the first time this year he
had fai led to score in a cham pi onship
event.
Ba ttle commenced at a cluster of
ten sections in the wooded hills at
Monte Muretto , ten km from
Pinerolo. Here a contrast of racks and
dry earth banks made few demands on
traction . but on the succession of
tight , nadgery turns, Schreiber, the
master of the rear wheel pivot, was ab_ solutely untouchable .
While Schreiber floated everything
on the back wheel , Lampkin gunned it
and Gorgot came in somewhere between the two .
Spanish champion Manuel Soler,
given a two -week release from the army to contest his first world title round
of the year, rode as though he had
never been away .
Vesterinen . Whaley and Nigel
Birkett all began by giving away marks
that might have been saved, and it
seemed as if Karlsson and Andrews,
lou d ly cheered wit h cries of
'Magnifico' by a huge crowd for their
superb cleans at the early hazard,
would make the mos t of the running.
Bu t when Schreiber a ppeared a t
section 13's roc ky outcrop, he already
had the whip hand . He was 11 m arks
down , against 16 of Vesterinen and
Gorgot, 19 for Lampkin and 20 for
Soler . The writing was on the wall .
Lampkin , looking anxious after fin ding that some saboteur had let down
. one of his prototype rear air dampers
while the Bultaco stood overnight in
the compound, ca me back well , rode
ou t the remaining nine sections on the
lap for onl y two , and was back in conten tion again at the half-way stage.
The second lap was all about one
man .:and that man , predictably, was
the incredi ble Schreiber. He dropped
only eight marks , made up of two
threes for footing and two single.prods
. and from sect ion 10 to the fin ish. he
didn't lose another mark - despite
collecting a sm all fly in his left eye
which blinded him for a full five
minutes. It was a rid e of pure artist ry.
" It 's not how you ride, it's how much
you want to ride ," th e curly-haired kid
from California reasoned at the fini sh .
Now with four rounds to go and
Lampkin ahead by 17 po ints , the
prospect of a British World Champion
aga in are rosy indeed. But on current
form , there isn't a rider a nywhere who
can ho ld a candle to Schreiber,
Results
1. B. Schreibef (325 Bull 22 ; 2_M. Lampkin 1
348 Bull
37; 3. A. Go