Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

, FRENCHGI': This man will probabl becom e World Champio agaIn ... • N o "n '" e, N ..... Cl ...Because this man broke his ankle in practice. (/) ;:: w Z w -" o >o + ( Jo el Robert . A St rawberry En terprises Producti o n By Te rry Pratt Ph o t o s by V o lne y Ho w ard PI:: RN ES·LES-F Oll:TAINES. Fran ce April 16, 19 72 - Suzu ki m ade it two in a row he re S u nda y as II' o rld Ch amp io n J oel R obert w on the G ran d Pr ix o f Fran ce to b ack up te am ma te Syl vain Geb o ers' w in a t last w e ek's Sp ani sh Grand Prix. J oel w as inju red in last w ee k's rac e bu t he lo o ked as strong as ever in France and led b o th heats w ire to wir e . Ho w ev er. m isfor tu n e struck the Su zu ki le arn whe n Ge bo e rs was invo lved in a crash d uring p rac tice o n S atu rday whi ch b rok e hi s rig h t ankle an d virt u ally elim ina te d th e u nl u ck y Belgian from con ten ti o n in th e II' o rld C ha m p io ns h ip for yet anothe r year. S ylv ain su ffe re d a leg inju ry last ye ar an d af te r traini ng all wi n te r he came ba ck in top fo rm. His victory in th e mu d clogged Spanish G.I'. showe d th at h e w as ready 10 ch alle n ge R o bert for the Wo rld Title . \\' ith Cebocrs ou t of the run ni n g Joe l d o esn 't ha ve a serious th re a t. In F ran ce J o e l' s on ly c o m p e titio n ca me fro m t he C ze ch and Russian riders on CZ m achin es. A ll th e CZ r iders are fas t a n d th ey ride wi th a lo t of d esi re . A ny one of the m c o u ld pull off a n upset so metime th is season bu t as in d ividuals th ey arc inc o nsis ten t an d_n o ne of the m is in R o b ert's class yet. 1I0 weve r , th e fas test qualifer at th e .. Sylvain G eb oers. Fren ch G.P. w as Gu ennad y M o issecv, a Ru ssian r ider wh o be u ered .J ocl's la p t ime b y . fiv e secon d s. Bu t .J oe l k nows th al Ch amp io n ship p oin ts aren 't ea rned in q ua lif y ing tri al s an d w hile Ro bert w a s ou t in fro nt all d ay, :>lo isse ev w as hac kin g his w ay p ast the interna tio na l stars in th e middle of the pack . . In th e firs t h eat J oe l w as in t he lea d go ing in t o th e first tum and the C Z rid ers w e re li te ral ly banging into ea ch other in a fre nz ied effort to c atc h up. On the fir st lap Mir o slav lI al m, one of the fas tes t C ze ch o slovak ia n riders c rashe d wit h Pavel R o u lev , a Russian . Du r in g th e n e xt lap ~I o i ss ee v . who h ad gotten a bad s tart an d was smoki ng u p th rou gh th e p ac k, smacked in to h is Ru ssian te ammat e Vl adim ir Kan iko v. Be hind J oe l ca m e Marcel \\'iertz, wh o soon seized h is Bultaco, T h ird w as Herb e r t S chm it z , a Maic o rider w ho dr opp ed o u t wit h ge arb o x tro u b le. Th a t left J aroslav Falta, a C ze ch o n a CZ in se cond and Pavel Roulcv in th ird . An o th er Ru ssian , A lex y Kib irine c ame up an d passed Roulev w h ile Moi ssc ev had 10 p ick u p h is b ik e and com e from 13 th . Wh en th e dust and stones settled, the o rder was Joel fo llowed b y F alt a , " Kib ir inc Ro ulev and fif th was th c still -ch argi ng M o isseev. O lle Pe tersson, - on th e ver y special Kawasaki , c ame sixth an d th e first Hu sk y ' rider w as Uno Palm in seven th , T hc se cond 40-minute race lo o ked a lmos t li ke a n in st an t re play of t h e first h e at excep t th a t differen t CZ riders w er e try ing to kee p J oel in sigh t. Robe rt aga in go t o u t in fron t imme d ia telv while M oi ssee v a lmos t looped h is C Z wh en th e starting b arri er fell and h e was eatin g dust way bac k in 17lh p la ce o n the fi rs t lap . ~ Iiroslav lIalm, the Czec h, c hased Ro be rt fo r a while but Vl adim ir Kanikov soon c augh t u p so Ilaim pulled ov e r an d waved the faster Russian by. K ih ir in e fo llowed in fourth and Pavel R o u lev C ame snorting pas t Gaston Rahier on the Husk" an d O lle Pe tc rsso n on th e Kaw asaki. . Wild m a n M oissecv was h anging th e berm s an d cl ick ing cases w it h A rnie Krin g, Uno Palm, R ahier a n d la te in th e race h e slip p e d p ast ail e Per e rss on a nd Pavel R o ul e v. Up fro n l, Kani k ov cu t .l ocI's lea d to ab o u t four secon ds before J oel p u lle d farther ah ead in th e fina l lap s. Th e Ru ssian wa s ridin g h is h eart au 1. li e ca m e thro ugh eve ry se c tio n with o ut a ny m argin and h e appeared to be righ t o n the lim it o f con tro l. In co n trast. Robe rt's Su zuki never waivercd. With the Russian ju st se conds bchind, J oel was s till sty lish and h is Suzuki's whee ls seemed to alw ays h it th e ground exactly where h e wan ted. Unless o.ne of th e CZ boys ca n rap idly develop in to a superstar .J oel wi ll be a virt ua l walkaway in the 250cc Wo rld Ch ampionship. G c boers is e xpec te d to b e off the track fo r abou t five wee k s an d th e Hu ski e s h ave b een off th e p ace wi th inju ries. problems w ith ex perime n tal m a ch inerv and bad luck. Per crsson tu rne d i~ tw o c o n siste n t rides to ga in sixth overall for th e Kaw asa ki bu t it is pre mature to expect a threat from the prototype. J oe l m a y no t w in all the races th is season bu t b a rr in g th e unforseen he looks like a shoe-in . RESU L T S OVERALL Joel Robert Pavel R ou lev Gue nnady Mot sseev A le x y K ibir in e Miro slav Hatm O lle Pet e rsson U no Palm K al ev i Vehko nen Gaston R ah ier Jean -ct auoe N ovack D omi ngo Gr is We r ner S ch utz Kalb erer J ar o stev Falta Jo La mme rs Mich el Combes G ue r in J oh an sso n G torda nenqo A ymard E rlin g K linke Ole Ott osen 1st H k:. A I R ob ert Fa lta Kibirlne Ro utev Moisseev Peterss on Pal m Veh k onen H a lm Rahier Ka lberer S uz Belgiu m CZ CZ CZ CZ US SR USS R US S R K aw H us M an H us M on Sui Mai Hus CZ Ma i M on Bu l Mo n M ai CZ Hus czecno Sweden Swe de n Fin la n d Belgi u m F ran c S pa i n Ge r m any S w itze r la nd Cze cno H oll and France France Finl a nd F rance France D enmark De nmark 2 nd HEA I Robert Kanik ov Hatrn M oisseev Roulev Pet er sso n Palm K ib ir i ne Rahier V ehk o nen No vack

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