Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126310
----------------------.------- Graham Noyce 1151 threw a chain in mil Brad Lackey rode his Bill Buchka-tuned RC450 Honda to a ' -2 overall v ictory in Austria despite be ing blocked by a lapped rider in the final laps of t he second moto. KTM rider Jaak Van Velthoven 121 take tries to cut under. 500cc World Championship MX Series· Round two Lackey racks up his second G By Chris Myers snTENDORF, AUSTRIA , APR . 16 T he battle for this year's 500cc MX World Championship title hotted up on Sunday in bitterly cold Austria when American works Honda rider Brad Lackey scooped the top poi nts score over the hillside circuit near Sitrendorf and catapulted himself up just two points short of re ign ing cham- 12 pion He.ikki Mikkola in the points standi ngs. Lackey sco red wit h firs t and second pla ...-s and his overa ll win was his' second in Grand Prix cornpetirion , Run ncr u p to La ckey overall was w ,'St German Her bert Schmi tz whose second and t hird places /{av" him his . first points this year. , Finn Hei kki Mikkol a . Koin/{ for his third world 500cc title, just did not make m'uch of an irnp rrssion on Sun day finishing an uncharacteristic third overall. But he admitted thai Shu-n dorf was definitely not one of his favorite circuits and thai he had been treated only the previous day for a linKerinK virus infection. Lackey's works Honda teammate, British Champion Graham Noyce, led the first rnoto for seven laps, but failed 10 finish when his chain slipped off and chewed up th e tensioner, From then on it refused 10 stay pUI and a disappointed Noyce retired back to the pits. He bat tled on next time out 10 co me ho me fourth after slipping off and the n bo unci ng back on ha lfway thro ugh the race. C lear favorite of the disappoimingly sma ll crowd was five time World Champion R og e r DeCosler now definitely fit after the accident earlier this year that almost killed him . DeCoster was going for his third Austrian GP victory in a row. bUI he lost his chance when he dropped out of the first rnoro with gear selector problems. Next time out, however. he swept through to victory from fifth place at the start. A light snow began to fall just before the start of the first moto, m aking the already tricky course which fea tures rocky climbs and off cambe r hillside turns amongst its hazards. even more testing. Brit ish hopes were high as Noyce led every one dow n fro m the start of the first mota a nd up to the first double be nd, C hased by teammate Lackey, Noyce stayed o ut in front fo r seven la ps until the American finally insta lled himself firmly in the lead after the two Hondas had changed places regularly for several circuits. Noyce stayed nu mber two u ntil h is chain slipped off. La cke y then pull ed strongly away from t he new ru nne r -u p Sc hm itz, going well despite a mis la id exha ust silencer . French works KTM rid er . 20year-old J ea n Jacques Bruno and Mikkola in fourth spo!. Two la ps fro m t he flag Lackey was safe with a five second advamage over Schmitz and 15 seconds over Mikkola , still fourth behind Bruno. On Ih,' final lap Mikkola pounced on 111<' Frenchman 10 rake third at rhe checkered flag . Fifth was la nky Belgian Jaak Van Velrhoven who had com,' from 15th at the start; sixth was his KTM teammate Andre Malherb who had fought his way up the field after g"lling caught up in a first bend pile up . Behind him came Briton Bolo Wright . a creditable seventh on liis four stroke CCM . Non starters in both races were Swedes Hakan Andersson who had aggravated his rhumb injury while riding in practice and Bengt Aberg, now at hom", in Sweden after crashing and breaking two ribs in practice at Payerm- , Swit aer land t hc previous Sunday. DeCoster's Suzuki teammate. Gerrit Wolsink's poor eighth place was "la rgely due 10 the dentist's swo llch knee which he bruised in p ractice. T he snow had slopped and the course had dried out somew hat as t hc riders lined up for th e start of til" second mota . Sc hmitz was first away an d loo ked a winner as t he race progressed. He kept ahead of Mikkola a nd Noyce for 13 of the 18 laps, but was passed first by Lackey and finally by DeCosler in the closing stages of the race. Afterwards he complained that he 'd been baulked by a straggle of back markers. t