Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ Irwindale MX - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - " '" rf b y Bu zz Baty ~ IRWI NDALE , CAL ., May 18 - Kelv in S! Franks and hi s gro u p of ha rd -working ai scorers we re j us t exac tly th at, h ard '" workin g. Every class of Expert s had at i;; least th re e riders who cou ld n ail down :;; the overall firsl pla ce with the las t m o t o ~ win. w Ric k R einig h as b een knockin g at the Z winner's door for qui t e a fe w weeks ~ n ow, and ton ight he pulled it off. Rick ~ took hi s Monark to a h ard fought last u mo to win an d o verall first pl ace, ahead of Jim :'lacDonald's Pen ton a nd a b orrowed DKW m ounted R ay L op e z. In th e 250 Ex pert class, D an n y McKee , ridin g fo r Wes tm in st er Sports Cycle, is anothe r Expe rt wh o h as b een comi ng close, finally bangin g th e . - Ilsey e to n igh t , comi ng o ut o n to p over th e Hondas of Tim Lunde and All en Cooke. A lot of arithmetic was ne cessary as the p oin t sp re ad between Dann y, Tim a n d All en w a s o f the minuscul e ca teg ory. T he 5 00 Inte rm ediates and E xp erts ran toge the r, trying to keep th e I n termedia tes an d Ex perts straight du rin g th e race was an impossible tas k. Dennis Cla r k, an In termedia te. le d all three of the m o to s off th e starti ng gate bu t could n't h old the E xperts for th e d istan ce. He did h ow e ve r come ou t on top in the Intermediate class , making it a CZ sweep , ah e ad of G ary O gd en an d Dan Ba rnes. Jim Cooke, riding th e 4 50 K awasaki o ut of K awasa ki R&D. topped the 5 0 0 Experts a head of J ohn McM anaway, Husky m o unted. and CZ rider. Bo b EIliotl. D an ny McKee was 250 Expert wi nner at Irw ind ale. Saddleback M X - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - b y C rea tive I m ages S A DD LE BACK PARK , Ma y 2 0 - Jim Wilson , b ack o n a CZ, made things look easy in th e 2 50 Expe rt d ivision today as T im Lunde suffered mechanical ills with hi s Honda arid had to give up th e c hase of Jim. Winnin g b oth motos ga ve Jim th e o vera ll ahead o f. Mark Anderson on th e Franks Suzuki , a nd Bultaco m ounted, Ray T oph am. Ray Lope z wa s bac k on hi s Penton and lo oked to b e o n h is wa y to a cl ean sweep of th e 125 E xpe rt class win n in g th e firs t moto, wh ile Mon ark m oun ted Marty Smith to ok second. In the secon d m oto, the situation was reversed with Marty Smith takin g a stro ng lead with Lop ez try in g to pa y ca t ch u p fr om deep in th e pack. Mar t y wa s th e o verall winner o n th e b es t finis h-last mo to rule, n o tching another win fo r Monark, ah ead of th e Pen ton of Lopez an d D ann y LaP orte . Re x Sta ten led the en tire firs t mo to fo r th e 500 Experts, righ t up to th e middle of th e last la p, o n ly to lo se fir e for so m e un kn own reason an d finished dead last. S t aten c ame back to win th e last m oto after gett ing hi s Mai co re paire d , bu t that la st m oto win was o n ly enoug h to give h im third ove ral l. S te ady trouble free rid ing gave a p air of CZ riders. Way n e Bo yer and Rob Norgaard , fir st and second respe~tively. Tim Lunde lead s Danny LaPorte in the 125 class at Saddleback. by J ohn Hueller COMBREMON T -LE -P E TI T, SWITZ ERLA ND, Ma y 6, 19 73 - In a green, tree-studded valle y surrounded b y th e picturesque Swiss farmhouses that really do look li ke they're rig ht out o f a pi cture b ook, 40 International cl ass . rid ers met toda y for the fourth round o f th e Wo r ld 250 M oto cros s C hampionship. After 9 4 m in u tes of raci ng over the mudd y, up-and-downhill cou rse , H akan A ndersson (Yam ) emerged as th e clear-cut victor with perfect scores in th e tw o 4 5-minute (ap p ro x. ) m otos. He w as so fa r in fro n t during most o f both motos th at man y o f th e crowd th at clamb er ed o ve r the rain-soaked slo pe s kept p o in tin g at Adol f Weil (Mai) o r T orlief H ansen ( Kaw) as th e leaders. These tw o ci rc u lated in secon d a t vari ous tim es with th e c ra f ty old M aico m aster, Weil, e me rg in g second ove rall and se con d in b oth m oto s. Two d ay s o f rain had left th e terrain over wh ich th e cou rse wa s roped out ve ry soggy. T he re w a s o ne up h i l lvd ow n h i l l c om b inatio n that lo o ked t o b e impossible to ma ke , let alon e race motocros s ove r it. S ome of th e rid ers petitioned the international j u ry to h ave th e hill removed as th e mud in th e hairp in tu m approach was hub-d eep. Th ere was n o run a t th e n ear v erti c al s lope and th e d ownhill precedin g it was m o re like a tri al s section th an a motocross co urse. The rest of th e cou rs e was almost all up and d own , with o n ly a very few straigh t, flat sec tio n s for making up time . American rider Jim Pomeroy later co m me n ted, "This co urse was ac t ually an easy o ne ...o nc e you figured the good lines." All th in gs are relative, hut th ere was nothing easy about this co u rse. Wh en th e European rid ers slightingly refer to mo st U.S . cou rses as glo ri fied TT tr acks th ey are n ' t kidding. Moto 1 H akan Andersson capit a lize d o n a go od start wh en the gate plopped into the mud and h ad the lead b y the secon d uphill. The new Yamaha seems to h ave pl enty of power, more o f it low in th e rev range and a new suspension which makes it handle that much b etter. Hakan was gone and, after a few laps , was never seriousl y challenged. TorIief Hansen (Kaw), Kalevi Vehkonen (Mo n ) , Gaston Rahier (Su z) an d Adolf Weil (Mail were behind him. Jim Pomeroy (Bul ) came up the muddy, ANDERSSON SWEEPS SWISS 250 GP GRABS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD ru t ted hill with good con trol in sixt h o n lap one . Jim began ci rc u la ting between fo u rth an d si xth fo r several laps . A ft er ab out 15 minutes, o n ly about 12 riders were o n th e sa me lap as th e p ack failed to make th e hill by twos and threes. A fter unsu ccessful atte m pts, th ese in te rnatio n al cla ss ride rs wo uld b ulldo g th eir fac tory racers b ac k d own th e hill in to the deep mud a nd tr y agai n . S u rp risingly e nou gh, man y of the Czech rid e rs did n o t do well in th e mud. One excep tio n was F:iJta (CZ) wh o was m ovin g up con sis te n tl y. With 3 0 minutes go ne, Weil closed up o n Hansen an d , in a d etermin ed but always corrtrollc d c harge, p assed him o n th e uphill. Th ere d o esn't see m to be a tri ck in the MX b o ok th a t o ld Adolf d o esn 't kn ow. Jim wa s still holding . in sixth . . About this ti me , Wo rld C h a mp Joel R obert started t o ge t untracked and b egan passing ri ders up to ab o u t tenth . lIe cl osed up On fellow Belgian Su zu ki rider Gaston Rahier but co uld n ' t ge t by him. Vehkonen wa s now in thi rd and Pomeroy con tinued to impress. Whil e eve ry b ody else se emed to be ti ring (ex cept Andersson) , Jim actuall y seeme d to b e p icking up a bi I. Robert, too, lo o ked stronger. The fan s lov ed J o el a n d w aved and c hee red wildl y as h e wen I b y th em. Jim m an aged to fal l a fe w times an d Uno Palm ( Puc) got by him , bu t he al so m an a ged to remount a n d repass eve ry b o dy who got past him up into six th again. Andersson kept going very fast , very far o ut front. Weil pulled ou t a minute lead over Torlief Hansen and Vehkonen, J a roslav Falta (CZ) h ad be en flying the whole moto and made it past Jim when he fell again on a slippery co m e r. He th en went past Hansen , but Vehkone n had alr e ad y d one that and th e Fl yin g Finn m an aged to keep h is VR Montesa ah ead of th e Czech . Jim held o ff th e com b ined Pu ch -Su zuki attack to be six th a t th e fini sh . Between m o to s, wh ile th e National class was runnin g, J oel R obert popped h is sweaty body in to th e Bultaco van wh e re Pomeroy was c h a ng ing his m uddy b oot s and leathe rs. T hey e xc h an ge d a few words, J o el with newfound respec t fo r th e yo ung Americ an: J im still somewh at in aw e of th e six t ime World Ch ampion, eve n th ough h e has bea ten him in every GP this se aso n. I aske d J oel h ow hi s kn e e w as h olding up. It is he avily wrapped and h as a heavy protective cove r on it. He said that it was ge tting better sin ce h e had st arted havin g Chin ese acupu ncture on i t. Somehow, th e pic tu re of the ch u n ky Robert wit h a knee fu ll of lon g ne edles and a C hinese acupuncturist hoverin g over him did not co me readi ly to mind. But it seems to he w orking for him, when o the r meth ods didn't . Then, just b e gin nin g lap fo u r, a Swiss Husk y rider bein g lapped by th e three fast fro n t-r un ne rs moved back into Jim's path a fter moving over for Adolf and Joel. Pomer o y hit hi m and went tumbling over th e handlebars. His bars were tweaked a n d h is right footpeg bent down toward th e ground so that it was impossible to stand on it, He got u p and got go ing, but h is ch an ces for a ' top th ree placing d isappeared along wit h the fo otpe g. Hakan Andersson went by J im and Joel as o n ly he can - p oin ting seve ra l d ifferen t di re ctions and moving rapidly forward at th e sam e time. Falta go t b y Pomeroy when he fell. After 15 minutes , th at wa s th e lin e-up: Weil, Andersson, R obert a n d Falta. · J im dro pped b ac k ano ther coup le of posi tio n s as h e trie d to b a la nce o n th e left pe g an d sh ift with hi s right fo ot an d an unusable stub. Weil an d Ande rss on settle d down to a tw o -ma n duel with R obert a di stant th ird. Then Heikki Mikkola be gan his charge o u t of th e p ack. Fi rst he picked off G as ton Rah ier wh o had b egun p ushin g Falta and Ro b ert. He p assed R ob ert w it h abo ut 10 minutes to go. H akan got by Adol f Weil to take th e lead a t abou t th e sa me tim e and be gan to s tre tc h it o u t. Mikkol a forced a p ass in th e fir st com e r put ting Falta back to fourth and that 's th e way it went fo r th e last few minutes. Jim h ad managed to maintain twelfth which w as good e n o ugh for n in th ov e rall a n d - as we laughingly de cided - first Ame rican. He is also th e on ly U.S. rid er o n the 2 50 G ra nd Prix circuit a n d k eenly cons ci o us of his pe rformance as an American. Hakan An d e rsson has won th e last th ree GP motos and the poin t lead , WO R LD C HAM P IO N S H I P MO T OCR OS S S w iss 2 5 0 Gran d P rix Com bremo nt·Le. Pe ti t. Switzerl a nd Moy 6 . 1 973 by John Hu ett er Hakan Andersson Moto 2 With the anticipation that comes of seve ral thousand starts , Adolf Weil pulled the lead in to th e fir st com e r and held it for th e firs t tour. R obert had also go lien away quickly and was in third. But ah ead o f R o bert in secon d pl ace was none other than the young Yank Pomeroy who had th e wick on h is Bul turned way up. He was right on Adolf's tail . Robert and Pom e ro y ra ced for two ' laps and J o el got by. Hakan Andersson was fourth : Jaroslav Falta, fifth, and Vehkonen running about sixth . Adolf Wei! Jarcsrav Falta Harry Ev erts Gaston Ranier Joel R obert T orUef Hansen Jim Po m e r o y Pavel Rulev Yam Mai CZ Puc s uz Suz Swed W. Ge r . CSSR 8e l9 8e l9 8el9 swe c Bul USA KTM USSR Kaw 250 WORLD CHAMP IONSH IP PO INT STAN DINGS As o f Swin G r~nd Pr ix Moy 6, 1 973 by J ohn Huetter Yam 89 Hakan A nd ersso n Adolf Well Heikkl Mikkola J im Po m e r o y .Jarostav Falta Kalev l Vehkonen T orlief H ansen Mai Hus Bul CZ Mon Kow 81 66 44 I-I 2- 2 4-4 7· 7 9-6 10-5 5-11 6 ·1 2 13-8

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