Opatija
in what is now Croatia and only 50km or so from
the Italian boarder, was another real road racers circuit which
hosted the Yugoslavian Grand Prix on a number of occasions, as
part of the FIM World Championship Series.
Situated on the coast road the circuit
was in the form
of a large triangle with the longest side (the hypotenuse) being
the coast road on the sea front which folLowed a large
sweeping bay before riders encountered the first right hand
hairpin known locally as "sign post corner". From here
started the climb to the top of the circuit (named "the
mountain") where there was another right hand bend, taken at some
speed, before riders started their decent down to the fastest point
of the circuit which included an S bend (taken flat out on
a 250 if a rider was very bold!). They then encountered
another left and then a tight right hand bend at the
bottom of the mountain which returned them to the coast
road and back to the start and finishing line situated on it.
It was an idyllic setting with the race paddock
near the start and finishing line one side of the coast road and
a golden beach on the other. Parking in the race paddock in
glorious weather in what appeared to have been a stone quarry
cut out from the base of the mountain, we no sooner had a
welcoming cup of tea provided by Vernon and Margaret
Cottle than we were joined by Bert and Raymond, the two
Stockport lads we had previously met at the Skofja Loka races.
Ramon
Robinson ,who raced his 125cc Bultaco and 250cc Parilla at
this meeting, recently recalled one particular incident
test riding on the circuit after having lengthened the swing
arm on his Parilla. "We had established ourselves
in the camping site about a week before the event and, after
several days of idleness and sunning ourselves, got a little
bored. Eager to try out the bike with the longer swing
arm, I and Lewis Young, with a couple of other riders, started
riding around the circuit, a public road open to
normal traffic! After a few laps I saw a policeman
standing where the road going up the hill intersects with the
road going down to the left in the direction of Trieste
(sign post corner); he was frantically waving his hands
in the air and I thought "oh shit!", only to
see that he was stopping traffic coming down the road so we
wouldn't have to stop! Great fun was had by all
With the additional assistance of Bert and
Raymond, we soon had the bikes off loaded and prepared ready for
practice the following morning. With some time to spare we
took a swim during the afternoon before joining up with the
American riders Ramon Robinson, who was also down to ride a
250cc Parilla, Andy Rickman and others to explore the
restaurants of Opatija, none of which were to disappoint us
during our 4 day stay.
Following my custom of avoiding all alcoholic drinks for some
days before or during race meetings, and now with the back up of
three mechanics, I was not only the
first of the visiting International riders to start practising the moment the circuit was
open the following morning on the 250 Parilla but I
also completed 4 or 5 laps before any other riders appeared! The
same thing happened during the 350 practice period which
was possibly why, by the end of the day, I had recorded the
fastest lap in the 250 class and was also near the top of
the timed laps in the 350cc class.
On pole for the very first time but next to
Morrie Lowe on
his TSS Bultaco, I knew there would be a desperate sprint when
the flag dropped to sign post corner and the
climb up the mountain. In some ways I felt the pole position was
the wrong end of the starting line in that immediately after the
start the circuit followed the coast road through a series of
fast left hand curves for about 1 km to sign post
corner. This meant that I had to ride on the outside of these
curves for some time before arriving at the hairpin, this did
not worry me too much as I knew I had no chance of out
accelerating Morrie to the hairpin which ever end of the starting
line I was on!
As anticipated, although initially marginally ahead of the
pack at the start for a 100 M's or so, Morrie came through on
the inside of me and then crossed ahead to take the
inside line for the approaching hairpin, so that I could not
squeeze back up the inside of him as we braked hard for the
bend. I was more than happy with this position and was
expecting a tow from Morrie up the mountain when suddenly whilst
still braking for the hairpin, a rider (on a Benelli I think)?
shot through between us completely out of control and very
nearly took me out. Touching fairings he shot forward in the
direction of Trieste hitting the temporary barrier head on with
him and his bike then bouncing back onto the track for what
appeared to me at the time, as having another go at taking
me out!
By the time I had recovered and ridden around the fallen
rider and his machine, a dozen or so riders had passed and were
well on their way up the mountain. So much for my pole position!
Fortunately without any damage to myself or my bike I continued
as best I could and by the penultimate lap had climbed back to
3rd position. Then I over did things coming down the
mountain under very heavy braking for the final hairpin I over
shot the bend but fortunately found a gap between the
straw bales leading on to a slip road. Turning
the bike around I was soon back on the track and quite
relieved to take 5th place after all the excitement of that
race!
Arriving back at the paddock I was greeted by
Morrie with a big
grin on his face, he had not only won the race but had, out of
the corner of his eye, seen most of the incident at the first
hairpin. "did you hit him he asked"? when I had
explained how I had succeeded in avoiding the fallen rider
and his bike he told me that I had been lucky as
the unfortunate rider had already been taken of to hospital with
a suspected broken leg and collar bone. The track Marshals
suspected that the throttle on his bike had stuck wide open
which could well explain why he went past at such speed with
both brakes hard on! Morrie was folLowed home by the Czech rider
Milan Chaluphik (Jawa) and Les Allan (Bultaco ?)
With yet another good start in the 350cc race, and then
by hugging the inside line on the hairpin bend and other tight
turns to prevent any
further 'attacks', I enjoyed a good race but lost out to the
more powerful 350cc bikes when it came to climbing the mountain.
There was much more chopping and changing of position for me riding
in this race as my 256cc Parilla was faster
through the hairpin bends and tight curves than some 350cc
Manx Nortons, 7R AJS or Aermacchi and other 350s, but these bikes were in most
cases quite a bit faster than the Parilla on the long straights
and particularly the climbs, nevertheless another top 12
finish was good enough for me as I could not realistically
expect to finish any higher in this class.
The race was won by Frantisek
Srna (Jawa) followed home by Nikolai Sevostianov (CKEB) from
the USSR and Miroslav Cada (Jawa)
Morrie also went on to win the 500 cc race on his Manx Norton
Another of Ramons
recollections of this meeting was in the 125 race. "Directly
after the start my Bultaco flooded at the hairpin. When I
got it cleared and started up the hill, there were riders
everywhere in the bushes trying to get their bikes back onto
the road. Someone had broken a primary chain and spilled oil all
over the place and many riders following him
crashed. Thanks to my misfortune at the hairpin, I was
able to wave to them on my way past!"
Opatija was very special, glorious weather, golden sands,
crystal clear sea, local restaurants all serving up delicious
sea food dishes at extremely low prices, no wonder many of the
riders, wives, girl friends and mechanics lingered on for some
days! For us with another race in France, the following
weekend including a stop off at the Parilla factory on the
way, we just could not delay our departure for too long and we
were on our way at sun rise the following morning.
