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/126546
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GP motoerosser Gerard Rood lIettl heated up his tires before the acceleration tests. Jack Johnson (right! makes a tum in town on Day Four; he got gold.
Day Six
The final day was 67.2 kilometers of
mostly roads and easy trails leading up
to the final motocross which, like last
year, was table top flat. Set on a grass
.airstrip, the 2500 meter course was
basically a huge oval run clockwise
with haybales marking different chi·
canes as turns in an effort to slow the
riders a bit. It was a wide open course
with no jumps and little chance for
passing if you got a mediocre start.
Course cutting through the ribbons
became commonplace as the day wore
on, and the track itself turned dusty
and bumpy in the course of the sevenlapmotos.
Kevin Brown got the American effort
off to a good start when he won his
l25cc moto with Gray Leonard third.
Brown did the deed without the aid of
his clutch, too, as his clutch cable
broke on the parade lap. •
"On the start, I just started it and
had to posh it down the field a little
ways and stomp it in gear," he drawled.
"I was fourth from last in the first
turn, just tried to play it cool. They
kept running into haybales, and that
was helping me.
"I finally caught the first and second
place guys, and, heck, they were just
tire to tire, I just figured, 'Well, I'll
just sit here and watch these two take
each other out.' When they did, it
threw one over and the other one
swapped ends. I had 'er in the right
gear and nailed it at the right time and
went by. I got lucky. "
Lucky or not, he moved up to gold
and second American in class as Burleson, who was in the middle of the
pack in the neltt heat, recorded a time
nearly as fast. In doing so, Burleson
also moved up to gold, his eighth con·
secutive one, and was top American in
class.
The first heat of 175s was also a
good one for the Americans as Dean
Joyner and Suzuki-mounted Scott Atchison got the holeshot and ran 1-2
into the first turn. Joyner held onto the
lead for a couple of laps before
surrendering it but still placed second
in good time, good enough to reach
gold. Atchison faded back a ways but
finished fairly well for Six Days rookie.
Yamaha privateer Terry Seales passed
Atchison a few laps from the finish
and also earned a silver.
Mark Hyde was the top American in
the next heat of 175s which ensured his
top American in class standing. Mike
Rosso was hampered by a bad start
and couldn't work his way around the
riders in front of him. ISDE rookie Vic
Ely on a Kawasaki was the third Ameri·
can rider in the heat and stayed on
silver.
Frank Stacy turned in the top U.S.
performance in the 2505. He jumped
into second in his heat but a near crash
put him hack a couple spots in the
final 250cc class test results behind
class winner Alessandro Gritti from
Italy, Austrian CP Puch motocrosser
Heinz Kinigadner and East German
MZ pilot Harald Sturm.
Jeff Fredette was the next fastest
American with the seventh fastest
time, and Mike Melton was ninth. Fritz
Kadlec had a third in his heat which
got him 12th fastest test time ahead of
Rusty Reynaud and Ed Lojak; with
Ray Mungenast several slots back at
17th. Drew Smith, John Martin and
Wally Wilson could not get around the
mid-pack traffic in their heats and recorded the next best American 250cc
times.
Yamaha-moutned Bruce Ogilvie,
Frank Gallo and Husky's Terry Cun·
ningham were the fastest American
500cc riders in 15th-17th place, all
within one second of each other. As
expected, Gerard Rond smoked his
heat fOT the fastest time of the day.
Ray Cosgrove and Larry Roeseler
were next Americans down the list.
Roeseler had a bad start when his
engine wouldn't fire right away ("The
most it ever took to start was two kicks
until then. Out of six mornings, it took
a total of 10 kicks, then when I wanted
it to start in the final moto, it wouldn't."),
plus he went down in a pile up of riders
later which cost him, by his estimation,
close to !l0 seconds. He still finished as
second American overall to Stacy, top
U.S. 500cc rider.
Kevin LaVoie and Chip Howell on a
Yamaha were the next fastest American 500cc riders. Howell, a first timer,
was sitting on the line waiting for his
heat to stan when eventual class
winner Guglielmo Andreini walked
past, stopped and pointed out a flat
rear tire. Mter some quick checking,
Howell determined that it was only a
faulty valve core, so he replaced it,
aired the tire and went out fast enough
to pull himself up to gold.
Desert racers Scot Harden, Jack
Johnson and Six Days veteran Carl
Cranke turned in the next fastest
times, several seconds off LaVoie and
Howell's times. Joe Lojak, another first
timer on a Husky, and Morris Norman
completed the American listing.
In the final tally, the Americans put
themselves back to fourth in the World
Trophy standings and retained fifth in
the Silver Vase. Overall, many were
disappointed in the lack of severity of
the trails and the emphasis on special
tests. As Trophy team manager John
Morgan put it, "I wanted to see a test
of skill and we didn't see it. "
On the other hand, he sounded
optimistic on the future of America's
chances in Six Days competition.
"We're seeing a new breed of riders in
the United States come into the Six
Days effort, and these riders are training. They're getting the motocroIIS training, the motocross background that is
really necessary to get to compete
against the Europeans.
"1 think what we're going to see within the next couple of years if our effort
continues the way it's going now, supportwiae as well as the riders, we're going
to see an American team that is not
only going to be a threat but will definitely have winning capabilities."
Top American Frank Stacy also
voiced hope. "I think I can compete
with these guys (the Europeans). It's
just that you've got to ride hard, you've
got to ride fast every single day, and
you can't make any mistakes 'cause
these guys, that's the way they ride.
"These guys, we know they're fast,
but we can never race up against them
to find out what they're doing. We just
don't have the competition. I think
that makes a difference."
•
Results
125:
GOlD: Dick Burtooon lHuol !i604.80/25lh; Killin
Brown lHuol5613.B7/27th.
SILVER: GnIy Loonsrd IHue) 67l16.llO/37lh; Dwight
_
lSuz) 6863.46I43rd; AlIon ZJu. lKTMll1026.07/
.eth; o.n DllIon lKTMl11l115U8162nd.
ClASS WINNER: GuoIlIoro _ . holy (Fen)
6088.33.
175:
GOlD: Mort<
SILVER:
ltt.wl 5454.44I141h; Ms.. _
o.n ~-.s3I33rd; _
lSuzl 6li8UIII2lllh.
lSuz)
~
lSuz) 6629.06I18lh;
s-t _
lKewl 5736.6lII3&lh; T...., s-. IVomI 5798.64/
38th.
ClASS WINNER: ~. KJeutz, w.. Germeny
lZunl610U19.
260:
GOlD: Fori StKy lSuz) 6242.!iOI41h; Ed Lajsk lHuol
6325.8817lh; Drew SmIth lSuz) 6374.08I141h; .-n
Ely
_lSuzl 5:IB.eI5(1l1lh; John Mer*' fC.Al6.W.731
17th; Mike _1Hue) 6423.47122nd; Fritz KedIec ICA) 6667.08I3Blh.
SllVER: Ruety Reyneud lHue) 6B79.8B1511t; W_
_1Hue) 67411.2016!1lh; Reymond Mu~ lHuol
6lI08.301811t.
ClASS WINNER: AlII II Idro GrtIIi.1Isly lK1el60&U10.
500:
GOlD:
~ R _ IVomI 62lI4.79I10lh; T....,
C,-" .ogtwn lHuol 1i29ll.7liI16lh; Fori GeIo (KTMl
63lIlL1fI27ltl; Sc:oc Herden lHuol 640B.45/3OlII; Jed<
Jahr-. lMeII 5l!01.62/3l1lh; en- OgilvIe IVomI
66ll9.20137lh; Rey ~ lSuz) 6110JlOl38lh; K_
~Voie IKTMl6630.B7_; Cal