Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1982 06 02

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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Brad Lackey (6 ) holds off Neil Hudson for third in the second mota. In mota one Hudson held off the challenges of Lackey for second . Graham Noyce proved unbeatable in Sweden. racking up double mota wins to move in t o strong contention in the World Championship standings. -. - World Cham'kionshi'k 500cc MX Series: Round J Noyce wins Swedish GP, Lackey takes points lead By Neil Webster STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, MAY 9 Works Suzuki rider Brad Lackey leads the 500cc MX GP point standings after taking tw o consis tent th ird places in th e Swedish round. But i t was Britain's Graham Noyce who took his H onda to two sizzling vic tories and third place . , In the senes. Lackey holds a slender one 16 point lead over his Suzuki teammate Andre Vromans, thanks to a second race fall by the Belgian which relegated him from fifth to tenth in the final stages as he suffered a series of blackouts. "After 25 minutes I started to get blackouts and just had to keep hoping I would be alright, especially over the jumps," said Vromans. "I just hope I have no problems for Finland ne~t week." . Swedish hero Hakan Carlqvist, attempting an early comeback from the broken wrist he suffered at the Hants G rand International in Engla nd on Good Friday, fired himself to the front of the fie ld on the first lap but Noyce, Dave Thorpe and Nei l Hudson were right behind him and hungry for points. "Carla knows this place like the back of his hand so I stayed with him for the first few laps watching his lines," said Noyce. "I didn't think he woulej'I>e able 'to finisll the race." The British champion's judgment proved sound when CarIqvist started to weaken with cramps in his injured arm on only the fourth lap. As the Swede slowed, Noyce charged past down the long start and finish straight, followed soon after by Hudson and Thorpe. Carlqvist managed to re-take Thorpe a second later but couldn't find the strength to wind on the power through a loosely surfaced bend and fell without injury as the front wheel slid away. He remounted in ninth place, but pulled out at the end of the lap. unable to carryon. Britons now held the first three places - Noy ce, Hudson and Thorpe - but th e cons istent Lackey was right up there with th em , shadowing Thorpe inch by inch after recovering from a mediocre start. The Kawasaki-mounted teenager couldn't step up his pace and Lackey powered past at th e same place No yce took Carlqvist. Bu t whi le Lackey held his third place to the flag, T horpe fell victim to the experience of Belgians Andre Vromans and Andre Malherbe.: who' reeled him in during the closing laps and relegated him to sixth. " I just rode my own race and didn 't try anything fancy," he said. "I kept up the same pace but everyone else started to go faster. It 's just one of those days when I don 't seem to be riding too well. " That left Hudson with the task of catching Noyce, but he could make no impression and the old rivals held the same places for II laps to score a British one-two. " I could catch him up in some places but then he would pull away again," said Hudson. "I wanted to finish and get points more than anything, so I didn 't want to push it too far and decided to settle for second at about half distance." Veteran Dutch campaigner Gerrit Wolsink showed he is sti ll a force to be reckoned with as he held a very secure seventh for his first points of the year. His meeti ng had an unhappy end, however, when he was hit by another rider on ly 50 yards from th e start of race two and was catapulted over the handlebars, taking a heavy knock to his face which put him out. It was Noyce all the way in race two. He led into the first bend and held his place to the flag. He quickly pulled out a massive lead of over 20 seconds from his teammate Malherbe but eased off visibly halfway through, allowing the reigning World Champion to close the gap. "I knew Malherbe was closing but I was safe as long as I kept the lead to a few seconds so I let it drop to five seconds and then went like hell and he dropped back again. I took it easy in the closing stages as there were a lot of stones about and I didn 't want a puncture," said Noyce. " I got two cracking starts today and it made a great difference. You need some luck to get it all together and this ' week I got the luck. Last week I knew I could ride in the sand but forgot about the start. This week I was all wound up and shot away," Hudson again lost out at the start in race two, but pushed through to third ahead of Lackey after only three laps, but he cou ldn 't hold the hardriding American who got past soon after to establish the finishing order for the first four p laces which remai ned u nch an ged to the flag. Surprise fifth man was American Gary Semics. He also took ninth in the opener and now stands tenth in the table. Marty Moates set the paddock buzzing in practice when he became the . .first. person. ever to take a notorious ..... ... double jump in one leap. Seeing the time this saved, other riders soon copied his feat , with some spectacular spills as a result. Worried about the possibility of the riders landing on each other in the race, the clerk of the course decided to put a chicane in the track before th e jump after Saturday'S qualifying. Moates was understandably upset. " Last week in Holland I couldn' t ride the sandy ridges very well , but no one took them away. If the guys can 't make th e j u m p they sh o uldn' t try." The amazing Moat es still managed to clear th e hazard in one, despite th e chicane, but he tr ied it in race two while lying seco n d on th e opening lap and was knocked in mid-air. He landed awkwardlv and was forced out with a su spe cted broken foot, although hospital tests showed it to be only sprained. With three rounds gone Lackey is the man to watch. He is yet to win a race , but his consistency and ability to ride in all conditions make him a rea l threat to Malherbe's title. • Results OVERA LL: 1. Graham (GB • Han ); 2. Neil Hudson (GB • Vam); 3 . Br ad Lackey (USA · Suz ); 4 . Andre M al herb e (Bel - Hon ); 5 . A nd re Vroma ns (Bel- Suz); 6. ne ve Thorpe (GB · Kaw); 7. Gary Semic s (USA · Hon) ; 8. Patrick Fur. (France - Hus) ; 9 . Ger it Walsink (HoII · Hon); 10. Jukka Sintonen (Fin - Yam); 11. Jaak van Velt hoven (LuKembourg - KTM ); 12 . J ean Jacques Sruno IFrance · Suz); 13. So Edberg (Swed - Hus) . FIRST MOTO: 1. Noyce; 2. Hudson; 3 . Lackey; 4 . Vromans; 5. Malherbe; 6 . Thorpe; 7. Wolsi nk; 8 . Sintonen; 9 . Sem ics; 10 . Edberg . SECOND MOTO : 1. Noyce ; 2. Malherl>e; 3. Lackey; 4 . Hudson; S. Semics; 6. Fur.; 7. Thorpe; 8 . van Velthoven; 9. Br uno; 10. Vromans. POINT STAN DINGS: 1. Lackey 153); 2. Vromans (52 ); 3. (T1E)Noyce/Malherbe 14B}; 5 . Hudson (5D); ; 6. Thorpe (26); 7 . van Velthoven (2 51 B. Eddy Sterckx (Bel - Mai) 20; 9. Bruno (18); 10. Semics (15) . World Chamnionshin 125cc MX Series: Round 5 Everts, Velkeneers 1-2 in YugoslavGP T RZIC, YUGOSLAVIA, MAY 9 Former World Champion Harry Evert s started to claw back into a striking position on the 125cc MX title with a first and second place at last week 's Yugoslav G P . But points leader Marc Velkeneers man aged to stretch his lead despite a poor first ra ce. A bad start in moro one saw Velkeneers way down th e field from the gate with Italians Corrado Maddii and Michele Rinaldi battling for the lead. Each rider took turns to lead the race until Everts finally pulled away on lap ten . Velkeneers could only manage a fifth place after blasting through the pack for vital points. The Belgian series leader made no mistakes in race two and went straight to the front. Everts chased hard but fell three laps from the dose and lost touch in second place. Erik Geboers suffered from the muddy conditions in race one and could only manage II th, but a steady race second time out gave him a safe third. • Results OVERALL; 1. Harry Everts (Bel - Suz); 2. M arc Velkeneers (Bel • Yam) ; 3. Corrado Maddii (Italy -Gil); 4 . M ichele Ri naldi (Ita ly - Gi l); 5 . Voshifumu Su gio (Japan - Han) ; 6. Erik Geboers (Bel - Suz); 7. Ala in Lejeune (Bel - Ho n~; 8. Akira Wa tanabe (Ja pan - Suz); 9 . Jacky Vi mond (France · Yaml ; 10 . John Hensen (Hall - Yam ). POINT STANDINGS; 1. Velkeneers (104) ; 2. (TIE) Geboers/Rinaldi (B3); 4 . Maddii (7 6); 5. Everts (73) ; 6 . W atanabe (56); 7 . Sugio (33) ; B. Lejeune (23); 9. A ndreani (19) ; 10 . Vimond (18) .

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