Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jim Tarantino (shown in the pits and in action) gave up the typical life of a southem California Pro motocrosser to make his fortune in South Africa, winning the 1984 National Championship. 2SQMX Gaston Rahier and the BMW, alone on the Paris-Dakar course. -18 riders wen t down like fli es on th e manageable bike. R ah ier was q u ickroa d from Tombouctou. est o n both days a nd, when he go t The conditions in Mauri tania were back to Agadez, was lyin g second truly horrible. M iles of ' Iech e-fech e', overa ll behind the I ta lian Yamaha which is so ft a ll uv ial sa nd co vered by rider Franco Pi cco. a thin cr ust, were punctuated by trea Bacou had not only dropped from che ro us d u n es a nd mou n tainous secfirst but also dropped out o f th e top tions th at were like riding u p h eaps 10. T he sea rch a ircraft were still looko r rubbl e. Sandstorms were still preing for him a n d crueller wags were val ent a nd even th e su p port planes jo kin g th at if yo u were foll ow ing ri sked be ing shot down by Po lisa rio Serge and he tu rn ed left , th e best route g uerr illas. (O ne o f th em act ually was, was obviously to th e righ t. When he kill ing both occupan ts.) Di sputes eventually showed up, a t the end o f contin u ed a bo u t th e efficacy or th e Agadez rest da y, rec ri m ina tions Sabine's ti me keep ing a nd th e erra tic beg a n to fly, m ainly in th e direction way pe nalties got dis hed o u t. o f R ahi er an d referr ing to the m ira cAt Kiffa , P icco 's mu m (o r his meul o u s im proveme nt in his bik e 's cha n ic) tuc ked h im in lor the ni gh t han d ling . H ad BMW replaced the frame? Bacou th o ugh t so a nd wa nted dreami ng of an apparent -IS-min ut e edge over R ah ier. Poor Franco wo ke th e scr u tineers to ch eck it. His own up in th e mornin g to be told that Yamaha team leader, j ean-Claude Ol ivier, silenced hi s protests, kn o wGasto n had rea lly got th e lead - by seven m in ut es. B1\IW's sma ll Belgian ing that R ah ier's exclusion would pe rson was fin ally in front. P icco was lea d to reprisals and that th e Yams no t happy... he conti nued screaming were unli kel y to be "clean. " Rah ier, apparent ly, j u st grinned and denied the gut It al ia n trans lation or " I was robbed" right up to the end. everyth in g . In tho se la st dan . Itali an team As th e rall y swung wes t toward Dak ar, still severa l thousand ki lomeu n happiness ch ar.lcterized th e Paristers away, th e French press were tipDakar. Squabbl in g brok e o u t amongs t the Cagiva-Ligier crew as to whether ping P icco to wi n but Gaston bega n whittling away th e Itali an's halfMarinoni had passed Au riol. or not. The tru th was , as alwa ys, a prisoner h our lea d . The rout e s tr e tc hed through Mali towards Ma uritania of T hi erry Sa bine' s co nscience . Leaving th e arguments about spaghetti a nd the remain ing competitors on ly a third or those starting from a llocation in the di stance behind him , Pa ris were lef t - realized that Sabine G a ston Ra h ier pulled o u t a hea lthy had sav ed up a nasty surprise. Tradi -. ha lf- hou r lea d before hi s trium p ha l tiona llv, the last week o r the Paristhrott le-happy ru n down th e 37 miles or,Tiougioune beach in to Dak a r, the Daka r Ra lly gets easier. showing merth u n der o r Atluru ic surf in h is ca rs. cy to tired bikes and tired riders. This H e ea rn ed th e firs t sloppy kiss fro m year it even go t hard er. It was still wide " M iss Se nega l" a nd Yamah a 's j ean o pen ... Cl a ude Ol ivier got the seco nd, havAlthough a ca lm a nd patient rider, ing crep t pas t the Itali an to gra b the R ah ier bega n to lose th e ca u tio n that n um ber two slot. had kep t hi s da maged bi ke ro lling in Cap ita l i nvestment, power -toth e rally's ea rly days. Atta cking P icco weigh t ra tios or numbers or cylin ders a lso m eant blowi ng orr Auriol, h is h ad m eant not h in g. R aw ci rcu m o ld adversary, who was mak ing a sta nce, raw co urage and raw talent despera te a ttempt to cli m b up the h ad co nspired to ma ke sure tha t the Bel gian 's ch uff . Gaston had started o talc risks - 3!r -the few remaining - .. best Belgian wo n . ' . . • . . . .. - • (Continued from page 10) his ride into 11th pl ace, complaining of problem s with th e rear shock on h is production Honda. From the start of th e secon d leg he was obviously determined to put th at well behind h im. H e ga ted su pe rbly al ong with N ilsson, Drech sel and South Afr ican Brett Red ma n , so n of four-times road race World Champion Jim R edman . N ils son was soon awa y into a nd increa sing a n unassailable lead, eve n more im p ress ive th an Vimond 's effo rt in th e fir st leg . Th is time Vi· mond h ad sta r ted badly a nd was in th e bottom ha lf o f th e top 10. Worse o rr was T a rant in o who fell o n the first lap, spra ini ng hi s a n kle. " All I co u ld do th en was ride co ns ista nt ly an d ho pe to fin ish ," h e com m ent ed lat er. Anoth er railer o n th e first la p wa s R in al d i an d he was even furth er back th an th e Am er ican . U p front things were not go ing as well as th ey seeme d for Wo sick . " I had a p unc ture right fro m th e sta rt, I fo u ght it for a bi t but when it was co mpletely n at it was ho peless and I had to pull in . I a m really disappointed because I wanted to pu t on a good show h ere so th at I could get th e ba ck ing to go to Europe lat er in th e year for so me of th e stadium m eetings. I still wan t to go but it isn 't going to be ea sy." Wosick sto p p ed alter six lap s and Er iks son , wh o had been cha rg in g . through th e field , was promoted to fourth. Fifth was Fren chman Pa trick Fura on a H o nda and sixth the KT 1\1 o r Belgian Dirk G euken s bu t th ey were rapidl y being ove r ha u led by th e hard-charging Vim ond. Through the middle of th e ra ce the Fren chman p us h ed on rel entl essly and a lt ho ug h Eriksson f ought ba ck stro ng ly when it came to ta king fou rth p lace h e co u ld on lv hol d o n 10 Vimond Io r a coup le of bps. Next ca me Sou th Afri ca n Redma n and as Vi mo nd closed in to tak e th ird the pa rt isa n cro wd tr ied to enco u rage th eir man to grea ter efforts. He had not hi ng left 10 gi ve, th o ugh , bein g un used 10 the Gran d Prix d istance. Vim ond o u t-braked h im in to a tigh t lef t ha ndel' over a rise and it was all over Ior th e local rider. His strengt h was sp ent a nd, a lt hough h e tried ga me ly, h e d ro pped back to fin ish . seventh , still a p ro m ising-stan to h is G ra nd P rix ca reer. U p front , Nilsson stretch ed his lead to 20 second s before being told to cool it by m echanic-cum-manager Ro lf T ibbin , anex-World Champion. Dresch el held a co m forta ble third well ahead of Vimond, who was 30 secon ds down at th e flag. Eriksson held with Fu ra on ly j us t keeping fifth from Dut chman Gert van Doom o n a Honda, who had [ought his way u p from a bad sta rt. Kinigadner was gl ad to fin ish eig h th a nd ge t a few points a fter th e disastrous Iirst leg whi ch h ad fin a ll y ended wi th him cras h ing into th e cro wd over a jump and injuring a specta tor. Marc VeI- . ken eers on a Maico was ni nth afte r he, too, had cras h ed o ut o f th e first leg . Ta rantino wa s di sappointed to be 13th aft er suc h a grea t rid e in th e first leg . It d idn ' t mean that he wa s abou t to race o rr to E urope a nd fo llow th e G rand Pr ix circu it. "Tha t wo u ld ta ke an awful lo t o f do in g," h e sa id , " I've sett led he re for th e mo me nt so I'll be staying for the season at least, after that , who knows. To be honest I didn't really expect the Europea ns to be as fas t a s rhev were." Sout h Arri e-l·made a big effort to . see th at th eir first motocross Grand P rix wa s a sucCC'SS and both the circu it a nd the organization were pra ised by th e rid ers. They will be holding th e event aga in in '86. As far as th e 250cc cha m p io ns h ip goes. Vimond Ili es home with 35 points to Ni lsso n 's 3 1 bu t th e Swed e wa s rremendous lv impressiv e o n th e new wat er- cooled monoshock H u sq varn a and will be a hard m an to hea t Ior th e rest of th e • season . Results MO TO ONE: 1. Ja ckie Vimond (Vam): 2. M ichele Rinaldi (Suz); 3 . J im Tara nti no (S Ul ); 4 . A rn o Drechsel tKTM ): 5. Jorgen Nil sson (Hus): 6. leI! Nlckla sson (Ma il : 7. Patr ick Fura (Hon); 8 . An ders Erik sson (Yam ); 9 . YanniQ Kervella (Hon) ; 10 . Maurizio Dolce (Hon). . M OTO TWO: t . Nilsson ; 2. Drechsel; 3. Vim ond; 4 . Eriksson; 5. Fura; 6 . Gert van Doorn (Han); 7. Brett Redman (Yam); 8. Hein z Kini gadner (KTM); 9. Marc Velkeneers (Mail; 10. Dirk Geukens (KTM) . OVERA LL: 1. Vim ond (1·3): 2. Nils son (5 -1); 3. Dr ech sel t4 -2): 4 . Er iksson (8 -4); 5. Fura (7 -5); 6. Tarantino t3· 13): 7. Rinaldi (2·DNF); 8. van Doorn (12-6): 9. Redman (13·7): 10 . Kervella (9· 11). POINT STANDINGS : 1. Jackie Vimond (3 5); 2. Jorgen Nil sson t3 11 3. Arno Drechsel (30); 4 . An· ; der s Eriksson (2 1): 5. Patr ick Fura (20): 6. Jim Tara nt ino (181 7. M iche le Rinaldi (17) 8 . Gert van ; Doorn 11 4); 9. (TIE) Bren Redman lVann ig Kervella • (121 .

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