Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B.R. NICHOLLS
INTERNATIONAL MOTOCROSS
It has been a slack time for world championship motocross, and Joel Robert must be thankful for that. Currently leading the title chase with five clear wins and four rounds to go, he went to the British event intent on making it six. But a simple practice spill twisted a knee, the same leg injured earlier in the season, and prevented him from scoring. He entered the first race, but could only tour around before retiring. Fortunately he has four weeks before the next round. Another who suffered in practice was Czech ace Karel Konecny (CZ), who damaged a toe when he hit a course marker.
Title leader Sylvain Geboers (CZ) was the overall winner, but it was by no means an easy win. To the partisan crowd, Dave Bickers was without doubt the man of the meeting, for he set the meeting alight with his second race performance. In the first race Geboers set the pace, leading at the end of the first lap, followed by Bryan Goss (Husqvarna) and Olle Pettersson (Suzuki) with the Husqvarnas of Alan Clough and Heikki Mikkola 4th and 5th. Clough retired on the second lap, complaining that the Finn Mikkola had rammed him, and as a result of this shunt Mikkola disappeared a few laps later.
Meanwhile ex-AJS teamster Malcolm Davis (CZ) was carving through the field, and by one-third distance was up to 4th behind Geboers, Goss and Jiri Stodulka (CZ) and gaining fast. The AJS duo of Andy Roberton and Jimmy Aird, having spilled, was not in the hunt. Pettersson had dropped back with a punctured rear tire which finally sidelined him.
Meanwhile Davis had forced into 2nd place and was catching the leader, Geboers, who admitted after the race he could go no faster. But when it seemed Davis must gain the lead, his front tire burst and with it all hope of a Davis win. Few riders have been dogged by such bad luck as Davis has suffered this year.
With Davis and Pettersson out, Geboers was secure in 1st place. Stodulka was 2nd, and Goss 3rd. Fourth man home, showing no sign of the fireworks he was to produce in the second race, was veteran campaigner Dave Bickers (CZ).
In the second race Geboers again raced into the lead. Right behind at the end of the first lap was Scotsman Vic Allen (Greeves), who took the lead on the second lap. But his glory was shortlived, as the third lap saw him sidelined for the second time with a seized engine. Nevertheless it was not Geboers in front, but Stodulka. Davis was up to 3rd, but retired with a collapsed front wheel.
So Gebots and Stodulka were locked in battle for 1st place, while Bickers moved up to 3rd. Arthur Browning (Greeves), who had gained 6th place in the first race, moved in on the scene as Bickers took 2nd from Stodulka. Now the sparks were really flying as Bickers and Browning diced furiously. The pace of their struggle led them away from Stodulka and closer to leader Geboers. At one stage, Bickers all but lost it, but hung on in a cloud of dust.
First Bickers took the lead, then Geboers was relegated to 3rd when Browning whistled past. But championship leaders are wily characters; with a first race win, the Belgian knew 3rd spot would give him overall victory. His worry was not the Bickers vs. Browning battle in front of him, but Pettersson and Chris Horsfield (Bultaco), not far behind. Pit signals kept him in touch with the situation, so he took 3rd at the end to gain overall victory.
Meanwhile Browning snatched the lead from Bickers, but at the flag Bickers managed to snatch back 1st place. So Geboers keeps his place at the top of the title table. His best seven rides total 91 points to the 75 of Robert. Pettersson is 3rd with 47 and can no longer win the title this year. Geboers is certainly a model of consistency for he has scored in every round this year. Robert, with five outright wins, needs only a 1st and 2nd out of the remaining three rounds to hold his world crown.
The two Belgians have completely dominated the class, but whether their individual brilliance will be enough to gain for Belgium the coveted Trophee des Nations team prize later in the year remains to be seen. At least they will have the advantage in front of their home crowd.
The 500 motocross boys have also had an easy month with only the West German round to contend. With five rounds to go it is still anybody’s guess who will win. The favorites must be the first four in the table which now reads: Bengt Aberg of Sweden (Husqvarna) 62, John Banks of Great Britain (BSA) 54, Arne Kring of Sweden (Husqvarna) 48 and Paul Friedrichs of East Germany (CZ) 27.
Reigning champion Friedrichs, who failed to score in the first five events, has jumped to 4th with his win in the latest round. Ironically, this was in West Germany, where he had an argument with the organizers over the usual political issue of East Germany being called the German Democratic Republic. He refused to race unless the latter title was used and gained his point, though the organizers had the last say by refusing to fly the flag and play the national anthem.
Friedrichs was certainly the man of the meeting. He won the first race after Banks had gone out with electrical trouble, leaving the Swedes Aberg and Kring as challengers. Aberg’s effort ended when he spun in 2nd place, though he still finished 3rd behind his countryman, Kring.
Local hero Adolf Weil (Maico), down in 4th spot, appeared not likely to repeat his 250 class victory of earlier this year. All hopes of such a win disappeared with a split tank on the first lap of the second race. Czech Miroslav Homola, who made a good start on the 420 Jawa, led Friedrichs a merry dance. Even when the champion got in front the Czech came back at him, finally securing 1st place when Friedrichs laid it over too far and bent a gear lever. He made a couple of stops to bend it straight, which dropped him down to 5th.
Homola was not the only surprise of the second race, for Keith Hickman (BSA) got a good start and made the most of it to move into 2nd when Friedrichs dropped back. Hickman held Aberg at bay, and so robbed him of overall victory. Had Aberg beaten Hickman, he would have been overall winner, but he and Friedrichs were level and the East German got the verdict on time by under three seconds. It could well cost the Swede the title.
Alan Clough missed a round of the 250 motocross British national championships because of his trip to the States. Taking full advantage of Clough’s absence was the spectacular Bryan “Wild” Wade (Greeves), well known to U.S. enthusiasts for his riding in the InterAm series last winter. A 3rd and 1st in two races have lifted him 3 points clear of Clough, who retains 2nd place, 1 point ahead of Goss.
Winning the British title is the passport to next year’s world championships. The final round in a couple of months will be a sizzler, as six riders are separated by 8 points, with young Wade keen to have a tilt at the world crown in 1970.
LOSS OF BILL IVY
The road racing scene has been dominated tragically by the death of Bill Ivy following a crash on the 350 Jawa Four. Little Bill, only five feet, three inches tall, was immensely strong and had tremendous riding ability on any capacity of machine. He first made his name on a 125 Honda. Then, after a spell with Geoff Monty, he joined Tom Kirby and gained immediate success on his Metisse machines. Then came a Yamaha contract and the world 125 title in 1967. He retired from motorcycle racing when Yamaha withdrew and went car racing, but accepted the chance to ride the Jawa in the classics. Indeed he was a very real threat to Agostini, whom he led for a time at the Dutch meeting. There was no doubt that bikes were his first love, followed by the fast cars that were so much a part of his life. He was a character apart in racing, whose loathing of petty officialdom resulted in heated exchanges on more than one occasion, particularly on the Continent. Not everyone agreed with his fancy 'hirts and long ha±r, vut no one can deny that he was a superb, talented rider. Racing will be much poorer without him.
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The Jawa concern suffered a further loss a week later at the Czech Grand Prix when Frantisek Bocek, one of their technical staff, died from injuries received in a crash when riding a singlecylinder 350 Jawa.
ROAD RACE CHAMPIONSHIPS
One British road race title has been decided, and that is the sidecar class, where Chris Vincent and Keith Scott (654 BSA) have scored a maximum 75 points from five rides. Vincent made sure of the title at the recent Castle Coombe meeting. Held at the same time were rounds of the 125 and 250 titles.
In the 125 race, John Ringwood (MZ) held a good lead until the twostroke started to run short of breath, letting in young Barry Sheene (Bultaco). Sheene’s win hoisted him into 2nd place in the title, behind Charles Mortimer who was at the Czech Grand Prix, as was 3rd man Dave Simmonds, who made sure of the world 125 crown that day.
Yamaha made a clean sweep of the 250 race, filling the first nine places. Victory for Dave Browning took him to the top of the title table ahead of Tony Rutter. Mortimer is 3rd. Two rounds remain for the 125 and 250s, but just one for the 350 and 500 classes where the pressure is really on. There have been two rounds in the past month, the first at the Croft airfield circuit, and the second, the only true road race of the championship, was run in conjunction with the Isle of Man Southern 100 meeting. At both, Derek Chatterton won the 350 class on his Yamaha, so taking the title lead from Pat Mahoney (Aermacchi H-D) and Alan Barnett (Kirby Metisse).
Dave Croxford (Seeley) went to Croft with teammate Mick Andrew intent on gaining full points while his near rival Barnett was at the Dutch GP. However, he reckoned without the ability of course specialist Ken Redfern (Norton), who rode with such spirit that on the last lap he led them both. But Andrew nipped past on the last corner to take victory. Croxford placed 3rd, which was good enough to give him the championship lead. The final round will be vital.
Neither Croxford nor Barnett went to the Southern 100, where the 500 class victor was Brian Steenson (Seeley), a true road racer in the best Irish tradition.
BARCELONA PRODUCTION CLASSIC
Few would quarrel with the claim that the Barcelona 24-hour production race is the toughest in the world. The Montjuich circuit is a tortuous one of under 2.5 miles per lap which requires great concentration by the rider and staying power of the bike. The class for experimental machines provided the 1969 overall winner. A 360-cc Bultaco, with lights fitted, completed 22 laps more than the previous record-holder. Second was the production 650 Triumph ridden by Malcolm Uphill and Steve Jolly. Spanish riders Salvador Candías and Carlos Rocamora rode the winning machine and averaged 67.10 mph for the race. Only four laps behind the Triumph came the class winning 250 Ossa, ridden by Juan Pares and Benjamin Grau.
As a result of the Spanish race, Uphill is the 1969 Coupe d’ Endurance champion, with Jolly runner-up. It has been a great season for the Triumph factory and its Bonneville in production racing. Percy Tait went one step further at the Belgian Grand Prix, when he took his factory 498-cc machine into 2nd place behind Agostini. He was the only rider that Ago did not lap. It is a quirk of the rules that had Tait dropped out on that last lap, he would not have figured in the results notwithstanding the fact that he would have covered a greater distance than 3rd man home, Barnett.
INTERNATIONAL CLASS
Perhaps the most amazing feature of the world championships at the moment is the performance of the remarkable little air-cooled Ossa two-stroke that the brilliant young Spaniard Santiago Herrero has taken into the lead of the 250 class. It is the only capacity where there is a real battle going for the championship. Agostini has already taken the 350 and 500 crowns with maximum scores, as has Dave Simmonds (Kawasaki) the 125 class. Aalt Toersen (Kreidler) leads the 50-cc class and Helmut Fath (URS) the sidecars, and both are favored for their respective classes. In the 250, it is anybody’s guess. The two Benelli men, Carruthers and Pasolini, seem most likely to pip Herrero, but both Rodney Gould and Kent Andersson on Yamahas could pull off an outside chance. [Q]
