Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
SIXTH WORLD TITLE
B.R. NICHOLLS
West Germany, Poland and Russia were the three wins in a row that gave Joel Robert his sixth 250cc world motocross title which has underlined his absolute dominance of the world title scene.
The Belgian ace has now reached the fantastic figure of 50 world championship grand prix wins. His six titles fully justify the “greatest motocross rider of all time” tag that has been applied to him. No other rider can claim as many championships in either the 250 or 500 class and nobody has anywhere near his 50 wins. With grand prix wins in every country that has a world grand prix round, it seems that the Belgian ace will go on setting records that will prove well nigh impossible to beat.
Surely the only real challenge left to him now is the 500 class, for a title there would put him ahead of Rolf Tibblin. Tibblin, the Swedish rider, won the 250 title when it was only a European championship and went on to take the world crown in the 500 class. At the West German round the main opposition to Robert came from Adolf Weil, the West German ace who, although officially contesting the 500 title this year, avoided the Russian round to ride on his home ground on a 250. It is not the first time Weil has done this and the logic of staying at home for good start money instead of traveling all the way to Russia when he’s not a serious contender for the 500 title is obvious.
Weil is a favorite with the German crowd and the fact that any points gained cannot count toward the title does not seem to bother the Maico concern.
Theoretically, in the past it was possible for a rider to gain both world titles in the same year, but this has been prevented by the FIM ruling that a rider must state his intention before the season starts as to which title he will contest.
So with no title incentive it must have been money or personal pride that drove Weil to a fantastic first race performance in which he led from start to finish. His success was aided by the dustiness of the circuit that made passing difficult.
Robert made a bad start, while his Suzuki teammate, Sylvain Geboers, fared even worse by dropping his machine on the first lap. Geboers never recovered from the mishap and finished no better than 9th in the first leg. This, matched with a 5th in the second, gave him an overall finishing position of 5th, not the sort of result a championship contender wants at the halfway stage.
(Continued on page 88)
Continued from page 86
In the first leg, Robert fought through to finish 2nd behind Weil. For the title, it was as good as first place, with Weil’s efforts not counting.
Russian Vladimir Kavinov (CZ) was 3rd in front of Jiri Falta (CZ) of Czechoslovakia. Hakan Andersson (Yamaha) took 5th, so there were five nationalities in the first five places. That is what an international grand prix is all about!
The second race showed just how superbly fit the Belgian world champion is, for as the others began to tire toward the end of the race Robert squirted it even harder, passing the first three on the same lap and taking the lead, which he held to the end. Weil followed him home, but Robert had ensured overall victory by completing both races in less time than the German.
Third place was taken by Kavinov while Yamaha had its best ever world championship performance when Hakan Andersson took 4th after a fine ride.
The battle moved to Poland the following week with Robert in a commanding position to take the title. He was up against all the usual rivals. His main opposition was teammate Geboers, who must have fancied his chances on the sandy course. It’s just the sort of circuit that he revels in.
Geboers took the lead while Robert had to fight through, but even so, Robert took the lead by the halfway mark and then went well ahead. In the second race Geboers was never in the hunt and eventually retired with engine trouble, while for Robert it was a start to finish lead ahead of Kavinov. But, in the overall classification, runner-up to Robert was Andersson on a Yamaha. He had taken 3rd in the first race and 5th in the second, so although it was not all that convincing it did show that the Yamaha is proving more reliable.
A week later Robert ensured his 6th world title with a win in Russia where Uno Palm salvaged some of the Husqvarna pride with runner-up position that took him to 2nd place in the championship, though he has no chance of the title now that Robert has an unbeatable lead.
Kavinov failed to score, letting the Swedish rider into 2nd place. News of the Russian meet is sparse so it could well be that Kavinov did not ride as he had crashed heavily the previous week and may have been forced to rest.
The Russian flag was kept flying by Alexei Kibirin (CZ), whose 3rd overall gave him 4th place in the title hunt, ahead of Andersson. So the position after eight of the 12 rounds is that Robert leads with 99 points, then comes Palm 5 7, Kavinov 48, Kibirin 45, Andersson 38 and Geboers 35. Riders now have a 6-week respite before battling out the final four rounds to see who will be runner-up to Robert.
In the meantime, some of them will race in the American Trans-AMA series to ensure they keep that razor edge to their racing so essential in world championship racing.
500 TITLE WIDE OPEN
For those chasing the 500 title, things are nowhere near so cut and dried. In fact, the riders at present have a mid-season break with seven of the 12 meetings gone. And, the fact of the matter is that the title is absolutely wide open. In theory, the title could still be won by a rider who has not yet even scored, as five wins would give 75 points. Championship leader at present is Roger DeCoster at 57. But that is all in the realm of fantasy.
(Continued on page 90)
Continued from page 89
In the last meeting held in Czechoslovakia, DeCoster won the first leg on his works Suzuki but only after veteran Paul Friedrichs had the rear wheel of his CZ collapse after he had caught and passed the Belgian. That was the only threat to DeCoster as he went on to win from Heikki Mikkola (Husqvarna).
Riding a tactical race the second time out, DeCoster was content to hold 3rd behind former champion Bengt Aberg (Husqvarna) who failed to finish the first race, and Adolf Weil (Maico) who had finished outside the first dozen. Mikkola was his only threat and he was behind him.
Then with a couple of laps to go, an oil seal on the Suzuki broke and within a lap DeCoster was sidlined. Middola shot past to take 3rd place and overall victory.
That is the sort of thing that motocross is all about and is the reason why a rider should never give up. Just when it looked as if DeCoster, the reigning champion, was going to open up a 23-point lead in his title defense, he dropped to a paltry lead of five.
It was Mikkola’s second win of the series and puts the Husqvarna rider in 2nd place with 52 points. Third is Aberg 34, 4th Jonsson 31 and 5th Jiri Stodulka (CZ) 29. With five rounds to go it is anybody’s title, though the odds must be on DeCoster retaining his crown. Disappointing this year has been the form of last year’s runner-up Ake Jonsson (Maico) and that of his teammate Adolf Weil. While Mikkola must be the favorite to beat DeCoster, I think former champion Aberg could provide the shock result of the year.
SIDECAR CHAMPIONSHIP
With the 250 and 500 solo motocross men battling it out for a world title, the sidecar motocross men are the poor relations as they contend the European Sidecar championship. To those who have never seen the lumbering giants with an engine capacity up to 750cc fighting out one of these battles, it is difficult to imagine what is involved for driver and passenger as the outfit bucks, leaps, drifts and slews around the course with the rear wheel biting into the terrain and spewing dirt at those unfortunate enough to be just behind.
Next month I will illustrate for you just what it is like as these men contest the 1972 title which is at present headed by Dutch rider Ton Van Heugten, who used to race solo in the> 250 championship. He has not won any of the four championship rounds held so far, yet leads with 44 points. Our Swedish rider Teddy Stromberg and Russian Anatoly Sibirtsev who both have 23.
Favorite mount of the sidecar men is a Norton 750 Twin powered Wasp outfit, though the Russian, of course, uses a Ural Twin. Reigning champion is Dutchman Rikus Lubbers (750 Norton), who at present is lying 5th in the table after four meetings with five more to come.
Sidecar motocross is a favorite with the crowds because of its fantastic spectacle and the ingenuity that goes into the building of some of the outfits used by competitors. These can be powered by anything from single-cylinder two-strokes to the three-cylinder Kawasakis and even a Honda Four.
Machine mortality rate is pretty high, which makes the title something of a gamble, but to the rider who can be consistent there is the very real chance of becoming the champion, as Van Heugten has shown this season in taking the title lead without winning one round so far.
It is high time the FIM made the crowd pleasing, spectacular sidecars a world championship, as they should the European trials championship which Mick Andrews has now won for 1972 following his victory in the German round.
ANDREWS NEW TRIALS CHAMP
The championship is decided over 11 events with a rider’s best seven performances counting.
Mick Andrews’ fantastic record in the seven rounds held so far is six 1st places and a 2nd. His “poor” ride came in France when Malcolm Rathmell (Bultaco) had a really inspired day that even the magnificient Ossa man could not equal. But the whole thing is that consistency wins a championship and it is just a little difficult to beat the consistency of a man who can turn in six lsts and a 2nd out of seven rides.
(Continued on page 92)
Continued from page 91
Ossa-mounted Mick Andrews needs no introduction to CYCLE WORLD readers, for his record equaling three wins in a row at the Scottish Six Days Trial is well known to you and many of you will also have met the quiet, unassuming man from Derby during one of his Stateside “teach ins” on trials riding.
If you want to see the expertise of the man who has taken over the Miller mantle as if it were made to measure, then get in on his next trials school or give yourself a good holiday in the highlands of Scotland next year.
SURPRISE POLISH ROUND
The Polish round nearly produced a surprise result when Finnish rider Irgo Vesterinen (Bultaco) found the rocky course very much to his liking and lost only five marks to the two of Andrews to take runner-up spot in front of Bultaco riders Martin Lampkin and Malcolm Rathmell, who lost 8 and 11 respectively.
A week later in Germany, a 3-lap course was laid out, which is a favorite idea of the Europeans and has a lot to commend it provided it is reasonably difficult in the first place. It enables a rider to fight back on sections that he has already seen and ridden on the day and this is an idea that Andrews could well enjoy, as at the end of the first lap he was in 3rd place behind Rathmell and Gordon Farley (Montesa), though there was only three marks separating the three of them. The scores were 11, 12 and 14. Yet, at the end of the three laps, Andrews had fought back to win with a loss of 42 to the 44 of Rathmell, with Martin Lampkin fighting into 3rd place on 47 ahead of Farley and Thore Evertsson (Ossa), both on 55.
Evertsson has shown in recent months that he is emerging as the top Swedish trials rider. With a little more experience and less nervousness he could become a world beater in a domain hitherto entirely dominated by British riders.
ISLE OF MAN TT
I make no apology for going back a month and reviewing the 1972 Isle of Man TT races, even though they were fully reported in last month’s issue. The races came right at press time and gave no chance to report what went on immediately after the event was over.
(Continued on page 96)
Continued from page 92
During the atrocious race conditions in the 125 event, Italian ace Gilberto Parlotti, riding the works Morbidelli, crashed on a mountain section of the course and was killed. The accident happened at a spot where the course had been widened and the road surface improved. Gone were the previous bumps and the camber is now favorable. But the fence on the outside of the bend was attached to concrete posts which were left unprotected. Parlotti was killed when he struck and broke one of the concrete posts.
In an unprecedented wave of criticism, riders Agostini, Phil Read, Rod Gould, Charles Mortimer and John Cooper have all stated that they will not race there again unless there is a big improvement in safety precautions—an almost impossible task on a circuit that is nearly 38 miles long.
What the outcome will be remains to be seen but the FIM is becoming more and more safety conscious and the calendar is already over-crowded with too many world championship meetings counting toward the titles. There are at present 14 championship rounds toward the so-called road racing championships but less than half that number are held on true road circuits.
If the number were cut to a much more manageable total of 10 the TT would be a favorite for the axe, as continental riders would avoid two ferry crossings getting to the meeting.
Tradition has long held the TT together and when in the late ’50s the 125, 250 and sidecar races were held on the shorter 15-mile Clypse course there was an outcry that they were not proper TT races and were duly put back onto the mountain course.
Is there any place for such tradition now that bikes are traveling so much faster, this being further aggravated by the course improvements with smoother surfaces and corners eased so that the sparkle of the 100 mph lap is being dimmed and almost taken for granted?
To talk of building another shorter, safer circuit in the Isle of Man is, I think, out of the question because if the money cannot be found to make the course safer it is hardly likely to be there to build another circuit. Anyway, if a circuit is built then it becomes just another circuit and neither rider nor spectator will want to travel to the Island for that.
Suppose just for a moment that the TT is struck from the list of world title rounds. What would then become the most prestigious road race in the world? What would be the Blue Riband of
(Continued on page 98)
Continued from page 96
motorcycle racing—the Everest, call it what you will, that would be event to win?
Then comes the $64,000 question: where would a British grand prix be held? The law prohibits the closing of public roads so we would be left with 30 or 40 laps around, at best, Oulton Park or, at worst, the airfield circuit of Silverstone.
It has left the A.C.U. with a kingsize problem of how to get the money to make the TT circuit safer so that it can retain classic status. This year the races were up for sale and a sponsor could have had all eight races for something around $100,000. But the real problem lies in the fact that it is the greatest free show on earth. Yes, free.
Apart from some grandstands at a few parts of the course, it is possible to see that TT races without paying a penny unless you by a program. Imagine Daytona or Ontario for free!
So there are two sources of revenue at present untapped that could provide the sort of money needed to provide the extra safety measures and more cash for the racers to ride there. Make no mistake about it, the TT could die before next year; and if it did, resuscitation would be the most difficult thing in the world.
It would be ironic if the TT, that has meant so much to racers in the past, should now be doomed by the concerted action of riders who have always been so loathe to act collectively in the past. Yet few are compelled to ride there and a world championship is decided by a riders’ best performance in half the total number of qualifying events plus one, i.e. 8 out of 14, 6 out of 11, etc.
The mood of many riders at the moment suggests that they will insist on a clause in contracts next year that will enable them to opt out of the TT.
The matter will probably cool for three months, until the FIM congress in the fall, where the politics of the organizing body will decide the classic status of next year’s TT races. We can only await their decision before seeing what the next step will be. If it becomes just another international, then it will need money more than ever to stay alive and that is the very problem that has caused all the present rider unrest. For the TT circuit demands the highest skills and respect if it is to be mastered, because there is little margin for error. The 37 odd mile course threads its way through town and village and a 1300 ft. climb over the mountain with stone walls, curbs and houses lining the road.
