Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

border than ,I should have, and. 1 remember thinking to myself, 'Scot, th is is not the time to make a wrong turn!' " - The rally consisted of two separate competitions. Each day provided a new winner in the "fastest time of the day " division, and overall elapsed times were accumulated over thefive days and 1500 miles to name a grand champion at the end of th e event, Harden 's race did not get off to a good stan. "The first day I ran ou t ' of luel just before th e finish and by the time someone else came by to gi ve me some, I was 29 minutes behind the leader," said Harden. " And then you have to sp end the night in one of the hotels - and that term should be ap plied very loosely. They are like th e worst Baja hotels you can imagine. ': . . . Morales' first day went a little Approximately 700 riders entered the World Series of Motocross beach beuer, and saw the American hopeful race in Scheveningen. Holland . Erik Geboers won it. finish sixth, but hi s hopes were dashed the following day when his four-stroke 510 bit the dust. , ":Day two started out with a fourmile drag race to a smoke bomb and that was pretty funny, " said Morales with a laugh. "T he winner of the drag race was going to get 1000 francs - .th a t 's about $150. The only problem was that it was really windy and that made such a sand storm that not' one person out of abou t 80 on the starting line could find the smoke bomb. Even the helicopter couldn't find it. With all that sand and dust out there, you couldn 't see a thing. It was pretty bizarre." Morales was going strong in the early part of the day's competition, but was forced to retire when his With his w in in Ho lla nd . Team Ho nda's Geboers now leads the series. transmission seized half wa y through American Rick Johnson gave up the po in ts lead to race in Japan . th e day, leaving Harden on his own as the only American in the event. fl By the end of day two , Harden was on his own in another respect. A rapid ride catapulted him out in front of the field and earned him th e da y two crown, 'a nd from then on, America's last-hope '. rider did not look back. Harden clocked up som e fas t tim es as th e large, co unt er-clockwise loop around Tunisia cont in ued on days three and four of the competition, and came out fighting on da y five. , "The weather changed dramatiBy Alex Hodgkinson cally on the last day of the race ," said Harden. "There was a downpour SCHEVENINGEN, HOLLAND, OCT. II that la sted all day . The conditions were very slick, th e washes were full of water and it was pretty wild. I did pretty well and won that day by over 30 minutes." , Harden's finishing burst gave him the edge that he needed and he swept through to-grab the win by just 25 minutesafter 1500 miles of grueling the beach race at Scheveningen Official results in the individual racing. French rider Alex Titone in H olland. motos were restricted ~nd onlya 2 1st claimed second, and Italy's Sandro Th 950 W ld Champi for Dymond In the final moto was e - cc or ampion registered. He appeared to have also Scausa finished third. won the event for the second been around 15th in the second, but l " O n ly 25 ou t of 90 starters made year in a row, and the experience of a number of falls and the unusual it to the finish , so I was pretty happy his fellow Belgians and the home circumstances of racing meant that just to make it all the way ," said riders both in deep sand a nd the the 22-year-old from Yorba Linda, Harden. . ' "Rallys are a big thing in Europe strange nature of the even t saw riders Ca lifornia, who will ride for Yamaha and winning the Djerba was a very from these two countries take the first in 1988, went home with no World big dea l over there," said Harden. 15 places overall and also dominate Series points. "They have TV coverage of it every -- each of the three 20 minute motos. Having raced the event on several day and the people rea lly follo w it. T he track included a two-and-aoccasions, Geboers is well used to the It's a big drama - like a soap opera! half mi le blast down the hard-packed problems of fighting through the I got interviewed on the French beach left behind by the ebbing tide, amateurs, and he soon converted a equivalent of the Today Show, and and the return leg over bulldozered moderate start in the first mo to into after the race, about 75 percent of the jumps and through dune-like sandy a winning lead after passing Martin people .on th e street there knew the turns and straightaways. With 700 de Haas, who also led last year, and name of our sponsor, Foltene." starters in the solo events, the range . Pedro Tragter on lap two. And Europe will not forget Sco t of riding talent was vast, and the J oh n Van den Berk, riding a works Harden in a hurry, Harden and leaders were in heavy traffic halfway . Yamaha Open dasser for the third LaPorte are a lready planning a trip through the short three lap races . time, had also started well but stalled American Mike Beier amazingly in the deep sand at the end of the to the Paris-to-Dakar rally in 1989. "I'm hoping to be the first Amerwon this race in 1984, while Johnny beach as the motor flooded and took ican to win Paris-to-Dakar and O'Mara was also on the rostrum last a long time restarting before coming Danny wants to do it too," said year, but Americans Mic ky Dymond, back to 12th. Experienced j o Martens Harden. "Whoever does win, it 'll be Tyson Vohland and Tom Carson was eventually second to Geboers a great race and we' ll certainly p u t just couldn't hold the local "sandafter nailing Tragter on the final lap. American riders on the map." • hares" in th is year 's race. . An even worse start in the second w World Series of Motocross: Round 3 Geboers romps to Holland win Erik Geboers took fu ll advantage of the ' absence of Ricky Johnson, racin g on the same day in Japan, to move into the lead in the World Series after the third rou n d, Geboers went 1 -3 -1 f o r the overall. Leo Combee took second. Micky Dymond was one of three Americans to compete in Holland. moto left Geboers with no chance of catching Van den Berk and 1985 winner Leo Combee who had led from the start, but Geboers still led overall on four from Jo Martens -on six, Combee seven, Tragter II · and Van den Berk 13. Fourth in race one, Kees Van der Ven had been eliminated on the first lap of race two when he fell and a rival struck him in the face. The KTM rider was transported to the hospital for stitches in his cheek and he also lost several teeth. The overall leaders dominated the third race with Geboers passing Tragter and Van den Berk on lap two to ensure the overall. The 125cc World Champion demoted Tragter for second on the final lap but tha t was not enough to improve his overall placing after .the . disastrous first race. In their wake J o Martens was able to get past Ponjee late on the fifth, but fourth spot allowed Combee to take second overall on the last heat decider after a points tie.' T he program, organized byand for Dutch National TV station Veronica, was action all the way for the viewers in a three hour live program with a race for side hacks, won for the fifth ti m e by h o m ester J a n Bakens. • Results . 1. Erik Geboers. Bel (Hon) 1-3 ' 1; 2. Leo Combee. Ned (Kaw ) 5- 2-4; 3. J o Martens. Bel (Kaw ) 2- 45; 4 . Pedro Tragter, Ned (Hon) 3-B-3; 5. John Van • don Ber k, Ned (Yam) 12-1-2; 6. Johnny Ponj ee• . Ned IKaw) 6-6 -7; 7 . Peter Dirkx. Bel, 11- 7-9; B. Dinand Zill stra, Ned (KTM ); 9. Jo han Boonen. Bel (KTM ) 15- 11-11; 10. Ja ak Verw aayen, Ned (Kaw) 17-1 3-10; 11. Dirk Geukens. Bel (Hon) 13-1 6-13; 12. Ronn y Westenr aed, Bel (Kaw ) 20- 10-14; 13 . Carlo Hulse n, Ned (HonI 27 - 15- 12; 14. Teus Visser. Ned (Yam) 32- 14- 15; 15. Mar k Velkoneers, Bel (Hon). PT STANDINGS: 1. Geboers (142 ); 2. Ricky Johnson (lOB); 3. Dirkx (104); 4 . Combee (B4); 5. (TIE) Van den Berk/Dave Sl rijbos (76 ); 7. M icky Dymond (74); 8. Keit h Bow en (66 ); 9. Tragtor (64); 10. (TIE) J o MartenslTyson Voh land (46). 25

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