1973 FIM Motocross World Championship

The 1973 FIM Motocross World Championship was the 17th F.I.M. Motocross Racing World Championship season.

Summary

Roger De Coster won his third consecutive 500cc world championship for Suzuki ahead of West German rider, Willy Bauer. The championship wasn't decided until the final race in the Netherlands, when Bauer suffered a mechanical breakdown, losing the championship to De Coster by two points.^[1] Kawasaki joined the world championships with Brad Lackey in the 500cc class and Torleif Hansen in the 250cc class.

Suzuki's defense of the 500cc world championship was dealt a setback when, the FIM announced a new motorcycle minimum weight limit of 209 pounds just before the start of the season.^[2] European motorcycle manufacturers competing in the championship complained to the FIM that Suzuki was spending millions of dollars to build lightweight motorcycles that the smaller European manufacturers found impossible to compete with.^[2] Suzuki had already developed and built their race bikes so, there was no time to build new bikes. As a result, Suzuki resorted to adding ballast to the bikes.^[2] Unfortunately, these alterations threw the bikes out of balance and caused them to lose traction.^[2][3] To make matters worse, Maico and Yamaha had developed new rear suspensions with longer travel which helped transfer power to the rear wheel over rough terrain.^[2][3] The Suzuki management felt they were being unjustly treated by the FIM and were slow to react to developments by the other manufacturers.^[2][3][4]

Most of the Western European riders boycotted the Austrian 500cc round due to heavy snow on the track.^[5] As the season got underway, Yamaha's new rear "monoshock" suspension began to make an impact with Christer Hammargren winning a moto and Jaak van Velthoven taking the overall win at the Finnish Grand Prix.^[2] De Coster won both motos of the Italian Grand Prix but, Bauer came back with a hard fought victory in Czechoslovakia, relegating De Coster to second place in both motos and took the lead in the championship points tally.^[2] Bauer then took control of the championship by winning 5 out of the next 6 motos.^[5] Suzuki management's frustration at their perceived unfair treatment led to a lapse in support and, Suzuki team riders De Coster and Sylvain Geboers then took matters into their own hands by modifying their motorcycle's frames and developed new rear suspensions.^[2][3]

Going into the final race of the season at Sint Anthonis, Holland, Bauer was still holding the points lead but, the Suzukis were showing improvement. The Sint Anthonis track was composed of deep sand which robbed engines of power and increased fuel consumption.^[2] A Suzuki engineer calculated that their bike's gas tanks did not have sufficient capacity to finish the race.^[2] De Coster then took one of their tanks and drove two and a half hours to have the tank modified to increase its volume.^[2] He then drove back in time for the race. Despite having little sleep, De Coster scored two fourth-place finishes while Bauer suffered a mechanical failure handing De Coster his third consecutive 500cc world championship.^[2]

Håkan Andersson won the 250cc world championship to give Yamaha its first motocross world championship. Yamaha's new and innovative single shock rear suspension made its debut at the third round in Belgium and was proven to be successful when Andersson won the overall victory.^[6] The new suspension design would go on to revolutionize the sport.^[6] Jim Pomeroy riding a privateer Bultaco, became the first American rider to win an overall victory in an FIM Motocross Grand Prix race when he won the season opening Spanish Grand Prix.^[7] His victory also marked the first Grand Prix victory for the Bultaco factory.^[8] Competitors from nine different manufacturers placed in the top ten of the 250cc championship final standings, reflecting the thriving vitality of the sport of motocross.

Grands Prix

500cc^[5][9]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Location	Race 1 Winner	Race 2 Winner	Overall Winner	Report
1	April 1	French Grand Prix	Tarare	Christer Hammargren	Roger De Coster	Gerrit Wolsink	Report
2	April 15	Austrian Grand Prix	Sittendorf	Jiri Stodulka	Jiri Stodulka	Jiri Stodulka	Report
3	May 20	Finnish Grand Prix	Ruskeasanta	Christer Hammargren	Roger De Coster	Jaak van Velthoven	Report
4	May 27	Italian Grand Prix	Pinerolo	Roger De Coster	Roger De Coster	Roger De Coster	Report
5	June 3	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Holice	Willy Bauer	Willy Bauer	Willy Bauer	Report
6	June 24	United States Grand Prix	Carlsbad	Willy Bauer	Willy Bauer	Willy Bauer	Report
7	July 15	West German Grand Prix	Bielstein	Willy Bauer	Roger De Coster	Roger De Coster	Report
8	August 5	Belgian Grand Prix	Namur	Willy Bauer	Willy Bauer	Willy Bauer	Report
9	August 12	Luxembourg Grand Prix	Ettelbruck	Åke Jonsson	Åke Jonsson	Åke Jonsson	Report
10	August 12	Dutch Grand Prix	Sint Anthonis	Åke Jonsson	Gerrit Wolsink	Åke Jonsson	Report

250cc^[10][11]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Location	Race 1 Winner	Race 2 Winner	Overall Winner	Report
1	April 8	Spanish Grand Prix	Sabadell	Jim Pomeroy	Adolf Weil	Jim Pomeroy	Report
2	April 15	Italian Grand Prix	Serramazzoni	Heikki Mikkola	Pavel Rulev	Adolf Weil	Report
3	April 29	Belgian Grand Prix	Wuustwezel	Heikki Mikkola	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Report
4	May 6	Swiss Grand Prix	Payerne	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Report
5	May 13	Polish Grand Prix	Szczecin	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Report
6	May 20	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Orehova vas	Guennady Moisseev	Håkan Andersson	Guennady Moisseev	Report
7	June 17	French Grand Prix	Cassel	Adolf Weil	Håkan Andersson	Adolf Weil	Report
8	August 5	Finnish Grand Prix	Hyvinkää	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Report
9	August 12	Russian Grand Prix	Leningrad	Adolf Weil	Adolf Weil	Adolf Weil	Report
10	August 19	Swedish Grand Prix	Ulricehamn	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Håkan Andersson	Report
11	August 26	Austrian Grand Prix	Launsdorf	Adolf Weil	Heikki Mikkola	Adolf Weil	Report

Final Standings

500cc[1][5] Pos Rider Team Points 1 Roger De Coster Suzuki 145 2 Willy Bauer Maico 143 3 Jaak van Velthoven Yamaha 122 4 Åke Jonsson Yamaha 109 5 Gerrit Wolsink Maico 105 6 Christer Hammargren Yamaha 87 7 Jiri Stodulka ČZ 56 8 Werner Schutz Maico 56 9 Oldrich Hamrsmid ČZ 45 10 Otakar Toman ČZ 45 11 John Banks BSA 36 12 Bengt Åberg Husqvarna 35 13 Brad Lackey Kawasaki 26 14 Frans Sigmans Yamaha 24 15 Walter Leitgeb Puch 22 16 Anatoly Botchkov ČZ 20 17 Bert-Ove Wallner Husqvarna 16 18 Friedrich Schiechtl Husqvarna 13 19 Giuseppe Cavallero Maico 12 20 Vladimir Ovchinnikov ČZ 12 21 Vic Eastwood Maico / AJS 12 22 Peter Willems Yamaha 10 23 Fritz Graf Yamaha 9 24 Willy van Loon ČZ 8 25 Paolo Piron Husqvarna / Bultaco 7 26 Daniel Péan Maico 6 27 Pierre Karsmakers Yamaha 6 27 Yvan Van den Broeck Husqvarna / Maico 6 29 Arne Lindfors Yamaha 5 30 John DeSoto ČZ 5 31 Nikolai Efimov ČZ 5 32 Siegfried Lerner KTM 4 32 Serge Bacou Bultaco 4 32 Tiny Van Erp Maico 4 35 Raymond Heeren Maico 4 35 Julien de Roover ČZ 4 37 Anatoly Mandritchenko ČZ 4 37 Arne Kring Husqvarna 4 38 Alberto Angiolini Maico 3 39 Zdenek Strnad ČZ 3 41 Viatcheslav Krasnotchekov ČZ 1 41 Jimmy Weinert Kawasaki 1

250cc[12][13] Pos Rider Team Points 1 Håkan Andersson Yamaha 177 2 Adolf Weil Maico 157 3 Heikki Mikkola Husqvarna 143 4 Torleif Hansen Kawasaki 111 5 Guennady Moisseev KTM 104 6 Jaroslav Falta CZ 86 7 Jim Pomeroy Bultaco 71 8 Pavel Rulev KTM 49 9 Uno Palm Puch 49 10 Kalevi Vehkonen Montesa 43 11 Hans Maisch Maico 35 12 Leonid Shinkarenko CZ 35 13 Evgeniy Rybalchenko CZ 32 14 Harry Everts Puch 30 15 Antonin Baborowsky CZ 27 16 Jean-Claude Laquaye Yamaha 27 17 Torao Suzuki Yamaha 24 18 Joël Robert Suzuki 15 19 Jo Lammers Montesa 15 20 Gaston Rahier Suzuki 11 21 Miroslav Halm CZ 11 22 Sylvain Geboers Suzuki 10 23 Andy Roberton Husqvarna 9 24 Herbert Schmitz Maico 7 25 Zdeneck Velky CZ 6 26 Alexej Kibirin CZ 5 27 Lars Ohberg Montesa 3 27 Jorma Jarvinen Montesa 3 29 Yuri Khudiakov CZ 2 29 Claude Jobe Montesa 2 29 Raymond Boven Montesa 2 32 Marcel Wiertz Bultaco 1 32 Stef Van der Sluis Yamaha 1 31 Olle Pettersson Kawasaki 1

References

External links

• Official website

Motocross World Championship seasons
1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017