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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141065
CD by John Huetter :g, PINEROLO, ITALY, May 27 - It th er e rf. was s till an y question in anybody 's e " :> -. (J) ;i: w 2 w oJ (J > (J mind about wh o is th e best , all dou b ts were disp elled today in the foo thills of Italy 's Pied mo n t re gion as 500 class World Ch am p Roger l)eCoste r sailed, bounced and bounded to tw o de cisive victories in as man y 45 ~min u te moto s. . His Suzuki d idn't break and, as usual wh en he d oesn 't have mechanical s, he won - with a lead of about 3 0 se conds in ea ch mota . Sale Ameri can in t he 50 0 class GP's, Brad La ckey, finish ed sixth overall and picked up six more World Championship points. Roger's 30 point gain pu t him in the lead for the World Championship with a total of 60. The Italian newspapers had made some predictions about th e race - how an Italian would probably wi n (o f co urse) and h ow Roger had lost some of th e old dash. DeCoster was a little depressed by the bad reviews b ut it didn't s to p him fr om having the lead at the en d of lap on e . T h en, DeCoster lost it on the bumpy downhill aft er the st eep start hill. He was co n trolled eve n in crashing and n ever ceemed to le t go of t he throttl e in doing a couple o f spins down the hill sid eways. He rem oun ted in seven th as lo cal b oy and Pinerolo favorite , Giuseppe Cavellero (Mai) , grabbed th e lead . Cavall e ro stretch ed o u t a good lead .in 3 laps as th e fan s wen t wild in th e best emotio nal It alian wa y. He used hi s intimate kn owledge o f th e circ uit to go od ad van tage, Brad was cram me d into 20th in the first co rn er but was up to lOth aft er tw o laps an d desp ok in g his fro n t wheel o n Vic Eastwood's AJS. (Vic's footpeg had snapped off: he mi ssed it wh en he came o ut of a comer, bobbled , and Brad hit him ) By th e fo urth lap , Roger h ad m oved in to secon d an d started a ft er Cavaller o . Behind h im was Willi Bauer (Mai) a good ways b ack . D e C o s te r a n d C a v ellero were d isappearin g from the re st of th e p ack , ge tt ing around the steep , fas t co urse very sm oothly . With 15 min u tes gone , Roger had re-pas sed in to fi st -, Beh ind r Caval lero came Bauer , the n abou t 4 CZs includin g Jiri S to d ulka an d Ana toli Mandritch en ko, th e Russian wh o ha d c e n ter p unc he d Brad in Finla nd . Bradley h ad mo ved u p to eighth . J ohn Ran ks (Che ney-BSA) h ad ove rco me a bad start and the Beezer was thumpi n g u p th rough th e pack c o n sisten tly . With 22 minu tes go ne , Brad p assed Wern er Schutz (Mai) to take seve nth . He did it 'smo o th ly in a long ch arge on the tw o-jump hill. R oger was still going away an d Ger ri t Wolsin k e me rged in fo urth j ust ahead of fo rmer World Champ Ben gt Ab ert (~us). Banks retired with mechanical problems, J iri Stodulka (CZ ) h ad lo st hi s expansion ch am be r but was still h olding off Abe rg fo r fif'th as Wols ink moved away . Brad closed to within a bi ke len gth of Mandritch enko , th en he passed the Russian o n the outside o f the bumpy downhill wh ere Roger had lost it . A little over 3 0 minutes were gone wh en Werner Schutz wen t by b oth of th em Brad h ad th ough t it was Willi Bau er lapping h im, since th e Maico riders dress almost exactly alike , and actuall y moved ove r for him. Schutz took ad van ta ge of his red-and-yellow " Maico " shirt to sho ot past. ' Brad realized his erro r and th e figh t for sixth was a go od o ne with the German, th e Russian an d th e American all going at it heavily . Roger was co ming around righ t behind them - lapping at abou t 2: II , faste st qualifyin g tim e. S chutz was in th e fron t o f the th ree man pack ' fo r sixth and ,closed slightly on Stodulka with abo ut a lap to go . Aberg had just go t p ast him the lap before as the lack o f expansion chamber told o n th e uphills and th e CZ co uld n't make up any time t here. Roger t hough t he was in third d ue to con fu sing pit sigoals and went 3 5 seconds ah ead of Cavallero at th e chec kere d . T h en came Bauer, Wolsink, Aberg, Schutz, Sr odulka an d Lack ey . The race was reall y in th e top ei ght. Everybody els e was lapped. MOTOTWO Roger DeCoster grabbed th e lead by th e top of th e start hill in Mota Tw o an d said " Bye ·bye" to everybody excep t Ben gt Ab erg. T he y ello w Su zu ki neve r mis sed a be at th is tim e (th ough it still isn't the best-handling thing on the GP circui t) and Roger led fro m start to fin ish , Brad was in fifth o n lap one, being ch ased by Mandritch enko and Banks : the n h e kind of laid it down to mi ss some spectators th at were spilling on to th e co u rse and he was back to ninth . The Italians were ge tting a little DeCoster is past his early season hassles and hom ing "' on three champio nships in a row. Bradley put together a pair of eighths for a sixth . carried away . A fte r 15 minutes o f the second . jno to , during which parts o f the track got very dustry, the top ten were filled out b y DeCoster, Ab erg, Bauer, S todulka, Toman (CZ), Cavallero, Banks, Mandritchenko, Wolsink and Lackey . Aberg j us t barely kept the World Champ in sigh t. Bank'. thumper went thi s tim e and he moved it around th e co urse smartly. Roger just kept the gas on as Otakar Toman went b y fellow Czech Stodukla to move in to fo urth . With 30 minutes go ne , o n ly Banks and Wolsink were ch angi ng po sitions. Brad went b y Mandritch enko again, th en th e Russian berserked it, hitting the greeen Kawasaki and alm ost taking them both down, be fore Brad recovered and pulled awa y . Cavallero's fast Maico went o ut with rnechanicals and Brad was in eigh th . Then th e front wheel of Bauer's Maico came apart and he was out after holding down third for most of th e mota. . Brad came by looking under his gas tank fo r CZ -induced damage and Werner Schutz some h ow got pa st him on his Maico . So Brad was back in eighth where he stayed ' til the fini sh. Roger cracked a dust -caked, sweaty grin as he took the last lap flag . He was nearly 30 seconds ahead of Aberg and going awa y. John Banks' Ch eney-BSA was up to fifth for his best - an on ly GP finish this y ear. Bradley described Roger as "_.jus t the baddest dude around.. .' and he was righ t. In the 500cc class, th ere is Roger DeCoster and th e , eve ry body else . RESULT S: . 1. Roger DeCoster (SU Z) B~ . 1-1: 2. Bengt Aberg ( H u s) Swed . 5 · 2; 3. Gerrit Wots lnk (Mai) Neth . 4·5 ; 4. Jlr i Stod ul kil rcz) CSSR 7 -6; 5 . O takar Tom~n JCZ) CSS~ 12 ·3 ; 6 . Brad Lackey (Kaw) ; SA 8-8; 7. Werner Schut z (Ma l) W. Ger ; 8. Anatoll Mand r itchenko (eZ) USSR i 9. Peter Willens (Yam) Neth ; Ivan Alborghetti (Mail ttat.