Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126641
(Leftl Graham Noyce slithered through the m ud for a 4-2 second overall in West Germany. (Above I Points leader Andre Malherbe t urned in a 1-1 tally despite the muck, World ChamR,ionshlR, 500cc MX Series: Round 3 Malherbe, Noyce 1-2 W. German GP By Neil Webster NO RTHEIM, W, G ERM ANY , MAY 8 Honda 's grip on th e 500cc MX G P series tightened to a stranglehold as .An dre Malherbe and Graham Noyce too k the to p tw o places a t the West German GP. Mal h erbe dom in a ted th e q uag m ire of a track in th e no rth east part o~ th e country to reta ke the ser ies lead from 22 Noyce. . N oyce kep t fi. g h t W I( h M a lh er be. . takin g a fourt h a nd a seco nd 10 stay in th e lead in g pai r, on ly seven p oints adrift , "Seven points is nothi ng - it's only a d iffe rence o f havi ng a problem in a race, so I' m happy eno ug h wi th the way th ings sta nd," sai d Brit Noyce. T h ird man o n th e H onda team, Brit Dave Thorpe, fo u nd some o f th~ for~ an d l uck th at h as el uded him III Eu rope thi s year, sli th erin g to a bra ce of fifth s a n d fourth overa ll o n the day. T he un h appiest man on the track was Hakan Carlq vist , who fi nishe d th ird ove ra ll. " You don' t wi n I . hi .h d d si h c I a m plf? n.s hlPS,~1( .s econ . aSn sd h l d h l~t p ace IIlIS es, sa l t e we I S Yamaha number one , "T he re's a long wa y to go, but Malherb e has th e poi nts." Ca rlqvist sti ll ho ld s th ird in the point sta ndi ngs, bu t he is no w 2i points down on Bel gi an Ma lh erbe and sees ye t a no ther desperate l y wanted titl e sli ppi ng away from h im . The GP a lmost n ever go t o'ff th e ground as ove rn ig h t rain a nd a do wnpour befor e th e first race tu rned th e _ trac k in to a bog of slippery mud. A riders' de mons tra tion h eld th e start u p for 45 min ut es wh il e th e orga nizers we re forced 10 cha nge the track to cu t o ut a particu lar ly bad section . But even a fter the changes, the racing d egen era ted into a battl e to keep go ing for a gruelli ng 45 m inutes. As mud -pl a stered riders mad e the la p scorers' job a n ightmare, few agreed with th e o fficia l res u lts . Andre Vro ma ns was pl aced sevent h whe n man y' beli eved he was more th an a la p down o n th e lea de rs, a move whi ch ro bbed Brit Kurt N ico ll of a p ositi on. Onl y Malh er be was reall y happy. H e shado wed ea rly leader Car lq vis t for half the race before th e u n l ucky Swede suffered a tire p uncture a nd th en Malh erbe pu lled o u t a ha ndsome ha lf-m in ute lead. " La m h appy 10 rid e in co n dit io ns lik e this every week if I ge t th is so rt o f results," sai d th e sm iling Belgi an after rep ea tin g h is feat in mo to two . . Car lqvist was dejected, " I had a good sta rt an d had pull ed ou t a strong lead wh en m y fro nt tir e pu nctured ," sa id th e un sm iliu g Swede. " It' s stra nge 10 get a p un cture in th ese co nd itions," co n tin ued Ca rlq vist, " T here mu st ha ve been one sto ne o n the track a n d I h it it. I fell wh en i t p u nc tured a n d los t a lot of gro u n d whil e I got used 10 ri d ing w ith it , but a fter a wh ile it felt all right an d I co u ld keep m y seco nd." Ca rl qv ist wasn ' t th e o n ly o ne to ha ve p roblem s. A treach erous first tu rn clai me d Vro ma ns and h is Suzu ki tea m ma te J ean -J acques Bruno, but whi le Bruno dro p ped o u t 10 save himself for ra ce tw o, Vro mans lought back hard fo r h is co n trovers ia l seventh. Noyce was al so havi ng pro blem s. T wo self-co n fessed " stupid " fall s on lap o ne left hi m down in 14th , bu t h e so on got th e bett er of the track and marched to sixth behind H arry Everts. For seven laps th e p a ir p u t o n th el o n ly rea l bailie o f th e da y. " Harr y wa s riding rea l well, " said N oyce. " I p assed h im o nce wh en he fell o n a h ill , but th en I fell a nd h e got by agai n , T he n as we came 10 anoth er. cl imb, I h ad to lorce m y way by, H e didn ' t fall , bu t h e slippe d th e cl ut ch _ so much it burned o ut." With Everts go ne , N oyce' s eight poi nts were sa fe. An other hea vy shower mad e su re