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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o 00 O"l ...... Neil Hudson won first 250cc MXGP mota. broke his ankle in the second. World Championship 500cc MX Series: Round five Noyce back on form in Finland By A lex Hodgkinson RUSKEASAI\'TA , FINLAND. ~lAY 18 W orld Cha m pion Gra ham Noyce handed ou t a wa rning to the pretenders fo r his throne t hat he m ay be 70 points beh ind cha m pionshi p leader Brad La ckev. but he will not give up his title w ith o~t a fight as he won the Finnish 500cc G ra nd Pri x a t Ru skeasa nta with a first ra ce win a nd a seco nd race fou rt h . His performance was matched bv tea m ma te An dr~ his Belgian Malherbe , but th e verd ict on th e d ay went to Noyce by seven seco nds on ela psed tim e aft er two motos. 20 It was a tremendous d ay for th e Ho nda team who also had Roge r DeCoster in second pla ce in th e first rnot o , but the ex -champion fai led to add to th ose 12 point s in t he seco nd race whe n t he rear brake torque arm broke whil st he was insixth pla ce . Br a d La ckey sco red a bra ce of third places to keep his cham p ionsh ip lead although thi s is now redu ced to just three points by Malherbe. Brad 's d isappointment at his failure to hold the Hondas aga in on an out a nd out speed track no doubt prompted the Ka wasaki camp to pro test Gerard Ron d 's second race ru n ner-up spot on last year's works Suzuki . Rend's 1980 sin gle-shoc k bi ke ha d broken in tra in in g and the re were q ues tio ns over his 1979 bik e's a bility to exceed the m in imum weight lim it int roduced t his yea r. Specul ation was heighten ed whe n Ron d ro de his bik e back to his pit before pu tting it in t he pare ferm e . W hen the bi ke was weighed and fou nd to j ust meet the m in imum weigh t limit of 102kg , the Kawasak i ca m p protested th at a differen t seat had been fitted and a chain was found in the a ir box to add weight. After a lengthy jury meeting Rond's pla cings stood . While La cke y's lead was cu t by Malherbe , th e th ird man at th e top of th e po ints table. Hakan Carlqvisr, was br ought down to earth after his first ever 500cc G P win in his homeland the previous week. Carlqvist sta rt ed th e first ra ce . but was forced to pull ou t of the ra ce and th e meeting suffering with a t hro a t infect ion and fever. The sta rt is becoming mor e a nd mor e im po rta nt in 500 GP ra cing and most interest in th e first race su rrounde d La ckey. who pro gres sed from a sevent h- pla ce sta rt to second before fa lling at th ee -qu art er race distance and losing th e run ner -up slot to DeCos ter. Noyce was the ma n who had to work ha rd in t he seco nd mot o a fte r stalli ng his Honda on the first lap . Up front. Ma lhe rbe mainta ined th e Hond a domination however. di splacing Rond aft er five laps to win with ease . Results 1. Graham Noyce (Honl 1-4; 2. Andr e Malherbe (Honl 4·1; J . Brad Lackey (Kaw l J.J ; 4. Gerard Rond lSuzI 7-2; 5. Roger DeCost er (Hon I2·· ; 6. Jean Jac ques Georges Jobe moved int o a tie for second in 250 point standings. Bruno ($ uzl 5-6; 7. Andre Vrom ans (Yam l 6-5: 8. Jaak Van Velth oven IKTM ) 8-8; 9. Peter Herlings (Mai) - ·7; 10. Conny Carlsson (Husl 9-- ; 11. Ivan Van den Broeck (Mail - ·9; 12. Arne Lindfors (Yam) 10--; 12. Tapani Pikkara inen IMail • -1. • Denot es placing outsid e top 10. W orld Championship Point Standings: 1. Lackey 11 171 2, Mal herbe 11 141 3 , Hakan CarlQvist 17 ; 4, ; ; 91 Vromans /541 5. Noyce (471 6. Bruno (441 7. Rond 1 : : ; 411; 8. DeCost er (37); 9. Van den Broec k 1 201; 10, Genit Wolsink 11 71. World Championship 250cc MX Series: Roundfhree Title chase tightens in West Germany By A lex Hodgkinson Pho tos by Jaek Burn iele BEUERN , WEST GERMANY, MAY 18 Britain's Neil Hudson swept to a comfortable victory in the first ra ce of the German 250cc Grand Prix on a works Maico a nd was po ised to move into the lead in th e cha m p ionshi p if he won th e seco nd rnot o . However . he got no furt her than the first co rner where he was knock ed off in a mult ipl e co llision whi ch also pu t ou t Hans Ma isch , son of th e factory boss a t Ma ico . Hudson was ta ke n to hosp ita l and then to the cli nic of Belgian "Superdoc" Dr . Joan Derw eduwen at Mol with co nc ussion and a broken right ankle which seems set to keep hi m out of action until mid-July, th us endi ng his chances of ca p turing the world crown. Just two d ays la ter Hudson lost his appeal against a decision in t he English H igh Court t ha t his contract with Ma ico remains vali d throughout 1980 a nd he has agree d to ri de th e West German machinery on his re turn to the saddle. Hi s demise left Raymon d Boven , a lowly 25 th in the fir st race after coll ect ing a puncture on the first lap , to win the seco nd race a t Beu ern and thus move into fourth pl ace in the cha m pionshi p. The overall victory again went to Ho nda with home rider Fritz Kob ele snatching seco nd and third places in the two races. Boven , despite winning the Czech G P the p re vious week had to go before the Interna tion al J ury to get an entry as he is onl y number three on the Belgi a n grading list. He and Husqva:na teammate Dim itar Ra ngelov aga m showed th e speed of the Swed ish mac hi nery on the track. Like Boven , compatriot Georges Jobe lost a first race seventh when he collected a pu ncture in the closi ng stages, but he was the midd le man in a battle for fierce three -cornered su p re macy in the seco nd race . The performa nces of Jobe and Kobele have ta ken them to within one po int of cha m p ionshi p leader J arosla v Fal ta who co ul d m anage on ly sixth a nd seventh pla ces on h is a ncient CZ althou gh he was sti ll well in fro nt of his Ru ssian teammates. Gennady Moiseev's firs t race 27th place fin ish is an indica tio n of t he poor forrn he is showing th is year wh ile Vladimir Ka vinov was only in midfield before a shunt put hi m out. Rol f Dieffenbach , winner of the ope ning G P in Spain, struggled as he