Ake, Ake, Ake!

Ake,Ake,Ake

Ake Jonnson. Epitome of the modern motocross gladiator.Helmeted,goggled, visored, masked, gloved, leathered, booted, ribbed, ,vested. And fast. So fast that he won all there motos at the Saddleback Inter. Am finale, aganist more top ranking iternational stars than you would see in a big European Grand Prix. and his trusty Maico had ... •~:~nough points to win I hampio~ship. He outraced Suzuki'sf Geboers. The entire six-man I - V squad never got close I.. Husqvarna hordes, incluc world champion Bangt Aberg, c touch him ough they L dominate the nter-Am. Neither a Swede, nor his C Willie Bauer, who w~ n total points, had failed.to a single heat during the entire i...

At Saddleback, Inter-Am's Most Stellar Event, Ake Jonsson Holds Back The Husqvarna Horde, Et Al.

The BSA squad, most often seen:. playing at~he front of th~v~~AMA vents, played farther back at'thé' Saddleback Inter-Am. Jeff Smith (41). the "retired~' granddaddy 36 years oId~ of.ByJti~h màtc cross, gave best show of the Ict~ riding forcefully toRQvera%l~ John Banks would j~i~have been the fastest man S~1i the tam, but he is still mending from leg injuries. At Saddleback, Banks (42) slipped over.a 1~ and came out a mud pie.

D ave ickers (12). the~~jndar English C ctory r~, rides the sandpit banking~ He has trouble holding his own against the fast youñgblOods of • international mot~crOss tikOJon~on and Geboers. but~soccasionaUy tricky enough to put himself in the lead, as he did at Saddleback, at least for a few rninubr •

S uzuki rider Geboers(3) is darkly: intense~nd a Belgian too which seems a contradiction He is so determined to win the world championship that he has changed the international motocross racing~ It used to be,.says CZ'S Roger Decostér, that r~ders~Oke himself àndJoeJ Robert could indulge themselves in Ma~~fa~ crowd-pleasing riding styles Now Geboers is worrying teammate Joel Even Deco~th,1 who trademarked the reverse-lock bañkirtgLeàp, h~j. had to tone down his style to rate.,on going fast Determ.ine~i ornot, Goboers sethedfor3rd~ Saddleback behind winner Ake and 2nd place Aberg, who was slowed in the last moto by a broken fram~

G reeves rider Gary BaIley (31), one of the top West Coast riders, has had an.I-t----~~season, and was further hamperedbytfie flu bug at'Sad~dtj~f~~, which forced him to sit out the • secofld moto. ut he raced In . final moto, and put on a brilliant drive in the last five minutes to b~jomeR 3rd~erican in. Here he forces past Bill Our~-(Cheney Yamaha).

hatever happe~ëd~Barry Higgins (2), high scoring Ai~of last year's series~ Trouble what 8~st before primary chain failure stoè~ed his little 250 Ossa. he fa~-.---j'~ lapprng Chuck Minert 4rand giving Dave Nicoll (43), the BSA factory rider who won the Trans-AMA, a merry chase.

T he fastest Amarican rider at Saddleback was Hu~qvarna riderBob Grossi (29), who scared 8th overall, behind Willie Bauer~ Here, he is moving up on another lifornian~Silverthorn, who ran quite fast, but seemed to tire and sjow towards the end of the 3O~rnnu~te motos, thus getting 4th American ;b~'è~aU. Grossi, who placed as high as5~h6th in several of the lntor-Am~~~jwas 2nd highest scoring American in the series, behind high point American 4ohn Desoto (who itonicatly broke his ankle at Saddleback) and ahead of Mike Runyard 1Montesa),