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o Austrian 125 Grand Prix I" M .... ell Easy Picki1gs fir AmeriCIIS-- Imt Where Are They? 5!! c " ::> .., III ~ w Z W ..J o >o ~L-~NO~AD eUL-T~C:O Stop by and pick up' your ticket for the drawing to be held J ULY 6, for a ·2 50 MOTOCROSSER. No purchase necessary. AL ANDERS BULTACO 1140 Cypress#G, La Habra, Calif. 90631 [714] 870-8880 I From t h e people _ho bring you I . m7"&• • •Wt/lJ Stuff design ed to grab yo ur greenb acks and otherw ise d eflate your wa llet. > W Need ::I: 1- Th r e e 0 _... WLn ...J H a nds? • ::I: {h ~I- en ...J~ ~ ...J o W e, en C arry it w h et h er on y o u r H odaka or your 10 spe ed . The Ide al wa y to carry your b o o ks t o sch o o l or y ou r l u nc h & spare p lu gs on t h e tr ail . $2.50. POSTER = n m ~ POSTER @$ 1.50 Each. No. Hot Hats @ $ ~ .00 Each . No~ Sticki es @ SOc Each . No _ . . Back Bags @ $ 2 .50 Each . No _ Print Clearl y !! Name Address . T otal T otal T otal T otal T otal $, Z i p Code _ _ _ _ _ _ Send Check o r Money Order. Allow TO :CYCLE N EWS Stuff Two to Three Weeks For Ou r Some· P.O . Bo x 498 times P o st O ff i c e. , L o n g B each , C alif. 9 0 8 0 1 by John Huerter L1NZ, AUSTRIA. June ~ - Beginning with the 197 3 co mp e ti tio n season , th e FIM (w o rld sa nc t ion ing o rganization fo r m otocross) instituted an international ch am p io n ship for I 25cc class moto cross com pe tition ; similar to th e 2 50cc an d 500cc Wo rld Ch ampionship. Only th e displacement a n d track lo catio n s are diffe rent. Strangely eno ugh, DOW th at the rounds are underway. the FI :>1 seem s insistent o n n ot calling the 12.'; class a w orld championship. Eve ry cou n try in Eu ro p e (incl u d in g San Marin o and Portugal ) has a 125 Championship round in w hi ch p oin ts a re awarded toward o ve ral l stan d ings. The winner a t th e end of the seaso n receives the FI:>t prize for the b est performance in 125cc motocross. They sy stem is iden tical to the 2 5 0cc and 500cc classes righ t down to the two 4 5 ·minute motes. But, dependin g on th e c ou n try , th e event ma y o r ma y not be b illed as a Grand Pri x . In Fran ce. of c ou rse , it w as . Austria and G ermany, with " ;e u to n ic precis ion, d efined th eir 12 5 ro unds as a "1 25cc c ornp e tiro n for the FIM Pri ze ." Th e FI:>I itself see ms to h ave c om e aro un d to ca lling th e eve n ts " G rand Pri x " sin ce th ey pay p oints toward an o ffici al Fl:>1 w orld title - as in 2 50, 5 0 0 m oto cro ss or a uto Formu al One by th e FlA . The Au st ri an r ound of th e "n on · \I' o rl d Ch ampionship " World Ch ampionsip for 125 m o to cr o ss w as held in th e hills n ear Lin z, a long s to ne 's th ro w b ac k to the Danube R iver in 'cen tr al Austria. T h e promoter of th e m otocros s was th e Austrian Auto-M ote and T ouring Club which added a ton" of prestige to the e ven t since the OA:>ITC is a co mb in a tio n o f AA/ I., USAC . SCCA and AMA with all th e cl o ut an d p olish th at such a union o f fo rce s should produce. R acin g eff orts r anged fro m factory-supp orted rid ers with imported m achines through the local Austrian hotshoes d own to at least one racer wh o trailered his bike fr om Spain behind a fiOOcc SEAT with no spare e ngi n e, a n early bald practice knobby and a big te n t, He di dn "t do tha t bad ly overall, eith er. Wh a t is m o s t su rprising is that th ere was n o A m e rica n participation in this eve n t. T he 125 cc motorcy cl e sa les m arket ce rt ain ly w arrants it n ow . And. n ote ca re fu lly , this would b e th e che ap est way t o h ave a n American World Champ in th e n ex t tw o yea rs, if Pomeroy or Lackey d on ' I gel th ere firs t , T he m ach in e ry . main tenance and sp ares . even th e acco mmoda tio ns in th e ci ties o f ven ue in Europe (an d th e U.S.) a re less ep e n sive th an th e o t her two classes . Th e ag e b r a c k e t fo r 125cc co m p e tito rs is set b y th e FI:>I this y ear as 18· 2 5 in an o b vio us eff o r t to ke ep o ld e r, more experienced rid ers from ran do m c he rry-p ic kin g. How m an y goo d 12 5 class rid e rs fall in this age gro u p in th e U.S ? Hundreds ? Thousands ? T he n o tion o f T erry Clark, f o r ins tanc e, o n a machine with a Harl ey-D avidson label is ap peal ing. And h e, amo ng man y o the r you ng U.S. ra cers, w ould d o well in th is class. The y lake th e s m a l l-b o r e ch amp io n sh ip very se ri o us ly in E u ro pe . Ma ybe w e should be lo okin g in this d ire ction in th e U.S . A 125 cc American World Champ co uld be attainable right n ow , today. . Before the fir st m o ro in Aust ria , th e pit predict ors were shaking thei r heads with a w orried lo o k in their eyes about the Zundapp factory lea rn. Big, heavy frames . Slone ug ly d esign. And m ore power than a 250 (so they say) . Wh en th e gale dropped, Zundapp Team rider Fritz Schneide r (\\' . Ger) shot to th e front hy th e first tu m and j usl kepI going away . Behind him was Fr en ch ma n Andre Mal herbe on th e o th er w orks Zundapp, German Emil S chw arz (B us) a nd more KT.\1s (Pen IOns t o y ou 'M erkin s] than you co u ld cou n t, Number One-ranked Belgian . J ean.P aul Mi ngels (Bul), s tarted moving from a bad st art through the pa ck. H is m o ves are good on rou gh terrain and he doesn't fall but he's nol as fast as man y t 25 rid e rs I've se en in the U.S . Montesa 's Belgian whiz-kid, Raymon Boven , moved up to sixth b"fore r"tiring with what prov"d to be mino r me chanicals. Th" sl""p hills and d eep m u d of th" co u rse really took the measure Qf the 125's. Nobody se rio usly ch alle n ged the fr ont-runnin g Zundapps. One Ion" Mai co ( a 12 5 l\Iaico !) pi loted b y Fri tz Kob el e held o n to third a half lap back, then retired, Schneider ( Zu n) w as far en o ug h in fron I when the "IWO laps" sign came o u t 10 indulge in some long wheeli es up th e start hill . Every hody sa id th e Zundapp had the p ower - an d it d id . Emil Schwarz on th e Husky pi cked up third spaI behind Malherbe. Now, as far as wh o finished where in that rnoro , there is some question. Orig inally Fdi c e Agostini (Y es, Giacomo's little broth er.) was fift h o n an Ital ian Aspes, Wh en th e o ffical resul ts cam e out, an Austrian o n a KT~l was fifth: an other Austrian o n a Puch was sixth , w h ich wa s the highest pl ace anybody els e had scored for a lo cal b oy. I talo-Austrian relations have never b een tha t good and don't see m to be improvin g. A lo t o f h an d -wa vin g af te rw a rd s by th e Aspes me cha nics didn't ch an ge an yth ing . A lso , time tr ials fOT s t ar t ing p o siti on, as required by th e FI!\ ) were no t used to d etermin e w ho go t in th e f ron t row. Jt wa s fi rs t come - first se rve d . This is de fin itely not kosh er and d e finitcl y mailers with over 5 0 rid e rs en te re d in this class. Th e st arter w alked d own th e line •w ith the Austrian n a g ove r hi s shoul de r and , as h e pulled th e ga te lever fo r m ot o two, tw o Zundapps h eaded th e long sta rt hill drag race. ch ased into th e first come r bv an Austrian KT:>I rider, wh o la t er retired, and Bo ven (Mai) . T h is was lo okin g familiar alread y , Boven c h alle n ged l\lalherbe on the lead Zundapp o n th e top o f the co u rse, out of sight of the judge' s st an d . Malh erve went o u ts ide th e ga te (gates much lik e ski slal om gales are used in GP 's ) to keep th e lead as Boven made it between the poles but lo st ground. A sharp-eyed ref ca ug h t the Frenchman's act, h owever, and th at was 10 result in his disqualification from that rn o t o, e ven though he led it th e rest of th e wa y w i th a c o m fo rtab le m a rgin ove r Zundapp team m a te S ch neider. Th e p ack strung o u t much quicker in this second 45 -minute rn ot o, It had started to rain just as th e ga le dro p ped. T hat, and th e deep ruts ch u rn ed into the ground by th e b ig bikes in the support classes, kept th e 12 5 's fro m being as smooth . Man y ride rs were dropping it in the uphill hairpi n s tha t ap p ro ac h ed 75 de gre es o r failin g to make slick hills on th e fi r st run - or th e second. Malh erbe on the Ie d Zundapp ha d n o problem. lie lo oked ba ck al Schneider, hi s teammate , a few ti m es and th en m ov ed' a way : li e ac tu ally h ad to sh u I off o n the lon g start hill to keep th e fr on t wheel o f t he Zundapp d own. Th ere wa s so me que sti o n as to th e a ctual d ispl a c em ent o f t h e German -mad e m oto rs. T he re still is. Raymond Boven (M on ] hung on to third an d J ean.P aul M ingels (Bu l) w orked hi s wa y up to fourth ah ead o f Othmar Ruby's works Puc h. The lar ge p ack w as b e in g lapped by th e front five af ter 12 minu tes o f racin g. Bv the e n d of the moto, th e tw o Zundapps h ad lapped eve ry b o dy up to fo u rt h place, Mingels ' engin e quit. Kobele 's Maci o coughe d up ag ain when he was in six th o S chwarz moved his Husky into go od scorin g positi on, even th ough slower t h a n th e le ad ers. AI the fin ish it wa s Malh er b e (Zu n ), Schneider (Z u n) , Bo ven (Mo n), S chwarz (H u s), C urradi (Anc ). Strike Malherbe for cou rse-c u llin g and it gave the overall win to S chneider, b oos lin g his standin g co n sid e rab ly in th e points ra ce for 12 5 ch am p . Noticeub le by their absence we re the quick 12 5 Yarnah as and Suzukis and , the Zundapps are a m y stery . T hey 're h eavy, they u se small Amal ca rbs, th ey look very ca b by an d the y're qu icker than a gr eased ee l. Until the lo cal sponsors re q uire a "parr fennc" they will remain a m ystery. An Am erican, o n m o sl shop-prepared 125 's, cou ld have b een in th e top five .. .if he kn ew how 10 ride mud. t I RESULTS : 1. Fr itz Schne ider (Zun) W . Ger 1·1 ; 2 . Em i l Schwarz ( H us ) W. Ger 34 ; 3 . Q thmar Ruby (PU C) Aust . 6·3 : 4. Rolf Baumann (Hus) Swit. 4·6: 5 . Kurt Lenganer (KTM) Aust . 5 ·10. WO R LD 125ee CHAM PIONSH IP CLASS PO INT MOTOC ROS S ST AN DING S OVERA L L as of June 4 , 1973 : 1. Jean·Paul M ingels (Bu l) Belg . 52 ; 2 . Andre' Malherbe (Zun) Fran. 51: 3. Raymond B o ven (Mo n) Belg . 47: 4 . F r itz Sc h n e id er (Zun) W . Ger. 4 5 ; S . Emil Schwarz (Hus) W. Ger. 3 0 : 6 . Fr itz Kobele (Ma i) W . Ger. 24 : 7 . M ichel Combes (Mon) F'ran . 22 : 8. G ia ncarlo Curra di ( Ane ) I tal. 19; 9 . Qthmar RUbY I PUC) Aust . 1 5.1 0. F el i ce Agosti n i (AsP) Ita l. 3 .