Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

stamp thei r individ ua l claims o n th e World Cham p ion sh ip a fter on ly two ro un ds o f the 12 roun d series . Lejeune's win , o n board th e factory H onda th e week p revious in Spain , had been a co n vinci ng 14 m ark s. On hi s h ome territor y he was in co m ma ndi ng form , finishing th e three lap, 18 sectio n trial with a loss o f 79 m arks. Th is was 27 marks in fr ont o f th e eve r - t h rea te n i n g Schrei ber, wh o was, in turn, three ahe ad of defending Champion Burga t. In wi n ni ng th e tri al , Lejeune compl eted a hat -tri ck o f home win s. Righ t from th e very begin ning, it was appar ent h e wa s th e man to beat. Massive cro wds flock ed from section to secti on to chee r on th eir hero, and every sing le mark he lost o n the sli p pe ry dro p s, steep rock cl im bs an d ro oted h illsides was accom pan ied by groans of dism ay. T hey need never have worried , for if Lej eune lost a lot of m ar ks, th en hi s rival s were certa in ly losing a lot mor e. The penultimate section of th e tri a l proved to be the h igh ligh t of th e event for th e specta tors and arm y o f ca me ra me n followin g th e ac tio n. A fou r foot shee r roc k ste p had a very steep a n d slippery ap proach , an d th ose who never mad e it over th e crest suffered a massive crash. T he sectio n p roved to be the down fall for man y co mpetitors. Two Brit ish riders damaged th eir a n kles a fter leapi ng after their crash ing bik es, a nd Fanti c factor y star J aime Subira (fo u rth in Spa in) was tak en 10 a hospital aft er a spectacu la r a nd nasty fall. But th e section co u ld be cleaned. as Lej eune proved when he made it look lik e a ma in high way . Bur gat was anoth er who ma stered it as did Lejeu ne's H on da tea mmate Kiyo teru H attori. Severa l furt he r clea ns were reco rded from Christa n Desn oyers, Mart in Lampkin and V lf Karlson, but n on e wa s in th e class of Lejeune wh o o n ly gave away a single da b over th e th ree laps. Fo urt h in th e trial was forme r Fre nch C hampion Charles Co u tard , wh o had a measura bly better da y th an he enjoyed th e previous week when he retired in Spai n. Co nsistent Swede V IC Karls on took fifth , one pl ace bett er th an th e week before, with Britain's favorite Martin Lampkin in six th. Danil o G al eazzi from Ital y was sevent h -- he seems to a lways go well in Bel g ium -- wh ile back in th e poi nts o nce agai n was Yrjo Vesterin en in eig ht h. When Vest y lost ou t th e week before in Spa in, it was o n ly th e third tim e in 87 World Ch ampionship events he had fa iled to score points. Eddy Lejeune' s elde r brother, J ean Marie, rook n inth . Hi s ride was extrem el y suspect, many of the ot her riders feel in g he had been gi ven th e benef it o fdo ubtful observing. Finall y, in tenth pl ace and sco ring h is first ever Wo rld Cha m p io nsh ip point, was Bulta co rid in g Fr en chm an Fr ed Mich aud. The Belgian ro u nd was a lot bett er th an th e fiasco th e p reviou s yea r. With Lejeune, Sch reiber and Burgat a ll so conv inc ingly on form , th e ro und in Brita in shou ld be a tre me ndous batt le. After Brit a in the re is a 2\1 mont h gap to roun d four, and the leader durin g that time will have a great psych ol ogi cal advant age. • Results (Above) Belgian Eddie Lejeune won his homecountry round for the third year in a row. (Below) American Bernie Schreiber took his second runner-up placing of the year. World Champ-ionsh'pObserved Trials Series: Round 2 Lejeune, Schreiber & Burgaffop Belgian round By Mike Rapley VE RVIE RS, BEL G IU M, FE B. 28 A repeat performance by Eddy Lejeune, Bernie Schreiber a nd G ill es Burgat put them head a n d shou lde rs a bov e the rest of 14 . th e world a t the Belgia n World Champi onship ro u nd. The Belgian , American and Fren chman fi nis hed in th e sa me orde r for the . seco nd time, in two weeks.. to I BEST PERFORMANCE: 1. Eddy Lejeune (Hond a · Belgium l79; 2. Bernie Schreiber (SW M - USA ) 106; 3 . Gilles Burget (Fantic . France ) 109; 4 . Charles Coutard (Bullaco . France ) 113; 5. uu Karlson (M ont e. a - Sweden) 128; 6. Ma " ,n Lamplt in (SW M - Britain) 131 ; 7 . Ol nilo Galeazzi ~ SW M - Italy) 138; 8. Yrjo Vesterinen (Bultaco - Finland ) 140; 9. JeanM arie Leje une (Montesa • Belgium) 143; 10. Fred Mi chaud fBultaco - France) 14 5. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Eddie Lejeune (30); 2. Bernie Schre iber (24); 3 . Gilles Burga l(201 4 . U ~ Kar iso n l l l ); 5. (TIE) Je im e ; Subira /Charles Coutard tal; 7 . mE) Martin lampkin/Manuel Soler t6); 9. (1lE) John Lampkin / Danilo Galeezzi (4 ). " •. • r' r'"\ •. -; "J 0/ l 0 , r I • ,

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