Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

World Championship 125cc MX Series: Round 3 Contini sweeps Italian GP Michaud tops French rain By Dave Smith --- -buii-uiii Trials World Championship Series: Round 5 By John Dickinson GRAlTAZOUNA, ITALY, APR. 20 DEALERS T OU RS , FRAN C E, AP R. 2i Italy's Massimo Contini won hi s first-ever Grand Prix by rid ing his Cagiva to wins in both rnotos of th e Italian 125cc The fifth ro u nd of th e World T ri al s Ch ampi on ship wa s staged in France and at a ra in dren ched venue nea r T ours Mot ocross Grand Prix. Conti ni won th e fir st race easilv, bu t th e seco nd ;;;..- was a different sitiJalion as he was ~ p ushed a ll the way by Dave Strij bos . ~ Str ij bos didn 't m ak e a good sta rt in the first mot o an d quickl y p aid th e pe na lty o n th e fast h ill side co u rse wh en he was in seventh posit ion a t th e end o f th e fir st lap . H e climbed t\yo places on th e next lap, but it took hun three more laps to pass Alain Lejeune before he co u ld mak e an attack on Pekka Vehkonen 's third p lace whi ch Vehkonen had he ld from the start. Vehkonen was in trouble with a grabbing fro n t brak e that refused 10 totally release until halfway th ro ug h th e 19-1ap rnoto. St rijbos took ad va ntage of Vehkonen's problem and soon a fter Ital ian Massimo Manzo also pass ed Vehkonen whi le the pair were flying ov er th e biggest downhill jump on th e circu it, much to th e delight of the home crowd. Vehkonen finished fourth and John Van der Berk follo wed him across the finish line. Ismo Vehkonen (Pekka's brother ) was the only rider to make real progress from th e back of the field . Twenty-seventh after the first time around, he powered his way through to eventually finish behind Van der Berk with Lejeune following him home after losing a battle initially with Strijbos a nd Va n der Berk and then surrenderi ng to Ismo two laps from the finish . . The second moto started with a th ree-man dogfight tha t involved Van d~r ~er k , Contini and Strijbos. It didn t take long , however, for Dietmar Lacher to jo in in the battle. The crowd went wi ld after five lap s when Contin i passed Van de r Berk a nd soon a fter it was Strijbos ' tu rn 10 do the same, bu t not without his dubious moments, having falle n twice in the process and ge tti ng back into the figh t. L a ch er took adva ntage of Strijbos's error the second time, but it o nly took the Du tch m an one lap 10 regain his earlier position. An off-form Pekka Vehkonen was holding fifth pl ace, but a t th e halfway stage the defending World Champion wa s for ced 10 surrender th a t to Mika Kouk i, wh o in hi s own right was a n xio us 10 make a me n ds for hi s p C!0r fir st race when he co m p letely missed th e sta rt a nd could o n ly fini sh in 13th spot a fter a five-lap battle with G iuseppe Anreani. Vehkonen wa s pushed furth er ba ck by a nother co m pa triot, Art o Pantrila , with four laps 10 go. L ejeune had a lrea dy felt th e draft o f Pannila 's final exp los ive effo rt wh en he lost o u t 10 ~im m idwa y th rough th e race , but Lejeune wascIose to Vehkonen a t th e checkered flag . _ curren t Wo rld Champion Thi erry Mich aud led ho me a French o ne-twothree wit h Phil ip pe Berl arier and Pa scal Cou turier keepi ng the Roth ma ns H onda d uo of Edd y Lejeune a nd Steve Sa unders down in fourt h and fift h p laces resperrively. ' Torrent ia l overnigh t rai n made th e 15 sections very slippery indeed a nd co nditio ns a lte red lillie over th e three laps. Onl y Fan ric nu mber o ne Mi chaud manag ed to keep h is score under th ree figures . . . just! It was certa in ly a co n vincing performance under adv erse co nd itio n s by the Champion and his win helped ex ten d his Championship lead o ver Lejeune to nine marks. Lejeune will be curs ing suc h a larg e cap in th e Championship table a s on th e da y h e wa s o n ly three points awa y from second place while Saund.ers had to be content with fifth, onl y five marks adrift o f Berl a tier in second. An unusual occu ra nce was th at th e sixth to ninth finishers all co ntrived 10 los e the same number o f marks a nd the tie deciders were brought into for ce giving Beta ace ]ordi Tarres the edge over Gilles Burgat (Yam a ha) Di ego Bosis (Mo n tesa) a nd forme; World Trials Champion, Am eri can Bernie Schreiber (Ya ma ha) . Th~ Michaud win was certainly no surprise. nor was Berla tier in second b~t ]CM's Pasca l Couturier cer ta in ly raised a few eyebro ws finishing third as he has shown little form so far this year. Bu t with co ndi tions making it very much of a lo ttery anything was possible and Couturier was able to reap the benefi t, - ..... ~ ::: Results 1ST MOTO: 1. Massi mo Contini (Cog); 2. Dave Str ijbos (Cag); 3. Massimo Manzo (KTM ); 4. Pekka Vehkonen (Cag); 5. John Van der Bar k (Yam); 6. Ism o Vehkone n (Ha n); 7 . Ala in Lejeune (Suz)' 8 Alba no ~arozzi (Be n ); 9. Petr Kovar (Kewl; 1O. En~ Carducc IKawl ; 11. Art o Panttil a (KTMI; 12. Mika Kouk l (Yam); 13 . Giuseppe A ndr eani (Ben)' 14 Thie rry Godfro id (Kaw) ; Al essandro Puzar (KiM ). . 2ND MO TO: 1. Contini ; 2. Str ijbos; 3. Van der Berk; 4. D,eter Lacher (KTM); 5. Kouki ; 6. Pantt ila; 7. Pekka Y~ hko nen; 8 . Leje une ; 9 . Barozzi; 10. Walter Ban oll n. (KTM ); 11 . Godfroid; 12 . Pedro Tragter (Hon); 13 . Kovar; 14. Carducci; 15. Ismo Vehkonen. POINT STANDINGS: 1. Pekka Vehkonen (92 )' 2. Strijbos (74); 3. Van der Berk (69); 4 . Panttila (67 i; 5. Kouk,(65); 6.lsmoVehkonen 154); 7. Contini (51); B. Dietmer Lacher (30); 9. Lejeune (26); 10. Alwyn V~n Ast~~JPJ.. '.'_ . . . . _ . Results , OVERAl l; 1. Thierry Mi chaud (99); 2. Phill ippe Berfatier (117); 3. Pascali Couturi er (119); 4. Eddy Leleune (120 ); 5. St eve Saund ers (122); 6. (TIE) J ordl Tarres/G illes Bu rg at /Diego Bosi s/Bern ie Schre iber Tarre s (12B); 10. Donato M igllio (135); 11. RenatoCh,aberto (137 ); 12. Tony Scarlett(143); 13. Gabino Rena les (154); 14. Andreu Codina (157); 15 . John Lampkin (16 B). SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Thierry M i~ha ud (B9); 2-.Eddy Lejeune (80); 3. Steve Saunders (6B); 4 . PhIlip pe Berlat, er (56); 5. Diego Bosis (49)' 6 Jordi Tarr es (45); 7. Gilles Burgat (35); B. (TIE)Pas: cal . Couturier/ Bern ie Schreiber (28); 10. Renata Ch,aberto (27); .11. (TIE) Tony Scarlett/Joh n lampkin (26); 13. Donato M iglio (1 14. Gabino Renales (14); 15. Eric Lajeune (12); 16. Gerald Richardson / Andreu Codina (11); lB. (TIE) Martin Karlsson / UUIS Gallach (10 ); 20 . {TIE) Juan Frexias /Harold Crawford (4); 21 . Bern ard Cordonn ier (2); 22 . (TIEl Phd A lderson / Ulf Peter Lundquist/Peter Ja hn (11 . n Enduro Secrets Revealed By Ed Coonfield Hourglass Publishing P.O. Box 924 Salido. CO 81201 $11.95 Reviewed By Stan Bent For the motorcyclist interested in entering an enduro for the firs t tim e, " En d u ro Secrets Revealed" is an excellent look at !!le. bas ics ,inv?lved in the sport, Timekeeping I S th e ba ckbone o f an enduro," the author tells us, and h is thorough analys is of timekeepi ng makes for a n easier understa ndi ng ~f what an enduro is rea lly a ll about . T he key to ';1n enduro is maintainig a pre-determi ned ra te of speed over the entire cour~e ; this rate of speed ca n cha nge du ring the event. Check points are sca ttered secretly througho u t the co u rse , and arriving ea rly Of lat e a.t o ne COS!S .points; stay ing on ume I S th e deciding fact or Iorwinning an event, not speed. A wat ch , ? do me ter a nd ro ll cha rt a re th e o n ly Hems needed to stay "on yo ur m inut e" while keeping up with th e many end uro varia bles, incl udi ng speed cha nges , resets a nd free time. Th e a utho r does a n excel len t job o f cove rin g th ese area s in depth a nd making th em easy to co m prehe nd even f~r so meone wh o ha s never ridden a n enduro. Once yo u:ve ma stered timekeeping , th ere a re su l] man y as pects to co nside r to be co m pe ti tive in thi s ni ch e of mot orcycling. The a u thor covers man y o f th ~se areas in cluding rul es and regul'!ll ons o f th e sport, gell ing en tered , bik e and hod y prepa ration , proper rid i ng gea r a nd riding tips. Th e book is very detailed and easv to understand even fo r a neophyte to th e sp o r t, Sea so ned end u ro riders m.ight a lso pi ck up a few hdpful h i n ts fro m th e . a u tho r 's obvi ous expe rience o n th e end uro tra il. Th e book is ea sy to read and well-illustrat ed with illl eresting a n d useful ph otos.an~ is recomme.mkd for everyo ne think in g o f en termg an end uro a n d wantin g 10 ' "zero" a ll th eir chec ks. - ALABAMA Dixie Cycle Birm ingham, AL 205/833-6299 ARKANSAS Rainbow Honda Bentonville , AR 501/273·9449 CAUFORNIA · DH Cycles Modesto , CA 209/524-1432 JonesMX Walnut, CA 714/598-1985 KTM of San Jose . San Jose, CA 408/ 258-0750 I Performance Cycle Anaheim, CA 714/991-7210 Snyder's Chainsaw Service Burney, CA 916/335-2828 Warren's Harley-Davidson, Inc. Salinas, CA 408/ 424·1909 COLORADO The Dirt Broker Lakewood, CO 303/234-1051 CONNECTICUT Suburban Cycles Shelton , CT 203 1734-6273 Willow's Kawasaki- Yamaha Cheshire, CT 2031272·7201 FLORIDA AJ.S. Sport Cycles Pompano Beach, FL 305/428-6666 GEORGIA Cycle South, Inc. Riverdale , GA 404/991-6642 Fredericks Cycle Center Winder, GA ' 404/867-4563 H&HKTM Husqvarna Can-Am Mableton, GA 404/941-9184 Layton Motorcycle Sales, Inc. Cartersville, GA 4041386-8965 IWNOIS Action Cycle Litchfield, IL 217/324-6031 Bike Bam Morrison, IL 800IBIK-BARN; IL-8151778-3641 Bob's Cycle Sales Crossville, IL 618/966-3731

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