KREIDLER RACING HISTORY || 1969 || TT ASSEN || Bonus || Ep.17

GENERAL: Date: 28 June 1969 Circuit: TT Assen (NL) RACE DATA: The 1969 TT of Assen was the fifth Grand Prix of the 1969 World Championship motorcycle racing season. The races were held on Saturday 28 June 1969 at the Circuit of Drenthe near Assen. All classes started. Things looked very good for the Dutch camp for the TT in Assen: the new, water-cooled Jamathi was ready and was to be ridden by Paul Lodewijkx. (Martin Mijwaart drove the air-cooled version) and Van Veen-Kreidler brought Jan de Vries, Aalt Toersen and Cees van Dongen to the start. If Toersen won his home race, he was almost impossible to catch up in the battle for the world title. Moreover, the Kreidler factory had finally done something for the team: two machines were equipped with a six-speed gearbox and a dry clutch. Both the Kreidler and the Jamathi were very fast: they had both completed a lap under two minutes at Zandvoort for the first time. Ángel Nieto drilled all hope in the training sessions: he was 7 seconds faster than Aalt Toersen. Toersen eventually decided to start on the "old" five-speed Kreidler. The new Jamathi did not want to run well anymore either, but Lodewijkx trained faster with it than Mijwaart with the old air-cooled machine. Despite a 7th training time, Cees van Dongen was not present at the start. The Kreidlers of Jan de Vries and Aalt Toersen were leading after the first lap, with Nieto just behind. In the second lap Nieto already took the lead, while the Jamathi of Mijwaart was already stranded in the first lap with a stall and Lodewijkx's was bad in revs at the start. Paul Lodewijkx came in 16th after one lap. In the end, Barry Smith also passed both Kreidlers. In the fifth round, however, Nieto retired due to a broken spring from the interrupter. When the pursuers passed the stranded Nieto, de Vries passed Smith again, but he took his first place back. Smith won the race, de Vries came second and Toersen came third. Lodewijkx had meanwhile started a catch-up race and finished fourth. RESULTS TT Assen 1969: 1. Barry Smith (Derbi) 30"53'3 2. Jan de Vries (Van Veen-Kreidler) +11'0 3. Aalt Toersen (Van Veen-Kreidler) +26'6 4. Paul Lodewijkx (Jamathi) +49'0 5. Rudolf Kunz (Kreidler) +1"11'7 6. Jos Schurgers (Kreidler) +1"13'8 7. Santiago Herrero (Derbi) +1"31'2 8. Gilberto Parlotti (Tomos) +1"32'0 9. Ludwig Faßbender (Kreidler) +2"11'3 10. Eugenio Lazzarini (Morbidelli) +2"22'6 11. Jan Bruins (Kreidler) +2"22'9 12. Teunis Ramaker (Kreidler) +2"51'2 13. Jan Huberts (Kreidler) +3"04'7 14. H. Meyer (Kreidler) +3"29'7 15. Winfried Reinhard (Reimo) +3"32'1 16. Janko-Florijan Štefe (Tomos) +3"32'8 17. Adrijan Bernetič (Tomos) +4"16'3 18. Bruno Veigel (Honda) +4"16'6 19. H. van Beek (Kreidler) +1 Lap 20. Jean-Louis Pasquier (Derbi) +1 Lap 21. Ruud Ijpelaar (DKW) +1 Lap Fastest Lap: Ángel Nieto Didn't finish: Ángel Nieto (Derbi) -- ignition problems Martin Mijwaart (Jamathi) --- piston jam