Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B.R. NICHOLLS
MOTOCROSS CUTBACK
The road race season is over. Grass track and speedway have stopped. The trials season proper starts, and with so many motocross stars in the United States, the winter scrambles will have a lack of luster. Perhaps this is the reason why few motocross meetings will be shown on television this winter. Whatever the reason, many think that the sport was being overexposed and the drastic cutback will be a good thing. The trouble is that the public gets used to Banks, Bickers, Smith and the like every time they see motocross on the screen. So when they attend in person, they expect to witness the same. But few clubs can afford to have more than a couple of aces at their meetings. Maybe the break will do us all good.
ELVINGTON RECORD MEET
Two annual record attempt meetings recently took place at Elvington on consecutive weekends. Riders attempted to beat the current figures over a standing start and flying quarter-mile, kilometer and mile distances in classes right up to 1 300cc.
Naturally our contestants have no hope of setting the absolute world record over the flying mile, for the runway used for the attempts-a little over two miles long—is unsuitable. Indeed, activity seems to be most feverish for the standing start quarter and kilometer, but the accent is on the quarter, as this is the drag strip distance.
The award for achievement must go to Dave Lecoq (on the fantastic fuel-injected, supercharged, Volkswagen-engined Dragwaye), for he broke his own standing quarter record with a mean of 9.69 sec. He failed by 0.01 sec. to take the standing kilometer record.
Norman Hyde (supercharged Trident) took records at all distances, but the flying quarter counts only as a national record because it is not an FIM class. One does not expect to find a 350 BSA amongst the record holders, but Terry Measures took the standing start quarter on his blown B40 in a time of 1 1.3 1 5, beating a figure set the previous week by Derek Leigh (blown Rudge).
The fact that so many records get broken each year, coupled with the knowledge that some of them go back as far as the Thirties, only goes to show that there is plenty of scope for the ambitious to write themselves into the record book.
BRANDS HATCH
The last international road race of our season was held at Brands Hatch and will keep the pundits talking for quite a while, as lap records were broken in both the 250 and 350 classes. Main contestants of the day were Giacomo Agostini, Phil Read, Rod Gould, Kel Carruthers and John Cooper.
In the 350 race, this select band was joined by Paul Smart. All indulged in a terrific battle, hut Ago cleared off intothe blue. The six Yamaha riders screamed in pursuit, but the intensity of their struggle slowed them. First Carruthers dropped out, then Read. Finally, Cooper managed to pull clear, and set off after Agostini. It was too late to catch Ago, but Cooper’s effort was such that he broke the lap record set by Mike Hailwood on the 350 Honda Six. He even lapped faster than the works MV Three in the same race.
That was not all. Gould and Read were dicing as if tied together with a short chain in the '250 race until Gould’s piston seized on the eighth of 10 laps. There was some consolation though: their TD2 Twins knocked exactly one second off the record set by Read on the works Yamaha Four in 1968.
Over seven years ago Derek Minter set the 500 class record on a Güera at 90.34 mph, so all eyes were on Agostini to better that on the faster and lighter MV.
Big race of the day, the Race of the South, was sponsored by the Evening News, and was for solos up to lOOOcc. This enabled the 350 Yamahas and Tridents to challenge the MV.
Perhaps it was the incentive Ago needed, or maybe it was the presence of 500-cc lap record holder Derek Minter that urged him on. Whatever, it led to the Italian equalling the record, and one cynic observed that the MV Three is now as fast as the Güera Four was seven years ago. With the MV out front, the 350 Yamahas of Cooper, Read and Gould finished in that order.
SIDECAR RECORDS FALL
Georg Auerbachèr (BMW) said farewell to the British crowd with a win in the 500 class for sidecars, but he was no match for the big Beesas in the 1000 class. Chris Vincent knocked a fifth of a second off his own record, winning well ahead of Peter Brown, who just pipped Norman Hanks for 2nd place.
A week later Vincent took his 654 CVS outfit to the Lydden circuit for a relatively small meeting, and broke his own lap record. This gave him four lap
records in as many weeks. If this feat had been achieved by a solo rider, it would have made headlines-but such is the luck of the charioteer.
SNETTERTON-THE FINAL ROUND
For the solo men, Snetterton was the final round of the British championships, and both the 350 and the 500 classes were undecided. Tony Rutter and Vic Chatterton battled for the 350 crown, and Peter Williams and Alan Barnett the 500.
Rutter threw his machine away in practice, so a hasty rebuild was necessary before racing began. Then his luck seemed to change, for he won his heat and went on to lead the final, with Paul Smart 2nd. Had that order remained up to the flag, Rutter would be our 1970 champion, but fate struck again. Engine seizure sidelined Rutter, so Smart won, and Chatterton took 2nd and the title. Third was Steve Machin, our 250 champion.
As the flag dropped for the start of the 500 final, all eyes were on Williams (Arter Matchless) and Barnett (Coleshill Seeley), who have had a season-long battle for supremacy in the senior class. For this vital encounter, Williams abandoned his magnesium six-spoked wheels for the heavier conventional type-part of a plan to cure a handling problem.
As luck would have it, they both broke clear of the pack and started to lap, with Williams fractionally in front. It was a battle of tactics between two great riders determined to win. As they hurtled into the first turn on the final lap, Barnett’s front wheel stepped out and with it, the race and title were lost. So Williams won the title, and I am certain he would have won that race even if Barnett had not fallen, for he was riding in top form
INTERNATIONAL GRASS TRACK
Lydden promoter Bill Chesson had a follow-up international grass track meeting where he made sidecars the center of attraction following complaints from competitors. This was because all publicity for the previous meeting had been angled toward the solo racers.
There was still an excellent solo entry, including world speedway champion Ivan Mauger. Adding spice to the show, Chesson brought over German and Danish competitors with banking sidecars to challenge the British champion Gerry Wheeler.
In England, the sidecar boys always race with the chair on the left, but FIM rules decree that for international grass track the sidecar must be mounted on the right. So, Wheeler had to build an outfit with a right-hand sidecar. This put Wheeler at a disadvantage. However, the rules also permit a sidecar engine capacity of up to 750cc and permit a supercharger to be used. Wheeler won the British title with a blown 750-cc CSR Norton. And, using that power unit, he had no trouble in disposing of the continental opposition (his main two rivals used single-cylinder 650 Jawa engines with no supercharging).
It was incredible to see those Jawas hurtling into a corner-particularly Heinrich Rhode with his passenger controlling the angle of lean with a steering wheel device mounted at the front of the chair. A Yankee-style half-mile oval with banked corners would really set the scene to introduce this type of competition in the States.
There were three sidecar races and Wheeler won them all, with 2nd place overall going to Jurgen Niebuhr (650 Jawa). Rhode was 3rd.
Six solo riders were selected for a special international race, and they included Ivan Mauger, Gottfried Schwarze, Brian Maxted and Chris Pusey. Schwarze confirmed his supremacy of the previous month, but met his match in another final where Reg Luckhurst won from Pusey, with Schwarze 3rd.
World speedway ace Mauger had a disappointing day riding a works Jawa, which just is not the power unit for this type of racing. It may be all conquering in speedway, but on the grass the good old long-stroke JAP rules the roost for solo racing.
There was a supporting event for national riders, in which points scored in heats enabled riders to compete in the final. There winning his first heat was Tech Sergeant Jim Rohn of the American Air Force riding an Elstarframed JAP.
Jim has been in the Air Force a while now and has seen service in Vietnam. He got a UK posting last January and lives with his wife and three daughters at Thetford, where grass track racing is very popular. Jim tried almost all forms of motorcycle competition back home in the Mid West, but wanted to try something new. He soon got the hang of things and has had numerous heat and three final wins to his credit. At Lydden, he made the final and was challenging for 3rd when a bad rut slid the hike from under him.
“We are going to spend the winter practicing broadsiding on a couple of old speedway irons,” says his keen rival and friend lan Towns. “You just watch him next season.”
SPEEDWAY FINAL
In the last big speedway meeting of the year, the British League Riders Championship, the fortunes of all the stars competing suffered jolts throughout the evening. Ivan Mauger was excluded from one heat for breaking the tapes in his eagerness to gate first. This left him out of the final reckoning, but his win in the last heat of the meeting meant a runoff, as three riders had tied on points. Barry Briggs emerged the winner and maintained his unbeaten run of success in this competition. In fact, he has won it every year since its inception in 1965. At 35, they will soon be calling him the grand old man of speedway, but I don’t fancy my luck if he finds out that I wrote it!
TRIALS COMPETITION
There it was in the results for all to see, “best performance by a rider who competed before 1956: S.H. Miller.” Mind you he won the trial as well, but by the narrowest of margins from Gordon Farley (Montesa), who lost one more mark than the Bultaco ace.
Alan Lumpkin set standard time on a Bultaco borrowed from Comerfords, but 96 marks lost on observation put him in 4th place. This placed him 5 below his younger brother Martin, who lost 18 on time and 73 on observation. For Miller, the score was 8 and 54. Farley scored 7 and 56. As a result, Miller and Farley now tie for the British trials championship with 86 points each. Two rounds remain.
From the Scott, Farley made a dash for the opening of the 1970-71 European Trials Championship series that started in West Germany. But the strain of the Scott and the traveling must have affected his riding. He finished 4th.
The winner was Mick Andrews (Ossa), who did not contest the Scott and won with a loss of 28 marks to the 30 of local favorite Gustave Franke (Zundapp). Another German, Rheinhardt Cristal (Montesa) was 3rd, losing 33. As he was a virtual unknown before the trial, it will be interesting to see how he progresses in the series. Reigning champion Miller did not compete, and could well find that Andrews is not the sort of competitor one can give a one-win start when contesting the European title.
SURPRISE FIM DECISION
A surprise decision of the FIM congress will have an effect on the 1971 motocross world title series. It will certainly cut out the spoilers who have contested one class for the title, but had the odd ride in the other class. Under the new ruling, each rider must name the class he will contest before the season begins, and though he may ride in the other class, he will not score points in that championship.
This particularly applies to host country riders competing in only one round while contesting the other championship. A classic example of this was Roger DeCoster’s win in the 500 Belgian GP of I 970.
The congress also commented on the Isle of Man TT circuit. As a result, the AC'U will no doubt be more selective in the issuing of international licenses, and a closer look will be taken at the provision of safety measures.
The AMA was accepted as a full member of the FIM though the MICUS problem still has to be resolved. The final point of interest to competitors in the International Six Days Trial is that the '71 event will he in the Isle of Man where the 1965 event was held, which proved to be the toughest since the war. It had 289 starters, 82 finishers and only 18 gold medals. All 20 American competitors were out by the end of the third day. In short, a medal won in ’65 was really worth having. It probably won’t be as tough in 1 971.
