September 2020 - Volume 4 - Issue 9 On The Pegs September 2020 | Page 110

On The Pegs 110 from the previous year. It was unstable so I exchanged it for Norton front forks, which worked a lot better. A further Achilles-heel on my bike was the rear brakes, causing me repeated trouble, locking up when I used them hard. The solution turned up as we developed a floating rear-anchor point, which would later be used by all MX-Husqvarnas.” The season consisted of 13 rounds, beginning at the end of April in Aywaille, Belgium and ending with the final in Apolda, East Germany in mid-September. Four and a half months of fighting was ahead of Hallman and Husqvarna. The national championship was also held within this time. It only made up for three rounds, all in the region of the Stockholm area. So, the opening round was held in Belgium where fans were plentiful. Motocross has always attracted big crowds and is still as popular as eating pommes frites here. It turned out that Bickers had preserved his top form and he won this event without having to show his cards. He was an effective rider, easy to underestimate, but always a kind guy with whom you could have trusted stealing horses. Hallman crossed the finish line in fourth and had to be happy with three EC-points from the beginning. Well, even icons have their off days. Two weeks later the circus moved on to Thomer-la-Sogne in France, where equally there was a great MX interest. Bickers took his second victory on the grassy circuit as Hallman came home third, picking up new valuable points. The coming week it was time for Markelo, Holland and much sand. Briton Jeff Smith prevailed in the dust clouds while Hallman repeated his previous show, now earning another four points. At this time, he was second in the EC rankings. The month of May’s third EC race came near Prague in Czechoslovakia. Close to 100,000 people saw Bickers win again while Torsten failed to pick up points. The fifth event of the month was held in Katowice, Poland. Despite that, less than half the season was over, Bickers gained his fifth win and was already on a good way to the new title. Hallman did not enter as there were currency-restrictions at hand, which made his start impossible. In Schifflange, Luxemburg, Dave Bickers won once more, increasing his chances of taking the title. “All riders have the dream of winning a Grand Prix,” Torsten Hallman remembers. “At least once before they set their sights on the title. Together with three other riders, we had borrowed a DKW pick-up, which was loaded with our equipment to its breaking point. All four of us sat in the front while the bikes were in the back. We took the ferry to Abo in Finland and had another 250 kilometres to drive. The vehicle did not make more than 40-50 km/h and we stopped every 50 kilometres to rest our sore bodies. The track at Ruskeasanta consisted of red sand, which is