Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

American Phil larson rode a Maico f o r a second-mota seventh place. (Above) Georges Jobe leads David Thorpe before Jobe crashed out of the second mota. (Be low) Andre Malherbe went 4-2 in mota finishes. 500cc Motocross World Championship Series: Round 2 Jobe crashes; Thorpe wins Holland GP By A lex Hodgkinson MARKELO, HOLLAND, APR. 27 David 'Pnorp e m oved to within eight points of a rch rival And re Malherbe as the p air headed a Honda one- two-three from a rej uen a ted Erik Geboers in the Du tch 500cc GP at Markelo, but all three had to admi t defeat to Kawasaki man Georges lobe in the opening rnoto. 12 Jobe rode a su per b ra ce but was ca ta p u l ted o u t of a slen de r ea rly lead in th e seco n d rn oto when his Kawasa ki 's tr iple cla m p broke as J obe was in midflig h t. As h e su r veyed his tw o " ha lfKa wa s" ha lf a n ho ur la ter , the sha ken Bel g ia n declared , " I a m just ha p p y 10 be h ere to ta lk 10 yo u. If that had h appe ned o n the j u m p by the finish, th en for sure I wou ld not be here. I ha ve never been so terrified in a ll m y life. " I fell so ea sy when I took th e lead in the seco n d race. I wa s su re I would take a doubl e win ," h e co ntin ue d . But th e H onda ca mp wa s n ot so sure, a nd St eve Whitelock was n o t a t a ll sa tisfied with j us t th e o vera ll o neto-th ree , " We shou ld ha ve wo n th e first h ea t as well. Andre seem ed m ore co ncern ed with keepi ng David beh ind him , than in going fo r the win. " If he had attal ked j o lx-, bo t h of o u r r id e r s wou ld h av e pass ed G eor~es. " H is words were ech oed by Thorpe himself. " Andre was o n ly loo ki ng hack. it seemed as if hi s o n ly th oughts were a bo u t me. I got th e impression h e did n't ca re abou t wi n n ing as lo ng as he bea t me: ' In a sci ntilla ting last la p o f th e first m ot a , Thorpe fina ll y lost h is chance o f beati ng J obe wh en he went for th e inside li ne over o ne o f th e numerous blind j u m ps a nd found th e fallen H einz Kin iga dner in h is p ath , bu t he surged clear of a nother exce lle n t ba ttle in w hich a brav e Leif Per sson cha lle n ged the H ondas 10 ta ke the seco nd m oto a nd a second successive Dutch G P win . ma neuveri ng in the deep sand it wa s o nce sa id h e co u ld n ' t rid e. Ha ka n " Ca r la " Carlqv ist had more problem s with th e p ow erva lve, Kin igad ne r went h o m e em p ty-ha nded a nd Kees van d er Ven had 10 twice r j~e th ro ug h th e pack o n nat ive terra m . Know ledge o f th e part icular start techniq ue ena bled G era rd Ro n d 10 lead a wa y in .race o ne a nd [or tw o la p s he sta yed in fro nt, bu t wi th j o be a nd th e H ondas in hi s wak e it was o n ly a ma iler of tim e befo re h e was dem ot ed . Ro nd tired badl y a t th e en d a nd was pi pped o n th e lin e fo r th e honor of' best ho me ri der by Peter H erl ing s. On lap three .I abe took a lea d he was never 10 lo se, while close behi nd Malh erbe was i ndu lgi ng in bl ockin g tactics o n Thrope unti l th e cha m pion broke clea r just after half dista n ce. A ' cou p le o f la ps later Malherbe wrenched h is kne e a nd fell wit hou t a fig ht to Geboer s, r idi ng much less nervo usly than in Austria. But could Tho rpe catch J o be?Ca tch h im h e d id, bu t th en came tha t fin al dra matic lap in which fir st the Bel gian ca me o ff from a co ll ision, as T horpe made h is mov e, a nd th en th e final Thorpe assa u lt en ded with th e Kinigadner co llision. " H einz wa s just getting up when I n ew over the jump, a nd both o f u s went in th e sa me d ir ection. I cl ipped hi s leg but happil y, he was o kay:' T he Au strian co n firmed this, looking back o n a frustr ating race in whi ch he got 10 12th before th e Iirst of three crash es. KTM's main hope, van der Ven , faced a n imposs ib le task a fter a fir st lap ta ngl e wi th Evert s when h e la y si x th, a nd th en ano ther sto p o n th e fo urt h circu it wh en a riva l ram med h im from beh ind. th e im pact ripping ope n his belt. Kees ha d to stop 10 p u ll up h is jeans before poweri ng back fro m 28 th to 13th . Au st r ian (KT M) hopes were th us left in th e hands o f Lau rence Spence a n d he responded ad mi ra bly 10 get through 10 seve nth by th e fini sh. headed o n ly by the leading grou p and th e Yama ha pai r o f Persson a nd Carlqvis t, who were n ot q uite a ble 10 h old o n 10 th e pace. Am er ican Ph il Larso n wa s a good 12th after a n earlv fall. H aving sussed o ut th e starting techn ique, Thorpe a nd J obe headed Rond a way in th e second race, bu t T horpe wa s co ntent to let h is cha lle ngers stay close until the fin al stages. " T wo GP rn oto s in sa n d a re long a ffa irs a nd I was happy j us t to ride m yown pan ' un til theiast lOmi n ut es - th en I went for it," sa id T horpe . Indeed he did, pu l l in g o u t seven seco nd s o n Persso n a nd Ma lh erb e in a sing le la p to cr uise ov er th e fi n ish w ith bo th fist s punching th e air a qua rt er o r a m in ut e in fron t. j o be had taken o ver u-mpo ra r ily o n la p five before hi s sc pctac u lar exi t. Malherbe tem p o ra ril y h it rlu- front I W O laps la n-r, hu t despi te a fall which d ro p ped Ceboers 10 1!J lh when he wa s a dva n ci ng' strong fy, th ere wa s sti ll a th ree-ma n Iig tir Iorm os t of th e ra ces. T he man 10 p rov id e th e th rills wa s Per sson , wo rking . wo nders o n his a nt iqua ted Yamaha 10 p us h H onda s just a bo u t ha lfwa y, befo re the cha m p ion gave th e H on da it s h ead. T hen th e effo rt of wrestling with th e Ya maha fina lly sa w th e Swede fall, a ga in to Mal her be, KTM had seen th ei r ho pes go down in th e very first la p . Spence ca me o ff worst in a first -co rner co llision a nd la y motion less for a m inute as firs t aid perso n ne l d eci de d on the best co urse o f action , th e Ir ish man hav in g been ru n over by numerous rivals. H is stranded bik e a lso spell ed th e end for Kin iga d ner who demoli shed his front di sc brake in hitti ng i t, wh ile van der Ven co lli ded with Verwaayen in the woods a nd came around a di stant 36th . Wh ile G eboers was cha rg ing back to fo urt h . Kees mi racu lou slv came back to tak e fift h fro m Lars~n a nd H elings near th e end , the o ther Du tch hope, Ra nd , havi ng gone o ut ea rly o n with front fo rk p ro blems. La rso n' s even tua l six th was no mean feat , his ea rly race riva l fo r fourth bein g Carlqvi st, who a t tha t stage was o n ly bein g trou bled sligh tly .....b y the g u tless m o to r which eventua lly forced h im o u t. Ni co ll never go t a bo ve 29th before pu llin g o u t, a fir st la p crash having seen him co me a ro u nd j ust befor va n der Ven , a n d th e Eng li sh Ka wasa ki leader soo n rea lized h e had no ho pe. suffering as h e was fro m a badl y bru ised hip. T his wee k I w ill leave the closi ng co m ments to a Bel gi an co lleague . " We loo k like h a ving so me fine races th is yea r, but they m ight just as we ll g ive o u t the m edal s n o w - bronze for j obe. silver for Ma lh er be a nd gold fo r T horpe. H e is too good for the res t:' . Results MOTO ONE: 1. Georges JoOO (Kaw l; 2. David Thorpe {Hon}; 3 . Er ic Geboe rs (Hon ); 4 . Andre Ma lhe rbe (Han); 5. Leit Per sson (Yam ); 6 . Hakan Carlq vi st (Yam); 7 . Laurence Spen ce (KTM); 9. Harry Even s (Ho nl; 9 . Kurt Nico ll (Kaw) ; 10. Pet er Her lings (Han ): 11. Gerard Rand (KTM): 12. Tapia Kokkonen tHan); 13. Kees Van der Ven (KTM): 14. Ja red Smith (Kaw); 15. Toon Karsm akers (Han). • MOTO lWO: 1. Thorpe: 2. Malherbe; 3. Persson; 4. Geboers: 5. Van derVen: 6. Phil Larson (Mai); 7. HerlingS; 8. Willie Simpson (Mai); 9. Kokkonen; 10. Rob And rews (Kaw); 11. Frank Palinckx (Hon): 12. Erwin Gabriel (KTM); 13 . J an Lem mens IKTM ); 14. Johnny Ponj ee (Kaw ); , 5. Smith . OVERALL POINTS: 1. Thorpe. 17-2 0. 37: 2. Malher be. 13-1 7.30: 3. Geb" ers. 15·1 3.28: 4 . Pers. son. 11· 15. 26: 5. JoOO. 20 -0. 20: 6. Herlings. 6-9 . 15 ; 7 . Van der v ee. 3-1 1. 14; 8 . Kokkonen. 4-7 .11 ; 9. Larson. 0- ' O. 10: 10. Carl"vist. 10-0 . 10: 11. Spence. 9-0. 9: 12. Simpson . 0-8. 8: 13. Everts. 8-0. 8: 14. Nicoll. 7 -0. 7; 15. Andr ews . 0- 6. 6. SERIES POINTS STANDINGS: r . MalherOO. 65: 2. Thorpe. 57; 3. Persson. 48: 4. Jobe. 42: 5. Geboers. 37; 6. Van der Ven. 34; 7. And rews . 28: 8. Car lqvist . 27; 9 . tie. Spe nce /S iegl e . 2 1; 11 . tie. Her ling s/ Kin igadner /N ico ll . 15; 14 . Larson. 14; 15 . Magarotto. 13; 16. tie. S impso n/Evens. 8; 18. tie . Laqu aye / Re iter / S mit h, 6 .

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