Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Jim Gibson made his Yamaha /Europe debut , (Below) Winner Georges Jobe took t he honors with a 2 -3 tal ly. for n ext week ," G ibs on o ffered . " It went real well , but I wasn 't too happy with the way I rode. And I hurt my leg in a tra in ing ac ciden t." "T he World Championship is more im porta nt for Er ic so we de cided to let h im develop hi s mach ine: ' S uzu ki team manager Johnn y Strijbo s sa id. " We had four very strong ridres on' good machin ery so we knew we would be com peti tive." On th e en d o f th e top-of-fifth gea r sta rt stra igh ta way of the fou rth lap, Malherbe got out of control an d bailed orr hard while trying to pass for th e lead . By the lime h e gal remounted about ten riders had passed h im and he was left to p la y ca tch up. Ab out th e sa me t im e, LaP ort e dropped OUI wh en hi s throttle began to stick wide o pe n. " I haven 't been feelin g well the last co u p le o f da ys. It 's a sto mach virus or som eth in g a nd I didn 't ge l a very good sta rt. Then th e throttle began to sti ck a nd fin alIy stuc k wide o pe n so I had 10 pull orr: ' th e World Ch ampion sa id . OUI 24 Up front , Van den Bro eck (overa ll winner here i n 1981), on a Suzu ki after years with Ma ico , was ge tt i ng hea t from J ohan Martens with Vromans close enough to stri ke, And stri ke he d id , bu t as soon as he look th e lead he was forced to- drop o u t when the shoc k on hi s Team J oh nson / HB factor y S uzu ki brok e. At th e end it was Van de n Broeck with ten ya rds o n Marten s wh o, in turn , had about 20 yards o n th ird pl aced Jobe. Carlqvi st . slo wed by a fall at mid-m ot e. fin ish ed fourth ahead o f Everts, wh o 's goi ng after the 500cc tit le thi s yea r a fter losing h is 125cc crown, a nd a cha rgi ng Malherbe. Mar c Velk en eers put h is Maico in to th e lead o f th e second mal o with Kaw asak i's Eddy Sterck x second, Malherbe th ird a nd Suzu ki's Everts a nd Vroman s nex t. Velkeneers is co nt esti ng G ileras in th e 125cc World Cha mpio ns hips this year , but si nce th ey don 't have a 500cc class bik e. he's free to ride the Ma ico (Above) Winn ing team member Andre Vromans, (Below) Gibson gave the rotary-valved wo rks Yamaha a wringing out. in international events. Also listed on th e Maico squad was Gary Semics who was forced to ride th e International " B" class due to signi n g up too late for th e team race. " I' ve got a full factory ride this year on Maico a nd brought a mechanic with m e from ihe States: ' Semics sai d. " It's just me in the 5OO's and one rid er in th e 250's. They tried to get Brad Lackey, but so meth ing went wrong and he wasn't signed." Malherbe was out of th e second rnoto barel y after it started . " J aa k Van Velthoven literally blocked the tra ck at th e end of aj ump and knocked me orr with full force: ' he exp lai ned. Malherbe was o ut , but Van Velthoven co nt i n ued. Carlqvist was leading until a seal in hi s en gine went, leaving th e lead to St erckx, who'd su rvived a tangle with Martens a few laps earlier. With " Ca rla" out, Vrornans took over the lead a t the halfw ay mark with J abe sec o n d ah ead of St erckx , Everts , La Porte and Geboers. La Porte, although hounded for much of the race by the 125of-Geboers , was back in the groove and riding comfortab ly. " I knew h e was back there beca u se I could hear him , but th is was a 40minute mota and I knew I had plenty of time to move up, " said LaPorte. " We don 't see tra cks like this in the States hardly at all. Mostly what we get is hard-packed tracks and a little sand. This kind of track reallv takes your energy aw ay. " . Late in th e mota, LaPorte caught an d passed Everts and Sterrkx. but it was too la te to make a move o n the second-p laced J abe: h is rival for the 250cc crow n , so he settled for th ird. Vromans won t'asi ly (his moto wi n a full minute faster than the first rnoro), with Jobt' a nd LaPOrll' fo llowi ng ahead of Sterrkx and Geboers, who a lso gal ahead of Evert s, \ 'a n den Broeck could on ly manage a seventh to back up his Iirst moro win, but it was good enough for second overa ll. •

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