1969 Olle Pettersson Suzuki Motocross - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1969 Olle Pettersson Suzuki Motocross - 3-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article
Page S
ize: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
The whole affair with Suzuki started
in February 1967 when Torsten Hall-
man and Joel Robert went up to the
Suzuki office in Belgium offering to
ride the Japanese bikes for a sum of
,000 each. However, the factory
was not too interested as they had no
competitive bike at that time. Although
Torsten and Joel meant Suzuki would
have a ''sure'' title with the two best
competing on Suzuki, the Japanese
said they were not interested. A year
later Suzuki contacted Olle Pettersson
and wondered if the 31-year old
scrambler from Strangnas was free for
negotiations. They invited Olle to Ja-
pan in order to test their new bike.
Olle tried not less than three bikes,
which all were something between a
standard bike, a road racer, and a
scrambler. "It was just impossible to
ride those machines,” said Olle. He
gave the people at the factory instruc-
tions on the many details that had to
be improved, and after only three days
they had a new and better machine
ready for Olle. He signed the contract
and became the first works rider for a
Japanese factory in Moto Cross.
After having improved the bike a bit
more, the Japanese came to the first
GP in Barcelona, Spain. During the
first half of the championship season,
Olle did more than well and the fac-
tory was very pleased with him. Olle
nearly made history in the Belgian
round: having won the first leg and
came in second after the Belgian Syl-
vain Geboers in the second go round.
The latter beat Olle. by a mere 3/10
of a second overall. Very, very close.
Together with the Swedish star Ha-
kan Andersson, Olle was fourth in the
championship series after the first half,
but then everything was spoiled in the
meeting here in Sweden. It was a
Swedish championship race and Olle
was in second spot and was about to
overtake a rider in a jump. They
crashed in the air and Olle fell into a
deep ditch. He was hurt seriously: a
badly broken leg which put him out for
the rest of the season. The Suzuki
people were quite disappointed, al-
though things actually had gone quite
well, much better than anybody had
thought.
The interest of the Suzuki factory in
Moto Cross is great: both the chief of
the racing department. Mr. Okano, and
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