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At the start, Andre Malherbe (1) leads West German Werner Siegle (14 ),
Honda rider Gerard Rond (6 1 ) and KTM's Kurt Nicoll (8) .
World Championship 500cc MX Series:
Round 1.
Malherbe rules in
Austrian opener
By Alex Hodgkinson
SITTENDORF, AUSTR IA, APR. 14
R eignin g World Cham pion Andre Malherbe
g ot off to a fin e start toward his fo urth ser ie s'
ti tle by winni n g bo th motos in the Austrian
GP , but G rea t Britain 's Dave Tho rp e and
Jeremy Whatley are loo kin g to
make life tough for the Belgian
as th e duo ca m e across th e line
2-3 in both motos .
26
Am er ican Dann y Cha ndler, ridin g
under th e KTM bann er in h is firs t
Eu ropean GP , ca rde d a fourth in th e
first mo to but cra she d ou t o f the
seco n d o n th e o pe n ing lap a nd sustained a hand inj ury . Cha nd ler 's 4DNF was still good eno ugh fo r 10th
o veral l.
Malherbe look ed fresh as a daisy
a fter hi s two w in s a n d he declared ,
"The re were no problem s. I feel good
a n d I think I will be eve n faster in a
co uple of weeks."
But the two Brits al so loo ked as if
th ey co u ld have do ne it a ll aga in.
And T horpe , with his th umb injury
th ankfull y behind him , was j ust as
co n fident as hi s H onda teamma te o f
th e titl e. " P ire lli ' o ffered us eac h
expe ri me nt a l ti res mad e of a spec ia l
hard co m po u nd because of the dan ger
of punctures here," said T ho rpe . " We
o n ly had tw o eac h so th ey h ad to be
kept for th e race s. I used on e in th e
first race but unfortunately th ey did
n ot p ro vide suffi cient g ri p a nd I h ad
to settle for second place.
" 1 felt I co u ld hav e h ad Andre in
race two a fter switch in g back to sand - cross covers and I a lmos t snea ked
past o nce, Still , I am not di sappo inted .
I'v e got 34'po int s a nd he kn ows th a t
I'm th ere!"
Indeed . as th e two Hondas crossed
th e lin e in tandem way ah ead o f the
opposition, so did everyo ne else.
. But perhaps the happ iest man o f
a ll w as Wha tley, On his 500cc GP
debut he kept tir e troubl ed Thorpe in
sig h t throug ho ut ra ce o ne a nd finish ed way a hea d of th e rest a fte r ca rving hi s way th rou gh to ga in a nothe r
third pl ace in race two .
With no cha nce o f ca tch ing th e
lead ers he look ed a lmost too cas ua l
in th e clos ing laps o f the day an d
ad m i tte d th at he had ex pected it to be
harder. " If I had relax ed like tha t in
th e 250s th ere wo u ld have been half a
dozen riders pas t me."
But as a lways wh en there is j ub ila tion for some. th ere is a ng u ish for
ot hers. a nd n o wh ere more so than in
T ea m Green .
After the race. Ge orges J obe bla med
poor sta rts a nd o the r rid ers fall ing in
hi s path for hi s meager points tall y
but th e world number two look ed
lack lu ster a ll week en d.
With David Wat son sti ll sufferi ng
somewha t with his left leg , particularl y a fter falling o n i t in a slower
co rn er near th e en d of race o ne, th e
team loo ked to Lauren ce Sp en ce to
sa ve the day, bu t he too en ded fu rth er
down in th e results th an ex pe cte d ,
after sta lli ng in both races.
Iri shman Spen ce mad e trem en dous
h eadway in race two after sta lling a t
th e sta r t. H e passed h alf the field
within a la p a nd by h alf d ist an ce had
ca ugh t J obe o n ly to sit o n h is ta il fo r
th e rest o f th e race - some times it is
, mo re d ifficult to p ass tea mmat es tha n
rivals!
Co ns o lation for team ch ief Alec
Wright how ever, carne not o n ly in
the pe rformance o f Wha tley bu t a lso
Mi ch el e Ma g a ro to , w ho roo k a
sp len di d fourth overa ll o n prod uction
ma chi nery a nd J ean-J acques Bruno.
who led th e second ra ce from the start ·
Jeremy W hatley lead s Da nny Chandler in the opening moto at Sittendorf.
W hatley fin ished third, Chandler crashed and placed 10th.
and kep t a hea d o f th e gree n works
bi kes to th e flag .
Also do wn in th e dumps was Yam a h a. As ex pected, o n ly H akan Carlq. vist was at the start for th em but a
lack of phys ica l fitnes s sa w him with draw a fter 15 minutes in fourth place.
Carla's depa rt ure left th e wa y clear
for Cha ndl er to cha lle nge Si lk olen e
teammat e Whatl ey for th ird p lace but
th e KTM was never a llowed to ge t too
close. T roubl ed with his rear shock
in th e cl osing laps , Magoo was co ntent with fourth.
T he seco n d tim e o u t, Ma goo 's
determinat ion to do bett er brought
no rew ards as he clipped Andre Vromans ' rear wh eel on a downhi ll a nd
sus ta ine d a hand in j ur y. So th e best
of the KTM squad on hom e ground
was Kurt Ni co ll . wh o had two steadv
rides fo r fifth overall in what he
, co u ld o n ly report as a pretty un eventful day unti l th e front fork s bega n to
p lay up in th e closing minutes. p robabl y ca used by a broken spring.
Despite th eir o ne -two , Honda a lso
had di sappointm ent in th e ca m p as
Eri k Ge boers failed to make an v rea l
i m pact. act ua lly d ropping dow'n th e
field in each race fro m sa tisfac to ry
starts, H e is still troubl ed by th e leg
h e broke a t H awkston e last Ju ly.
T he fin al two Britons. th e Wh ite
Po wer d uo o f Gra ha m N o yce a nd
Mer vyn Ans tie , a lso fail ed to ge t into
th e points w ith fru stra ting races a fter
good per forma nces in qu a lif ying.
Noyce went down early in race o ne,
bend ing th e front brak e lever and
th en had th e sa me brak e jam o n so lid
with in 300-yards of th e start o f race
tw o wh en Fr edd i Am fell in his p ath'
a nd the ex-cha m p co u ld not a vo id a
co llisio n .
T he results were, as is tradi tional
a t Si tte ndo rf, full of surp rises and put
even mor e pressure o n teams in France
for next week end 's GP. J obe and
G eboers, in particular. n eed good
results whi le Ma lh erbe, Thorpe and
Whatley will a ll want to build on
round on e.
Results
1. Andre Malherbe (Hon ) 1-1 ; 2. Dave Tho rpe
(Han ) 2-2; 3 . Jeremy Whatley (Kaw) 3 -3 ; 4 . M ic hele
Magarolo (Kaw) 5-4 ; 5. Kurt Nico ll (KTM) 6 -8 ; 6.
Claudio DeCar li (Han) 9 -5; 7 . Georges Jo be (Ka w )
7 -9 ; 8 . Erik Geboers (Hen) 11 -6 ; 9, Lauren ce
Spe nc e (KawI 8 -1 1; 10 . Dann v Chandl er (KTM ) 4 -' ;
1 1. Jean -Jacques Br un o (Kaw) · -7 ; 12 . Werner
Seig le (KTMI 13 - 10; 13 . Jaak Van Velt hova n (KTM I
10 · ·; 14 . Gerard Rond (Ha n) • · 12; 15. Andre Vro ma ns (Han) 12 -· ; 16 . Franz Ochse nhofer (Suz) "'13; 17. Dave Watson (Kaw) 14 -1 5; t a.lven Van de n
Sro eck (Mai ) · -14 ; 19 . Giusseppi Grola (Kaw) 15 -• Ind icates a fi ni sh out of th e top 15 .
POINT STANDING S: 1. Malherbe (4 0 1 2 . Tho rpe
;
(341; 3 . Wh at lev (30 ); 4 . Magaroto (24) ; 5. (TIEl
Nicoli /DeCarli (1 8 1 7 . Jobe (16 ); 8 . (TIE) Gebo ers /
;
'
.. ..Spence/ Cha ndler·(3).
.
.
Reigning World Champ Andre Malherbe won both motos in Australia.
World Championship
125cc MX Series:
Round 1
Dutchman
Strijbos
scores on
home turf
OSS, HOLLAND, APR. 14
For th e second yea r in a row,
Dutchman Davey Strijbos won
h is home country 's G P , this
tim e he ld a t the ass circuit
near the West German border. Honda
rider Strijbos sped to the win by an
impressive 44 seconds in moto one
- ta kin g a hard faII a lo ng th e wa y. In
th e second rnoto, Strijbos took yet
ano the r fa II but still co p pe d th e wi n .
The opening lap o f th e first moto
sa w three different leaders on the circuit - first Swede Jeff Ni lsson held
th e point, th en Strijbos. When Strij bos went down, Jacky Marten s p icked
up th e slac k a board h is elec tro n ic
power -valved works KTM and led for
th e ne xt four laps, a t which point
Strij bos navi gat ed through th e soggy
mess an d into th e lead.
At .th e fini sh . i t was Strijbos an
" easy" I win ner' o ver -Ma rten s.r with
