Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

2? .'" on 0- M .... '" en ~ UJ Z UJ ..J U >- U Red, w hite and blue kid, Pomeroy . chases U no Palm (Puch) and apparently passes the litt le chubby guy . POIIIII GRAND PRIX b y J ohn Hue tt e r S ZCZ EC1N , POLA ND, May 13 - The co lo r of east ern Euro pean Communism isn 't red, it's gray. T he sh ab by buildings, stree ts, an d cl othes of the p eople all attest to that fact. As does th e weather. It see ms that virtually every o the r Pole wi ll try to s teal any thing , even if i t is n ail ed d own o r in yo u r p o cket. It wa s agains t this b ac kgro un d tha t th e fifth roun d of the 2 5 0cc m o t o cro ss World Ch am pi onsh ip was he ld on a flat , t wisting trac k in a residential suburb of th is Po lish seapor t. T he co u rs e was fla t o n ly b y Eu ro pea n Gran d Prix sta n d ar ds as sev en bi g h air-y jump es had be en worked in b e tween th e nume rous turn s. Hak an Ande rsson (Yam) , wh o seems to be the m an to be a t th is mon th, tu rned fas t est tim e in p rac tic e with the K'I'Mvrn o un ted Russia n Pavel Ru lev about a se con d . b ehind hi m. Bu l racos, and A merica 's , pride an d joy J im Pome ro y was third out of the 40, a few tenths of a se cond be hi n d Ru lev. Eve n gellin g a tic ke t fro m the ' Po lish p ol ic e for "excess ive lo udn ess" in the hotel lobby di dn't slo w Ji m d own or d ampen h is spirits as h e turned third fast est tim e o n his Up ract ice t. bike. The Ru ssian s brough t o u t th ei r surp rise package, Leonid T ch inkaren ko, an d p ut h im on o ne of th e n e w fac to ry CZ s. T he re w e re also a bou t ei gh t Poli sh riders en tered - so me on four-speed, so me on five-speed CZs. It was obvious th at an Eastern bloc rider w as su p posed to w in th e Po lish G P. T here were so me good o nes e n te re d. MOTO ONE: Torleif H ansen ( Ka w) led into tum o n e at the end of the long bumpy str aigh t. H e led for a few laps un ti l th e inspired Russian, Gunnady Mois seiv on the 2 50 KTM gra b be d th e lead fo r seve ral very fas t lap s. Jim Pome ro y (Bul) w as abou t lO th a t th e start. In tw o laps , h e w o rked up two pl aces am ong th e fas t ru nni ng fron t-ru n ne rs , Wh en w al k in g th e course before th e s ta r t of th e Grand Pri x,J im p oin ted o ut a 3 0 foo t d ropoff to th e side o f o n e o f th e s tee p jumps wh ich was loc a ted at the ap e x o f a tum . "If you miss you r line in here ." he ch uc k le d, " y o u'd hi gh side so me thi ng awful. V e ry b ad crumb le:' O n lap th ree, he d id j ust that . He w asn 't h u rt bu t the Bu l h ad twea ke d h andle b ars and a h o le in the gas ta nk . He rest arted j ust ahead of Kal evi Vehko n en (Mo n ), wh o had bike problems o ut of th e ga te an d w as charging th rough th e Pol es at t he back o f th e p ac k. H akan Ander sson, meanwhile , h ad m o ved hi s "rigid" fra me Yamaha up from sixth to take the lead . H e w as pass in g effortessly an d wen t b y Mois seiev in a sus taine d rush to stretch out a 20 second lead . J aroslav Falta (C Z) was third fo r a while, th e n Mi kko la (H us) took th a t spot for m o st of the mo t o . A do lf Weil (Mai ) kept m o vin g unob trusively t hrough the pa ck m o vin g in to a d uel for fo ur th pl ace wi th Fa l ta . T he c o m p e tit io n for th e p oin is-pay in g to p ten position s p air ed off. An dersson and Moi sseiev had a race go in g, thoug h th e ra p id Swede w as n eve r re-p assed . Heik ki Mikk ol a w as ru n ning 3 0 seconds beh ind these two. Falta and Weil we re goi ng in t o com ers wheel to w heel at speeds only th e international riders achieve in Grand Pri x com p e ti ti on . T he young, styli sh Czech and th e wise o ld Ge rman we re a sho w in the mselves. With a li t tle over five minutes to go in th e ' first 45-min ute m o t o , Jim ' s bi ke q u it. T he h o le in the tan k h ad leak ed all the pre-mix o u t an d h e w as out of gas and o u t of con te n tion. World Champ J o el R obert (S u z) h ad p ull ed o ff afte r abo u t 15 minutes co mp la in in g of h andling p rob lems wi th h is RH -7 3 . (Both Bel gians o n th e 25 0 Suzu kis, R obert and R ahier, m ain la in th e handling is impo ssible an d n eith er h ave d one very w ell to d ate. The Japan ese me ch anics main tain the susp en sion is th e same as la st year's and th at J o e l an d Gaston need to b e in b etter conditio n .) Adolf Weil and Jaroslav Fal ta co n tin ued fig h ting for e very inch in eve ry comer , . b o th ban zai-ing the twis ting, j u m p-s tu d ded ci rcui t. On th e las t lap Fal ta was in the lead. A t th e checke re d flag, Weil w as in fro n t . He knows h ow to o u t thin k a yo unger rid er. Th e o the r posi tio ns were un changed except th a t Han s Maisch (M ai) squeezed ah ead of th e two C Z ·m o u n t ed Ru s sians. T op ten: Anders son (Y am); M oissciev ( KT M) , Mikkola (H us), Weil (Mai), Falta (CZ ), Han se n ( K a w ) , M a i s ch ( Ma i), Tc h i n kare nko (CZ), R yba lt chen k o (CZ) , Ro berton (H us) . Every fac tory has go o d ride rs thi s season . It is p robabl y t he m ost c o m p e t i t i v e 25 0 class World C ha mp io ns hip in th e last five ye ar s. T he re are a t least 15 rid ers who can win a GI' m oto . But Hakan Andersson won anoth er on e ; his fo urth . MOTOTWO G un nady Moi sseiv w as still looking fo r the ove rall win an d grabbed the h o le slot foll owed b y FaIta, H an sen , A n dersso n a nd T chinkarenko. Hakan wicked it p as t H an sen a nd Fa lta in th e first two laps an d too k off afte r the Ru ssian. He lo oked in c redibl y quic k a n d con tr o lled ove r th e lo ose, h ump y trac k: Jim Pomero y (Bu l) w as m ovin g up just as fas t to six th , right b eh in d Mik k ol a an d ahead of T c h inka renko an d Weil . Joel Robe rt s ta rt ed w orkin g h is wa y up just ahead of J o L ammers, a D u tchman , and Vehkonen on the f actorv M ontes as, The first six remained in po sition fo r nea rly 20 ' min u tes, th e n Hakan p as sed Moi sseiev and b egan stretching o ut a lead th a t even tu ally amo un ted to o ve r 3 0 se con d s. Mikkol a and H an sen got by Fa lta as Jim closed up o n h im. With 15 mi nutes to go , H ei k ki went off th e track w here Pome ro y h ad c rash ed (a ve ry tri ck j u m p th at , w ith mid-ai r tu m ) and Hansen went by hi m b efore he could re c o ver. J im was now rig ht o n Fal ta's tai l and the two we re reall y goi ng a t it. Evgeny Rybal tch en ko was so me dis ta nc e be hi nd the m. Pome ro y p assed Fa lt a an d h eld a th ree-length lead for tw o laps un til hi s new p ro t oty p e Betor shoc ks sta rted to fade. The proto shocks o n th e CZ held up md J aroslav went b ackby him . Falta h as a balls-out, hot-dogging s ty le that would be righ t at h ome in th e U.S. Mikkol a's engi ne went out to lun ch with abou t 10 minu tes to go m o vin g up H an sen , Fal ta an d Pomero y b ehind Moi ssei ev. J oel w as out o f th e race, Vehkon en w as out with m ore bike problems a n d th en A n dy Ro berton, wh o h ad m o ved steadi ly up to eig h th h ad hi s Husky go b ell y -up. And tha t ' s th e wa y it e n de d . J im collec t ed a no th e r s i x W or ld C ha m p i o n sh ip p oints maintain in g his fo u rt h place in the st an dings ahead of H ansen and Falta. Ha kan Andersson lo o ked as good as J o el did, last season an d h is lead zoo med b y 3 0 poin Is to a wh o pping 119 - w ay ah ead of Ad ol f Wei l. T he Po lish Club score d the overa ll o n the 1-2-3 O ly m p ic syste m, con trary to this y ear 's F IM ru les of 15 -1 2-10-8, e tc . fo r th e top te n and awa rded trophies d own to 1 2 th p l a c e w hi c h, coinciden tally , was th e first Po le wh o had an 18 th and an 18 th to h is cred it for stolid ' perseverance ...b ut · n o t much speed . (No te that a ll the factory prototype CZs fini sh ed both m o t os, Th ey seem bul let-proof.] The y oung Swede, Andersson . upset th ei r plans fo r a Co m mun ist co untr y win an d w ild T orlief H an se n in tr u ded hi mse lf in to third overall p reven tin g a C Z· KT M sweep. None o f th e rid e rs wh o cou ld were sorry to leave Poland. The p lace is a bad j o ke . RES ULTS: 1. Hakan Ander sson (Yam) Swed. 1-1 " ; 2 . Gunnady Meisseiev (KTMI USSR 2 -2; 3 . To rleif Hansen (I(aw) Swed. 6 -3; 4 . Ja reslav Fa lt a (C Z) Cze ch . 5 ·4 ; 5 . Evgeny Tch inka renko (CZ) USSR 8 -1 1; 6 . Zaden k Vel ky (CZI Czech. 11-9 ; 7: Antonin Baborovs kv ICZI Czech . 14-8 ; 8 . Ste t van der Sluis (Yam) Neth . 12 -10 ;9 . Jean-Claude Jobe (Ma n) ·Belg. 16-12. .. Does not ... ref lect Wor ld Champ ionship po ints scori ng as Pol ish sanct io ni ng body used non- F 1M system fo r ove ra ll. For a c omple te sto ry on the Swiss ' ~ p . see Page 36 . H akan Ande rsson won two mo re motos , ti ghtening his grip on an early championship lead . Ch ~ k o ut the rear suspension on his Ya maha. Heik i Mikkola gave a good push for Husky laurels 'til his e ~ gi n e failed.

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