Zdeneck Velky

Mr. Velky was in Henry Gref's pit for the ECMO des Nations in September, 2018. I attended the race to watch Henry. (He was captain of the Czech team, led the race, finished 3rd, and the Czech team won the overall Championship) Mr. Velky was visiting with everyone. I did not want to kneel down beside him, nor ask him to stand up, so I just took this picture. Mr. Velky raced CZs back in the day for the factory team and finished 2nd, behind Jaroslav Falta in the 1974 Inter-Am series.

From the MX website RacerXonline, the Vault "By 1974 it was becoming obvious that the American motorcycle market was growing in size and influence, even as the athletes were getting faster and more professional with experience. The AMA started its first AMA Supercross tour in 1974, though at the time it was called the Yamaha Super Series, as the term supercross had yet to be coined. At the same time, the Inter-Am Series for 250cc motorcycles was struggling to attract talent from Europe like it had just a couple years earlier (though the Trans-AMA Series for 500cc bikes still flourished). It was down to just four races, and it lost its biggest race—the annual Superbowl of Motocross—to the new stadium motocross tour. (Czech CZ riders Zdenek Velky and Jaroslav Falta, the only two GP riders to race the Inter-Am Series that year, finished 1-2 nonetheless in the final standings, and Falta won the L.A. SX.)"

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