Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

An arm injury kept the defending 500cc World Champion. Dave Thorpe. out of the hunt all year. He still managed f ifth in points. While revving his Kawasaki before the start of the second rnoto. Kurt Nicoll's motor blew. He salvaged second in points. nonetheless . A m erican Billy Liles was in contention for the second rnoto w in bef ore t he packing blew out of his silencer and clogged the exhaust pipe. World Championship SOOcc MX Series: Final round Van der Ven sweeps Swiss GP By A lex Ho d g kins o n ROGGENBU RG, SW ITZERLAN D, AUG . 30 H ollands Kees Van der Ven, riding a Yamaha, captured the overall . victory In Switzerland after sweeping bo th m o tos. Van der Ven 's win came on the same track where 8 he broke his righ t hand in his last visit in 1984, and even th is time he didn 't escape injury, as a stone smashed his goggles 10 m inu tes from the end of th e second mo ta. H e was forced 10 wear an ice pack over his rig ht eye duri ng the awards ceremony . The race was a disaster for Grea t Britain 's Kur t Nicoll (Kawasaki ), but he was able to secure the FIM silver medal in tile o vera ll point sta ndings (six poi nts ahea d of Finl and 's Kurt Ljungq vist), 'while defendi ng 500cc World Champion, H onda's Dave Thorpe fin ished second place in the second mota, nabbing fifth in the point stand ings. The start of the firs t moto saw Ita lia n Fra nco Rossi (Ka wasa ki) blasting int o th e lead with World Champion Georges l obe, Van der Ven and Nicoll ho t on his tra cks. A half lap la ter Ni co ll wa s down. "T ha t Italian (Roma no) Nann in got tot ally o ut of co ntro l on the down hill sectio n to the turn a t th e bo ttom and wiped me out." That put Nico ll right at the back of the pack. For 18 minutes. Rossi kept hi s lead, but he was certain 10 get ragged with lobe and Va n der Ven ho t o n hi s tai l. T horpe ha d moved up 10 fift h . " It was so diffi cu lt 10 pass wit ho ut ta king ris ks, and I do no t like that," said T horpe. " I would've liked 10 have been with the leaders q ui cker." By this tim e tea m Yamaha was ou t of th e race. Defen d in g 250cc World Ch ampio n, Fre nc h man Ja ck y Vimo nd had engine prob lems wi th his Yamaha; Lju nqvist was o ut wit h frorit brake problems, a nd Sweden's Leif Persso n was o ut aft er cras h ing. Swede n's H a ka n Carlqvist pu lled ou t of th e race wi th cra mps in his fo rearm s. After running in fo urt h , l ob e had taken over th e lead , but late in the race, he went down a t the top of the course in a righ t-h ander. " I had fitt ed pro tectors on my hand lebar s, but every time I went into a righ t-hand turn, I was hitti ng it with my kn ee an d kn ocking on the front brake." Rossi too k overthe lead but was qui ckl y ta ke n ov er by Thorpe. H owever, Van der Ven was on the gas a nd sho t by bo th lead ers. " I sh ou ld've tri ed immediately for Kees," said Thorpe, "bu t o nce he go t the bit between h is teeth , it wou ld've been very di fficu lt to get past fairly." Am erica n Bill y Li les dropped a u! du ri ng the race with a dem ol ish ed fro nt wh eel. J ust before the start of th e second rnoto , the rear shock spri ng o n Ni co ll 's Kawasa ki was found to be broken, a nd at th e last mi n u te it had to be rep laced . O nce on th e lin e, thoug h, hi s Kawasak i 's mot or blew while revving it up for the moto. Ita lian Mourizio Daleo grabb ed the ear ly lead at th e sta rt, but the lead only lasted for a lap and a half before Bri tain 's Andy Nicholls swept by on th e in side a nd began to open up a comfo rtable lead. It wasn 't until the halfway mark whe n Vimond took over second pl ace fro m Do leo, and movin g up through the pack was Van der Ven with Liles h ot o n hi s track s. T horpe was ru nn ing eigh th behi nd Brits Dirk Ge ukens a nd Mervyn Anstie. By this tim e, J obe had dropped o u t of the race with a sticking rear brake, a nd a fla t rear tire ha d pu t Carlqvist to th e sidelines. Ljungq vist also develo ped a flat rea r tire but he sto pped 10 have the com p lete rear whee l changed in order 10 salvage poi nts. He d id manage one poi nt in the moto. Persson dropped o ut whe n his rear brak e q uit working. After half an hour, Vimo nd bega n tiring and began fad ing lett ing by Van der Ven a nd L iles. Both Van der Ven a nd Lil es were beginnin g to gain grou nd on Nich olls. With a lap a nd a half remaining, Van der Ven was hit in the eye by a rock. " I co uldn 't see for a time ou t of that eye beca use the broken glass stea med _ u p fro m th e perspiration o n my face, but it clea red after about a lap and I co uld go for the wi n again, " said Van der Ven . L iles was sti ll close behind as they started the last la p , bu t the American was no t to finish. "The packing had started 10 co me out of the silencer a few lar s from the fin ish , and a couple a times I was losing power before some packing blew righ t o ut," said L iles. "T hen on the last lap , it o nce again blocked the exhaust flow a nd I just didn 't hav e the power 10 get u p the big hi ll." Va n der Ven took control of th e lead with Nicholls dropping back 10 seco nd and Vimond third. Geukens fin ished fourth, whi le Anstie took fift h. Thorpe spent the entire moto battl in g with a rear fla t tire and finished 16th. Results • 1. Kees Van der Ven (KTM ); 2. An dy Nicholls (Kaw); 3. Mervyn An stie (KTM); 4 . Jo Manens (Kaw ); 5 . Dave Tho rpe (Han); 6 . Fra nco Rossi (Kawl; 7. Dirk Geukens (Han); 8. Romano Nann ini (KTM); 9. J ean -Charl es Tonu s IKTM); 10 . J acky Manens (KTM ). WORLD CHAM PIONSHIP 500cc MX SERIES FINAL POINT STANDINGS, 1. George s J obe (304); 2. Kurt Nicoll (249); 3. Kees Van der Ven (243) ; 4 . Kurt Ljun gqvis, (209); 5. Dave Thorpe (182); 6. Lei! Persson (158); 7. Heinz Kinigad ner (140 ); 8. Jacky Ma nens (135); 9. Jo Manens (124); 10 . Clau dio DeCarl i I ll S); 11. Mervyn Anstie (117); 12. Hakan Car lqvist (10 2); 13 . Dir k Geuke ns (89); 14. Romano Nannini (8 1); 15. Billy Liles (75); 16. Rob And rews (5B); 17. Andy Nicholl s (56); 1S. Andre Vromans (55); 19 . Laur ence Spence (53); 20 . M ark Banks (50).

• Cover