KREIDLER RACING HISTORY || 1972 || GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA || Ep.30

GENERAL: Date: 23 September 1972 Circuit: Circuite de Montjuic (ES) RACE DATA: The 1972 Spanish Grand Prix road race was the thirteenth and final race of the World Motorcycle Motorcycle Championship in the 1972 season. The races were held on 23 September 1972 at the Circuito de Montjuïc, a street circuit in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona. The Spanish GP has been closing the season since 1970, so there was hardly any tension because most world titles had already been awarded. For the Spanish public, the light classes were still interesting: both world titles (50 and 125 cc) had not yet been decided and, moreover, fellow countryman Ángel Nieto could become world champion in both classes. Ultimately, Ángel Nieto won two world titles in one day. If Ángel Nieto won the 50cc race in Spain and the Jan de Vries finished second, the world title would have to be decided by comparing the times of the two over the entire season. That also happened. Although the Van Veen team was not yet impressed when Nieto was one second faster in practice, it turned out in the race that Jan de Vries indeed had to admit one second per lap. Nieto had already driven 6.8 seconds faster than de Vries in the season, but added another 14.5 seconds. Both now had 81 gross points and net (only the best five results) 69, but Ángel Nieto was still world champion. For Nieto, this was the second world title he won in one day after the 125cc class. Kent Andersson, who had received a Van Veen-Kreidler for this occasion as a support driver for de Vries, finished third in the race. RESULTS GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA: 1. Ángel Nieto (Derbi) 33' 09" 47 2. Jan de Vries (Van Veen-Kreidler) +14" 54 3. Kent Andersson (Van Veen-Kreidler) +39" 23 4. Benjamín Grau (Derbi) +1' 24" 54 5. Jan Bruins (Van Veen-Kreidler) +1' 32" 73 6. Theo Timmer (Jamathi) +1 Lap 7. Otello Buscherini (Malanca) +1 Lap 8. Leif Rosell (Jamathi) +1 Lap 9. Cees van Dongen (Roton) +1 Lap 10. Aldo Pero (Villa) +1 Lap 11. Joaquín Galí (Derbi) +2 Laps 12. Günter Schirnhofer (Maico) +2 Laps 13. Luigi Rinaudo (Tomos) +2 Laps Fastest Lap: Ángel Nieto (Derbi)