~
~
z
0
(J)
z
;;2
o
c
0
J:
X
W
....J
-
m
(J)
l.C"l
00
O'l
0
.....
0
J:
.......
c..
.......
eo
>.......
~
~
Dave Thorpe leads Andre Malherbe i n Britian, but t he o verall went to
Malherbe . (Below ) In the second mota, it was Thorpe chasing M alherbe.
Britain 's Dave Watson (Kaw) went 5 -5 for the day and is in 10th place in
the points standings.
500cc MX World Championship Series:
Round 9
Malherbe, Thorpe duel
in British GP
By Alex Hodgkinson
FARLEIGH CASTL E. EN"GLAND, J ULY H
O vercast skies a nd overall victory for defending W orld Ch a mp ion A n dre Ma l he rbe
co ul d n' t da mpen the sp iri ts of 21,000 Br itish
spectators at Farleigh Cas tl e on Sunday as
26
Brit David T h orpe produced
two epic ri des to mai ntai n h is
.
.
15 po i n t a dvantage In the
Wo rld C hampionshi p point
standings.
H aving ueat~n Ma lh erbe after a
race-long due l III malO one, Thorpe
had to be content with a reversa l of
the placings in mow tw o , thus giv ing
th e G P 10 Malh erbe, but T horpe
went home both th e m o ral a nd psy ch o logica l w in ner.
Milli on s o f TV viewers j oin ed th e
Farl ei gh faithful i n ex pe r ienci ng live
the r id e o f a lifetim e whi ch sa w th e
Br it ish cha m p taken down in th e fir st
tu rn a t th e sta rt o f th e second m o to ,
rem ount with th e pa ck go ne a n d , o n
a tr ack w here passin g is su p posed to
be next to i m poss ib le, power pa st th e
ent ire field, includ in g Malh erbe, to
tak e th e lead within four laps . Nin e
minutes from last to fir st!
Dampen ed by a sho we r immedi at eIy before th e sta rt , th e tr ack was
in cr edib ly slipper y but that didn't
slo w Th orpe: " I know I have to get to
th e fro nt a n d stay if I'm going to w in
th e tit le. I think I wa s sid eways mos t
o f th e time."
Even his riv a ls h ad to pa y tribute to
Tho rpe's performance. G eorges Jobe,
bitt er ly di sappo inted with h is ea rl y
d eparture from mot a o ne with a
broken gearbox, had to co pe with a
mu ch cha nged as we ll as s lip pery
tr ack , bu t gra ciousl y ad m itte d a t th e
cl o se, " T he rest o f us were just find in g o u r wa y round as David flew
pas t. U n bel ieva ble. Today h e was so
g ood,"
T he effo rt wa s bound to tak e its
toll . however, a n d Malh erbe took th e
lead a fte r 30 minutes to receive th e
checke red flag firs t at th e en d of a
ti tan ic battl e in w hi ch Thorpe tw ice
momentaril y got his n ose ba ck in
front aga in a nd h e on ly ga ve up hope
o f th e win a fte r a la st ditch effo rt a t a
hairpin turn o n th e final lap ca me to
nau ght.
" J'd rath er have been 21 points i n
front ," sa id Th orpe, " b u t a fte r th at
sta rt , I've got to be happy wi th what
I've got."
It seeme d a n eterru tv a fte r th e fiv e
second bo ard in race ' o ne was dis pla yed before the gate dropped a nd
Mich ele Maga rouo and Wa tson u n leashed th e power of th ei r Kawasaki s
to take th e lead.
Ton y R iddell ws soon picking him self up a fter being ch o p ped on th e
first turn as wer e Willi e Simpson,
C hris Main d onal d a n d Rob Andrews
a fter tangl in g on th e app roach to
th e Bri d g e, a n d A nd re Vrorn ans a nd
Wern er Siegle a t th e bottom of th e
bi g hill.
H o nd a ' s Malherb e to ok third from
Mervyn An sti e u p th e h ill , seco nd
from Watson a t th e bottom o f t he
next d escen t a n d th e lead fro m Ma ga rot~o before swee p ing back into the
m am are na .
Several p laces furth er back a t th e
sta rt, Honda 's Thorpe was fourth by
the en d of the lap but had even d isplaced the c ha m p io n as th ey complet ed lap two,
J obe was al so p ast h is .Ka wasa ki
teammat es for third on la p three but
it n ever sh owed o n th e lap cha r ts as
g earbox tr oub les eliminated him
before th e co m p letio n of th e lap .
W ith Er ik G eboers a lready recovering from th e first of two falls , which,
together with two delays as he sta lle d ,
m ade it a topsy-turvy ra ce for th e Bel gi an , all cha l lenge to th e tw o tit le
ca nd ida tes was go ne but what a ra ce
th ey p roduced .
"Andre is the most difficu lt rid er in
th e world to sh ak e off. H e is so go od
at lea rn in g lines from yo u quickly
a nd durin g th e race I co u ld n' t hel p
thinkin g a bo u t H oll and, wh en he
got by m e near th e end ," sa id Th orpe.
" I had saved eno ugh energ y 10 go
aga in if he got too cl ose but in th e end
it wasn't necessary."
In fact, Malh erbe got int o a wobbl e
in the woods with one-and-a -h alf
laps to go and. seei ng Thorpe disapp eari ng into th e d istan ce, gav e up
hope. H e had no need to worry a bout
a n y oppo si ti on becau se, d espite a
m agnifi cent ride, Maga rotto wa s o ver
a minute behind.
Yam aha 's hopes o f a p lacing wer
dented when Leif Persso n was taken
out bad ly b y Jaak Van Velthoven a
the a p p ro ac h to the Bridge a fter fou
laps,
Eye witn esses described th e assaul
on the Swede as br uta l, the midsh ip
a ttack lea vin g him wi th a ver y sor
