Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ~ ... l..C") ..-l >- ..-l ~ ~ M OSS ~ MX Grand Prix oroeR (1974), while the Russian actually needed just one overall victory to clinch his final title in 1978. In that same season Torleif Hansen won five GPs but failed to finish the other seven I The only other rider to have won· more GPs than the champion in any particular season was Pekka Vehkonen in 1988 when he won three GPs on the way to the second of his four successive FIM silver medals. The honor of being the youngestever 250cc MX GP winner falls to Ron Lechien, who was just 17 when he won at Unadilla in 1984. The fact that FIM rules state a rider must be at least 18 years of age before they are allowed to contest a 250cc GP appears to have been lost on the AMAI The youngest "legal" winner in the class is therefore Rob Herring, who was 18 when he raced to victory in both motos of the 1987 Yugoslav GP. Through absolutely no fault of their own, Americans seem to have a habit of getting themselves in no-win situations in the 250cc World Championships. No matter how much some people want to believe that Jim Pomeroy won the Spanish GP, his very first World Championship event, in April 1973, they are wrong! Jim was top points scorer on his Bultaco and led the championship as this was the first round of the series, but his first and third placings were not enough to clinch the overall. Hans Maisch of Germany had finished runner-up in both races and right up to 1983 the official method of deciding the overall GP wim~er was by the addition of placings, not points, with. the time factor to decide any tie. Jim's time for the two races was 92 minutes and 53 seconds. Maisch completed the two races seven seconds faster! The AMA knew this rule in 1978 when Unadilla hosted its first GP. Jim Ellis went 1-3 for 25 points that day, but Marty Tripes won the GP With 22 moto finishes. And the Spanish were well aware of the rules also, both in 1973 and again seven years later as Germans Rolf Dieffenbach and Fritz Kobele staged the only tie in the history of the 250cc championships. Dieffenbach finished 1-3, Kobele 2-2 and their race times were identical to a hundredth of a second. I checked the results out with Dieffenbach, a stocky man by any standards, a few years ago and he confirmed the result: "They told us history Not all of the remaining wins have been in the U.S., however, for Rodney Smith clinched the Argentine GP in 1987 and last August Jeff Stanton added the very first Japanese 250cc MX GP to his two Unadilla wins. In the nationality stakes, Belgium tops the win list with 109 GP victories registered by 16 riders, while another six have made the podium at some time in their career. Sweden's 80 wins have been accumulated by II riders though a further 14 have been placed at some time, while eight British riders have accounted for 47 victories. America - with 29 wins from 16 riders and a further 12 who have made the podium - are sixth in the nationality stakes behind Russia and Czechoslovakia who each have 32 wins from five and nine riders, respectively, but little prospect of adding to those tallys in the next few years. Next along are Finland 22 (4), France 19 (3), German 19 (10), Italy 18 (7) and Holland 17 (4) while Heinz Kinigadner scored all six wins for Austria, Paul Friedrichs registered the sole DDR win, and that Polish winner in 1958 was one Roman Zurawiecki. Dimitar Rangelov, Torao Suzuki, Jan Kristoffersen, Soren Mortensen and Ross Pederson have ensured that Bulgaria, Japan, Norway, Denmark and Canada have at least been represented on the podium at some time. (Above) Harry Everts won the 250cc title in 1975, riding a twin-carb Puch. (Right) Georges Jobe is the only rider to have won World Championship titles in all three classes. both to stand at the top of the rostrum with the second place left bare. It was quite a squeeze to stand up there, each of us with a trophy and a laurel wreath, but at least they only had to play one national anthem!" Other occasions when the highest points scorer didn't win were the Swedish GP of 1974 (Hansen 1-3 lost to Anderson 2-2), Yugoslavia 1975 (Everts 7-1 lost to Rybalchenko 5-2) and Austria 1977 and Finland 1982. In Austria, Kavinov scored 19 points from 7-1 motos but was beaten into third overall by Malherbe 4-3 and Suzuki 5-2, while in Finland they made Other North Americans to have finished Top Three 1st 2nd 24 Jim Pomeroy Rodney Smith Mike Healey Mike Guerra Johnny O'Mara David Bailey Donnie Hansen Ron Lechien Donny Schmit Marty Tripes Bader Manneh ~ Jimmy Ellis Broc Glover Mike LaRocco Billy Liles Bob Moore Rick Ryan Steve Wise Mark Barnett Micky Dymond Erik KeHoe Bryan Myerscough Ross Pederson Darrell Shultz USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA Canada USA I 4 I 3 I 1 I I I I I I I 3rd 3 4 2 2 I the same mistake as the organizers of the British 500cc GP last year and actually gave the cup to Van der Ven (3-1), announced LaPorte (1-3) as second and demoted Jobe, who had the fastest race time from his 2-2 motos and thus won the race according to the rules, to third! These records correct that mistake. Consolation for Pomeroy must surely come, however, with his win at the Belgian GP of 1975. He was thus the first American ever to win a motocross GP, but was never to repeat the feat. Indeed only LaPorte, Mike Guerra (Spain 1982), and Donnie Hansen (Sweden 1982 just days before the practice crash which ended his career) were to score victories in Europe before the current crop of Americans hit the GP trail and wins have gone to Trampas Parker, Mike Healey' and Donny Schmit. Broc Glover, Bader Manneh and Bob Moore have made the podium in Europe. At the time of compiling these statistics, Husqvarna was still the most successful manufacturer in the 250cc GPs with 71 wins between 1958 and the 1984 Yugoslavian win of Jo Martens, and CZ has no immediate hopes of improving their current score of 68. When Stefan Everts won the Dutch GP in April, however, he gave Suzuki their 69th win in the class and it must only be a matter of time before they equal and then beat the Husqvarna record. Yamaha is next in line with Schmit's Italian win bringing their total to 49, while Parker's success in Switzerland was win number 33 for Honda. In total, 19 different manufacturers have been winners in quarter-liter motocross. For the record, those not already mentioned are KTM 36, Maico 21, Greeves 19, Jawa 14, BSA 14, Kawasaki 13, Cagiva 9, Puch 1.. Bianchi 2, Eso 2, Bultaco 2, NSU 1, Montesa I and Cagiva 1. CN

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