Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

his bike on the other. " I tri ed to jump o ver th e bik e but co u ldn' t mak e it ," said Carlqvist. " I fell a nd hurt m y wrist agai n but ma naged to ge t back o n a nd keep going." Nov ce also had a lucky escape when ' the rear wheel of Carqvist's Yamaha hit him on the head as he tried to pass, fortunately without injury. Visibly in pain and shaking his injured wrist as he restarted, Carlq vist had dropped from second to eighth in the incident, but he h eld o n to his well-earned th ree points to the flag . With the lead in g pair down, and H u dson struggli ng to get by, Bruno slip ped through int o the lead ahead of H udso n and Si ntonen, with Dave Thorpe (Kaw) close beh ind. Hudson picked o ff the Fren ch rider after o n ly two m or e laps a nd ra pidly opened u p a clear lead wh ich on ly look ed m or e secure as th e race drew to a close. Noyce was desp erat e for points a fter hi s fir st race problem s and h e used a ll h is ex pe rie nce to shadow fifth ma n, Ame rica n Gary Sem ics, for 12 laps. With T horpe blinded by sand a nd dus t, Semics a n d .Noyce went past h im with th ree laps to go , an d on th e fin al circuit Noyce fin all y sq ueezed by on the ins ide o f th e im p ressive America n. Noyce th en took Sintonen on the very las t co rner to cha lk up a valuable third. A detuned Lackey battled with rear suspension problems all da y and again had a co up le of bad starts. H e still man aged to collect a handful of points with two sco ri n g rides wh ich keep him a t th e top of the table. Reigning 500cc World Champion Andre Malherbe rode an unspe ctacular firs t rac e to edge through from 12th to fourth , but crashed heav ily o u t of th e secon d moto, winding himself badly enough to drop out of th e race a n d one place down in th e cha m p io ns h ip order. Still suffering from th e foot injury su ffered in Sweden, Marty Moates narrowly failed to qualify for th e GP, but he hopes to be fit for th e next round in Austria. • Results 1. Jean-Jacques Bru no (France · Suz); 2. Neil Hudson (Bri tain · Vam) : 3 . J uk ka Sinton." (Finland • Yam) ; 4. Hake" Carl qvist (Sweden - Yam) ; 5. Graham Noyce (Br itain · Han) ; 6. Dave Th orpe (Br itl in - Kaw); 7. 8 rad Lackey (USA - Suzl; 8. Andre Malherbe (Be lgium - Ha n); 9 . Gary Semics (USA· Han); 10 . Arne Lindfors (Sweden · Yam) . FIRST MOTO; 1. Bruno; 2. Carlqv ist ; 3 . S intone n; 4 . Malherbe; 5. Hudson; 6. Thorpe; 7 . Lindfors; B. Lackey; 9. Semics; 10. Wolsink . . SECOND MOTO: 1. Hudson; 2. Bruno; 3. Noyce; 4 . Sintone"; 5 . Semics; 6 . Lackey. 7. Thorpe; 8. C8rlqvist; 9 . Seppe"wokie; 10. Persson. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. (TIE) Lackey/Hudson (61 ); 3. Noyce 1581; 4. Mal · herbe (561 5. Vromans (52); 6. Bruno (45); 7. ; Thorpe 1 3 5~ B. Sintonen ( 30~ 9. van Vekhoven (25); 10 . Sem ics (231 . World ChamRionshlR 250cc MX Series: Round 4 Czech GPfo Dieffenbach By Neil Webster H O LI C E, CZEC HOS LOVAK IA, MAY 16 West German rider Rolf Dieffenbach piloted his Honda to the overall win in the Czechoslovakian GP, using a pair of 12 runner-up finishes for th e honors. Ame rican Yamaha rider Danny La Porte took second overall to move into an equal third in the series with Britain's Dave Watson. LaPorte scored his first GP race win in the seco nd leg a t th e su n bak ed H oli ce tra ck, ahead of Dieffen bach . But Dieffenbach took overa ll vicLOry, co urtesy of another seco n d p lace in race o ne, whe n LaPorte co ul d o n ly manage a sevent h aft er a first lap crash. Dieffen bach is now second in th e points table, behind Georges Jobe. J abe took a victo ry in the firs t race a nd led th e seco nd unti l a crash on th e seventh lap for ced him out. Mike Guerra came off seco nd best in a battl e with Wat son in th e opener an d had to sett le for fift h spot overall, as he failed to score th e seco n d time o ut. • Res ults 1. Rolf Dieffenbach (W est Germany - Han ); 2. Danny LaPorte (USA - Yam); 3. Jean -J acques Laquaye (Belg ium - Han); 4 . Georges Jobe (Belgi um - Suz); 5. Erkk i Sundstroem (Finl and - Suz); 6 . Dave Watson (Britain - Yam ); 7. Benny W ilken (Holland - M ai); 8 . Mike Guerra (USA - Hus ); 9 . Matti Tark konen (Finland - Yam); 10. A ndre Massant (Belgium (Suz). FIRST MOTO : 1. Jobe; 2. Dieffenbach ; 3. Lecueve: 4 . Watson; 5. Guerra; 6. Van dar Ven ; 7. LaPort e; 8. Wi lke n: 9. Kini gadner; 10 . Van Mierlo. SECOND MO TO: 1. LaPone ; 2. Dieffenbech; 3. Sundstroem; 4 . Laqueye; 5. Tarkkonen: 6 . Massant; 7. W ilken; 8. Moisseev; 9 . Rislori; 10 . Gre ish . WORLD CHAMPI ONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jobe (90); 2. Dieffenbach (54); 3. mE) Watson /La · Pon e (46); 5. Van derVen (4 5); 6. Tarkkonen (38); 7. (TIE) Guerra /LaQuaye (37); 9. Wilken (18); 10. Maisch (13). World Championship 500cc MX Series: Ro und five Austrian GP win pads Lackey's point lead srrrENDORF, AUSTRIA , MAY 23 Californian Brad Lackey inched ahead in the World Championship chase with an overall win at the Austrian GP . Consistent Lackey took a third and a first to pull o u t a IO-point lead over seco nd man , Britain's Graham Noyce, but sha red equal top points on th e day with British teenager Dave Thorpe. Lackey took his win by virtue of a 15 seconds time advantage. It was the Kawasaki-mounted Thorpe who sto le the crowd's hearts as he blasted through the field to take his first ever Grand Prix win in race one and become the third Briton to win a Grand P rix race in as many weeks . Thorpe is now sixth in th e 500cc MX series and is very happy with hi s performance. " At the start of the seaso n I set m yself a target of I0 points per round and I'm ahead of that," he sai d . He now ha s 60 points from five rounds. The Berkshire yo u ngster tot all y dominated th e first race, leading for a ll but the first two laps. He was third o n the first circuit behind German Ludwig Reinbold a nd home rider Georg Reiter, both on KTMs, with No yce right up his exha ust pipe. No yce quickly slipped into second as Reiter dropped from the running and held his place to the close. But Thorpe meant to grab the first GP win of his career and leapfrogged the Honda rider to take the lead on la p three. Noyce launched a sharp attack on th e teenager to move briefly to the front, bu t Thorpe wou ld have none of it and quickly shut h im out again. From then , Thorpe 's on ly real problem was a loose silencer flopping about after a mounting bracket snapped. T he offending silencer restr icted Thorpe's leg momvent which made it impossible for h im to use his rear brake fully, but it did not stop him setting up a safe lead . "T he si lencer was a worry, bu t there was nothing I could do about it ," he sa id . "I just had to keep going. " No yce, seven seco n ds down o n lap si x, starte d LO reel Thorpe in from half di stance but lost a lot o f time whe n he go t mixed up with backm ar kers a nd deci ded to settle fo r seco nd. "T h ere was nowh ere to pass safely, so I th o ught 12 poi nts wa s better th a n noth in g , a n d I just held on. There was no point go ing too hard a nd falling," he exp lai ned. Noyce went so steadi ly tha t Lackey a lmost nipped by o n th e lin e, but th e Hampshire m an held o n for a British 1-2. Neil Hudson had a long battle with Sw ed e H akan Car lq vi st fo r fourth spot but couldn 't get by desp ite challenging closel y for all but th e first three laps. Few serious battles em erged for the points, however, with the first five places going unchanged after lap four. The only moves were down th e field as KTM 's Jaak van Velthoven pipped Andre Vromans for sixth on the last lap, a nd Reinbold fad ed to n inth behind J ean-J acques Bruno, nursing a kn ee injury co llected in Finland last week. American Gary Semics brought up th e tail end of th e points scorers aft er a steady ride, ahead of G errit Wolsink. Thorpe backed up his fir st-race showin g with a no the r mature ride in th e seco nd mota for a th ird . He produced another good start to take an early fourth place, and he wa sted no time in moving up to take the lead from Lackey on lap four . The American knew Thrope had quicker lines through a couple of tricky twists in the Sittendorf track and trailed him for a while to see where he was gaining time and then picked him off. Lackey held the lead to the flag to take his fir st rac e win of the season, a convincing 17 seconds clear of Vromans. With Lackey past, Thorpe began to hit trouble. " I got into a slide at the top of a hi ll , and Lackey got by," he said. "Then I lost my rhythm and fou nd it hard to keep going quickly. It was just a matter o f using sheer force to keep the bike on line." And as Thorpe foug ht on, the experienced Vromans started to close in. When T horpe got off line again as he hit a stone at the foot of a steep climb, the Belgia n got the power on earl y and shot past. That single mistake cost Thorpe a clear overall win and two valuable points, but kept Vromans well up in the championship hunt in fourth place. For a time, it seem ed as if Neil Hudson was going to make it a real glory da y for Britain by taking th ird behind Thorpe, but he lost hi s Yamaha in a big way through the chicane and dropped to sixth as he pi cked himself up. As a resu lt, reigning World Champion Andre Malherbe, recovering from an awful start, relegated H udson by another p lace. On ly when Gary Semics tired in the closing stages and dro p ped from fourth to seventh was Hudson able to salvage an extra point. Hakan Carlqvist had a tough task on his ha nds after a bad start saw hi m in 14th place. He push ed th rough to sixth bu t then fell whi le trying too hard to pass Semics and dropped out, nursing the wrist he broke at Easter. Graham Noyce also recovered from a mediocre start to take fifth place just before half distance, but the n followed Carlqvisr's example by falling while challenging Semics. "T he fall bent my front bra ke lever up, and I spent two laps tryi ng to pull it back, but I couldn't get it right ," said No yce. He still managed to come home fifth to tak e secon d pl ace in the ch ampionship a nd third overa ll on the day. Noyce's fa ll a llowed hi s Honda teammat e Mal h erb e to slip by, and th e Belg ian th en picked o ff Semics to ta ke fourth at the flag - a great perfor ma n ce aft er a bad gati ng saw h im 15th o n lap one. J ean-J acques Bruno repeat ed his first race rid e with another low -key eig h th, whi le h is co u nt ryma n Patrick Fura wa s never o u t of th e to p 10 and took n inth o n h is Husq varna. Am erica 's ot he r c o nte n der in th e premier class, Marty Moates, again rode despite nursing the foot he in jured in Sweden, but he found hi s task impossible and dropped out of race one . He now pl ans to head home and recover fully before rejoining th e GP circus at Carlsbad for th e U .S . round. • Results OVERALL: 1. Brad Lackey (USA Suzl; 2•. Dave Thorpe (GB (Kawl ; 3. Graham Noyce (GB Han); 4. Andre Vr omans (Be lg. Suz): 5 . Neil Hu dson (GB Vam) ; 6 . Haken Carlqvist (Swed. Yam); 7. Andre Ma lherbe (Belg. Han); 8 . Jean -J acques Br un o (Frence Suz); 9. Gary Sem ics (USA Han); 10. Lud· wig Reinbold eN. Ger. KTM). FIRST M OTO: 1. Thorpe ; 2. Noyce; 3. Lakcey; 4. Carlqvist; 5 . Hudson; 6. van Venhoven; 7. Vro· mans; 8 . Bruno; 9 . Reinbold; 10. Semics. SECOND MOTO: 1. Lackey; 2. Vromans; 3. Thorpe; Malherbe; 5. Noyce; 6 . Hu dson; 7 . Sem ics; 8. 9. Fura ; 10 . van Velthoven. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINTSRANDINGS: 1. Lackey (B6); 2. Noyce (76); 3. Hudson (72); 4. Vrr>mans (68); 5. Malherbe (54); 6. Thorpe (60); 7. Bru no (51); B. van Velthoven (31); 9. Jukka Sin tonen (Fin. Yem) 30; 10. Semic. (28). World Championship 250cc MX Series: Round five Van der Ven closes on Jobe with Italian GPwin MAGGIO RA, ITALY, MAY 23 Dutch man Kees van der Yen edged a Ii ule n earer World Cha m p ion sh ip leader Georges Jobe with an overall victory in the Italian Grand P rix. Jobe, handicapped by a chipped bone in his elbow, battled through to third and fourth , while van der Yen followed up a first race second, behind Austrian Heinz Kinigadner, with his first ever GP win in race two . Am erican Yamaha rider Dann y LaPorte kept up his own strong challenge for the title with a fifth and a sec~>nd an d now has third place in th e senes. LaPorte gated sixth in th e second ra ce a nd got th e best of a tough tussle with Kinigadner and German Rolf Dieffenbach. The German went out with a broken rear brake rode at half distance. Mike Guerra struggled to 23rd p lace in race one on the fast narrow track, but fought through for a single point in 10th in the second mota. • Results OVERALL; 1. K. van der Ven (Holland· KTM ); 2. H. Kini gadner (Austria - Yaml; 3. D. LaPon e (USA Yam); 4 . G. Jobe (Belgium -SUE); 5. D. Wat son (GB -Yaml ; 6. G. Rahier (Belgium - Suz); 7. R. Greisch (Belgium - Han); 8 . J ·C LaQuaye (Belgium· Han); 9. R. Dieffen bach (W . German y . Han); 10 . V. Kavi nov (USSR · KTM). 1st MOTa: 1. Kin ig adner; 2. van der Ven; 3 . Jobe. 4 . W atson ; 5. laPorte; 6 . Rehier; 7 . Dieffenbach; 8 . Leq ueye; 9. Greisch; 10 . Al borghen i. 2n d MOTa : 1. yen der V en; 2. laPorte; 3. Kin iga d ner; 4 . Jobe. 5 . Watson; 6 . Greiach; 7. Kav inov: 8 . L.e quaye; 9 . Rahier; 10 . Gu err a. W ORLD CHAMPI ONSHIP POINTSTANDINGS: 1. J obe (l OB~ 2. van der Ven (7n 3. laPorte (54~ 4 . Wa1son 1601; 5. Dieff enbach 1 58~ 6. Kinigad_ (47); 7. LaQuaye (43); 8. M. Tarkltonen (38); 9. Guarra ( 3 7~ 10. B. W ilken (18). _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _---1

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