Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Andre Malherbe (1) leads Leif Persson (9) and Dave Thorpe (3) at the start of the Belgian 500cc G.P. around the Ci~del of Namur. Danny Chandler (11) passes Bjorn Torsson during qualifying for the G.P.; Chandler scored his f irst points since May with a 5-4 score. World Championship 500cc MX Series: Round 10 board becam e a ser ies o f duels with Andre Vrom an s ju st h old in g off Chandl er for founh after th e Am erica n sto rmed back from l lth , Leif Per sson d em oting Jo Martens from six th after a half hour , a nd Ca r lqvis t ha vin g 10 use a ll of hi s track cra ft 10 d en y Jukka Sinton en eight h. Earl ier th ey had bee n tog ether in o ne grou p w ith Marvyn Antsi e ri ght in the th ick o f it until a punct ure forced him o u t. j aak Ven Velth o ven was cl ea r o f th e rest when h is ex ha ust p ipe broke a n d 10th went 10 G erman Mi ch eal H eutz, who rod e bra vel y from the fo u rt h lap with a n ineffective fro m brake, a blown fork sea l a nd th e di sc doused in oil. Malherbe was cl early looking for a repeat win in mota two, but light rainfall m ade th e track trea cherous a n d Per sson and Amsie were so o n behind Thorpe as he moved up from fourth . Malherbe, too, was soon a victim of Thorpe's charge. "It was the firs t lap or never, " said Thorpe. " W hen I ripped off the first tear-off as we passed the paddock entra nce, all n in e ca me off together , Before Erik went to rhe hospital, he told m e wh ere he had in te nde d 10 pass Malher be. My a n iy cha nce was to try it and fortunat el y it worked. I co u ld ne ver hav e fo llowe d him wi th out tear-off's in th e rain ." For five laps, J obe s tayed as close as he co u ld before pull in g in 10 cha nge a broken wh eel. In a nother 15 mi n ut es, th e spokes had gone in th e re pl acem en t as h e so ugh t a w a y through th e pack. As J obe pull ed in for h is pit sto p , Malher be lo st co n trol o n th e road secti on a n d th e race became d eadl v boring. Eleven second s down on ieader T hor pe a t th e en d o f that lap, th e gap steadi ly increase d a nd th e Belgian ga ve up a ll hope with three la p s to go. H e had no need 10 worry about an y cha l lenge as even third -place Ca r lq vist wa s sti ll a m inute behind him at th e flag. Ch andl er got th e better of Finn Kurt Ljungqvi st , with Gerard Rand cruis ing hom e a lonely six th a fte r ch all enger Sinton en fell o n the fin al lap . Vro m a ns got up 10 se vent h afte r brin gtn g down Wat son in th e fir st tu rn whil e th e Eng lis h ma n p u lled OUI before ha lf-di stan ce a fte r windi ng h im self when h e lo st it o n' th e sli ppery road section . N icoll never eve n left th e a re na before h is KTM sei zed so l id. Thorpe nips Malherbe in Belgian Grand Prix By Alex Hodgkinson NA MU R, BELGI U M. AUG . 4 The look of desperation ' on Andre Malh erbe's face, uncovered as h e ripped off h is helmet a t the end o f the second gruelin g race aro u n d the Citadel of N amur told It all. The Belgian h ad given hi s a ll to hold on for victory in th e opening moto but he had no answer to the pace of Da ve 24 T horpe th e seco nd time o u t as th e Englis h hero took reven ge for the Br itish GP w ith h is second success ive Bel gi an GP w in. H onda's Thorpe a nd Malherbe are now even mathema ticall y ass u red o f ch a m p io ns h ip g old a nd si lver. a nd. barrin g d isa st er s. Malh erbe n ow kn ow s th at h is fate for 1986 wi ll be 10 ca rr y the n u mber two p late. The o n ly ma nto cha lle nge the tit le ca nd ida tes was H onda teammate Erik Geboers until he went o u t ha lfw a y thro ugh the fir st m oro w ith a broken a n kle. Onl y G eorg es J o be fi n ished with in a minute a nd a half o f the lead ing pa ir. Racin g for the first tim e in a m onth after a s ho u lder o pera tion. H ak an Carlq vis t was nearly two minutes in back of wi nner Malh erb e a nd runn eru p T hor pe in m oro tw o fo r a jubilant third. Aft er a fifth in th e fir st mot a , Am erican Dannv Chandler ca me back lo r a lou rrh in m ot o tw o , scoring hi s fi rst points since Ma y. Malh erbe m ade a dream sta n in m or o on e a nd set o ff into th e wo od s with j obe a nd Chandl er as a buffer": between himself a nd se ries leader T hor pe. An y id eas Bel gian j o be had of helpin g hi s fell ow co u n trym a n we re soon sq uas hed as Chandl er a nd T horpe stor me d pas t, with G eb oers em u la ting them o n la p tw o. T wo co rners after lea vin g th e arena for th e seco nd time, however , Cha nd ler slip ped o ff a nd , with j obe unabl e hold th e pace for lon g , th e three Hondas burst clear. T o th e delight of th e home fans , Geboers sna tched seco nd from Thorpe o n lap th ree, bUI it was no bl o cking tactic to let Malherbe esca pe . Thorpe did lo se so me g round o n h is riv al three laps la ter when he was forced to nav igat e a ro u nd C eboers, w ho had cras hed heav ily acccelera ti ng o u t o f th e ch ica ne and su stai ned a sus pected broken a n kle. " T he windin g track is so narrow tha t it is next 10 imposs ib le to pass a n d I lo st co n tact j ust ge ll ing aro u nd Erik a nd h is m ach in e. " said T horpe. Tho rpe was clearly faster a n d wa s soon on Mal h erbe's tail. wh il e bv th e 20-mi nute stage even J obe had left th e arena lon g before th e fou rt h m an arrived, W il h three laps to go, T hor pe made a m ist ak e in th e woods a nd o nce agai n lo st co n tact with Mal herbe, bu t en te ri ng th e fi na l lap they wer e to geth er aga in . " I kn ew wh ere I wo u ld tr y 10 pass h im . II was th e o n ly pl ace I co u ld fi nd bu t I fluffed it before I go t th er e," sai d Th orpe a fter crossi ng th e fin ish lin e in Malh erbe's Iire tra cks. Kurt Ni coll. th e o n lv man w ith in three secon ds o f T ho rpe in practi ce, went d own before leav in g th e a rena, sa ying it was " m y o wn Iau lr." a nd pull ed o u t o n la p th ree after sli p p i ng o ff in th e wo od s a nd brin g ing down Da ve Wat son . J ean J acques Brun o a nd W ill ie Sim p son . T he to rque arm a nd rea r brak e ro d had been br ok en wh en a riv a l co llided wi th his KTi\I as N icoll raced th rough th e pack . After the ea rly sort O UI. th e leader 10 Antsi e had a lrea dy s ho w n he was ca pa ble of s tay ing o n th e p ac e, but h is superb st art ca me to nothing when th e left foot peg broke off. The World Championship is unlikel y to be settled before th e final round, bu t Th orpe is both th e fastest a nd the 'co o lest at the moment, Malher be need s a mi racl e a nd he knows it . • Results · 1ST MOTO: 1. Andre Malherbe IHon); 2. Dave Thorpe tHon); 3 . Georges Jobe (Kaw) ; 4 . Andre Vromans (Hon); 5, Danny Chandler IKTM); 6, Lei! Persson (Yam); 7 . Jo Martens (Hus); 8 . Hahn Carlqvist ~ Y a m); 9 . Jukka Sintonen (Hust; 10. Michael Heutz(Yam); 11 . Johnny Ponjee(Ka w} ; 12 . Willie Simpson (Hus); 13 . Peter Herlings (Hon); 14 . Clau dio DeCarl i (Honl; 15 . Erwin Gabr iel (KTM) . 2ND MOTO: I , Thorpe; 2. Malherbe; 3. Carlqvist ; 4 . Chandler ; 5. Kun ljungqvist (Yam); 6 . Gerard Rond (KTM); 7. Vromans; 8 . Franco Pi cco (Yam); 9 . J aak Van Velthoven (KTM); 10. Martens; 11. Deca rli; 12 . Gabriel ; 13 . Sintonen; 14 . Walter Gr uhler (Kaw); 15. Heuu. POINT STAN DINGS; I , ThorpeI321) ; 2. Malberbe 1 306); 3. J obe (200); 4. Erik Geboers (199); 5, Kutt Nicoll (160); 6. Chandler (113); 7 , Vromans (111); 8. M att ens 11 02); 9. M ichele Ma garott o (82); 10. Dave Waston (781 . , World Championship 250cc MX Series: Round 11 Russian'GP ·f alls to . Kinigadner By Mannix Devlin LOCHINEV , R USSI A, A UG . 4 The ch ase for th e 250c World Champion ship Motocross cro wn looks as if it will go all th e wa y to th e final race in Wes t G erm an y after defending Worl Champion H einz Kinigadner aga i cu t back his def icit o n series pain leader J ack y Vim ond, a lbei t b)' a sin g le point. Just 12 points se pa ra te th pair aft er th e week end's R u ss ia round. Alth ou gh Fre n chman V imon didn 't w in a mota , hi s seco nd a n third pl acin g s were good enough tc sec u re 32 preciou s po ints, as hi s arc riva l, Aust ri an Kini gadner o n th factory KTM , won o vera ll a nd scoop ed u p 33 poi nts from his fourth ir m ot o o ne a nd a w in in m ot o tw o . After th e cro wd had adva nced a nt

• Cover