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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126928
.... Q) ..0 o ~ u o and Junior World team, as well as me Czechs and Swedes. The Italian Trophy team lost more points tllan the American team during the muddy second loop, so the Ital ians maintained their overall points lead when the loop was thrown out. The next problem was that approximately 10 riders hOUl'ed out during the second loop, including Hough. The jury meeting that night did not allow Hough to repair his Honda and have it impounded later that night, since his bike broke during the second loop. But for unexplained r asons, the rest of the riders that houred-out were allowed to start day three. De pite starting the event with a broken foot, crashing into a car Monday and riding both loops today, Husky-mounted Hoess was 47m, and sixth American in the 250 class behind Larratt, seven-time ISDE gold medalist Jeff Fredette, Shephard, Jim Stanfield and Randy Hawkin . "My foot really hurts whenever it touches the ground, but it's basically doingokay," he said. "In the morning it hurts a lot, but halfway through the day, it usually goes numb." After scoring and rescoring day two, the results showed Italy still in the lead, 37.78 points ahead of Czedloslovakia (236.04), West Germany (328.44), Sweden (344.20), France (386.34) and East Germany (392.21). The American team was seventh with 490.58 points. points). "Just as I was coming into elvino," said Halcomb, "there were two marshal standing mere, and one guy just pointed at me and directed m off to the left. I came to a hill overlooking Bergamo, and I could see riders down there, 0 I followed the trail and kept going and going. As it turned out, the guys I aw were cha e riders. I turned around and headed back up me mountain and lost three minutes to the next dleck." At the end of the day, Halcomb filed a protest and won, getting his point back. "Luckily one of the race o[ficials saw the marshal direct me the wrong way," said Halcomb. Heading into day three, Summers was fifth (outof91 riders) in the 125cc class, but iliat ended when he received an early-start penalty and dropped 60 points. "The start guy was counting down the time," said Summers, "and I thought he said 30 seconds, but I couldn't really tell since he speaks Italian. Then I thought he said five seconds, then a few more seconds went by. I pulled out my kicks tarter, and I thought be said 'okay start.' I tarted my bike, and he goes 'no, one second.' He tried to get me to start my bike and I did." ummers' problems didn't end there. "In the first special test," said Summers, "my seat came 0(( halfway through. I was trying to hold it on with my legs, but I had to tand up over a jump and it flew off. A spectator grabbed it and ran it down to the end of the test." Summer dropped back to 27m at meend ofthe day. The trail on day three was the exact same loop as day one but run in the opposite direction. Because of the rain the day before, many of the trail ections were eliminated, including me grass track special test. At me end of the day, Italy had extended its points lead over Czechoslovakia, We t Germany, Sweden and France. The U.S. team dropped to eighth. Day Three (Wednesday) Despite a clear morning, day three started out badly for me American Trophy team. Ballard's Can-Am wouldn't start on time, and the team lost its first penalty points (60). And ju t after the start, Halcomb got lost and dropped three minutes (180 Day Four (Thursday) The trail on day four was all new and mostly of[ road, making it the toughest day yet. Chuck Miller came down with a bad cold Wednesday night. "I really haven't been feeling good all week,'" said MiUer, "but last night I woke up sweaty and had Four-Stroke class winner Guglielmo Andreini pushes his Husky in the greasy mud during the grass track special test on day two. 12 By the second loop it started to rain, and the trails became slicker and slicker. When the first group of riders (Trophy and Junior World) came to the special test for their second run, the track surface wa made up of greasy mud and was nearly impassible. The American and Czechoslovakian riders did well in me slick mud, while the Italians had problems. In one muddy, uphill, o[fcamber section, Italian Trophy rider, Edi Oriol i and his Honda XR600 got stuck and lost almost 20 minutes. After all the Trophy riders rode the special test, the rest of the club riders were rerouted around the mountain where the special te t was held. After completing me special test, Roeseler, while heading down me mountain, crashed hard. "It was real rocky and muddy," he said. "I came up to a German rider to pass and I washed out. It screwed up my bike, broke off my hand guards, and I hurt my knee a little. As I finished up the day, my mrottle started sticking real bad, and the airbox was sucking in a lot of water. Maybe the airbox was jarred or somethi ng in the crash. The last three sections, I did all I could do to just get in. Allhe last che k, I took o[f the air cleaner and it looked like solid mud inside. Tomorrow morning I'm going to put on a new carburetor. " It was also shortly after the first special test when Hough dropped out of competition when his Honda' seized up. After all the confusion with riders being rerouted around the 1000-foot mountain climb, me clerk of the course, Tullio Masseriru, asked the International Jury members to mrow out me second loop, and they did. This highly benefited the Italian riders and hurt me American Trophy dUlls. I bad the doctor give me antibiotics which helped." Despite it all, Miller hadn't 10 t any route points and was 42nd in the 250cc class. On the new gra strack spe ial test course, Italians Renato Pegurrio (KTM) and Davide Trolli (TM) clipped the two fa te t I25cc times. In the firstTound, Pegurrio's time was 292.45 seconds, while Trolli had me fastest time in the second round with a 279.75. Halcomb' times were a 302.49 and 213.39; Summers' times were 293.20 and 227.28. In the 250cc class, Grasso, Pellegrinelli and Lugino Medardo (Pudl) were within one second of each other for me fastest times in the first special test. In the second outing, Grasson beat Pellegrinelli by one full second. Top 500cc riders were Alessandro Grilli (KTM) and Jonsson. Dave Bertram, riding a 430cc Husqvarna Automatic and the only rider ever to start and finish tile ISDE on an Auto, collided with a German rider on me trail. "On me fir tloop, I ran into the back of him," said Bertram. "He got stuck on a hill, and just as I wa going around him, he fell over, and his silencer hit right in my radiator. It ripped me guard almost off, tore two radiator mounts and bowed the radiator:.." When Bertram came into me final check of the day, he had to replace me broken radiator mounts. After day four, Italy had a comfortable lead ahead of Czechoslovakia and Sweden. The U.S. team had moved up to sixm. Halcomb wa top American 125cc rider in 20th, with Summers close behind in 22nd. In me 250cc class, Grasso led PellegrineUi by 10 seconds, while top American was Honda rider Dennis Larralt in 28th. Kawasaki KDX-mounted Fredette was 30th; Shephard was 31st; Jim Stanfield was 34th, Hoess was 36th; Hawkins 37th, Miller 42nd and Stephan Vanasse (KTM) 67th. Gritti held command of the 500cc class, less than five seconds ahead of Jonsson. Top American was Kadlec in lOth, followed by John Bruckbauer (23rd), BertrarTJ (24th), Duke Lambert (33rd), Ballard (37th), Je[f Russell (39th) and Bean (68th). The Four-Stroke class belonged to Andreini, who was a few seconds ahead of Czech rider Josef Chovancik (Jawa) and Frenchman