Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Honda's Graham Noyce brought in third overall in Finland behind teammate Lackey. World Championship soocc MX Series· Round five 2 Lackey hangs o.nto Mikkola in Finland By Chris Myers HYVINKAA . FINLAND. MAY 21 Bad Brad Lackey played follow the leader, Mikkola, in Finland. The Aying Ann took his hime round in the !iOOcc Wortd Championship Series. 12 Brad Lackey had to play follow the leader to the "Flying Finn," Heikki Mikkola, as the defending champion swept both motos - his third sweep of the series .so far - on his home circuit of Hyvinkaa near Finland's capitol city of Helsinki. Lackey's performances in both mows enabled him to Slay within 16 points of defending champion M_ik_k~l~i~t.!'~ points.!..able. British Champion Graham Noyce, Lackey's teammate on the works Honda, had far and away his best ride this GP season. Fourth and third places gave him, at one stroke, as many points as he's earned all season - 18. Now he's eighth placed at 36 points. The circuit -combined many high jumps with deep sand and hard dusty straights and corners. It was tough on riders and even tougher on the bikes. Both Belgian Suzuki rider Andre Vromans and Lackey suffered collapsed wheels in practice. The huge crowd enjoyed sunny weather 'and roared their approval as Mikkola blasted away from the stan of the first rnoto and into the lead. "Hessu, Hessu , " they chanted Mikkola's nickname. Dutch works Suzuki rider Gerrit Wolsink, who came dose to beating the Finn in Denmark two weeks earlier, was hard on Mikkola's heels at the stan followed by Noyce, Belgian works KTM rider Andre Malherbe, and Lackey. An on -form Wolsink took Mikkola fair and square mid -way through the race and held the Finn at bay for several laps. But then disaster struck as his Suzuki's rear wheel began to break up and tragically Wolsink was forced to retire. Lackey gradually disposed of Malherbe and Noyce to finish some 15 seconds down on Mikkola at the flag . Way down the field was Malherbe with Noyce trailing behind in fourth after a long battle to keep ahead of multi World Champion Belgian Roger DeCoster. After seizing in practice, Swedish works Husqvama rider Hakan Ander- sson unhappily dropped out of the first race.with a rear wheel puncture and a front wheel that was breaking up. Again Mikkola took the start as the gate dropped for the second race. And again Wolsink was hard on his heels, chased this time by lanky Belgian Jaak Van Velthoven (KTM), Noyce and Lackey. On the first lap though, Lackey took Noyce and Van Velthoven dropped out of the running when his chain broke. Gerrit Wolsink's hopes of a top placing went out the window as his throttle jammed and his drive chain began to slip, setting the seal on the tall dentist's day of despair. DeCoster retired half way through the race after a horrendous over the handlebars crash as he landed from a high jump. The six points · gained in the first race means that DeCoster keeps his third place in the table. But his tally of 67 points is a almost half that of Mikkola 's and any chances he had of becoming World Champion for the sixth tim e this year are now prac· tically non-existant. British four stroke CCM works rider Bob Wright crashed on the first lap of the first race and retired with a broken front brake lever. Next time out he was left on the line when his bike stalled with an ignition fault. He battled up to 11th place by the last lap, then his CCM chucked a big end and he retired. . • Results Overall: 1. H. Mikkola IYam); 2. B.Lackey (Hoo!; 3 . G. Noyce (Hoo!; 3. A. Malhert>e (KTM); 5. A. Vromans ISuzl; 5. R. DeCoster ISuzl; 5. H. Schmitz IMai); 5. Y Van Den Broeck (Mai); 9. J . Van V_IKTMI; 9. B. Aberg IYam); 9. J.J. Bruno (KTM); 12. F. Kobel. IMail; 13. A. Jonsaon IRot! . First Moto:·" Mikkola; 2. Lackey; 3. Malhefbe ; 4. Noyce; 5. DeCoster; 6. Van Velthoven; 7. Schmitz; 8. Van Den Broeck ; 9. Kobel.; 10. Bruno . Socond Moto: 1. Mikkola: 2. Lackey ; 3. Noyce; 4. Malherbe; 5. Vromans;6. Aberg; 7. Bruno; 8. Van Den Broeck; 9. Schmitz; 10. Jonsson lremembef himn Championship Standings: 1. Mikkola (132): 2. Lackey (1161; 3. DeCoster 1671; 4. Malherbe (66); 5. G. Wolsink (461; 6. Schmitz 1441; 7. Van V _ 1401; B. Noyce 161; 9. Vromans 1301; 10. H. Andersson 1241.