Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Interview: 1919/83 250/500 MX World Champion Hakan Carlfl'lisf The end of an era By Alex Hodgkinson Ten years ago, a bu rl y young . kid. from Sweden named Hakan Carlqvist made his presence known by banging handlebars with some of the greatest names in motocross . Names like th ree-tim e 250cc MX World Champion " T I'f G uenna d y M o iseev, or el H ansen and H arry Ever ts. In 58 his first a tte m p t at th e 250cc tit le in 1978, rac ing aga inst these su pe rstars, Carlq vis t finish ed a respect ab le seven th. In 1988 Ca rlq vi.st b~gan his 10th - year o n th e G P .C1rCUIt, despite t1.le fac t th at every n der ~h o pl aced m th e tOJ:> 10 .1lI .the _50cc Wo rl d C!lamplOn shlp III .1978, e;-:cep t for himself, h ad long sm ce retir ed fro m th e span. . · IS Ca r Iqvist start ed th i season gOlllg up aga inst you nger, hungrier and hea lt h ier riders, su ch as defe n di ng Wo r ld Champion Eri c G eboers, Da ve T horpe an d Ku rt Nicoll. Ca rlqvist was th e lin k between th e old and new genera tio n o f World Cham p io nsh ip mo tocross co mpetito rs. Bu t foll owing th d 988 GP season , th e link fina lly snapped when Carlqvist announced h is ret irement a t th e age of 34. During his brill ia nt racin g career, Carlqvis t claimed two World Champio ns hip ti tles - one in th e 250cc class in 1979, an d one in th e 500cc class in 1983. Carlqv ist wen t ou t i n s tyle, tho ug h. T he seco n d-to -Iast500cc G P o f th e 1988 seaso n , Carlqvist showed everyo ne th e o ld Ca rlqvist form a nd he d id it on the toughest G P co urse on the circu it - the Cita del track in Na rn ur, Belgi um , a nd he did it aga ins t riders, some of wh om were 10 yea rs h is junior. On a prod uc tio n Kaw asaki: Carl~Fis t h um iliat ed th e opposi tio n b y c ircu la t i n g fi ve seconds a lap. faster tha n a ny o.f ':is riva ls a nd built up a lead so bi g m th e first mota, that he had time to stop at the tra cksi de cafe, th e Cha let du Mon u ment, to dr ink a g lass of beer. . And, at th e fina l race of the year, Carlqvist finish ed seco nd overa ll in Luxembourg. We cha tted with t his ve te ra n performer about h is career and the wa y in which mot ocro ss has cha nged during .that tim e. H d Ii . I . GP ~ a ve you e mue y q u it s. Yes ' for sure' . . I?o you intend to race any mternatlTonals n~t year? . No , .n oth l~g. I q.Ult aft er th e Swed ish Nationa l III Eksjo, I stop co m p letely next year. Whal.changes have yo u seen inthe GP scene since you joined it in the mid·70s? It has chan ged a lo t with many ups and downs. Wh en I came up around 1974-75 th ere wa s a lso a slump in . th ~ market , Ju st like ~lOw . Sponsorship was har d to fmd th en a nd virtua lly everyone was a privateer. T hen a t th e end o f the 70s a n d thro ug h th e first few years o f the 80s, th e facto ries ha? big tea m s aga in . Now th e tren d I S .do wn war d as far as facto ry su pport I S co ncerned. I gu ess 1979 to 1983 wa s th e high poi n t, No w th a t Yam aha has' p u lle d o u t o f th e 500cc G P scene, there is o n ly H on da. I don ' t kn ow how much Kaw a sak i and KT M will do. T he factories do seem to be mai ntai ni ng some interest in the other classes, but it is definitely down. How has the standard of riding changed during your period in the game? For sure, it has gouon stronger . Simply in terms of th e nati ons who have riders co m petin g at th e top level. T en yea rs ago th ere wa s not th e interest in th e GPs from pl aces lik e New Zealand and Au stralia , a nd yo u on ly have to look a t th e number o f ride rs fightin g for th e p oints to see th at it is harder nowada ys. J suppose back aro u n d 1980 we had more th an a dozen factory riders in th e 500cc GPs a nd now you ca n co un t th em on th e fin gers o f one hand, but th e increase in th e number o f participating co u nt ries h as to have impro ved th e gen eral sta nda rd o f entries. Wh ere yo u notice th e drama tic im proveme nt in th e racing now is in th e battl es for th e fina l Wor ld Cham pionsh ip po int s. H as the q ua lifica tion system helped th at ? I don't think so. T he riders at that level wou ld be a t th e C Ps a n yway because of th eir pl acin gs o n th e Na tional gra d ing l is ts , b ut th e q u al if icat ion has defin itel y im proved th e sta ndard fro m 20th25th down io 40th. Previou sly, th ese pl acings would h ave been fill ed o u t with local rid er s, but now on ly two ge t in if a co u n try is n ot stro ng in talent. How have the tracks changed? T here has been a bi g differen ce th ere. T hey wer e mu ch m ore diffi cult before. All of th e effon n owadays which a promoter puts in to a track seems to be d irected towards making stadium-type jumps with tabletop . jumps a nd artificial berms in th e corners so that the hotheads ca n just go wide open . That is bad for th e yo u n g riders, because th ere is less em p h a sis on the true motocross technique. All of th e o lde r riders have had to cha n ge th eir technique ove r th e yea rs. I think th ey sh o u ld keep th e su pe rcross a nd th e CPs separa ted. Lets keep m ot ocross pure, a nd let th em ge t on with whatever kind of ci rc us th ey want in th e stadi u ms . If yo u look a t th e 500 C Ps th is year, th en yo u will see th at th e entire field was separa ted by just two or three seco nds a la p a t most tracks because th ey h a ve cu t o u t th e . diffi cult sections . Everyt h ing n owad ays is made wit h bulldozers. T he on ly real C P thi s yea r was Namur. T ha t was th e o ld style except for the one tabletop on the Esplanade. Farleigh is a lso th e o ld style. The young riders just don 't get th e ch ance to ride on th ese tra cks with natural bumps any more, an d yo u see what happened, an old g uy like m e runs away with th e ra ce. Even Sittendorf an d Payerne hav ebeen ch a nged now. Even two or three yea rs ago they we re both re a lly difficult tracks techn ically, but th ey are graded so much n ow th at it is difficult to ga in a n adva ntage in sin g le laps. T hey shou ld prepare tracks before a ra ce, but th e way in wh ich it is done nowadays sim p ly gives th e notso-good riders a cha nce to stay closer to the fast .guys. They spe nd all o f th eir time building silly jumps a nd forget th e dust a nd th e sto nes. Most promot ers a re to be co ngra tu la ted for tryin g hard with preparatio n, but I feel th a t th ey ar e goi ng about it th e wrong way . What have been the big di fferences in the bikes? . During my ca reer th ey ha ve changed! co m p letel y. I ha ve h ad to adapt my. riding style to meet th e cha nges in: the bikes over th e years. There a re not m any of us arou nd in th e 80s wh o were a lso riding intern a tional. before th e revo lu tio n in sus pension. T ha t time was for su re even harder fo r guys lik e Wol sink, Mikkol a a nd DeCoster wh o were from a genera tion before me. They had it really to ug h a t th e end o f th e 70s. Which were the most difficult bikes to ride? _ Those arou n d 1977-78 right through . to 1982-83. There was a lot of power, too much really, but the y were still expe rime nt in g with th e suspens io n. No one had th e single shock systems working perfectl y th en . There was pl enty o f tra vel both fro n t a nd rear, but yo u were a lways on yo u r guard wondering what it would do next. You see now th a t th e factories have . a ctuall y redu ced th e a mo u nt of travel , but th ey a ll work so much bett er. A sta ndard bike nowadavs is much , much bett er th a n a facton" bi ke o f 1984, even 1985. . I We are used to seeing the support truc ks from the tire and suspension com p a n ies at the races. How lon g ha ve they been there? "1 T he re was noth in g a t all in that line durin g the '70s, but th e level of su ppo rt h a s . b een p re tty s ta tic • th roughout th e '80s. I get the impression that you feel that . Sweden's Hakan Carlqrist finally called it quits after 10 years of racing the 250 and 500cc MXGP circuit. He earned two championship titles in 1979 and1983.

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