Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

anyone. moy tn-S'. ':1(ell on} ,!!.e fi~ 1 ~ E3!1~•• - - Cibs o n ls o n e tnat n -gl ve it a try. pulled the clutch in anaoare got it ly started again. Then , once 1got going, Moving quickl y into second h e set it went well. The tra ck was deep sand ' out after the World Champion, and and it was very rough , but 1 just kept although h e couldn 't ca tch him , neither did h e lo se much ground. driving hard." His drive rook him into the top five "The second rnoto went a lo t better by the 30-minute m ark, a n d a s Velth an th e.Iirst o ne . 1 g ot a bett er start keneers dropped ' o ff th e pace with an d tried so me different lines. 1 went ca rb u re tor tro u bles, he wa s into 10 th e o u tsid e of th e mudhol e a fter fourth. H e got by H en sen a n d finthe jump, but it took too much ti me so I just stuc k to the in sid e," sa id ish ed th e moto third behind G eboers a nd teammate Vehkonen, a nd one up Gi bson. on H en sen a nd Rinaldi. T h ird wa s still up for gra bs an d Rin aldi look ed a lot bett er th an the The order surp rised a few people. 'first moro. Co mbined w ith the mi sH en sen and Veh ko ne n wer e 14th a n d . fortune of Veh ko ne n, th e poor hand15th, respectiv ely, in th e world list ' year a n d G ibs on 's recent race results lin g o f th e G iler as o f Velk en eer s a nd , runn e r-up to Ge boe rs, Co rra do didn 't a p pear enco ura gi n g. " I was ver y sur p rised to do so we II Maddi i, a nd th e u nquestio ned su peri- , aga ins t the best in the world," yo u n g ori iv o f th e S uzu kis, th eI tal ian was H en sen said. " I just got a good start able to ho ld a so lid third: n o threa t to and was willing 10 tak e a few risks." Gibson a nd no threa t from Iou rt hpl aced H en sen . " I was a littl e surprised to see GibMadd ii a nd Vel kcn eer s were both so n th ird," Geboer s sta ted. " Last week su fferi ng o n las t year's works G ileras we race d an internati onal in Belgium wh ile th e Yam aha wa s complete ly reo an d he did n 't do so we ll. And the design ed a nd I he S uzu ki mo la r was tra ck wa sn ' t we ll p repare d he re tota lly ne w. eithe r. " "The bike was n ' t work ing \\'l'1I a t Ve h ko ne n, H en sen, Maddi i , a ll," said Mad di i, fla ilin g h is h an ds Geb oe rs an d Gibson led th e second in the ai r as h e spo ke. " It was bon ommota with Yamah a 's othe r rider, J ack y ing off the jum ps a n d th e from wheel Vim ond su ffering more bad lu ck with wa s tw ist ing' o u t of my han ds. Whe n a fir st la p fall. H e'd do ne th e sa me in I tu rned on th e gas, it so rt of the first m oto and ca me back 10 fin ish stu tte red ." nimh. Velkeneers concurred: "It was u nRunning th ird o n the third lap, beli eva bl y bad lu ck. I felt rea l strong Vehkonen went down hard in the in the seco nd mo ta a nd if no t thi rd , I mudhol e a fter one of the artificia l shou ld ha ve finis hed fourth at least. j u m ps a nd, for th e most pa rt , h is day But two la ps fro m th e en d th e ca rwas done . buretor wen t a nd I had n o choice bUI On th e sa me lap, Geb oers was o u t to aba ndon it." from stvlin' , There was no sto p p ing th e d im inutive Belgian a n d h is pe r· Wi th 20 seco nds in hand, Ce boers formance ma de a few observers wond er took th e chec kered £lag on .wha t who co u ld beat h im th is season, if sho u ld be a checkered season. G ibson \'lQr!<~ _ lllili:Ja -, J".hi~4 _oy~!.aJL ..n.!_ Xa 't~ to th e young Dutchman Johnny Hensen who was a consistent fourth in both rnotos on his Yamaha Motors Netherlands production bike. Gibson 's wee kend started off well when he nipped Dutch rider Jan Blancquaert by a sca m .01 second 10 top his qualifying group and earn a pl ace in Sunday's program. Not so lu cky was fellow Cal ifornian Mike Brown, who m issed th e CUI by one rider. . Sunday didn' t go as well for Gibso n. He qualified nimh in the 24rider field which wa s topped by Geboers a nd h is new teammate Michel Rinaldi. Vehkonen was third. Funneling in to th e 90-d egr eelefthander at the end of the start stra ight, Hensen and Geboers were side by side with Vehkonen d ose behind and Mar c Velken eers, on a Gilera this year after a few with Yamaha, fourth . Rina ldi 'wa s up front also, but Gibson got: away a bo u t twelfth. Geboers quickl y established hi s dom in a nce a n d barring a mechanical problem that n ever occu rred, he wasn 't 10 be stopped, The fight was for seco n d. Vehkonen led Rin aldi a nd H ensen with Velkeneers a nd the lone Kaw a sa ki of Johnny Ponj ee near th e front. Gibson wa s makin g up for h is' start and slicin g through the field. I By th e halfwa y p oint in th e 40mi n ute, plus two lap rno to, Geb oers had a bo u t a 20 seco n d lead which he seem ed to be able to stre tch at will. Veh ko ne n was a sol id seco nd with Velkeneers a nd H ensen di sputin g th ird. Rinaldi, admittedly n ot in peak p hysical co nditio n, wa s dropping bac k to fourth. I Gi bso n wa s n ow up to fifth a nd I. was_ _.2.~!!!~~t:.c!'f!.d__ ~ \\::i!1} _ ~ ~f!.~.QL thud and the consistent H ensen fourth. Luxembourg's Johan V. Poppel, o n a Yamaha, was fifth , making it five different -n a tiona lities a mon g the top five. Maddii p ersever ed for fifth and the first Cagiva was Belgian Alain Lej eune in seventh, " I was never in troubl e all day ," Geboers said. " I feel that I'm in good co nditio n a nd the bike is bette r than las t yea r. I'm very happy with it. I' ve had so me good h ard ra ces with Vroman s in th e sand a n d it 's been good tra in ing. The seco nd m ot a m y co ncent ra tio n was down a t the ,start because I kn ew I co u ld do well , so I got aw ay poorly. The pl acings behind me surp ri sed me, th ough." Indeed, th ey sur p rised man y, but th e m ore o ften Gibson does it th e less su rprising it will be. Invaluable hel p was provided by Yam aha' s team coo rdina tor Bill Buchka w ho, a lo ng with J erry Hudson , prep ared th e mach inery a nd ga ve th e rookie rid er h is years of European ex perienc e. (Last year he tu ned for 500 rider Nei l Hudson .) With H arry Everts a bandon ing th e 125s for the mor e gl amor ous 500s, Akira Watan abe stay ing in Japa n . th e uncertainty o f th e works G ileras, a n d Rinaldi n ot in p eak form, there is more th an a m p le evide nce tha t, alo ng with the prowess o f Gibson a nd his new mount, " Diamon d J im " had bett er' ge t used to th e taste o f cha m pagn e. Fast. • Results 1sf MOTO; 1. Er ic Geboers (SUI); 2. Pekka Veh· kanen (Yam); 3. J im Gibson (Yam); 4. John Hensen IYam) ; 5. Michele Rina ld i (Su z); 6. Marc Velkeneers (GH) , 2nd MOTO: 1. Geboers; 2. Gibson; 3. Rinaldi; 4. Hensen; 5. Johan Van Peppel (Yam); 6. Corrado Maddii (Gill , WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 125cc MX POINT STANDINGS : 1. Geboers 30: 2. Gibson 22: 3. (TIE) Hensen /Rinaldi 16 ; 5. Vehkonen 12; 6. Maddii 8. ~------------------------------------------------------------------------~------------_._- -- - -- ---- -- - -- --- -So Cal Uw l -CL.ASS - - --- ---- _ -- -, --. (f or --- - - -- .. I I I I I I I I GP _ : I I D ATV o ODYSSEY o STOCK o SUPER STOCK o MODIFIED o HACK D HVWT D LTWT o UNCLASSIF IED c-'---,- EX PIR ES _ _ _ _ z,, I I -----'i _ _ THE ONLY RACE IN ENTRIES OPfN ON -APRIl 8th _ PIIOTO copy OP CLAII FiCATlOlI T HE ASSUMES THE RI SK OF ANY LOSS AT ION IN TH IS EV ENT AND HE HERE ASSO CIATION. SP OR TS COMMITTEE . TH E RE AL PROPE RTY ON WHICH SA ID Entries C1004l Iby 15th Entry F. . Mol $25 - Poot $35 . ~ o r ~ mu n .'gn her . K~now'.clll' hi, Of ~ ''''O _ D. , FOR INFORMAnON CAll ED EVES [213)548-7135 IMPORTAN T, ALL EN TRlfSx¥V St INCLUD£ 3 s t LF 'ADDR ESSED STAMPED LEGAL S IZE ENVElOP ES A ND A PHOTO COPY OF . '1OO R RJDU CLASStFJC n ON CA RD f DI STRI CT CA RD . CMC. AM£, CRC, SRA , f TC ) I SAT U RD AY . MAY 28 TH 2;00 P.M. _ ON E HOUR RAe EN T RY FEE $35 MA IL - $45 POST • 1ST PLACE $500 ,00 L. - " 5TH PLA CE $45 .00 °61 ... PLA CE $30.00 I I I A LL SUND AY HACES - 4 T H PL.A CE $75 .00 2ND PLACE $250 .00 3RD PLACE $100,00 - SEND ENTRV AND CHEC K TO ~ ·W1TH 3S R ID ERS ~ SO CA L ac. 8 117 WHtTSETT N HOl l YWOOD. CA 9 1605 • so CA L : M ,e . 7625 HIN DS N HOLLYWOOD, CA 9 1605 I ~ I 27

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