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Roger DeCoster cuts a trail throu gh the goo unde r th e Continenta l
Roger and Ak e Jonsson lapped the enti re field in a 40 m inute race.
By Strawberry Enterprises
Terry Pratt Story
V olney Howard Ph otos
V IENNA-SITTENDORF ,
A USTRIA,
April 23, 1972 - Battling through the
mu ck at a steady an d con siste n t pa ce ,
America n Motocr oss Team cap tai n
Brian Kenney finished well in tw o 40
min u te heats t o earn ) ) th overall in the
Austrian 500cc Moto cr os s Grand Prix
held on a pi cturesque course in the
h eart o f the V ie nese woods.
Two Ca lifo rn ian s, Bob G rossi and
Ma r k Blackwe ll rode in the mu dba th
unde r sponsorsh ip fro m Husqvarna bu t
th ey flo u nde red in a sea of m isfo r tu n e
and retire d afte r the first heat.
The co u rse was built on a grassy h ill
with man y o ff-camb er turns an d steep
hi lly sections st rewn wit h rocks an d
ru b ble . After a week of in termitten t
rain the grou nd was soaked and on race
day the ra in and k nobbies w h ip pe d th e
m ud in to pan cake ba t te r.
A hu ge u p h ill made o f mu d and lo o se
rocks gave tro uble to even th e b est
riders incl uding Suzuki works ri d e r
Roge r DeCoste r who w o n b o th mo tes
af ter rac ing briefly with Willi Bau er in
the first h eat and Bengt Aberg in th e
se c on d .
The d ay o f racing b eg an on an
o ff-key
n ote
when
th e Austri an
o rgan ize rs sta r ted th e first heat eigh t
m inutes early with out c he c kin g th e
sta rtin g list. Aberg, Andy Roberton and
several oth er rid er s in cluding all three
Americans mis sed the star t an d ch ased
after th e p ack from m o re th an h alf a lap
behind .
For Mark Blackwell, wh o w as ridin g
on ly hi s fourth mud race, th e d ay cam e
to a close when h is brake loc ked on a
slick d o wn hill and he w as pit ch ed o ver
th e hand lebars. Mark w as u n h u rt but h is
Husky ' s fo rks and fo r k cla m ps were
be nt b ey on d a q u ick repair.
N orthern Californian Bob Grossi wh o
is more accustomed to racing in the
mud, con tin ue d to circu la te but his
ignit ion wa tered o ut and he was running
w ith only h alf an engine. Bob finished
22nd in the first heat but despite th e
best e ffo rts of Mark, Bob an d te am
co ac h R o lf Tibblin , th e bike di ed o n th e
lin e and fai led to st art the se cond h ea t.
Brian Kenney. wh o now rides a Mai co
afte r a m ix -up ahout his Yam a h a
sponsorship, kept h is scooter moving
and des pite a co uple of ex cursions in to
the rough, h e p e rsevered to fin ish I) th
in th e first ra ce and 14th in th e second .
Willie Bauer, th c Mai co rider from
Ge rm any, led th e open in g laps b u t
DeCoste r c u t a trail through the goo and
slipped in to the lead after a few
minu tes. Chri ster Ham ma rgren on a
standard looking Yamaha held th ird for
a wh ile but he late r dropped back to
ninth . Ado lph Weil was running in
fou rth bu t he ca lled it quits a t the
h al f-w ay point be cause of mud in his
e ves.
. After lI ammargrcn and Wei1 dropped
au t , Vlastimil V alek look o ver third ori
a J awa th at lo oked like he built it
h im sel f in the b ac k o f the van on the
way fro m Czechoslov ak ia. Behind Valek
was another Czech, J iri S todulka, rid ing
a wo rks CZ .
On the first lap , Ake J on sso n took
two tries to climb the bi g slick u p h ill so
he had to work his way up fro m almost
last to six th at the finish of th e firs t
heat. Ex-World champ Paul Fr iedrichs
b roke h is CZ's b ra ke pe dal so mew he re
in the firs t ra ce a nd packed it in fo r th e
d ay.
In the second hea t A berg made n o
mi st ak e about b ein g-o n th e starti ng lin e
and after th e fir st lap h e was in the lead
by 2 0 0 yards ah ead of DeCo st er, Bau er,
J onsson and Hu sky teamm ate Mikkola .
Aber g d idn't ha ve thi ngs go ing h is
way h owev er , and in three lap s
DeC o ste r ma de u p th e lost gro u n d an d
too k over th e ra ce . Aberg co ntin ued to
fall way bac k as a resul t of a cou p le of
get -off's and a watered out e ngi ne .
A ke J onsso n p assed Willie Baue r an d
th en DeCoster an d J on sson lap p ed the
enitre fiel d in clu d in g Bauer wh o
fini shed third .
Stod u lka was a lap ahead of Hu sk y
ride r A n dy R o berto n and Mik kola , wh o
see m e d to h ave a lot of t ro u bl e in the
m ud , was scored sixth in th e secon d
race.
Kenne y ' s finish ge ts th e A m erican
effort off t o a good star t in the ) 97 2
G.P. seas on and when fate de al s
Bla ckwell and Grossi a better hand th e
p aten tial is there to wake up a lo t of
