VMXKTM :: Vintage KTM - The Soviet Motocross Team 1973

The Soviet Motocross Team 1973 - 1979

Sunday, 24 June 2007

It was no accident that the first World Motocross Championship for KTM came through the efforts of the Soviet Motocross Team. Although controversial, it was team tactics that helped secure Moiseev's 1974 250cc Championship. Despite two more 250cc Championships in 1977 and 1978, the Soviet team of the 1970's remains mysterious.

	The 1973 KTM team of Vladimir Kavinov, Guennady Moiseev and Anatoliy Ovtchinikov.
	The 1976 KTM team included future multiple 500cc World Champion, Andre Malherbe.
	Vladimir Kavinov, Guennady Moiseev and Anatoliy Ovtchinikov, 1976.
	Little is known of Anatoliy Ovtchinkov, here in 1976 when he finished 7th in the 250cc World Championship standings. Like Moiseev and Kavinov, Ovchinnikov served in the Russian army whilst a member of the motocross team. He has now retired and lives in the city of Podolsk near Moscow.
	Vladimir Kavinov was perhaps the best Russian motocross rider never to win a World Championship. Kavinov finished in the top 10 of the 250cc World Championship standings each year between 1976 and 1979. In 1976 he finished third, taking three GP moto wins. In 1977 he took 5 moto wins to finish in second place to Moiseev's first. In 1978 he won another 5 GP motos to finish the Championship in fourth place. In his final year of GP campaigning, Kavinov finished in third place.
	1977 was Kavinov's best year in GP racing, placing second in the 250cc Championship.
	Kavinov retrieving his KTM in 1977. Like all the Soviet riders of the era, Kavinov personified the term "gritty determination".
	Kavinov at the 12th round of the 1978 250cc GP, held at Leningrad USSR.
	1978 again, Kavinov distinguishable by his use of Scott goggles.
	2007, Vladimir Kavinov is now a much-respected elder statesman of Russian motocross.
	Kavinov with one of his many fans, Alexey.
	Without doubt Guennady Moiseev is the most well-known of the Russian motocross riders. Moiseev is the only Russian to have ever won a World Championship in motocross; holding three titles in the 250cc class. His first world title in 1974 came under controversial circumstances, where the tactics of the Soviet team ensured the threat from Jaroslav Falta was negated. If his 1974 title was gained with regrettable tactics, it was not something that seemed to trouble Moiseev, and in some ways it was indicative of the way the Soviets approached sport in the 1970's. Moiseev would show that his 1974 win was not by chance, taking the 250cc Championship again in 1977 and 1978.
	1976, Moiseev at the Dutch round of the 250cc World Championship. Moiseev was to finish second that year behind Heikki Mikkola.
	The 1976 Trophee des Nations. Moiseev is extreme right (45) with Kavinov on the left (46).
	Another photo of Moiseev and Kavinov at the 1976 Trophee des Nations.
	The Spanish GP of 1979, the last year Moiseev would wear the #1 plate of the World Champion.
	Moiseev's 1979 KTM works bikes being tended to by his mechanic, Mr Shtulberger.
	Another fine photo of Moiseev, the predominant red star on his helmet clearly visible.
	A rare recent photo of moiseev taken in 2002. Although he was never one to smile often, Guennady's three World Championships puts him into a select club of motocross riders that have a lot to smile about: they were the best in their era.
	A recent photograph of Moiseev with one of his many fans, Alexey.
	Perhaps the most famous photo of Moiseev and Kavinov, taken at Hawkstone Park in 1976.

A big thanks to Alexey for many of the images used here. Спасибо!

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