Crashes fail to stop Gaston Rahier

Press, 18 October 1976, Page 3

Crashes fail to stop Gaston Rahier

By

ROD DEW

Two spectacular crashes failed to subdue the brilliance of the diminutive Belgian world 125 moto-cross champion, Gaston Rahier, in the $lOOO Suzukisponsored international meeting at Teddington yesterday.

He won three of the four eight-lap international heats in impressive fashion and because only the three best performances counted he took the major share of the prize money with a maximum points tally of 30. But in the second heat his brief New Zealand visit almost ended in disaster. Water entered the carburettor of his RM2SO Suzuki and the slide jammed wide open as he led the field into a tricky water splash on the opening lap. As he rocketed out of the water, the wheels slid out from under him and he went down heavily in a patch of mud. By the time he had scrambled to his feet, checked for broken bones and fired up his stalled machine, the entire field had disappeared into the distance, so he returned to the pits. Rahier gave the left wrist he dislocated three weeks ago a severe wrench in the crash but, apart from suffering a small amount of pain, he was well protected by the plastic brace strapped to it. At the end of the day he complained of cramp in the injured wrist and said that the brace was severely restricting him. However, he was high in his praise of the Teddington circuit, made even more testing than usual by showers of rain. “That is a great circuit — a real motocross circuit,” he said. Not all his rivals would agree. Few riders coped with the slippery conditions well and many were tioped off in the water splashes. Even more of them failed to master a steep, muddy slope at the back of the circuit and fortunes changed rapidly. One rider, Brian Tee (Suzuki) of Blenheim, crashed badly at one of the water jumps while holding fifth place on the second lap of the first heat. He was attended at the trackside by St John Ambulance officers and a doctor from among the spectators. Later, he was admitted to hospital with internal injuries. Last evening he was reported as being comfortable.

Another casualty was the former New Zealand champion, Peter Ploen (Suzuki), of Tauranga. He lost control on a vicious bump while leading the third heat and went sliding down in the mud. Gary Goodfellow (Honda), of Dunedin, who was right behind, was left with nowhere to go and smashed into the hapless Ploen. Goodfellow was soon on his feet and away but Ploen retired. He later went to hospital with a shoulder injury. If the showers made racing difficult for the riders, it

did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the 3000 spectators who swarmed over the spectacular hillside course. For them, there was hardly a dull moment.

Ploen made the best of the start in the first heat but within half a lap the incredible little Belgian, Rahier, had swept into the lead. Ploen chased him all the way to the finish with a relatively unknown Wellington rider, Greg Brink (Suzuki), closing on him at the finish. The real excitement was behind these three as Blair Carpenter (125 Yamaha), Goodfellow and Duncan McCallum (Suzuki), of Blenheim, held their own private battle. Goodfellow won this with Carpenter leading the 125 machines home. It was quickly apparent that the visiting Hawaiian champions, Jeff Peterson and Sandy Brody, were outclassed. They were both lapped and failed to finish the heat. The other visiting international, Frank Longnay (Suzuki), of Belgium, finished well back in seventh place, although he improved on this later in the day. The drama started early in the second heat with Rahier’s crash leaving Ploen and Brink at the head of the field. Then, on the second lap, Brink also lost control and retired, ending his international debut prematurely.

This left Ploen in front with Goodfellow, who had switched to his smaller but more manageable 125 Honda, snapping at his heels. The pressure on Ploen was only lifted on the penultimate lap when Goodfellow stalled on a muddy slope. The Dunedin rider recovered to retain his second placing and John Nicholls (Honda) claimed the honour of being the first Christchurch rider home in third place.

If anything, the third heat was even more dramatic. Rahier led Ploen and Goodfellow away from the start only to fall at the entrance to a water splash just 20 metres from the lap scorers on the first lap. Ploen, Goodfellow and Nicholls had all gone by before be managed to get mobile again.

“I was just going too fast,” he said later. For a short time, over-all victory for Ploen seemed possible. Then, on the second lap, his wheels slid out from under him and Goodfellow cartwheeled over the top. In the meantime, Rahier had passed Nicholls and this left him oack in a lead he was to hold until the finish. Goodfellow fought his way back into second place but in the closing laps he was overtaken by McCallum and Nicholls and had to be content with fourth.

For the final race, Rahier elected to ride his RMI2S Suzuki and led from start to finish to win the international. Riding with great verve, McCallum held second place throughout and this lifted him into third place over all behind Ploen.

Results (all riders from Christchurch unless otherwise stated) were:

International feature (each heat 8 laps).—First heat: G. Rahier (Belgium). RM2SO Suzuki 1; P Ploen (Tauranga), RM2SO Suzuki, 2; G. Brink (Wellington), RM2SO Suzuki 3: G. Goodfellow (Dunedin). CR2SO Honda, 4; B. Carpenter, 125 Yamaha, 5. Time: 14:56. Second heat: Ploen 1, Goodfellow. 125 Honda, 2; J. Nicholls, CR2SO Honda, 3; R. Happer (Dunsandel). 4; G. Sword, 250 Yamaha, 5. Time: 16:06. Third heat: Rahier 1. D. McCallum (Blenheim), Suzuki. 2; Nicholls 3: Goodfellow 4; Carpenter 5. Time: 15:29.5. Fourth heat: Rahier. 125 Suzuki 1; McCallum 2; R. Selby, Suzuki, 3; F. Longnay (Belgium), Suzuki, 4; Nicholls 5. Time: 15:05.

Final points (best three races count). —Rahier 30. Ploen 15. McCallum 10, Goodfellow 7, Nicholls fi, Selby 3, Happer 1, Longnay 1. 250 and 500 classes combined (each race 5 laps).—First race: G. Holland. 400 Maico. 1; S. Duff, Suzuki, 2; A. Reid, 250 Honda, 3. Second race: K. Robinson, 250 Yamaha, 1; E. Syme (Ashburton), Suzuki. 2; C. Frost (Nelson), Honda, 3. Third race: M. Puklowski (Nelson), Honda, 1; Syme 2; Reid 3. Final points: Robinson 11. Holland 10. Syme 10 Puklowski 10, Reid 6.

125 odd (each race 5 laps).— First race: A. Bryce. Yamaha. 1; M. Thompson, Suzuki, 2; C. Adamson. Suzuki, 3. Second race: Bryce 1. Thompson 2. M. Bamford, Honda. 3. Third race: Bryce 1, Thompson 2, B. Nisbit, Honda, 3. Final points: Bryce 30. Thompson 15, Adamson 3. Nisbit 3. Bamford 3.

125 even (each race 5 laps).— First race: B. Carpenter, Yamaha, 1: R. Wright, Suzuki, 2; C. Brady. Yamaha, 3. Second race: Carpenter 1. Wright 2. B. France, Honda, 3. Third race: Carpenter 1, Brady 2, France 3. Final points: Carpenter 30, Wright 11, Brady 9. France 6.