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C laudio de Carli goes d own in the first turn of the 500cc Span ish Grand Prix as Andre Malherbe (1) and Erik Geboers (5) choose the inside route .
World Championship 500cc MX Series:
Round 6
Malherbe I- I 'in Spain
By Alex Hodgkinson
GUADALAJARA, SPAIN, JUNE 9
Th ird p lace overall In the Spanish G rand
Prix was sufficient for David Thorpe to
retain his lead in the point sta n din gs, bu t
reigning title holder Andre Malherbe, w ho
wo n bot h motos at G uada la j
ara, is back o n Thorpe's ta il,
tra ili n g the Br itish titl e ho p e
by just o ne point.
•
Third Honda ma n Erik Geboers
drew level wit h Thorpe aft er th e first
race, but crashed heavi lv'in the second
moto when he lost co nt ro l on the
loose stony surface, suffering a suspected broken small bone in the lo wer
leg. H e was flow n to Bel g iumi m m edia rely a fter th e race fo r examination.
The race saw a reviva l of th e [ortunes o f Ya m a ha 's 'H a ka n Carlqvist
a nd Ka wasa ki's Georges j o be. th e
lat ter r idi ng particu larly well for two
second spots. That takes him above
non-start er Da n n v Chandler a t th e
halfway stage o f t'he cha m pi o n sh ip ,
but a fter s u per b si x th a nd fourth
pl ace finis hes, Kurt Ni coll retains
fourth i n th e point standings a n d is
th e onl y man to h av e scored in every
moto this yea r. J em What ley ov erca me th e handi cap o f a broken wh eel
in m oto tw o to sco re tw ice a nd ret ain
sevent h in th e point sta nd ings, a nd
ea rn a utom a tic qualifi cati on for the
rest o f th e season .
The first m ot a was a chao tic di saster even before th e sta rt. H avin g had
to put up with dust cl o uds th rougho u t th e week end, th e rider s faced a
ska ting rink o f a tr ack whi ch jury
presid ent Rene Parent a lmost fell
down on as h e was ca lle d to in spect
th e fir st co rner w h ich had been heavily wat ered .
Aft er so me effo rt to m ak e th at turn
bett er . th e ent ire field wa s ca ug h t o u t
wh en th e gate dropped a lmos t before
th e five-second board was up in th e
a ir: " I' d o n ly just put th e bike in
gear," fum ed Thorpe a lo ng with th e
rest o f th e ent ry.
Claudio de Carli went d own in th e
slipper y fir st turn , takin g Brit j ern
W hat ley and Scot Wi lli e Simpson
d own with him . Simpson ca m e o ff
again as his throttl e hand gl ove sta rt ed
to slip off a few seconds later, th e
Velcro stra p co vered in mud . T he
• , Iirs t Jap , mud .also c;la irn ec.l .Dll id ,
16
just on e o f m any to suffer broken rear
wh eel s, Vrom a ns dropped o u t of th e
po ints a fter having ea rned eig h th
pl ace points in th e first m oto. "
Whatl ey 's sp o kes beg an to break as
he held th e six th th at Carlqvist eventually took, but incredib ly Whatley
kept go ing to th e finish , taking 11th ,
o n the sa me lap as th e leader.
Meanwhile , Ka wa sa k i-rn ounred
Dav e Watso n was fig h tin g ba ck from
a sp in o n th e filth la p , wh en he a lso
lost th e use o f th e fron t, a n d to ok
sevent h after having finish ed I I th in
the o pe n ing mota.
Californian Chandl er originally
intend ed 10 co m p ete in Spain , but
foll owin g his cra sh in th e Ita lia n GP
he m ade a. trip to J ~m W hatl ey' s phy sio thera p ist w ho discovered vertabrae
problems in Ch and ler 's back .
•
Results
Watson, who slip pe d to th ird la st
fro m eighth half wa y round .
1 ST MOT O: 1. A n d r e Mal herbe ( Ho n ): 2 .
Malherbe, Gebo ers , Th orpe a nd
Georges J obe (Kaw ); 3 . Eri k Gebo ers (Han) ; 4 . David
Th orpe (Han); 5 . Haka n Carl q vis t (Yam) ; 6. Kurt
Jobe wer e th e front ru n ner s at th e
Nico ll (KTM); 7 . Leif Per sson (Yam ); 8 . A nd re Vrocomp le ti on of th e firs t la p , with
mans {KTM) ; 9 . Je remyWha tley(Kawl; 10 . M ich el e
KT M-m o u nted Nicoll , Sw ed e L eif
Magarotto (Kaw); 11 . Dave Watson (Kaw); 12. J o
Martens (Hu s); t 3. Werner Siegle (KTM) ; 14 . M er Persson and Carlqvist in tow .
vyn A n st ie (Hon) ; 15 . Eno Car du cci (Kaw).
Avoidi ng the firecrac kers thrown
2 ND M OTO : 1. Ma lhe rbe ; 2 . J ob e; 3 . Thorp e; 4 .
Nicoll ; 5 . Martens ; 6. Carlqvist; 7. Watso n; 8 . Pers at them by sp ectators, Ma lherbe a nd
son ; 9 . Magarouo; 10 . Carlos de Carl i (Hon ); 1 1.
J o be began to pu ll away, their ca use
Whatley; 12 . Carducci; 13 . Et ienneJaem ers (Vaml;
14 . A nstie: 15 . W illie Sim pson (Husl.
a ided w hen Thorpe stall ed after passPOINT STAN DINGS: 1. Thorpe(1 801: 2 . M alh erbe
ing Geboers .
:
( 179): 3 . Geboers 11651 4 . Nicoll 11 14): 5. Jo be
" I just rode like a wa lly ," sa id
11081: 6 . Chan dlerI89); 7. Whatley(71): 8 . Vro mans
1651: 9 . Maga rono (6 31: 10 . Marrens (52 1
.
Thorpe after surviv ing a la te cha llen ge from Ca rlqvist a nd a ~ in cident
on the final lap w hen a back ma rk er
World Championship
pulled across his pa th and Thorpe's
right leg was thrown saddle hi gh .
125cc MX Series: Round 4
I n th e bail ie of th e Belgians , Jobe
got alongside Malherbe once, a t the
sa me pl ace Carlqv ist elbo we d out
Ni coll, but co u ld not quite get pas!'
G eb oers a nd Thorpe followed Malherbe and j obe across th e finish lin e
with Ca rl q vist fifth. Ni coll was a
lo n ely m an in six th, but with Ca rlq vis t in suc h trem endous for m he had
By.Dave Smith
don e well to hold o n to him for 20
m inutes.
T H O l\lE R LA SOG NE , FRANO;,
There was no p ro blem with slip pery
J UN E 2
mud durin g m o to tw o, bu t sta rt -toItal y's Corrado Maddii pulled
fini sh lead er Malh erbe was probably
two points back on 125cc points
th e o n ly m an to see the tr ack a ll race
leader Dav e Strijbos with a n
because of th ick chok ing d us t.
o vera ll win in theFren ch G P.
Thorpe's p ro blem s bega n wh en
h is H onda 's shoc k ga ve u p o n h im in
Alt h o u g h h e didn 't w in a ra ce,
th e ea rly sta ges a nd despite a bsta in H onda -mounted Stri jbos finish ed the
in g from lea ps o ff th e big d rop-offs,
day secon d o verall to th e Ca giva
he ende d th e race wi th a j a rr ed back
rider.
a nd thumb injury. Fortun at el y, h e
It was Dut ch you ngster J o h n Van
a lso had a third p lace to sho w for th e
de r Berk wh o foll ow ed fell ow co u n effo rt. H e was hold in g second at th e
try ma n Str ij bos halli e in third spot
tim e th e shoc k went but J obe went
ov er al l. gaining in co n fide nce to liv e
pa st as Geboe rs crashed o u t.
with th e top m en .
N ico ll spe nt m ost o f th e . seco nd
Th e di stincti on o f m oto win s went
m ot o tr yi ng to find a wa y thro ugh
to G erman license h ol d er Alain Leje u ne , a boa rd a Suzuki, a nd Ita ly's
th e du st cl oud th rown up by J o
Mart en s' Husq varna a nd o nce he did
Giuseppi Andreani, Aprilia-rnounted .
he secu red fourth . Car lqvi sts cha lwho scored hi s fir st GP victory sin ce
Au st ri a last vcar .
lenge to N icoll a nd Marten s e nde d
wh en he lost th e fro nt wh eel o n loose
L ej eun e I ~d th e fir st ra ce a ll th e
wa y with Maddii trailing him sta rtsto nes. Taking a co u p le o f la ps to
to -fin is h . Th e main exci te me n t was
reg ain h is rh ythm , th e Swede ca me
••11, ck. \o.si i) a ' 11l1r~ . Yro.rp '1II .· )va,' •• • .be h,ind th e.1l} ~n a fight for third .
Maddii tops
in France
Initi a ll v Britain 's Paul Hunt was
i n v ol v~d _ ~n thi s sq ua b ble, bu t it
turn ed o u t to be a ba ili e' between
Du tch teen agers Van d er Berk a nd
Str ijbos. Hunt hel d o n to th e pair for
_fo ur laps a t the sta rt but w hen h is
g ear selector jammed he rapidly lost
ground, a nd a lt ho ug h h e persevered,
he was well d own th e field at th e flag.
Strijbos held the upper hand fo r a
furth er three la ps but a mis take o n
o ne o f th e m an y hills p errnitted Van
der Berk to sa il th ro ug h a nd that's th e
way it remained.
C a g iv as P e k ka Vehk onen and
KTM 's Kees Van d er Ven both suffered from poor starts and they paced
eac h o the r o n their way through th e
p ack to even tua l sevent h a nd nimh
SpOlS, respect ively.
For th e seco n d ra ce it lo ok ed as
though Finland was g o ing to grab a ll
th e g lory wi th Vehkonen making
amends for his poor first ra ce result
a nd giving a to w to yo u ng co rn p a tri or Mika Kou ki in fir st a nd second
spots. All wa s fin e for seven la p s bu t
sudden l y Vehkon en disapp eared
round the back o f th e circ u it and
Kouki wa s lef t a go od wa y in front of
second place man Andreani.
Fi ve la p s lat er, ho wever, lu ck deserted Kouki a n d he too cra shed out,
lea vi ng a s u r p r ised b u t del ig hted Andreani to a ssu m e th e lead.
.
All th e way beh ind h im th ere was a
fierce ba ttl e between th e two Du tchmen agai n, with the posi tions cha n ging on th ree oc casi ons. Eventually
the honors fell to Stri jbos and on th e
fi na l tw o la p s Maddii was a ble to pry
them a pa rt to tak e up third SP01. At
th e clo se, Van der Berk wa s begin nrn g to co me under pressure from
Van der Ven , but th e flag ca lle d a halt
to th e m ore exper ienced KT M man 's
effo rts .
Van d er Ven sta rte d th e race in 25t h
p la ce a nd he cl imbed thro ugh to
eve n tua l fifth . Hi s biggest prob lem
en ro u te had been Bel gium 's Guy
Van Gijsegh em, w ho kept him a t bay
for nine laps.
J
