Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Top) Danny laPorte (3 3 ) had a battle royale with Georges Jobe in the first mota. (Ab o ve) From left. Dave Watson. Joba and Kees Van dar Van. Worl d Champ-ionship 250cc MX Series: Round 3 Jobe pads points lead with Belgian GP win By Hanny Ray Abrams BORGLOON, BELGIUM, MAY 9 Belgium's Georges lobe scored a 1-2 punch in the two m otos of the Belgian 250cc G P to take a convincing win in front of his fell ow co u n try m en . The Suzuki-mounted form er World Champion was hounded the entire firs t mota by Ya rna, . ha s Danny L aPorte 1':1 a race that h ad th e crowd split a bo ut equall y in its choice for a winner. LaPorte came up on ly a half second short at the end of the 40 m inu te plus two la p rnot o o n the two-k ilometer Borgl oon co urse. In the second moto J o be played th ird fidd le to a ba ttl e between Yamaha 's Dave Wa tson and · th e West German Ho n da of Ro lf Dieffenbach before overta king Dieffen bach la te in the race for second. Second ove rall went to Watson with h is 7-) ta lly and the th ird spot on the podi u m was tak en by Dutch man Kees Van der Ven with a 3·5 . th e th ird round of the wo rl d cha m p ionshi ps. . . The second moto en ded m. fru.s~ratron for LaPorte wh en th e 19ntllOn on h is OW57B quit on th e first lap forc ing him 10 push back 10 th e pits. Fell ow American Mik e Guerra. the winner o f the Spanish GP two weeks ago, was victimized by cra shes in the beginning of both motos and retired from both of them. J o be now h ol ds a commanding 75 10 39 points lead over Van der Ven in the race for th e titl e w hi ch he on ce held. First Moto Wit h th e top qualifying time of 2:26.9 seconds, England 's Dave Watson had h is choice of starting positionson th e gate. La Porte was second fastest , bu t th e third fastest was Jobe and he picked the righ t spot 10 jump into the lead on the long uphi ll stra ig h t 10 th e first turn . Quickl y following were Andre Mas sant, Ben n y Wilken , a n d LaPorte. Guer ra was o ff bad ly a n d went down in a first turn pil e-u p. " I didn ' t get a good sta rt," the New England nati ve said. "The n I didn ' t get past the first co rner before crashing." Guerra was up an d ra cing, bu t reti red before the ha lfway po in t. Jobe a nd LaPort e q ui ckly separa ted th emselves fro m the pack whic h was now led by Van der Ven with Massaru keep in g pace a nd Dieffen bach an d J ean Claude La cquaye in the h unt. Austria's Heinz Kin igadner was trying to h old Wat son a t ba y as th e two o f th em moved up 10 ch al lenge th e lead ers. T he ra ce for th e lead was the only one that mattered , with fan s running from o ne of th e 15 corners to th e others to see if LaPorte co u ld pass J obe. The crowd roared its approval wh en it finall y happened, but J o be got it right back with a masterful displ ay of flawless riding. " I was a little nervous in th e first moto because of racing in front of my countrymen, but once we got going it wa s OK," th e Suzuki star sai d. " My bike seemed 10 come out of th e corners harder and had some top en d on hi s, but he came into the corners fast er. You could n 't make a ny mi stakes because it is a very technical track. " Van der Ven had moved up to join th e leaders. but co u ld only get close to La Porte once before making a mistak e and dropping off the pace. " T h e track was very rough , worse than yesterday ," th e KTM factory mounted Dut ch ma n said. "T hey have so many class es racing today that the track has become very rutted . It's very easy 10 make a mistake and wh en I did I lost them:' Making hi s way through the pack and into fourth wa s Austria 's Kinigadnerwho passed La cqu aye to make it into the top quintet befor e sett lin g into fo urt h on his Yamaha. LaPorte wouldn't quit and caused more than a few jaws 10 drop wh en he passed Jobe in mid-air oH a( dropaway jump on the back par of the course. J obe's drive was relentless and when th ey hit the first corner after the j u m p he powered away. " I shou ld have won it ," La Po rte said. "I felt rea lly good out there, but if yo u made the slightest mistake h e'd take advantage of it. I passed him oH th e jumps, but his bike seemed 10 have more in the mid -ran ge and he could pull m e out of the corners and on the straights:' Jobe was onl y .7 seconds a head at th e end while LaPorte had almost twenty on third place Van der Ven . Kinigadner held fifth ahead of Lacquaye. Second Moto After an almost two hour break, the riders were ready to do it a ll over again on this brisk and sunny afternoon. Watson chose a different spot on the starti ng lin e and it seemed like 'a catapult threw him into the lead. Dieffenbach , Wi lke n, j obe, an d Massant followed with both La Porte and G uerra getting th e first lap blu es. "It didn't feel right a t the start, li ke it was a car b p ro ble m, but it turned o u t 10 be th e igni tion," LaPorte sai d . " It wo u ld rev up OK , but wh en yo u dumped th e cl u tch it felt like it was go ing a bo ut 600 rpm. It 's a frus tra ting feeli ng to have tha t happen wh en yo u 're ridin g well. " T he bi ke stra nded h im a t th e bo tto m of the first downhill , and with a li tt le help fro m h is friends, he pushed it back to the truck. . G ue rra's problem wasn ' t mechanical, it was ph ysical. " I m ade it 10 th e thi rd co rner a nd wh en I went to turn, th is guy on a Yama ha ra n righ t into me . Then h is bi ke was on top of mi n e and we couldn 't get them apart. I took o ff aga in , but I co u ldn' t do anyth ing right. I just kept crashing. I tr ied riding slower , but I still crashed so I j ust pulled o H th e tra ck before I fell aga in . I don 't kn ow what it was, but I j us t kept on fall in g. It wasn ' t th e bik e. It 's an '83 production mod el. There ar e a few little cha nges in the m ot or, bu t th e frame a nd fra me geometry are com p letely differen t." An other firs t la p vict im was Kin igad ner wh o fell befo re the first turn and got a way dead last. With the throttle twisted op en h e shot for th e sta rt wi th a ch arge tha t would tak e him to seventh at th e en d of th e race. Ignoring everyone else's problems, Watson and Dieffenbach wer e al one out front with Watson a co m forta ble hundred yards in front for the first half of th e race Io llow ing his dynami c holesh ot. "I just p icked a diff erent starting spot," the yo u thfu l 21-year-old Gl ou cester resident expla ined. " I th otigh t I cou ld stay a head of Dieffenbach , bull was a litt le worried about jobe." Jobe was giving him plenty of rea son to worry as he was assu red of an overall win by placing seventh or better. Not content for third and just 10 cha m pi o nsh ip points, J obe wanted all 15 and moved o n Dieffenbach, passing him late in th e ra ce. " T h e secon d moto I was more ten.ta tive. I was being more ca u tious. I wanted 10 see if h e wa s in sha pe an d I thought I co u ld catch him ," J ob e said. H e caught and passed h im sett ing sail for a perfect I-I tally that Wat so n was trying to den y him. The Dutch duo of Wilkens on the Maico and th e KT M of Van de r Ven were sq ua bbling ov er fourth while Massant was a steady sixth. The rac e ended with a jubilant Watson shaking his hand in victo ry over his first ever GP rnoto win. Jobe was only a half a seco nd back with DieHen bach fad in g 10 a 26 second distan t th ird. " T hose la st three laps were th e longest of th e race. I kept looking over my shou lder to see if he was th ere a nd he was," Watson said . "T his mo to is th e first thing I've won a ll year: ' Combined wi th hi s first mota seventh, it was good for second over a ll. After starti ng 20th, Van der Ven worked h is wa y up 10 fifth and his 3-5 was good for third overa ll and a one point edge on Watson in the race for second in the point standings. Dieffenbach a nd Wilken made up th e top five fini sh ers. But th e day belonged 10 J ob e. After losin g hi s visor ear ly in th e second moro, he raced looking lik e somethin g ou t o f a vintage bik e race, but his racin g was th e vintage stuff today. " T he first moto wa s better for me a n d it was go od for th e fan s," Jobe stated . " Da n ny rode a good race and I couldn 't make an y m istakes. T his win is especia lly good in front of my own people: ' Th e difference in th e two mote s was evident in the times. Pushed by La Porte, Jobe's fir st rno to win was a full 50 seco nds faster than the second on e. Results 1st MO TO: t . Georg es Jobe (Su zl; 2. Danny LaPone (Yam): 3. Keel Van der Ven (KTM ); 4 . Heinz Kin igadner (Vi m); 5. J •• n·Claude lacquay. (Hon ); 6. Roll Dieffenbach (Honl; 7 . Dave Watson (Varni; 8 . Benny W ilken (M ai); 9 . J ean -Ma rie Mili ss~m (Hu s); 10. MIni Tar konen (Yl m) . 2nd MOTO: 1. Dave W at lon (Yam ); 2. Georges Jobe (Su zl; 3. Roll Oieffenbach (Han I; 4 . 8enn v W ilken s (Mli); 5. Kee l Vln derVen (KTM); 6. Andre MasS lnt (SU I); 7 . Mini Tarkonen (Yam ); 8. JelnClaude Lacqulve (Hon!; 9 . Sven Bergg ren (Hus l; 10 . Er ik Su ndstrom (HUll. POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jobe (7 5); 2. Van der Ven (391; 3 . Wat son (3 81; 4 . Tarkonen (32); 5. Guerra (31); 6 . DieHe nbe ch (30); 7. uPorte (27t· 8. Kin igadner (201; 9 . lac:quaye (19). 10 . Me iach 1131.

• Cover