Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

z « ~ ~ ~ I- « 0: I(Jl ~ 0 l- e z z « 0 r- (Jl ~ 00 '" e ~ <:l ....... 0 J: X "' ~ w ..J C\l « - >al ~ (Jl :1 0 I0 ~ J: C1. W ..J ~ Suzuki's Michele Rinaldi has been riding consistently and is third in the 250cc point standings. J:le could only manage an 11 th in France. Eric Geboers piloted his Honda to the 250cc GP win in France, beating Bob Hannah. Geboers took the points lead away from Peklta Vehkonen. World Ch~mpionshipSOOcc MX Series: Round 8 J'obe edges Nicoll for British GP win By Mike Sweeney WILSHIRE, ENGLAND, JULY 12 Team Honda's Georges Jobe took another step nearer the 500cc World Championship title by winning an action-packed British GP in front of an estimated 20,000 spectators at Farleigh Ca~tle. Jobe traded moto wins with hometown . f a.v 0nte , K awasa k" s K urt I NIcoll, but took the overall after topping the second, tie-' breaking second moto. Jobe won the race but the fastest man on the track was Nicoll who had the fans in an uproar by winning the first race (his first GP moLO win of his career) and finishing second place in the second moLO after experiencing a first corner pile-up. Nicoll's. team'mate, Laurence Spence, also had the best day's racing of his career by capturing third overall. While everyone else was battling it out all the way thro\lgh both races, Spence seemed to find space LO just rack up the points. "Something I've leamed over the years about this place (Farleigh Castle) is to keep a good rhythm," said Spence. "As soon as you try LO go fast, you hit all the bumps." Defendin~ 500cc World Champion, BritalO's Dave Thorpe, who finished fourth overall, looked tense before. t~e ~acin~, bu.t a.ft~r a cortisone lOJecuon m hiS mJur~d left shoulder, Thorpe went out 10 the first race and charged from a midpack start to third at the flag. In the following moLO, he raced from near last LO 11th. Afterwards his face was grey and registered a mixture of disappointment at seeing any real chance of retaining his world title disappear and relief at getting through one of the hardest days of his life, honorably and in pain. Marvyn Anstie was the man who burst into the lead as the field powered out of the 1800 first turn. Jacky Martens, on a KTM, was right behind, and Leif Persson, Yamahamounted, was right next to him. The trio soon established a small lead from the chasing pack. During lap two of the 45-minuteplus-two-Iaps moto, Persson got the better of a side-by-side duel with Anstie and slipped by the Belgian for the lead, as Martens feU on lap three, dropping back LO lOth, just ahead of Thorpe. "Jl!orpe had a miserable start but so did his chief rivals icoll and Jobe. Even after a merciless first lap, Jobe was only in fifth, while icolls had to pass Thorpe for II th on lap one. Nicoll, who was nearly two seconds faster than the rest in timed training, was in inspired form, and after 15 minutes of racing, he nipped inside of Jobe just after a long downhill. The crowd went wild with icoll taking over fourth behind Anstie and Honda rider Glaudio De Carli. Persson had built l,Ip an apparemly unassailable lead. Not for long, though. Within one lap, Nicoll was second with Jobe trying hard to maintain contact, but· Persson was fading. "My hands are black and blue," said Persson after the race. "The spectators were leaning on the fence all the way around the track, and it keeps collapsing into the track. One young boy leaned over the fence and I could not avoid hitting him with my handlebars. They must do something about that." For one more lap, Persson managed LO block Nicoll's every move. "I had LO do something desperate to make sure that Jobe didn't catch right up again, because Leif was slowing. I got inside just before the spectators bridge and just forced Persson out in the turn." From that point on, it was Nicoll all the way, as Jobe had problems of his own. "The spectaLOrs near the bridge were throwing beer, and my goggles were covered. I cou Idn' t see," said Jobe. "I could've caught Kurt, but after that I seuled for second." Behind Nicoll and Persson, it was still dog-eat-dog. Thorpe, fighting back the pain, spent a long time trying to get around Belgian's Andre Vromans, and Jo and Jacky Martens before joining Spence in a rapid chase after the Persson!Ansie!De Gali battle. "Persson was holding us all up by then," said Amsie. "Persson tuffed Amsie in a turn," said Thorpe, "so Merv tried LO kill him on the next corner but stalled it, so I got by." That put Anstie at the back of the, group, and Thorpe soon passed the rest for third, not too far behind J obe. "They all got tired," said Thorpe. Nicoll went on to win the moLO ahead of Jobe, Thorpe, Persson, Spence, De Carli, Anstie, JackYI Martens and Vromans. The start of race two probably sealed the Championship for Jobe. While Jobe was third out of the first turn behind Jacky Martens and And Nicholls, most of the other stars were . involved in a first turn pile-up. , Persson had lost his from wheel and fallen inward on LOp of Kees Val) der Yen. Heinz Kinigadner follow~ and Nicoll couldn't avoid geuing sucked in. Thorpe was also delayed: but not for so long and managed to pull up and ride around the melee. At the bottom of the pile was V der Yen. The Dutchman had a miserable day riding at a circuit he hated with a newly pinned righ4 hand, and he'd already been taken out of 15th spot in race one by a fulF blooded, centerpunch from Belgian Dirk Geukens. Van der Yen recovored LO finish 21st. Jobe soon passed Nicholls and even Martens couldn't hold up his countryman for long. While he took command of the race, a bunch of Brits sma hed and grabbed for third: Greg Hanson, Jared Smith, Ni holls and Anstie. A few laps later, Anstie hit the deck, but by now, Nicoll was slicing his way through. Amazingly, positions three through II th were occupied for a while by Kawasaki riders and, according to Kawasaki team manager Alec Wright, everyone moved over to let Nicoll by. After 20 minutes of racing, NicoH had charged through the pack to second place. The gap between leader Jobe and Nicoll was 12 seconds, but Nicoll couldn't gain significantly on Jobe, while Geuken~ stormed his way into third. Spence also labored his way up through the pack from lIth LO fourth place. Thorpe, meanwhile, was bauling with Mark Banks over II th place,

• Cover