Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

American Shawn Moran leads England's Michael Lee. England/USA Speedway Match Race Series: Round 2 England ties it up By John Hipkiss Georges Jobe, here leading Andre Malherbe, made good use of a second moto crash by Malherbe to win the 500cc World GP round in SWitzerland. World Championship 500cc fiX Series: Round 2 lobe over Malherbe in Switzerland By Neil Webster PAYER 'E, SWITZERLA '0, APR. 29 . Belgian Georges Jobe had the Swiss 500cc GP victory handed to him on a plate. Honda number one Andre Malherbe 20, .. LOok the first mala win after a greal bailie with Kawasaki's jobe, and looked LO have a double in lhe bag as he held a 15 second lead with five laps of the second maLO to go. But with his goggles muddied by a string of backmarkers, Malherbe changed line slightly, caughl a bump Wilh his frolll wheel and wenl down. "IL was slupid," said Malherbe, "bUI I'm still lhe fastesl and lhe besl and I will still be champion." The slip let jobe through for lhe' win, with Malherbe's Honda teammate, 21-year-old Dave Thorpe from England, laking second. jobe now holds the series lead (7264), eight points clear of Thorpe. Hero of the day was Swedish reigningchampion Hakan Carlqvist. Carlqvist broke a thumb in a praclice fall and rode. agai nSI a week before the alllWedicp'on ~ ~w't!ith um1bY ed l , ola ( l ~r. t J • ~ ~ , I screwed and stitched. He proved all the doublers wrong when he shot to the front of maLO one and held the lead for over half the race. "1 didn't know how long I could last so I went to the front to set up a lead," said Carlqvist. He eased of[ in the middle of the race and dropped to fourth, but even then he wasn'!, finished. A late rush saw Carlqvist put Thorpe's third place ul)der real pressure in the closing stages. but the BriLOn was able LO cope. "I didn't know Carla was coming until someone pointed him out LO me. Then I just gave it some more beans and it broke hi m." said Thorpe. The Swedish iron man started the second leg and held second behind Malherbe for a handful of laps before dropping out with cramp in his good arm which was taking all the weight. Former 250cc World Champion Dannv LaPorte wa" America's sale rider. hut didn't have the best of da y . Eighth in race one afterfightingof[a tremendous last turn challenge from Honda' Andre Vromans, LaPorte's semi-works Yamaha broke a chain on the first lap of the second moLO. All eyes are now on jobe, winner of the first two CPs of the year in his first 500cc season. As thr' CP circus moves to Spain the question is: "Can Jobe keep up his run of form and good luck'" • Results 1. Georges Jobe (Kaw) 2-'; 2. Andre Malherbe (Hon) 1·3; 3. Dave Thorpe (Han) 3-2; 4. Erik Geboers (Hon) 5-5; 5. Laurence Spence (Kaw) 6-6; 6. Andre Vromans (Hon)11-4; 7. Jukka Sintonen (Hen) 10:.7; 8. Hakan Carlqvist (YamI4--; 9. Dave Watson (Kaw) 7--; 10. Stephen Densmare (Yam) 13·10. • Denotes a finish out of the top 15. 500cc WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Georges Jobe (721: 2. Dave Thorpe (64); 3. Erik Geboers 1551: 4. (TIEl Andre Malherbe/Hakan CarlQvist (49); 6. Laurence Spence (39); 7. Andre Vromans (38); 8. Dave Watson (29); 9. Danny L~Pyr!e I~ ~I:J SI'l\"e~ 9~T,r 11 8b , , 1.0: SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND, APR_ 29 The six-man English team reversed the score of the first round and knotted the series with the Americans at one each with three left to go. least t~o months. Thenext nine races saw theAmericans lose some of their grip on the meeting, winning'only one race. that a 4-2. As in the first half, five races were split 3-3 and the Britons won a pair by 4-2 scores. American captain Schwartz started off well, with seconds in his first twO rides. but after that could only score one more poilll and wound up with a low-far-him score of five. Sigalos, riding as number two to Schwanz, won three of his races to end up with a tally of 14. England had an eight-point lead after race 14, 46-38. The best race of the meeting followed when Moran triumped over Lee. snatching the three points from the lanky Englishman right at the finish. With the poil1ls from that racesplit, the Yanks were till eight points down. Race 16 saw Siggy and Schwartz pull a couple of the poil1ls back when they had a 4-2 heal win over Jessupand Collins. Now just six points down with two races to go, the Americans were all behind lhe Cook/King duo. However, Lee rode to his fourth victory and assured lhe win for the English. The final race was another dandy battle between Moran and Morton, with Marion just beating Moran for the victory. The final score was England 58, America 50. • Just like the first race, the English sun made the Sheffield track a dustbath with the riders barely seen after the first lap. That didn't deter the riders (rom turning in some of the best racing in a long time. II was hardly surprising to see that World Long Track Champ Shawn Moran, riding on his home British League track, led the American scorers with 15 of a possible 18 poillls. . Moran twice beat the meeting's top scorer, England's Mike Lee, who had 16 poillls from five rides. England never led the match unlil just before the halfway point. Prior to that. five races ended with the points split, 3-3. Heat four wa a 5-1 American victory when Dennis Sigalos and Bobby Schwaru led home Chris Monon and Simon Wigg. England got a lillie of it back in the nexl race when john Cook was pll hed inLO second place by Dave jessup and Peter Collins snatched the final point from Lance King. The same English duo took a win over Sigalos and Schwartz in race seven. The turning point came in race nine, where England scored its only 5-1 vicLOry of the day. In a real nailbiter, Wigg and Monon held off Moran for maximum points and weill into halftime with a 29-25 lead. Vntilthat race, English team manager Carl Clover had wrillen off any hope that Moran could be beaten. But the win boosted English spirits tremendously, offsetting the news that team captain Kenny Carter had broken his leg a week earlier at Cradley Hea\h aljld)'r\1l be?y o( ~ctj09/n ~ Results ENGLAND. 58: 1. Mike Lee (16): 2. Simon Wigg (101: 3. Peter Collins (101; 4. Dave Jessup (10); 5. Chris Morton (9); 6. Neil Collins (2); 7. les Collins I 11); 8. Alan Grahame (DNR). USA. 50: 1. Shawn Moran (15); 2. Dennis Sigal05 (141; 3. John Cook (91; 4. lance King (71; 5. Ilobbv Schwartz 15): 6. Sam Ermolenko 101: 7. Rick Miller (0);,8. Eddie tngels (DNRI· ( J ~ ,I I. ::: I r ~ J ;1 • s • I

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