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/126414
E • ~ t I. this the year an American will win the USGP1 Chances are better than ever with Brad Lackey - shown with tuner Steve Staiebki above anclln action on the Kawasaki Uni·Trak - readY to go for it at Carlsbad. A .pr·elude to the fiercest battle in World Championship history Carlsbad Conf- ential By Jim Gianatsis Photos by Jan Boer. Dale Brown. Charles Morey and Gianatsis Things were looking bleak. From the American viewpoint, the 1979 500cc World Championship MX Series couldn't have gotten off to a less auspicious start. This was the year Brad Lackey was to give America a World Championship. But a ~-end switch to Team Kawasaki with its radical pew Uni·Trak 14 420cc tractor had Brad jet-setting his way from Europe to America to the Kawasaki factory in Japan to sort out intial teething problems. Even the World Champions looked like history. In pre·season International races in Europe both' Roger DeCoster and Heikki Mikkola bit the dust. Suzuki's five-time 500cc World Champ DeCoster suffered a broken collarbone just four weeks before the series started. Yamaha's three-time reigning World Champion Mikkola tore his knee in a mud race about the same time, and the doctors said there was no way they would be racing again before mid-summer. Even young American hopeful Chuck Sun on Husqvama broke his wrist while out practicing in the Swedish snow on his bilt,. It was a bad start for what was expected to be a good year in the 500cc class. But by the time the first race took place in Austria back in April, the situation began taking an exciting about-face. Lackey had the Kawasaki just about sorted out. Both DeCoster and \\1ikkola showed up with their still·unmended injuries and gutted their way through practice like the dedicated veterans they are. DeCoster had recovered enough to finish as high up in one molO al founh place and take sixth overall. Lackey collected second overall. Even more exciting than the return of the top three contenders for the 500cc World Championship was the fact that the 1979 season brought with it the emergence of other contenders for the title. For the first time in at . least 10 years the title bout had become a wide open free-for-all battle between a number of riders, rather than the domain of just one or two. At the first race in Austria, Maico's Ivan van den Broeck from Belgium won· the opening moto; Lackey took the second. Brad had set fastest practice time earlier with the UniTrak, indicating it was fully sorted out, and during the race had to charge his way up from mid-pack starts both motos. Collecting the overall win though, was England's Graham Noyce on the factory RC Honda with two second places to give Britain its first World Championship event win since Dave Nicol won. at Luxembourg on BSA some 10 years earlier. The second race was the French Grand Prix. French KTM rider JeanJacques Bruno gave the crowd something to cheer about as he took the first moto over Noyce and Lackey. But then Lackey came back to dominate the final race and score the overall win, putting himself-into flrst place in the point staridinga. DeCoster was still riding ten4erly, nursing his injured shoulder back to strength, riding an RN -400-79 works Suzuki with a radical new trailing/leading link front suspension. Collecting a remarkable third overall few the day was reigning champion Heikki Miltltola as he marked his return to the series.' In Sweden for round three, Brad Lackey began to steam roll the opposition as he battled Mikkola, Noyce and Suzuki's Gerrit Wolsink to snatch the fmt molO win. Then in the second molO, as Brad fought to secure his second Grand Prix of the season, he was forced out with a broken frame. Wolsink took the second moto over Mikkola and DeCoster, collecting the overall win in the process. Despite his breakdown, Lackey still held a