Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

David Thorpe (1) leads arch rival Andre Malherbe during the final 500cc GP of the season. World Championship 500cc MX Series: Final round Jobe wins, Thorpe clinches title By Alex Hodgkinson KOHLENBERG, LUXEMBOURG, AUG. 10 Riding like the true champion he IS, David Thorpe left Kohlenberg on Sunday evening having successfully defended his world 500cc motocross crown and, just as 12 months earlier in Switzerland, the 23-yearold Brit did it in style. Although Georges Jobe was . . . ofhoally the wmner of the GP (his third in the final four of the series) Thorpe equalled his points core on the .day. as they LOok a win and a third apiece to head a Honda one· two· three in the individual championship stakes. After winning the dry first moto in almost a rerun of the epic battle with Andre Malherbe at the same track 12 months ago, Thorpe settled for a third in a wet race two to clinch the crown by five points from the Monacobased star who was twice second in this final GP. "Even though I only needed a fourth in race two to clinch the title after my first moto win, I wanted to go out and win that one, too" said Thorpe. "But I lost a little bit too much ground to Georges and Andre in the opening laps, and in these conditions I obviou ly had LO play safe and settle for third." The supremely exciting first race, fought out. before 30,000 spectators, developed ~?to a battle of both speed and wtts. Andre and myself were passing each other several times each lap just as we had done 12 months ago, so I decided after a quarter of an hour LO change my tactics. I knew where I could pass Andre so I just had to wait for the right moment," said Thorpe. That moment came after 36 min· utes and then Thorpe really ga sed it, using all of his speed and also carving a way through the lapped runners beller than his rival. With two laps to go the result was clear. On the incredibly slippery track which faced the riders for heat two, it was a maller of survival with no direct rival in front or behind after the early sort out. And so Thorpe swept home to his second world title with one of the hardest tasks being ab!e. to cross the line as thousands of Bnush supporters surged onto the tra k to await his arrival in a chaotic end to the race. Erik Geboers, David's nearest rival at the start of the day, had the sympathy of all as he fought to maintain a Honda one-two-three after a collision with a kamikaze spectator during race one. Kurt Nicoll fought like a tiger to snatch seventh in the final table from a desperately unlucky Hakan Carlqvist, though the Kawasaki rider didn't even realize at first that his surging ride to fourth in race two had clinched him the place. The three-way battle for ninth was eventually settled in favor of Rob Andrews, who put two scores together against the one of eventual 10th man Mervyn Anstie, and Laurence Spence. For 10 minutes before the start of the opening race, the ri val cheers for Thorpe, Geboers and Malherbe rang around the track and nerves were at a breaking point as the gate fell. Malherbe burst inLO the lead with Thorpe in pursuit, and it didn't take long for Carlqvist and lobe LO displace Corrado Maddii from third, as Geboers seemed LO be struggling in his efforts to make much headway from an initial 10th. The lap chans showed Thorpe in front on laps two, three and four but the lead was changing continually at the back of the track, while lobe moved past Carla and tried to close on the Honda duo in front. It wasn't until the seventh of 19 laps that Geboers and Nicoll (10th at the end of the opening lap) took fifth and sixth from Maddii, but they were already too far behind to catch the leaders as Carlqvist rode a lonely race in fourth. Choice of tires played an important role in this race, as heavy watering during the midday break left the track wet for the opening laps but bone hard by the end. lobe had fitted wet-weather tires, and after never quite closing on the Hondas, he began LO lose ground on the halfhour as his tire fought desperately for grip. Nicoll's race was a direct contrast. "I decided on dry weather tires," explained Kurt. "I just didn't get a drive of[ the start and I was in trouble during the early laps, which made it difficult to move forward as quickly as I would have liked. I kept the pace of the leaders in the second haiL" Nicoll all but caught Geboers as the Belgian started LO get ragged after the incident with the spectator but the decision went in favor of the Honda man by a few yards. Up front Thorpe made the decisive move after 36 minutes to opelT up a seven point lead in the championship over Malherbe with Geboers almost out of it a further five back and lobe's slender chances having gone completely. More than one month totally without rainfall meant that Luxembourg was o££icially a drought area, but the overcast skies which had heralded the stan of race one took on a more ominous appearance an hour before the scheduled start of the second. The heavy rain made the surface like a skating rink. Surprisingly it was Geboers who snatched the lead from Magarono, lobe and Malherbe, with Thrope seventh after his title-rival swerved across his path 30 yards out of the gate. But Geboers went down on the first lap, completing it lOth, and it was lobe who led from Malherbe with Carla having passed Thorpe and the rest for a close third. Next time around Carla was well ahead and riding in a class of hi.s own, but on his fourth appearance, the Swede-was coasting; he pulled up by his mechanic, bounced the rear end of the machine to show everyone what was wrong and stormed off LO the pits. By then the rest of the leaderboard had developed a pallem. Malherbe had also gOllen past lobe LO lead until the half hour at which time lobe surged back past and disappeared into the distance. Thorpe was a distant but untroubled third apart from a heart-stopping slide three laps from the end while Nicoll was fourth despite kicking a trackside post and Madii got the bi t between his teeth to outclass Persson, Geboers, van der Yen, Andrews and the extrovert MagarotLO in the battle over the placings. Even before Malherbe arrived after Thorpe finished, a horde of British spectaLOrs were on the track. At least the 2000 strong mob was no longer in a position to know if Thorpe had crossed the official line or not, as they dragged the champion from his bike. After sliding off in fourth, Nicoll had to ride like a demon to repass Geboers and then, on the final lap, Maddii, only to be faced with the seething rna s of track trespassers .. For an element of the crowd the reemergent sunshine might have been considered a a blessing LO their dispute as LO who would take home the champion's helmet, but above all the chaos the glorious skies had really returned LO "reign" down on David Thorpe's bead - crowning him Champion of the World for the second year in a row. • Results MOTO 1: 1. Oavid Thorpa (Han): 2. Andre Mal· herbe (Han); 3, Georges Jobe (Kaw); 4. Hakon Carlqvist (Vam): 5, Erik Geboers (Han); 6. Kurt Nicoll (Kaw); 7. Rob Andrews IKawl: 8. Yves Gervaise tKTM}; 9. Claudio DeCarli (Han); 10. Mervyn Anstie (Kaw); 11. Corrado Maddii (Kaw); 12. Laurence SpenceIKTM): 13. Jean-Claude Laquayo (Han): 14. Leif Persson (Vam); 15. Luc Bursens (Hen). MOTO 2: 1. Joe: 2. Malherbe: 3. Thorpa: 4. Nicoll: 5. Maddii; 6. Geboers; 7. Persson; 8. Mao.rono; 9. Kees van derVen (KTM); 10. Gervaise; 11. Andrews; 12. lean-Luc Fouchet IKTM); 13. Walter Gruhler lKaw); 14. Laquaye; 15. Andre Vromans (KTM). FINAL POINTS STANOINGS: 1. Thorpe (316): 2. Malhorbe (311); 3. Geboers (299); 4. Georges Jobe (296): 5. Van der Ven (211); 6. Persson (202): 7. Nicoli (157);8. C8rlqvist(156): 9. Andrews (76): 10. AnSlie (62): 11. Maddii (61): 12. Spanco (60): 13. Kinigadnar (451: 14. Seigle (45).

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