Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

World Champ Andre Malherbe topped three m o t e s. making lines through the slop where ve r possible. Danny LaPorte (inside) completed the weekend in fifth overall. He looks ready for the 2 50cc GPs. , Malherbe comes to life at Easter Trophy MX By Hanny Ray Abra ms MARCHE-EN -FAMENNE, BELGIUM, AP R. II I LO UVAIN , BELGIUM , APR. 12 500cc World Champion MXer Andre Mal herbe proved to himself and his fellow countrymen that he's ready for the World Championships with an overall win in the Easter Trophy races. The third and final rnoro ofthe day The trophy is contested over _, ~ad riders back on 250's. Once ag~in six motos on 250 d 500 11 was Malherbe vers.us V~o~ans with . an. cc Jobe ready 10 put in hIS F irst good machinery at two different fin ish of th e week end. Malherbe had tra cks with the best four rnoto scores counted for th e overall. Malherbe put together three wins and a second, wh ich Suzuki '~ Andre Vroman s mat ch ed. But .a u e-~reaker gav e Malher!Je the wm with two seconds, while Vromans had a second and a third. Yamaha teammates Marc Velkeneers and jo Martens took third and fourth w~ile Yamaha 's Danny LaPorte took fifth overall. Ma rch ~ -En-Famenne . .T he first rnoto was on 250cc bikes with most running water-cooler s, excep t for the Yamahas. The da y ~ ta rted poorly for Vroma~s, who fell m th e Iirst turn , g.ot stuck m the mud, a nd was a way m last place. The wea t h~r was a m;><:ious. Snc;>w, hail a nd ram along with ~usty. wmds an d a ~emperatur~ hov~rtng m the low 40 s mad e raang miserable, " My throttl e stuck wide open," sai d LaPorte. " ( tried riding with it , bu t the people in th e corners go t sca red wh en th ey sa w me coming." Malherbe sho wed he could still ride the q uarter-liter machin es with a win over I 25cc GP campaigner Velkeneers, with Suzuki's Paul Decendre in th ird . Velken eers is off to a quick start th is season with win s in th e Holland a nd Belgium 125cc GP rounds. Aton ing for h is mi stakes in th e fir st moto, Vromans sh ot to the lead in th e seco nd on themore familiar 500cc machine with Malherbe an d West Germ an Rolf Dieffenbach sh adowing him. LaPorte was in contention, but hi s co m pe titio n in the 250cc havi GP wars, G eorges J o.be, was a~mg a r~)U gh da y. Af~er taking a 12t~ in th e first m.o lO he ina dverten tly hit Mal he rbe in th e seco nd a n~ f~ll back 10 an Th ua l .11 th vi ace fini sh , event f pl f V e margm 0 victo ry or romans at tIh b d was o n Iy two secon d son l\l h een . . . I a er e wI,th DleH~nbach third ahead of th e \ ama ha trr o of LaPort e, trouble off the sta rt in th e muddy sa nd and had to work hi s way up from 12th to second. Malherbe ended up taking second in a phOIO fin ish with Vromans only .06 second ahead for the 12 laps of racing over 30 minutes, Jobe, Eric Geboers, Martens and LaPorte followed. Louvain Everyone thought th at Louvain would be an improvement on the mud a nd muck of th e previous day. Then it started 10 snow. And ra in. And h ail. The mud got deeper a s th e fan s got colder. Back on the more famil iar CR480, Malherbe was out front quickl y in th e fourth moto of th e series wh ile Vromans was one of th e many that fell on th e firs t lap. Fren chman J eanJ acques Bruno tried 10 stay with Malherbe, but th ere was no sto p ping Andre as he spe d 10 an un contested win . Vromans recovered 10 take th ird beh ind Bruno with Ve1keneers a steady fo urt h ahead of th e 125cc World Champion, Suzuki's Harry Evert s. LaPort e fell twi ce an d fini sh ed 20th after losin g hi s gogg les o n th e second lap. " I went past J ob e a nd wi n ked a t him, th en fell in th e next corner:' sa id LaPorte. The fifth rnoto would be th e last for the 250's and th e familiar fir st turn scene had Vromans ah ead of Malherbe . The ri sk of being ro osted made passing difficult in th e mud, which was a foot deep in so me places. Malherbe .. as on hiIS way to I' S w li third win of th e weekend and an a lmost assured overa ll wh en hi s bik e seized near the end of th e mot o while he was bu ilding up a lead o n Vroman s . M u d cl ogge d th e ra diiat or o n hI'S Honda ' e n dim g hiIS c h a rge a n d handin g Vr0 mans the wm. Ve lkcee wi neers, Marten s a nd Ma ico 's Ivan Van de n Broeck pl aced a hea d of J o be a nd T he sixth moto was th e decider. Vromans h ad three wins a nd Malherbe had two . For Malherbe to tak e th e troph y a victory was essentia l. Halfway th rough th e ope nin g lap he was out front a nd ridin g lik e a man possessed. Vromans seemed fati gued from th e long weekend while Mal herbe proved for th e first time this year th at he' s healed from a wrist opera tio n o ver th e winter. " It was clear to me that in th e co urse of the five motos I was not in shape . My first concern for the GP in France is th e im p ro vement of m y physical co nd ition:' said Vromans. " I have 15 da ys to fill that gap." Malherbe seemed 10 gain energy as the race went on. With his compatriots cheering him, so me running on th e course 10 do it , he sped to a 38 second lead and with it the Easter Troph y. Vrornans held off Martens for second with Velkeneers third. Jobe and LaPorte were fifth and sixth. "I'm tremendously happy with the win : ' Malherbe said, "It was, for me , the way to prove to myself that I'm ready to compete for the World Championship at the highest level. Vromans is for me an ideal point of comparison . He wanted the win like I did. " Results lst M OTa: 1. An dr o M olhort>e (Hon); 2 , More Velkeneers (Yam); 3 . Pl ul Oecen dre (Suzt ; 4 . Harry Everts (Suz); 5 . J o Martens (Yam). 2n d M OTO : 1. Andre Vroman! (Suz); 2. Mal· berbe: 3 . Rolf Dieffenbach; 4 . Danny laPorte (Yam); 5. Martens. 3rd MO Ta: 1. Vromons; 2. Molhorbo; 3, Jobo ; 4, EriC Geboeres (Suz); 5. Manens. 4th MOT O: 1. Malherbe; 2. Jean ·Jacques Bruno (S Ut); 3. Vroman . ; 4. Velkeneers; 5. Evens. 5th MOTa: 1. Vromon.; 2. Volkoneors; 3, Mortons' 4. Von don Broock (Mo i); 5 , Georgos Jobo (Sull, • 6th MOTO: 1. Malherbe; 2. Vromans; 3 . Manens; 4. Velkenee rs; S. Jobe. . OVERALL: 1. Andro Molhorbo (Hon157 points; 2. Andre Vromans (SuzI57: 3 . Marc Velkeneers(Yam) 40 ; 3 , Jo Mortons (YomI32; 5, Donny LaPorto (Yom l 18 ; 6 . Maurice Decendr. (Yam) 7 . World Cb.mPoloaablp IZSCC )IX 5erI. .: RouadI Dutch cheers for Velkeneers VENRAY, HOLLAND, MAR. 28 In a p u lsa ting start to the motocross GP season, Yamaha's Belgium 125ccstarMarcVelkeneers edged out his Suzuki mounted fellow co u ntryma n Erik Geboers and Italian number o ne Mich eli Rinaldi o n th e works Gilera 10 cl in ch th e overa ll honor s a t Venray on Sunday. Velken eer s won the first race and was runner-up to Geboers in th e second as Harry Evens, going for his fourth successi ve world title. dropped to fourth overall when he retired from th esecond mot o with a broken rear sh ock after fini shing second in th e ope ni ng race. T hese four riders were head a nd sho ulders above their riva ls a nd the world ti tle seems certai n 10 go 10 one of them. Rin al d i sped from the ga le in the openi ng mot o a long wi th European OP debutant Yoshifumi Sugio on th e works Honda a nd within half a lap he was pas t th e J apanese rider and away while the top Belgians fought th eir way through . By the time Velkeneers got to second o n lap th ree, Rinal di was nine seconds clear, with 'Evert s fourt h behi nd Fin n ish sensa tion Pckk a Veh konen and Geboers was struggli ng throug h from 17th on lap o ne a fter first selecting th e wro ng gear a t the sta rt a nd then taking a trop th ro ug h th e ro pes half way round th e lap. Graduall y whittling aw ay the italian 's lead Velk en eers took over at the front , one third o f th e way through th e 20 lap race and Evens moved into seco nd a t two- thirds distance but wa s never a ble to close th e 15 second a dva ntage built up by the Yamaha star. Geboer s was fourth by half way but with no cha nce of ca tch in g th e leading tri o. Vehkonen maintained h is adva ntage over the pack till th e closing laps when he tri ed to fin ish sevent h behind new Honda sig ni ng Johan Martens (no relation to J o Martens) a nd 17year-old Dutchman G ert-jan Van Dorn. Also involved in a su perb battle for th e remaining leaderboard placings were Dutch youngsters John Hensen, Teho Eggens, Albert Ensing and AndreSprengeimayer, KTM number one Guiseppi Andreani and Sugio. Ex-World Champion Akira Watanabeand Gilera number two Corrado Maddi were both closing rapidly in the closing stages after poor starts but time ran out for them both. Frenchma n Jacky Vimond was soon sidelined after a crash on lap two; already suffering from bronchial trouble he sat out the seco nd leg. Anticipating the fall of the gate 10 perfectio n, Rinaldi was away again like a sca lded cat in the second moto bu t this time Geboers, Evens and Velkeneers were with him. After ten minutes Geboers made his move on th e main straight, just as Evens had done in the first race . and from that moment on no one was going to catch him. Five minutes later , Velken eers followed h im through but Everts never looked likel y 10 demote Rinaldi furth er even befor e his shoc k broke, a fter 25 minutes. Again a pulsating battle for th e minor pl acings went on between Marten s, H en sen , Watanabe, Van Dorn, Ensing, Belgian Dirk Verhaegen , Maddi, Vehkonen , Dutchman Jan Post ema, Andreani, Johnny Van Poppel fr om Lux embourg and Russian Cagi va sign ing Yuri Khudiakov. At half way Martens had broken clear but tired badl y in th e closing laps while Van Dorn crashed out of eighth and wa s unabl e 10 continue because of twisted forks . Maddi showed his vast experien ce and tremendous fitnes s to clear off in the closing laps for a lonely fourth ahead of H ensen and Vehkonen. • Results O ~E RALL: 1. Marc.Velkeneer s (Belgium · Yam); 2. Errk Geboers (Belg ium . Suz); 3 . M ich ele Rinaldi (Italy . Gil); 4 . Harr y Everts (Belgium - Sur); 5 . J oh an M an ens (Luxembourg - Han); 6 . Pekka Vehkonen (Finlond - Yom); 7. (TIE) Corrodo Moddi (Italy - Gill; John Hensen (Holland · Suz); 9 . Gen Jan Van Dorn (Holland - Suz .; 10 . Albert Ensing (Holland - Suz). FIRST M OTO: 1. Velkeneers; 2. Evens; 3. Rinaldi; 4. Geboers; 5. Martens: 6. Van Dom ; 7. Vehkonen" 8 . Ensing; 9 . Hensen; 10 . Sugio. • SECOND MOTO : 1. Goboo",; 2. Volkonoors; 3 . Rinaldi; 4 . M add i; 5 . Hensen; 6 . Vehkonen; 7. Manens: 8 . Postema; 9. Watanabe; 10 . Ensing .

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