Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Englend's Oevid Thorpe (3) took the 600cc World Motocross Chempionship ewey from Andre Melherbe (1) , but it wes e herd-fought bettie. Interview: 1.985 500ee World Motocross Cham,-ion Dave Thor,-e: Winning a hard-fought battle By Neil Webster Fi ve years ago, new world motocross cham P ion Dave Thorpe was worried h e m ight never walk p roper1y again . In Iection i a b ro k en I eg mean t th e t h en 17ecuon In year- o l d's caree r co u l d b e n ipped in th e bud just as he . . was abo ut to break mto th e big time. ~o " I had th e bone near th e bottom of m y leg pl ated, bu t infection set in a nd I had to wa lk wi th sticks for a lmos t a year ," he recall s. " At th e time the biggest question I asked myself was not wh ether I wou ld ride again, but would I ever wa lk properl y agai n. The doc tors assured mel wo uld be a ll ~tig1lt~b\!t.. it. t991c. s.u_cp a JQQgJi.J'!I~ _t b ea rn ing him his fir st $2 mill ion. Top Lo nd on soccer teams Ch elsea and Q ueen s Park Ra ngers had al rea dy spotted the iall center- half from Berkshi re to sign p rofessional for ms for th em . Thorpe had more publ ic exposu re as a socce r pl a yer th an as a rnot ocross ride r. " At the tim e, a television co m pa ny was running a weekly pen alty kick competition with the fina l at Wem b· ley before the League Cup fina l in front of 100,000 fans and the television cameras," remembers Thorpe. " I was so nervo us m y kn ees were sha king. I scored three pe na lties o u t o f five agai nst Engla nd international goal keeper Peter Shi lton, bu t it wasn't enoug h 10 win ." Socce r was a lways th e second love in th e T horpe househ old. Mot ocross ru led Dave's father Keith, him self a former racer and worksh op for em an a t a big mot or cycle deal ersh ip. He started th e fam ily's on ly chil d ridi ng at the ag e of three. Relaxing a t nis lux u ry home in leafy Berkshire. just 30 miles west o f London, wit h wife Sha rron a nd 18month-o ld son Lewis, Thor pe knows wh a t went wro ng in th e past. "T he first year with Honda was spe nt reall y learnin g the bike. Bu t last year I co ul d have been cha m pion if I' d had good results in H oll and a nd America. T hat's the main differen ce this year. I got th e resu lts. I kn ew I wo uld n ' t be cha mpion if I d idn 't do well there. " Holla nd was especially important. Erik Geboers had inj ured himself in Spai n the week befo re, a nd that left i t a two-way fight between Andre :VIal herbe a nd m yself. " Andre went 10 H o lland th inking he wo uld win easily. This was ba sed on th e fact that in the pa st I' d never been good in th e sand and have sett led for p laces instead of going for it. This year I knew Ho llan d was th e sta rt o f th e run-in 10 th e end of the yea r - even tho ugh it was onl y halfway . I'd kep t in to uch and I was determi ned 10 do well." The first race soon sett led into a fist fig h t between Thor pe a nd Malhe rbe, , T horpe led until th e closin g stages h db " ega n to a ve ou ts. . The doubt s we re l!l-founded . T horpe spra ng bac k q uickl y to establi sh himsel f as a Grand Prix front runner a nd on August 18, 1985, a t Wo h len, Switzerland , he became th e seco nd-yo ungest rider ever to wi n the 500cc World Motocross Champion. ship . Only fellow Brit ish Honda rider G raham Noyce bea t h is record, being five mo nt hs yo u nger when he won in 1979. But a t IS, Tho rpe al mos t tu rn ed _ _ph p;J!;1s flJl_t1'!.e~~Rqr!.!!t~~ !H a,P- ly _• __ :-:.'It:'!. }~I_a! ~~r~_ p~t_ ~!E:.~~~~.,!J.1!t. id with the Belgia n fall in g in the first turn o f race two , th e Briton had the seco nd race sew n up by th e end o f th e opening lap and th e title was in hi s sigh ts. Straight af ter Ho lla nd came th e USG P a t Ca rls bad , the gra veyard o f many world champions' hopes wit h its roc k hard bumps a nd searing heat, un like a nything on the Europea n circ uit. " I went 10 California two weeks early 10 prepare m yself. I trai ned ha rd in the heat a nd when it came to th e race I was ready for it a nd used m y head. " In the first race , Americans Da vid Bailev and Broc Glover clea red off but tha t was n 't important 10 me as th ey on ly do one G P a nd were n ' t in the fig h t. " Georges J obe was th ird and maybe I co u ld have ca ug h t him , but I saved some energy for th e second leg a nd settled for fourth. In the second it paid off. While Georges faded , I fel t strong and got seco nd." Malherbe, wh o had raced in Fra nce the week befor e whi le T horpe was a lrea dy traini ng in Ameri ca , fini shed th e da y wi th two six ths - 'a nd exha usted. " I th ink I' ve got him now," T horpe admi tted as he wiped the swea t from his bro w mi n utes after the race . And although there was still a long wa y to go he 'd certainly made the big brea kthrough . "Up until Amer ica , I do n ' t thi n k Andre ever took me seri o us ly. H e thought I' d blo w up or start making mistakes. Bu t a fter Carlsbad. he realized I had it in me to beat him a nd it was too late for him 10 do anything about it ." Malherbe wasn 't about to give up. ho wever. as he strived for hi s fourth world title. H e wasn ' t to be bea ten o n points by Thorpe in a ny of the four rem aining ro u nds . Bu t the Briton had tak en the adv antage. T he Brit ish , Belgian and Luxem bo u rg ro u nds were tied and, as th ey p repared for th e fin al cla sh in Switzerla nd , Thorpe still held th e 15point lead he'd brou ght home from Cal ifornia. But the Berkshire boy knew it wasn 't over yet by a long way: " I saw in Luxem bourg tha t Andre was a despera te man. In the seco nd race he was o u t 10 kil l. My biggest wo rry abo u t Swit zerl and was th at he wou ld kn ock me o ff." In Lu xem bou rg the infigh ting culminated with T horpe an d Ma lh erbe clashing in th e seco nd leg. Thorpe went down a nd had to cruise hom e second whil e th e Belgia n went ah ead 10 win. H e co uld n' t afford gam es like th at in Wohlen . In th e event he needn't hav e worried. Thorpe set the fastest time in Sunday morn in g practice a nd ha d th e choice of th e start posi tions. Mal herbe got thi rd , but 20-year-old Brit Kurt Nicoll (KT M) took seco nd and was well pl a ced to be T h or pe 's mi nder. As they dr ew up on the start ga te, Thor pe went 10 the far rig ht. Nicoll went next 10 h im keepi ng Malherbe th e next in lin e. Wh en th e ga te dropped, Th orpe had a straigh t run up the inside, whi le N icoll made sure Mal herbe co uld n't co me across and spo il things. But with two thi ngs on hi s mind. Nicoll crashed in the second turn, p utting an end to a ny ho pes he had of improving his fifth in the series. But he had do ne h is job. T hor pe was a way cleanly in second spot a nd in th e lead by half di stance. Ma lher be, only fourth o n th e first lap, was ham pered by Ilyi ng mud spo iling his visio ri. H e cou ld o nly mana ge third by th e close. Thorpe had a 20-point lead. Even if Malherb e wo n the second race, 15th • I I . ....# .# ..... ~j .... ,

• Cover