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Jean-Jacques Bruno grabbed the start of the second 500cc MXGP moto in front of Eng lishman Dave Thorpe (1 4 ) and Andre Malherbe (hidden at left) . World Cham'-lonshlp- SOOcc MX Series: Round 1 Malherbe magnifice t in French GP By Neil Webster MO NTBELLIARD, FRANCE, APR. 25 U nto u ch able Andre Malherbe rode calmly through the hill s of eastern France to the top of the world at today's 1982 500cc MX Grand P rix opener. Th e superb Belg ia n , who looks more like a pop sta r than a motocross racer, began his defense of the title he has held 12 for th e la st two yea rs with two co pybook wins to take m ax imum points. And th e onl y man who threat en ed hi s dominance was Britisher Dave T horpe wh o set th e seco nd race a lig h t by holding th e lead for six laps. Sh owing ice-cool temperament. T hor pe turned in a performance man y m or e expe rienced riders would ha ve been proud of to fend orr th e World Champion 's close attentions for a third o f the ra ce. And on ce Malh erbe wa s past . Thorpe never put a foot wron g to tak e a ca reer- best result in seco nd spot. But for a fall in the fir st race, Th orpe co u ld have co llec ted even more points th an th e 17 wh ich ga ve him eq ua l seco nd pl a ce in th e series with Ame rica n Brad Lackey. But for Malherbe, th e seco nd race would hav e been a British benefi t, with British lads in seco nd , th ird a nd fourth, Graham No yce a n d Neil Hudson followi ng Thorpe over th e lin e. For Noyce it was a d isappointing sta rt to his sea rch for a repe at of h is titl e-winning 1979 season wh en a £l yin g st one smas hed th e fu el tap o f hi s Honda in th e first leg a n d forced h im o u t with fuel starvati on . His seco n d ou ting was m uch more sa tisfying . A strong sta rt sa w him in fifth pl ace before h e slip ped past Bel gia n Andre Vromans o n la p fo u r to sta rt a long tu ssle with local hero J ean-J acques Bruno. For 12 laps Noyce tr ied every th ing h e kn ew to get p ast , but th e wil y Fren chman held him orr until he got th e worst of a close di ce a n d fell , g ivin g Noyce a clear path 10 th ird a nd a llowin g Nei l Hudson to move into a striki n g p osition. With Bruno slo wing not iceabl y a fter biting th e dust , Hudson qui ckl y nipped by to repeat hi s first leg fourth a nd h e wa s foll ow ed by lank y Dutchman J aak van Velthoven a nd La ckey wh o had fought back stro ngly from a bad start and an ea rly fall. " No t doing much o f th e first race I had to spe nd some time relearning th e racing lin es," said Noyce. "That allowed the rest to clear orr and then I • had a long fight with Bruno. It's a shame about the first race because I was going so well in the second." The I0 point reward his third place place produced leaves Noyce in sixth place overall, a lready 20 points behind Honda teammate Malherbe. Rid in g in his first 500cc Grand Prix, last yea r's 250cc World Champi on Neil Hudson was quite happy with his brace of fourths a nd the 16 p oints which went with them. Neil sta rt ed th e fir st leg way down th e pack in 14t h but despite a badly bruised finger , courtesy of one of th e sma ll sharp stones whi ch lit tered the Vi 11 a r s-so us- Ecot tra ck, stead i ly worked hi s way th ro u gh unt il h e met up with Yamaha-mounted Ital ian Franco Picco who had taken up fourth p lace . Only a fter trail ing Pi cco for a lmost half th e race distan ce did Hudson manage to get by th e Italian three laps from th e end . A similar storv second timeout saw Hudson 's consist en cy pay dividends. After a no the r poor sta rt wh en he hit th e gal e, Hudson aga in had hi s work cu t o u t to carve through the field, bUI he sim p ly kept up h is stro ng pace an d smooth style 10 in ch up place by pl ace. " I' m very happy with th at as a start 10 th e season," sai d Hudson. " I' ve never raced in a 500 G P before a nd so di d n ot kn ow wh at to expec t, but th e pace seemed to ease orr after a few m inutes and I just kept mint" up. I had trouble ge ll ing past Vromans a n d Bruno towards th e en d. They were both goin g quite slo wly but were staying on th e lines." S ha r i ng seco n d o ve ra ll with Thorpe, Brad La ckey looked hot in th e opener to win a du el with Vroman s for seco nd but he lost points wh en he fell ea rly in th e second ra ce trying 10 erase a bad ge ta way. For th e 25,000 strong Fre nch crowd th e biggest di sast er o f th e da y came wh en Bruno cra shed out of th e first leg aft er o n ly four laps , and a fall in th e seco nd half aga in robbed him o f places. leaving him o n ly four points from hi s Grand Prix . • Results ..An dre M alherbe (Belgium • H on~; 2. CTIE) Cave Thorpe (Gr.at Britain · Kaw) / Bra d LAckey (USA · Suz); 4 . Neil Hu dson (Gr.at Br it ain - Yam); 5 . A ndre Vro mans (Belg ium · Suz); 6 . Gra ham Nove_ (Gr. at Br ita in - Han); 7. Franco Picco (Italy . Yam); 8 . J a.k van Velthoven (Luxembourg - KTM) ; 9 . m E) JeanJacques Br uno (France - Suz)/Billy A ldridge (Grel t Britain · Su z). FIRST M OTO: 1. Malher be; 2. Lackey ; 3. Vr omans; 4 . Hudson; 5 . Picco; 6 . Thorpe; 7. Al dri dge; 8 . Sinto nen; 9 . Kristoffersen; 10 . van den Broeck . sE CONO MO TO: 1. Malherbe; 2. Thorpe: 3 . Noyce; 4 . Hudson; 5. van Venhoven ; 6. Lackey; 7. Br uno; 8. Vromans; 9. van den Sroeck; 10 . Picco . World Champ'ionship125cc MX Series: Round 3 Velkeneers stretches points lead in Austrian GP LAUNSDO RF, AUSTRIA , AP R _25 Yamaha 's Mark Velkenee rs in creased his series points lead over Italian Michele R inald i by fi nishing seco nd a nd th ird in the pair of motos which made up th e Austrian 125cc MX Grand Prix. Suzuki's Erik Geboers won the first moro and looked all set 10 repeat th e performance the second time out when his chain broke with but three laps to run . Geboers ' misfortune p ut G ile ra mounted Rin a ld i in the front where he stayed to pick up much needed points. Japan's Akira Watanabe, who had finished thi rd in the first moto behi nd Geboers and Velke neers, took second a board h is works Suzuki. • Results RACE ONE: 1. E. Geboers (Belgi um - suz) ; 2. M . Vel ken eer s (Be lgium - Suzl; 3. A. Watanabe (Japan · s uz); 4 . C. Madd ii (hal y • Gil ); 5. Y. Kudiakov (Us s R-Cag); 6 . C. A nd rean i (Ita ly · KTM) : 7. A . Lejeu ne (Belgium - Hon); 8 . K. Sulver (A ustr ia • KTM); 9 . H. Everts (Belgi um - suz); 10 . P. Vehkonen . (Finland - Vam). RACE TWO : 1. M . Rinald i (Italy - Gil); 2. Walana be; 3 . Velkeneera; 4 . Evens; S. Madd ii; 8 . Kudia· kov; 7 . Lejeune: 8 . M iele (Italy . KTM); 9. M . Mag. rona (Italy - Gil); 10 . Sul ver. WORLD CHAMPION SHIP POINT STAND INGS : 1. Velkeneers (7 9); 2. Rina ldi (4 51 3 . Geboe ro 1 3); 4 . ; 4 Evert s (40); 5. Madeli i (38); 6_W... nabe 1381.