Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126835
(Above) David Thorpe leads Andre Malherbe in the first 500cc moto. (Below) Heinz Kin igadner knew that his second-moto sixth-place fini sh was good for a second consecutive 250cc Wo rl d MX Championship. World Cham~ionshi~ 500cc MXSeries: Round 11 Malherbe, Thorpe split wins in Luxembourg By Alex Hodgkinson KOHLENB ERG , L UX EMBO UR G, AU G. II H on da 's very own dou ble act spent Su n day afternoon performing their fam il iar 1-2 routine in the L uxem bourg G P, and while i t was reigning World Champion Andre Mal herbe's turn La win th e baule, his third su ccessive sharing o f . the spoils with David Thorpe m eans th at with o n ly th e Swiss GP at Wah len remaini ng, Englishm an T horpe is defini tely w in ni ng th e war a s he m ainta in s h is IS-point ad va ntage o ver Belg ian Malh er be. Yes, i t was o nce aga in 37 po ints apiece fo r the " dy na m ic duo ," whose pace leaves the opposition gaspi ng a nd whose tita ni c ba il ie in the openin g moto rival ed even th ose in Swede n and England earlier this su mmer. Let T horpe, the wi n ner o f th e fir st moto , su m it up: '" don' t th ink I'v e ever enjo yed a ra ce so much in a ll m y life. We must h ave passed eac h o ther 25 or 30 times and before the start people thought that overtaking wou ld be really difficu lt around he re. Neither of us were off the gas from start 10 finish. Winni ng was th e icing on th e ca ke. " Prospects of a similar d ue l in mota two en ded after 15 minutes when Thorpe fell whi le try ing 10 go inside of Mal herbe, '" went for a gap and he shut the door," said Thorpe. " T ha t's life . If , was in Andre's posi tion , would' ve ha d to do the same." Fo r th e second week i n a ro w, America n Dann y C ha nd ler m ounted th e ros tru m as the th ir d m an o vera ll but was man eno ugh 10 ad mi t h e "j ust ca n 't live with th ose g uys . T hey are 100 fast for a ny o f us." Desp ite hi s d isast rous mid -season spe ll , Magoo looks 10 be headin g for sixth in th e final poi nts ta ble. M eanwhi le , Ch andl er ' s KTM team ma te Kurt N icoll goes to Sw ed en j us t 16 poi nts a way from championsh ip-t hi rd Geo rges ] o be and 15 po ints beh in d fourth-place Erik G eboers, bot h o f wh om must be brea thin g a sigh o f rel ief th at th ey have a week end free o f GP co m mi tme nts to overco me th e injury p roblems which mad e the m non -starters in Lu xem bo urg . Nicoll sna tched u p 24 po ints for fourt h overa ll, while fellow Englishm an Dave Wat son ro u nded o ut the to p five. . . Malh erbe shot 10 th e fro nt of th e firs t rnot o wit h Tho rpe and Wat son in p u rs u it. T horpe took ove r for th e fi rs t tim e o n lap two a n d th e battle was event ua lly sett led wh en th e Belgia n slip pe d off halfway arou n d th e fi na l la p when in Th orpe 's whee l tracks. Swe de L eif Persson slip pe d past Wat son o n th e seco n d lap and spent m ost of th e race just o u t o f reac h o f a hun g ry p ack co mprised o f Wat son C ha nd ler a nd Nicoll. C ha nd ler h ad co m p leted th e first lap in sevent h bu t wa s ridin g m asterfu lly a nd took a n ins ide lin e th rough a sha rp turn 10 pass Pers son with fo u r laps left to go. Within a half lap, how ever , Magoo himself fell , but ch arged ba ck to fourth III an mcide ru -packed fin al lap as Watson struc k a p ost a nd went wid e, o n ly to regai n th e pl ace when Magoo mad e a sli p . In the end, Wat son was si xth whe n neither man hacked off three corners fro m the fin ish an d Wat son en ded up in the fence. Persson carne in for thi rd behi nd winner Thor pe a nd Malher be, whi le Cha nd ler was fou rt h ahead of N ico ll. It was n' t lo ng before the same names we re a t th e front agai n in th e seco nd moto, with th e substi tu tion o f Swede H ak an Carlqv ist for Ya m aha tea m ma te Persson. Carla ha d gated fo urth i n m ota o ne o n ly to have a flyin g stone damage h is fro nt bra ke lin e, while Persson was down in th e first turn of moto tw o a fter a riva l cli p pe d h is rear wh eel. An other sto p 10 str ai ghten a sh ifte r damaged in a nother co ll is io n meant a hard battle fo r Persson to j ust ge l to 13th, whi le Carl a had to withdraw a fter IS minutes with a cra m p in hi s forearms after ho ldi ng fifth . Malherbe had aga in gat ed superbly but drifted wide with Watson as . Th orpe and Ch and ler raced to th e fro nt. Th e Am er ica n did well to hold o n to Malh erbe fo r Iou r la p s but rega in ed secon d aga in whe n T horpe fell. Th e fina l res u lt, ho wever , was never in doubt: Malherbe th e win ner o ver Thorpe wi th Cha ndler th ird. N icoll wa s much ha p p ier wi th h is form and closed o n Magoo in th e fina l mi nutes. " T ha t was better - I felt 100 ten se in the first moro." sa id N icol l. Ninth from lap o ne a fter being sh u t o u t in turn two , Watso n in herited fifth from Ca rla a n d was n ever in rea l da nger from Fin n Kurt L j u ngqvist, Anot he r season is nearlv over and it al l co mes down to Sw~den . T he mos t importa nt q ues tion of all IS whether or not David Thorpe ca n become World Champion. All will be revealed in two week s. • R esults 1ST MO TO: 1. Dave Thorp e IHon) : 2. Andre M al· h erb e (Ha n); 3 . Leif Persson (Ya m); 4 . Da nny Cha ndler IKTM); 5. Kurt Nicoll (KTMI; 6. Dave W at · son (Hon): 7 . An dr e Vrom ans (KTM); 8 . Cl aud io DeCarl i (Hon); 9 . Franco Picco (Ya m); 10 . Rob An· dwews (Kawl; 11 . Etti enne Ja em ers (Yam ); 12. Jaak Van Velthoven (KTM) ; 13 . Jukka Si ntonen (Hu s); 14 . Kurt Ljungqvist(Y aml ; 15 . W alt er Gruhl er IKaw). 2 ND MDTO: 1. Mal herb e; 2. Thorp e; 3 . Chandler; 4 . Nicoll; 5. Wa tson; 6 . Lju ngqv ist ; 7 . Vromans; 8 . DeCarli; 9 . J o Martens (Hus); 10. Gruhler; 11 . Van Velthoven; 12. Jeamers; 13 . Persson; 14 . Will ie Simpson (Hus ); 15 . Chr istoph Husser (Suzl. POINT STAN DING S: 1. Thorpe (3581; 2. Ma lherbe (343); 3 . GeorgesJobe (200); 4 . Erik Geboers (199); 5. Nicoll 11 841; 6. Chandler (1 41 ); 7. Vromans (129 ); 8 . Martens(109 ~ 9 . Watson 1 9); 10 . M ichele 9 Magarotto (82). ... World Championship 250cc MXSeries: Final round Kinigadner beats Vimond for title in Germany By Jack Burnicle G O L DBAC H, WES T GE R MAN Y, AUG . II KTM 's H einz Kinigadner, that big, bold a n d underrated Austrian , finall y quen ch ed th e French flag-waving fever which had engu lfed Goldbach a nd retai ned 45