Motocross heroes from Ukraine

On October 28th 2016 the Ukrainian postal service enriched us with a sheet of nine stamps with motocross legends from that country. The postal rate of the stamps of 3 Grivna, just less than a €-dime, was in that year sufficient to send a letter (20 grams) inside Ukraine. Speaking about postal rates.
35000 copies of the sheets were printed by the Integrated Printing Plant Ukraine. Basil Vasilenko made the design of the stamps. The presentation, attended by those celebrities who are still alive, took place at the University of National Transport in Kiev, and the kickoff was done by placing the special postmark on an FDC with the complete block.

The placing of the special FDC postmark

The champions who were present, posing with their stamps

All nice to know, but off course we want to know who those heads on the pictures are and that is the big question, unless you can read Cyrillic.

On the stamps and the sheet margin those riders have been placed that achieved international fame and success in the Soviet era and in the Ukrainian period.
In the sheet margin is the image of Georg (Yuriy) Trofimets, a Husqvarna six-day rider.
Starting at the top left and going to the right we find on the first stamp (1956) Leonid Bratkoysky on a 750 cc M-72. This rider was part of the IMZ-URAL motocross team of the USSR, and won many cups.
Stamp 2 is the one with Igor Grigoriev on a CZ 250 cc. In 1963 Igor G. won the 250 cc motocross Grand Prix in Russia. In the following years he was part of both the 250 and the 500 team of Ceská Zbrojovka (formerly Laurin & Klement and later the Skoda Group).
Stamp number three shows Vadim Horulko on a Kovrovets 250 cc. Kovrovets? Yes! This motorcycle brand comes from the Degtjarjov factory which we know better as the ZiD (Zavody industri Degtjergov) plant in the city of Kovrov. Other motorcycle models that were made here, besides many weapons, are the Voshkod 1 + 2 and Jupiter.
The image on stamp 4 is from Alex Kibirin, again on a CZ 250 cc from 1972. In this year he achieved with a seventh position his best final ranking in the World Championship.
The next stamp (1967) shows Leonid Shekarenko, again on CZ 250 cc. In the 1960-ies, Leonid and Geboers and Joel Roberts were part of the factory team of CZ.
On the stamp of 1973 is again a CZ, but now a 500 cc version, ridden by Vladimir Ovchinikov.
In the lower left one of the biggest riders from Ukraine: Vladimir Kavinov. Kavinov, participant in several Vase competitions (Junior Six Days) and motocrosses, won in 1979 with the CCCP team the Trophee des Nations in Stockholm. For years he was part of the great KTM team with three times world champion Moiseev.
Boris Pohanovskyy and Eugene Nechiporenko, here on a picture from 1975, ride on a Dnepr 750 cc motocross sidecar combination.
The last stamp is again reserved for a CZ 250 cc, now from the year 1975 and ridden by Eugene Ribalchenko.

Official FDC with the complete stamp block

The Ukrainian Post has only issued an official FDC with the complete stamp block, but several comanies have made maximum cards and FDC's with the loose stamps. Here a few images from the FDC's and maximum cards with the sidecar combination riders.

The image on the FDC envelop

The KTM advertising poster

The amount of CZ motorcycles on the stamps is high, what is not surprisingly if you know that in those years the engines of the brand from Strakonice were known as bullet-proof, and the frames as extremely strong.

Unfortunately the brand could not compete with the Japanese competitors, and the indigent CZ was bought by the also indigent Cagiva. In 1997 Cagiva decided to stop the motorcycle production in Strakonice, and since then only measuring equipment and other machinery were made there.
In 2016 the brand name appeared again in the motocross scene under the guidance of new owner Alessandro Ferrari, indeed: family of, with a 300 cc 2-stroke.

Hans de Kloet

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