Emil Bollhalder is a retired Swiss sidecarcross rider and double Sidecarcross World Champion, having won the competition in 1982 and 1983, together with his passenger Karl Büsser. He has also won the European Champions, the predecessor of the World Championship, in 1979, the last running of the competition.[1][2]

Emil Bollhalder
NationalitySwitzerland Switzerland
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Sidecarcross World Championship
Active years1974 - 1983
ManufacturersNorton-Wasp (1974-76)
Yamaha-EML (1977-83)
Championships(2) 1982 – 1983
1983 championship position1st
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
132 22 52 931

Apart from his World and European Championship triumphs he has also won the Swiss national sidecarcross championship twice, in 1982 and 1983.[3]

Biography

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Emil Bollhalder made his debut in national and international sidecarcross in 1974. He successfully raced in the Swiss championship, finishing runners-up as well as in the FIM-Cup, the predecessor of the European Championship, where he came tenth. In both competitions he used Ruedi Kasper as his passenger.[1][3]

From 1975 he switched to Roland Bollhalder as his passenger, who he would race with, except for a brief interruption in 1976 until the end of the 1979 season. In this era, the Bollhalder's achieved good results in the Swiss championship but were unable to better Robert Grogg at the time, who dominated the national competition.[3] Internationally, the situation was similar with the duo always finishing high in the top ten of the competition now renamed European Championship. There however the duo experienced some success in 1979, being able to outscore Robert Grogg and his passenger Andreas Hüsser and winning the last edition of the European Championship.[1]

The first season of the new World Championship proved unsuccessful for Bollhalder, now with new passenger Ruedi Manser. The new team took part in only two events this season and came 24th overall.[1] In the Swiss championship they did not compete at all that year.[3]

For 1981 he switched passengers again, now riding with Karl Büsser for the most part of the season. With Büsser results improved and the new team came second in Switzerland and fourth in the World Championship.[1][3]

The 1982 and 1983 seasons were dominated by the team of Bollhalder and Büsser, both nationally and internationally. The two won the Swiss championship in both years, as they did the World Championship. In the later, on both occasions, they relegated the German team of Josef Brockhausen and Hubert Rebele to second place, by 62 points in 1982 and 11 points in 1983.[1][3]

Emil Bollhalder retired from national and international competition after the end of the 1983 season,[1][3] as did Karl Büsser.[4]

Racing record

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Sidecarcross World Championship

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The competition which was to become the Sidecarcross World Championship in 1980 originated as the FIM Cup in 1971 and was renamed to European championship in 1975. Emil Bollhalder's results in these competitions were:.[1]

Season Passenger(s) Equipment Position Points Races Wins Second Third
1974 Ruedi Kasper Norton-Wasp 10 47 8 1 2
1975 Roland Bollhalder Norton-Wasp 5 69 14 2 1
1976 Roland Bollhalder
Hugo Jung
Norton-Wasp 7 54 12
1977 Roland Bollhalder Yamaha-EML 6 66 8 2 1 1
1978 Roland Bollhalder Yamaha-EML 4 116 18 2 3 1
1979 Roland Bollhalder Yamaha-EML 1 144 16 2 3 5
1980 Ruedi Manser Yamaha-EML 24 5 4
1981 Karl Büsser
Ruedi Manser
Yamaha-EML 4 94 16 2 1 2
1982 Karl Büsser Yamaha-EML 1 164 16 4 4 2
1983 Karl Büsser Yamaha-EML 1 172 20 7 3 1
Overall 1974 - 1983 931 132 22 17 13

Honours

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World Championship

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  • Champions: (2) 1982, 1983

European Championship

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  • Champions: (1) 1979

National Championships

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Emil Bollhalder Sidecarcross World championship results The John Davey Pages, accessed: 21 October 2013
  2. ^ History - World Champions sidecarcross.com, accessed: 21 October 2013
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Swiss national championship results 1970 - 2005 The John Davey Pages, accessed: 21 October 2013
  4. ^ Karl Büsser Sidecarcross World championship results The John Davey Pages, accessed: 21 October 2013
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Sidecarcross World Champion
1982 - 1983
Succeeded by
Preceded by Sidecarcross European Champion
1979
Succeeded by
competition discontinued
Preceded by
Hansi Bächtold
Swiss national sidecarcross champion
1982 - 1983
Succeeded by
Hansi Bächtold