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/127213
Former 250cc MX World Champion Danny laPorte rode his first ISDE and claimed Top American honors. He finished 11th in the 500cc class. American Club rider Fritz Kadlec negotiates one of the terrain special test sections that was located on a German military tank t raining base . The American rider and support t eam was almost 200 strong . The whole crew gathered at opening ceremonies. Marc Velkeneers (405) and Bert von Zitzewitz dice in the MX spe cial test. Velkeneers' KTM eventually seized wh ile he was leading. 14 Andersso n, on a 510cc H usky fourstro ke, claimed th e fastest terrain test tim e. . , LaPorte' s spee d in th e specia l tests had been grad ua lly getting faster a nd faster as th e event progressed. O n th is da y, LaPorte regi stered th e fastest times of a ll the Am eri cans in a ll three o f th e d a y 's special tests. But La Porte's tim es were still a p pro xima tel y seven seconds off those of Peterh ansel. It was o n this day th at former fourtime U. S. National Enduro Champion Cunningham broke hi s foot in a grass track special test. " I jus t gra bbed too much front brake an d crashed ," sai d Cu n n ingham . " My foo t go t tra p ped between the groun d a n d th e engine cases ." In pa in , Cunningh am managed to contin ue rid in g. At the end o f th e da y, the team doctor p ut a cas t o n the foot. T he cast was cu t o ff the next morning a n d he ro de. Wh en h e· finished the day, a new cas t was p u t on the foot . H e repea ted this procedure for th e nex t three da ys. H is special tests times were sligh tly affected by the injury. A few mi les from the fina l check, U.S. club rider Gra nt Pal enske had th e piston in h is Yama ha YZ250W R break apart, forcing him to repl ace . th e piston a nd rings o n the trail. Pal en ske co m pleted th e . job with on ly ni ne m in u tes shy o f ho urin g out. Desp ite h is fast times in th e special tests, LaPorte's times for cha nging tir es a t th e en d of eac h day were quite th e o p p osite. On Wedn esda y, LaPorte came within mi nutes o f bei ng la te to th e im po u nd af ter it too k h im 19 min utes to cha n ge a rear tir e. " Cha ng ing tir es isn 't one of my speci a lt ie s," said a la u g h i n g La Porte. " I don 't cha n ges tires too o ften, and wh en I do, I'm usuall y at home and spe nd a ll day do ing it. I'll ge t th e .wh eel off th e bike, get . sid etracked , go ridi ng or so me thi n g, co me back , put th e new tire o n the rim, go have lunch , a nd m aybe fini sh th e job th e sa me day. I'm n o t used to having to do it in 10or so m inutes." After Wedn esd a y's scores were ta llied , the re were no major cha nges in the sta ndi ngs. Ital y had stretched its lead over Sweden by a few points, wh ile West Germany maintained its comfortab le adv antage over Czechoslova kia. A few points in back of th e Czech team was East Germany , and the U.S. team was a ll a lone in six th with Great Britain a distant seventh. After moving into seco nd p lace in the ir respective classes the day before, both Roeseler and Lewi s slipped ba ck to third. By the fourth day , it was apparent that the World a nd Ju nior World T ro p h y standings wou ld remai n th e same un less something drastic h a ppe ned to a ny of th e top tea ms' ri de rs. An d th at a lmos t ha p pen ed wh en th e Ita lia ns pro tested Peterhansel' s bike for bein g und e r t h e minimum weigh t. Wh en hi s bike wa s weigh ed Fr iday morning , it was found to be wi thin the legal lim it, although the nigh t before it was wei gh ed a nd fou n d to be too light 2.2 p ounds under th e req uired 220 p ounds. Mysterio us ly, Pe te rha nse l's bike gai ne d a few pou nds over n ight wh ile in impound . The o ffic ia ls adm itted that th eir sca les were fau lty a nd th e p ro test wa s disallow ed. As th e event ro lled o n , Ital y's times in th e special tests were still among th e fastest a n d the team 's points lead conti n ued to grow. Peterhansel also ' co ntinued to set the fastest times in the tests and he, too, st retched hi s lead every day . Meanwhi le, th e wren ch es were flyi ng in th e U.S. pits. All 46 o f th e Ameri can riders weresti ll runni ng, but there were a few close ca lls . Kawa sa ki KX500 cl u b ride r Rob Neeley a n d Yamaha YZ250WR rider J oe Zierman both su ffered to p-end seizures on th e trai l, but both m anaged to replace the bro ken p arts with out h ou rin g o u t, alth ough Zierman o n ly had o ne mi n ute to spare a t th e next chec k. Suzuki R MX 250 riders R ob Mesecher a nd Ro n Lawson were kep t busy in the pits j ust before impou nd. Mesecher 's tra ns mission was st uc k in fourth and fift h gears, and Lawso n's wa terpump seal gav e o ut. Both riders began working on their bikes befo re impounding their Suzukis Th ursday afternoon, and fi n ished the job Friday morning before th e sta rt. H owever , Mesech er was a li ttl e late to the start af ter replaci ng a bro ken