Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(A b ov e) Kees van der Ven at speed in the deep. wet sand. (Below) Ha kan Carlqvist f ried his c lutch o n the last lap. wh i le in second . Le Touquet to vander Ven By Neil Webster LE TOUQUET, FRANCE, FEB. 17 Kees van der Ven won the II th Le Touq uet three-hour beach race, for the fourth consecutive year, beating over 1000 other riders in front of 250,000 ' enthusiastic spectators at this tiny northern France seasid e resort. The whol e weekend smacks of French sty le, from the hun- 20 dreds of van s lining th e sh ore selli ng Stell a Art oi s lager, frit es (fries) smoth ered in ma yonnaise a nd long, thin sandwiche s cra m med with ham or pat e' , to th e showma ns hi p th at goe s into gell in g th e race started. The racers have to leave their bik es overnight in a pare ferm e in th e cen- ter of th e town , half a m ile from th e beach . H alf an hou r before the sched u led sta rt th e ga tes are ope ned and utter ma yhem break s ou t. Bikes st rea m 10 a breas t down th e narrow streets mor e used to stro ll ing h olidaymak ers. Many don 't even reach th e beach. The streets a re covered in treacherous film s of sand a nd th is year had th e extra ha zard o f ice. The crashes start even befor e th e race does. On th e beach th e tens ion grows as America n Chuck Stearns (abo v e) w as third after a lap, b ut c rashed heavily. (Below) Andre Malherbe f inished thi rd on a CR5 0 0 . th e rumble fro m th e town gets louder until to a ma ssive sho u t th e first bik es a p pear. It tak es 10 m inutes for th e lin e to fill up. In theory a can non sta rts th e race. In practi ce th e fir st rider to move gets it going a nd th e thunderflash firework s follow. This yea r was no different despite a five-fo ot hi gh wooden sta rt ga te. Wh en patience ra n out th e ga te was push ed o ver a nd the race was o n. Th ere's n o wa y o f ca ll ing back 1,000 well-pumped racers. Befor e hitting th e dunes fo r th e first time, th e field blasts down a th ree-m ile stra ig h t th e full len gth o f the bea ch . Now th e fans ge t wh at they ca me for. Crashes . T oo many exci ted riders o ver-rev bi kes tha t ha ve been sta ndi ng in a frozen car park a ll n ight a nd th ey seize, often th ro win g rider a nd bike to the grou nd to provoke a pi leup. As for the last three years . KT M works rider Kees van der Ven too k th e win. but for once he had (a fight for it . ironica lly agai ns t one of his own teamma tes. Youn g Belg ian KTM hope Jacky Ma rtens too k th e lead on the second lap a fter Fren chman J acky Vimond, on a Yamaha. had sent th e crowd crazy by lead in g fo r th e first , a nd it too k van der Ven ove r two hours to close the ga p. But a ll the time th e 27-year-old vastly experie nced Dutch man seemed to have the race measured. From two minutes, he slo wly cu t Marten s' lead down to 30 seco nds before si tt ing easy for a lap a nd th en stri king. Next time around the eig h t-m ile tra ck, van der Ven had tak en over. 45 m in u tes from th e end. From th en it was settled. o n ly th e placem en still had a fight o n their hands a nd it was a tu ssle that ended in controversy and di sappointment. Disappointment for Marten s wh o lost h is KTM 's muffler on th e last lap a nd slip ped to fifth as th e pow er dropped o fr. Disappointment for Swedi sh MX World Ch ampi on H akan Carqvi st wh o burnt o u t hi s Yam aha' s clutch on th e last lap while hold ing second. And cont ro versy as fir st Martens and th en third man across the lin e, Irel and's Laurence Spence, who rod e a Kaw asaki, were disqual ified for co urse cu tt ing. Th e or ganizers claimed Martens had en tered th e pits th e wrong wa y for h is third a n d last fuel stop, th e sa me reason they th rew h im o u t last yea r. Whil e Spen ce was sa id to hav e cu t th e cou rse to avo id a snar l up o f riders o n a h ill. Spence clai med m arshal s h ad d irected him and a ll th e o ther leading riders around th e hazard a nd he had foll owed th em witho u t gai n ing any advantages. while o thers. incl uding win ne r van der Ven a n d event ua l seco nd p lacema n, KT:\I's j aak van Velt hove n. had been helped by th e partisan crowd as they push ed th eir bikes throug h th e snarl up. Appea ls were lodged but the Fren ch organizers were still consi deri ng th e evidence two days a fter the ra ce fin ish ed. . . Sa le Am er ican rider Chuck Stearns had a brill ia n t sta rt under th e Fren ch Sonau to Gauloi ses Yamaha banner , holding th ird a fter a lap, but he cras hed heavil y in the last hour. inj u rin g a wrist whil e still in th e leading bun ch a nd slip ped back to 81st in th e • fin al reckoning. Results 1. K. van der Ven. Holland (KTM); 2. J . van Vellhoven. Belg ium (KTM); 3 . A. Ma lherbe. Be lgium (Hon ); 4 . J . Vimond. France (Yam); 5. J .J. Bruno. France (Kaw); 6. P. Drobecq. France IHon); 7. J -M . Blanchy. Belgium (Kaw ); 8. P. Pure. France (Hon); 9. A. Vromans, Belgium (KTM); 10. S. Becou, France (Yam).

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