Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1979 05 16

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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World Championship SOOcc MX Series: Roundone Noyce's 2-2 tops Lackey's 5-1 By Chris Myers Photos by Nick Haskell and M y ers SITTENDORF, AU ST R IA , A P R, 22 The British National Anthem was played for th e fir st time in 10 . yea rs a t a 500cc MX Grand Prix on Sunday as British champion Graham Noyce m ounted th e vic to ry ro strum a fte r winning th e o peni ng ro und of this yea r' s World Championsh ip Series at Sittendorf, Austria. Not since 196 9, when BSA works ri der Dave Nicoll took the overall resu lt in the Luxembourg GP , has a Briton stood on t he to p ru ng of the vic to r's rostrum at a 500cc m ot ocro ss G P . No yce rode his works H on d a m ag n ifi centl y o ver t he sto ney h ill sid e cou rse som e 20 m iles northwest of Vie nna to tak e second p la ces in both races and grab t he overa ll resu lt from American Brad La ckey, m ak in g h is T P de bu t o n th e 420c c "U ni -Trak" Kaw asaki m ach in e . And for two gl orious la ps he led the second race ahea d of th e Am erican . Vi ctory in t he first race went to Belgian semi- works Mai co m an Yvan van den Broeck , who wa s as pl eas ed as punch with th e resu lt . his first -ever GP win . Second ra ce victo ry went the La cke y aft er he sn a tche d the lead from Noyce fo u r laps from th e flag . That victory co up led with a fifth place in the first leg wa s eno ug h to .ensure that he finish ed runneru p with 21 points to Noyce's 24 . Despite the fact that he ser iously in jured his right kn ee earlier th is year, reigning World Champion Finn Heikki Mikkola ( Ya m a h a) bravely started the fir st race in a bid to earn vita l world championship points. But eve n though h is knee joint had been injected with pain kill ers, the injury fo rced him to retire after eig h t laps , and he decided to sit the second ra ce out. Only other Briton a t Sittendorf was CCM works rider Bob Wright , making his third visit to thi s Austrian venue. But a burnt -out cl u tch on the last lap of the first race and a crash in the , second meant that h e fa iled to sco re an y po ints . After crashing in th e secon d race a nd finishing sixt h, Van den Br oeck had to be content to sh are th ird place overall with Dutch works Suzuki rider Gerritt Wolsink , wh o fini sh ed both races in third place , although he was sti ll recovering from a bad cas e of co n cussion after cras hi ng last Sunday in Holland . Wolsink led the field from the sta rt of th e fir st race with Van den Broeck snapping at his heels. But th e Belgian h ad taken over on the fir st lap as W est German Herbert Schmitz ( Ma ico ), st ill nursing a sp ra ine d thumb after his Good Friday cras h a t th e Hants Grand Int ernat ional Me eting. scotte d in to third pla ce a head of Swede Bengt Aberg ( Mai co), with Mikkola in fourth . Out in fro nt , Van d en Bro eck wa s un st oppable. and a lt ho ug h W olsink kept o n h is tail for the fir st few laps. he was una ble to o vert a ke , As the race p rogressed . th ese two pulled aw ay fro m Schm itz , who ' was rapid ly passed by No yce , o n his wa y up from eighth pla ce at th e sta rt. Noyce I ~ I os bn oisinHn~(zippeJ pass-th'e~ big Dut chman to take second pla ce six laps from th e ch eck er ed flag. Now with vic tory in sight he reall y pulled o ut th e sto ps a nd set off after Va n de n Bro eck . H e wa s right o n hi s ta il two la ps later and t he two fought a din g -dong battl e for th e rest of the race that cl imaxed in a hea d long , al most side-by-sid e dash to the fla g . _ whe re the Belgi a n was given th e resu lt by o ne 200th of a second . Young Fren chman Jean ·Ja cqu es Bruno ( KT M) was fo u rt h - a magnificent result after starting11th a nd La ck ey ca me in fifth after being balked at t he sta rt. No yce's Belgian Honda teammate Andre Malherbe filled sixth place and seven t h was Schmitz , who slip ped badly in the closing stages. Multi -world ch a m p io n Bel gi a n Roger DeCoster , recovering from a dislocated collarbone, was 10th on a new works Suzuki whic h fea tured a novel leading-link front suspension system. Aga in it was Wolsink who-took off first as the ga te dropped fo r the st art of the second race , but this ti m e the Dutchman held on to his num ber one sp ot longer. . In fa ct , it was Suzukis 1. 2 , -3 and 4 . on lap o ne as Dutchman Gerard Rond took seco nd place from DeCoster and Belgian Andre V ro m a ns. Following th e Suzukis on lap o ne was N oyce ahead of West German works Maic o m an Fr it z Kobel e and La ckey. Noyce di sp osed of DeCoster two laps lat er to take th ird pl a ce behind th e two Dut chmen , and a t th e half-wa y stage th ese fir st three mach in es were in a tight bunch. DeCoster held off La ck ey for a co ulpe more laps , but with six la ps to go t he American zoo m ed past both DeC oster and Ron d to third . Noy ce p ipped W olsink for th e lea d o ne lap later, and Lackeypassedthe Du tchman a m om ent la ter. No yce held th e lead for two gl ori ous laps befo re the American wh izzed past on a long uphill stretc h to take th e lead . W olsink was third , despite a last m inute cha rge from DeCoster, and Ro nd finish ed fifth a he ad of Van d en Broeck . • .Results _ ----1- ' . _ -•• .-8 Overall: 1. G. Novce lHon) 12 ...12 =24; 2. B. Lackev IKawl 6 + 15 = 21; 3. G. W olsink ISuzl 10 + 10 = 20/ Y. Van Den Sroack (M ail 15 + 5 =20; 5. J .J . Bruno tKT MI eCoster ISOll1 + 8 = BIG. Rand IMail 8 + 2 = 10;'6, R. D 3 + 6 = 9: 8. F. Kobele (Mail 2 + 4 >:: 6; 9. A. Malherbe lHonl 5 +0 =5: 10. H Schmitz IMaiI 4 +0 ",, 4: i t A . • VromansiSun0 + 3 ; 0;12, e,A erg (Man0 f,;" b First race: 1. Van den Broeck; 2. Noyce; 3. Wolsink; 4 . Bruno; 5. Lackey; 6. Malherbe : 7. SChm itz; 8. Rand: 9. Kobe'e; 10. DeCoster. 'Second race: 1. Lackey; 2. Noyce; 3. Wa lsink; 4. DeCoster; 5. Rond; 6. Van den Braeck: 7. Kobele; 8. Vromans; 9. Bruno; 10. Aber g . Graham Noyce's two-deuce score gave him the overall w in in Austria. • Brad Lackey trucked his Un i-Trak Kawasaki to a 5-1 moto tally, good f or second overall. 15

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