Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kees Van der Ven led Holland to a second place f in ish beh ind team U.S.A. on his 500cc KTM . A big crowd turned out for the MX des Nations at Unadilla despite the inclement weather; chants of U.S .A., U.S.A. filtered through the crowd. 8 Maddii, Diepold and Bayle chased. Shortly after, though, Strijbos got cros sed up .in the mud and crashed. He quickly regrouped and crashed again shortly after; breaking off his clutch lever. This put the Dutchman ou t o f co n tention and all but ruined the Netherlands hopes for the title. At the II-minute mark, Johnson had developed a sizable lead over Van Den Berk, who was busy trying to keep Geboers at bay. . Bayle was on the move and . repassed Hannah, but a la p later he pulled off to the side of the track with a bent shift lever. Bayle received assistance outside th e designated work area and was later disqualified from the moto. When Bayle pulled his illegal stop, Hannah took over control of fourth with a huge margin over Maddii and Bayle. At the 17-minute point, Hannah had reeled in a fading Van Den Berk, who had just been passed ' by Geboers, making the top five Johnson, Geboers, Hannah, Van Den Berk and Maddii. The last 10 minutes of the race saw Johnson enjoy a comfortable lead over Geboers. Maddii, however, was gaining on Hannah, despite what Hannah's pit board read. " It read plus 20, plus 22 seconds, " said Hannah, " b u t I knew that was wrong. They didn't see Maddii. Those guys weren't slowing up behind me; they weren't acting like I lapped them , so I just kept going." By this time, British riders Herring and Kurt Nicoll had dropped out with seized motors in their Yamahas. "Mud got packed in the radiators and they seized," sa id Nicoll. " It started . seizing up about the seventh lap , th en it let go about four laps from the finish." . Johnson went on to win , giving the U.S . team a big morale boost. Geboers too k second, despite crashing three laps from the finish, ahead of Hannah, who barely finished in front of Maddii. Velkeneers, Germany's Arto Panttila (125cc), Van Den Berk, Diepold and France's Yannick Kervella followed. Hannah 's second moto 125cc class win gave him the 125cc overall. "I had it pinned the whole way ," said Hannah. "'I didn't have any choice but to just go. I wanted to get a big lead in case I fell; you could fall and lose 30 seconds in a heartbeat. " O n all the uphills, I took it easy at the bottom and made sure I made it. On the flats I let 'er hang ou t a little bit. Th Bike never missed a beat, andth suspension was unbelievable to where I could just push it, " he said. Hannah 's win was an important one for him, especially with all the controversy surrounding his selection over 125cc National Champion Micky Dymond. Many thou~ht it should have been Dymond riding in the MX des Nations ins tead of Hannah. "I wan ted to go, Suzuki wanted 'me to go and I got picked to go ," said Hanriah, "b u t nobody was happy about me being in the 125cc class. The pressure was on me to do a good job, or I would get bad mouthed. " Bu t I was thinking out there," sai d H an nah jokingly, "' 'You know, Micky Dymond , you owe me di n ner for you not being here, because, man, you wouldn 't like this out here.' I was getting mud thrown in my face all day." "'T oday ,': continued Hannah, "'I didn 't want to get beat, because I'm not here for me.There're three of us here and th e pressure is on. I can't just go out th ere and say, 'well, I hurt my leg, I hurt m y ankle' and give up. You have to keep going no matter what. There was no time playing around." Everything was on the line for the start of the third and final moto. It was the 250/500cc heat, and to clinch the title for the U.S., either Johnson or Ward had to win th eir class. Bu t wh en the gate dropped, it was Van der Ven jamming into the lead followed by Johnson, Geboers, Van Den Berk, Nicoll and Ward. In the first turn, Johnson. and Ward almost collided. "We touched eac h o ther," said Johnson, "but J eff let me go by down the straigh t. I looked over a t h im and he backed off a nd sucked in behi nd me. T he n a 500cc rider, I think it was jobe, passed Ward and a lmost too k me oUL I'm thankful Jeff let me by - that's good teamwork." "I let Rick by," said Ward. "I knew he had just raced, so I wanted to follow his lines. " In the next couple of turns, Ward was running sixth behind Van der Ven , Johnson, Geboers, Van Der Berk and Nicoll. On the same lap, Jobe ended Belgium's hopes for the title when he went off the course and got banners wrapped around his rear wh eel. " T he banners got caught in my wheel and the rear brake wouldn' t work," said jobe. " I stopped and m y mechanic tried to get it out ,bu t it didn't work." The unscheduled stop put J obe far back in the pack. Geboers was having problems himself. He fell in the mud during the second la p , and eventually fell a cou pIe of more times befor e the race was through. " I just kept crashing," said Geboers. At this point, six minu tes into th e race, Ward was on the move, and J oh nson was cruisi ng out in fro nt. Ward set out after, and passed Nicoll and Van Den Berk, then began reeling in Van der Ven. Late in the rac e, near the 25minute point, Ward had gained noticeably on Van der Ven and was searching for a line around the KT M rider in the thick and slimy m ud. Although Ward got close, he could never launch a serious attack against the Dutchman, especially on the last lap when Ward crashed. Well in command of the lead, three laps from the finish, Johnson p ulled into the mechanics ' area. "'I stopped to tell my mechanic (Bri an Lunniss) that I wanted a new pair of goggles for the next lap, but he didn't have any. I figured I had two laps to go , anyway, so it didn't matter. Goggleless, Johnson crosse d the finish line cleanly ahead of Van der Ven (first 500cc), Ward (seco n d 500cc), Nicoll, Van Den Berk (second 250cc) and Geboers. "It feels great to win," said Joh nson. "I didn 't want to ma ke any mistakes. The next 250 was a wa ys back, and Van der Ven was up there , too . R oger (DeCoster) told me if th ey (Van der Ven a nd Van Den Berk) ge t two firs ts, they could win the overall, so I didn 't want either one of them in front of me." "This win has to peak right up there with winning m y fir st National at Carlsbad (Ca liforn ia) and winning my first National Championship in 1984," said Johnson. " T h is

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