Crossed Up
CROSSED UP
FERNANDO BELAIR
After finishing the Pierre Karsmakers interview last month, I was just sitting in my office thinking about the number of different things we’d discussed. Many of them were extremely interesting and some of them unique as far as motocross interviews go. But as I day-dreamily gazed at an oil painting of Joel Robert on my wall, recalling all of the things that Pierre and I talked about concerning Joel, I flashed on a weekend that I spent down at Carlsbad many years ago.
It was around 1968. I was in my mid-teens, about to reach my tenth year as a motorcyclist. My father, younger brother and I set out for a full weekend of International Motocross spectating. In those pre-Inter-Am/Trans-AMA days the yearly visit of the European stars was called the International Motocross Circus. It was promoted by Edison Dye and the racing was as fantastic as it is today. Back then, of course, the Americans were so far behind the foreigners that no one went to the races to see us against them. Everyone went to see them race against themselves.
That particular weekend had six International motos scheduled. On Saturday, the riders, including the Europeans, would ride alternating 125cc and 250cc motos with half-hour rests in between. Each moto was 45 minutes long; there were four motos in all. Then on Sunday they would ride two 45minute 500cc motos and rest while two 500cc Support motos ran.
The European entourage consisted of Joel Robert, Roger DeCoster, Vlastimil Valek and Dave Bickers on CZs, the Belgian Marcel Weirtz riding a Bultaco, and the Husqvarna team of Torlief Hansen, Torsten Hallman and Bengt Aberg. The Husky team did not ride the 125 event on Saturday, but everyone else did.
Joel Robert borrowed an iron-barrel 125 Sachs—leading-link forks and all — from Don Vesco’s shop. Marcel Weirtz had brought out a couple of 125 Bultacos, one of which he lent to DeCoster. I forget what Bickers rode, but it really doesn’t matter.
The starting flag was waved (no starting gates in those days), and a screaming bunch of 125s headed for the first turn. Joel, who had only gotten to ride two laps of practice on the Sachs, missed about eight shifts on his way to the first turn. Dead last. But it didn’t take him long to figure out how to work the tricky transmission on the German motor, and soon he was flying.
I have been to every major motocross held at Carlsbad since that day, and I have yet to see anyone come down that infamous downhill as fast as Joel and that Sachs. In no time he had caught the field, passed leader Weirtz and gone on to lap everyone up to and including 3rd-place man DeCoster. When he finished the moto, he pulled into the pits missing a footpeg, handed the bike over to a mechanic complaining about the handlebar shape and proceeded to turn the bike, first full-lock one way, then the other, each time physically bending the pair of highest-quality chrome handlebars until he had achieved the desired positioning.
Twenty-five minutes later Joel was on the starting line with his 250 CZ. Now he certainly knew how to shift a CZ, and he pulled a holeshot that has never been repeated. His victory in that race was not as outstanding as in the previous one, but he did lap more than half the field. DeCoster and Bickers followed him in for 2nd and 3rd, nearly three-quarters of a lap behind.
Back to the 125 and another victory just half an hour later. This time Joel lapped everyone after 2nd-place Weirtz’s Bultaco blew up. A little more rest and he was out on the 250, taking a 20-sec. win over Torsten Hallman, whose Husky had suffered from mechanicals during the first moto. So much for Saturday.
The next day the crowds really came out. There were about ten times as many as the thousand or so who saw Saturday’s incredible one-man show. First, the Support class was run. The victory went to a young man on an old twin-pipe CZ. His name was John Hateley. Then the big armor came out. Joel and the CZ, Roger and the CZ, Bickers and the CZ, Hallman & Co. and the monstrous (for those days) 405cc Husqvarnas.
Horsepower won the race to the first turn. All three of the Huskys were in the lead. DeCoster, more experienced on the 360 CZ than Joel, was 4th. Joel was 6th behind one of the top American riders of the era, Montesa-mounted Ron Nelson. At the end of the first lap, Joel was 3rd, DeCoster still ahead of him. By the fourth lap Joel had taken the lead from Hallman, with Roger trailing in 2nd. Joel never looked back. He finished more than a minute ahead of Torsten.
After another Support moto, won by a young Maico rider, with Hateley 2nd, the Internationals lined up again. This time it took Joel about half the moto to get by Hallman. Torsten dogged him relentlessly and was able to press back by with only one lap to go. Joel followed Torsten across the finish line, surprised as heck to see the checkered flag. He thought that there was still one more lap to go and he already had the spot picked out where he was going to repass Hallman. Whether or not he could have done it is up to you to decide.
I remember the details of that weekend’s racing so well because I’d never seen anyone dominate anything like Joel did motocross. And he was at a distinct disadvantage.
The Husky team had flown in its works bikes. The CZ team had uncrated stock machines and installed some parts they had brought over with them. Things like Jikov carburetors that had been reworked, personal shock preferences and different footpegs. The machines in those days did not have such niceties as long-travel rear suspension. If they could get six inches up front, and somewhere between three and four in the back, they were satisfied. The machines weighed, well, I don’t have to tell you what some of those old CZs weighed. Suffice it to say that they were very heavy. And how about that 125 Sachs. It certainly was no featherweight either.
Joel had been consistent throughout the weekend. His lap times were: 125-2:19, 250-2:17, 500-2:14. The fastest American in the 500 class on that weekend was Gary Bailey. His best lap was just under 2:30. The nearest European on a 125 was Weirtz at 2:26. On a 250 it was DeCoster at 2:23. Second to Joel in the big-bore class was Hallman, who managed a few laps at 2:16 on his works Husky.
At the start of the next G.P. season, Joel and teammate Sylvain Geboers dominated the 250 class. After the first seven G.P.s they didn't even have to bother showing up; they had 1st and 2nd sewn up. The same thing happened when they rode their first year for Suzuki.
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Joel was World Champion for the first time at the age of 20. He has been World Champion a grand total of six times. That is a record that may stand forever. The Belgian Bomber, as he was tagged by the press, is a natural. He was cut from a mold marked "Motocross Star." Joel is built like a brick phone booth. He never had to train as hard as other riders in order to get into G.P. shape. He smokes cigarettes and drinks a lot of beer. He's got a spare tire around his middle that should have "Goodyear" stamped on it. When he rides, he looks like a fearless fool. His style is crazy. You'd give ten-to-one odds against your mortgage that he's going to crash, but he rarely does. He is an animal.
Now, I told you that story so that I can tell you this one. Despite the opinions of so-called motocross experts,
Joel may be on his way back. After two lackluster seasons in `73 and `74, Robert recently signed another three-year con tract with Suzuki, thereby displaying a will to continue in the sport he domi nated for so long. It appears as though his return to prominence is imminent. He has curtailed his drinking and smok ing. He has begun rigorous training on weekdays between G.P.s. He is past 30 years of age and he knows that he has crested his peak. Of course, his peak was extremely high and it will take him a long time to descend from it.
If Joel can get back into good shape,
continue to press as he has during the first G.P.s (as I write this, Joel is 3rd in the 250-class standings after four events), and relocate the inspiration that made him King of the Mountain for so long, then there will be no stopping him. Not only will he stand a pretty good chance of taking his seventh World title, but I'd even bet on an eighth. Suzuki, wanting very desperately to get back on top of the motocross world, will certainly sweeten Joel's pot if he should take the Championship. With incentive like that, all the others had better step aside. The Belgian Bomber is back!
