Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Frenchman Jean-M ichel Bayle easily won both motos at the opening round of the World Championship 125cc MX Series in Italy . In his 125cc debut, 1987 500cc MX World Champion Georges Jobe had a disappointing day, finish ing '10 t h overall via a 12-9 tally. World Championship 12Scc MX Series: Round 1 Bayle sweeps 'em in Italian GP opener By Alex Hodgkinson CASTIGLIONE DEL LAGO, ITALY , APR. 4 The opening 125cc MX G rand Prix saw French m an J ea n- Mich el Bayl e and his Hon da ba ttle against the giants of the quarter-liter class, such as second ranked Dutchman Da vey Strijbos, and wa lk away with two mota . .' d h da v' II v.lctones an t e a y s avera tIt~c:. Second place went to 30 Strij bos, whil e ~ meTica n Bob.b y Moore m oto~ed hi s KTM to a third o vera ll,. while 1987 500cc World ' Champion ,Geor ges. Jobe .from Be!g lll m didn t even. figure In tod ay s results. H e's hoping to become th e first rider in hi story to win a ll th ree cla ss cha m pio ns hips. This is jobe' s fir st a tte m p t in th e 125cc ~ Iass . Absent from th e 125cc ,,:ars IS the 1987 125cc World Champion Tea m Yamah a's J ohn Van den Berk from H olland , wh o wil.l be. ca ~ pa i gn i n g the 250cc GP ClrCUJl In stea d of defend in g his I25cc titl e. Wh ile good wea ther returned to no rthern Eu ro pe , Ital y was hit by pers istent ra in for five da ys prior to the E~ster Monda y ra ce, th o ug h su ns h ine fro m midda y ym ade th e second race less mudd y. But mu d in the I25cc class mean s Ba yle. Just lik e fell ow Fre nc h ma n, for mer 25 0cc World C ha mp io n J acky Vim ond, the 19-year-old from Proven ce is o u tsta ndi ng in suc h go ing a nd even Strijbos, wh o seems to be Bayle's on ly serio us rival, had to admit: "Today J ean-Mich el was th ebest. There ca n be no doubt a bo u t that. But I have o nly had th e cha nce to ride m y new Cagiva twice before we came here, and I am not full y at home with it yet. I am sti ll confident, a nd I hope that I can pu ll back a ll of the po ints over the next two weeks in Belg iu m a nd Hollan d." Two falls in the first race restricted Strij bos to fou rt h pl ace as Bayle won by two minutes a nd la p ped up to eigh th place, but seco nd pl ace in th e Cagiva 's Davey Strijbos from Holland was Bayle's only threat. Strijbos went 4 -2 for second overall. Th ird went to American Bobby Moore. seco nd mo to was eno ug h to g ive the Dutchman seco nd overall (and IO points less than Bayle) after a poi nts tie with Moore. The Ca lifornian, a KTM works rid er, sa id before the race that he was not looking forward to racing in the mud, but after co llec ting 30 points he was more phi losoph ical : " I still don't like it, but I got good start s an d kept out o f troubl e. Tha t' s th e on ly ~ay to ride in th ese co nditio ns." After j us t two laps o f race o ne, Bayle led Ital y's Puzar Alessandro a nd hi s KTM by 15 seco nds, while Str ijbos was a further 30 seco nds back in thi rd . Long before th e chec kered nag, Ba yle had ex tended hi s lead to two m inutes a nd was often a lmos t sto pp ing to look across th e track before pi cking hi s line to a void fall en riders, feet up lik e a tri al s rid er. Also in th e seco nd race he quickly moved ou t of sig h t of Strijbos a nd won with ease , lapping all but 12 rivals on a much drier cou rse. For J obe hi s first 125cc GP was a di saster. After stru gg ling to 12th in moto o ne he said , " I was riding like a novice. I kn ow I can ride much faster on a 125 but I was very nervous. I was maki ng such stupid m istak es and fell off so man y times. I cannot even blam e a bad sta rt because I was ninth through the first turn in race one, but th en I fell a lready on th e first la p. But I am su re I can make second pla ce to Bayle in race two ." Jobe appears to hav e underestimated th e opposition. Although the track was very difficult to pa ss on, J o be worked ba ckwards , being passed by teammat e Britain's Alain Lejeune, Ital y's Massim o Man zo and H olland 's P edro Tra gt er bef ore crash ing into a do wn ed Corrado Maddi i. Only in the fina l three laps did J obe show rea l fo rm as h e repassed Massi mo a nd Czechos lovakia 's Peter Ko va r to fin ish close beh ind his co usi n, Brita in 's Therry God ro id. H onda -mounted T ragt er had led the start o f mot o o ne bu t went down _ in th e first turn leaving Bayle and GP deburant J amie Dobb entering th e seco nd turn side-by-side. But Dobb, too , went down, g iving Bayle the lead . Puzar took over th e chase a fter Bayle, but in evitabl y th e It alian started crashing before half di stan ce a nd was back in the paddock before the end o f the race . .Strij bos took Over seco nd p lace temporarily before th e first of IWO falls on a mudd y clim b let Moor e into second which he held to the fin ish desp ite a stro ng cha llenge in th e fina l laps from Fin la nd's Mikka Kouki, wh o had ridden the works Yam aha su pe rbly 10 climb from 10th , o n lap o ne . A sec o n d fa ll had ' d ro p ped Strijbos behind Sweden's Jeff Nilsson, who was in the top five on every la p of th e race o n his ret urn to 125cc GP racing. But Strijbos regained fourth from Nilsson four laps from the fini sh. Nil sson sa id, " T hi s is 'm y first mot ocross since August a nd I was not· very confident after practi ce in the deep mud. But th e su n dried it out enough for race two that the mud started to ge l very heavy a nd my enduro experie nce ca me in very handy. I just co ncentra ted on riding a t m y own pace a nd not losing m y rh ythm. If I had tried to keep ahead of Dave, I would p robabl y have started to mak e mi stakes. Maddii passed me on th e fin al lap but I gOI him back two corners later." Bayle needed o nly as far as th e third corner to pa ss PuzarIor the lead in race two and wi thin half a lap, Maddii was a lso past th e you ng KTM rider. Strijobs was the neX110 demote P uza r, as Bayle disappeared into the distance, and he was soon a lonely second as Maddii dropped back quickly aft er being passed. Moore broke clear of the pack to also pa ss Puzar, bUI the It al ian regained third in the closi ng laps, having had a less strenuous first race. Arto Panrilla , who had been fastest in limed training and prominent in the firs t race unti l a fa ll (he broke the kick start before th e start of the race a nd had to push start th e KTM in th e deep mud which cost him a lot of time), was alwa ys in contro l of the next battle which included Lej eune, Manzo , Tra gter, Jobe, Godroid a nd Maddii a t o ne time or a nothe r. Passing p roved ex treme ly ' d ifficu lt a nd fall s were to prove decisive. First Maddii went down soon after being passed by Tragter, recovering from a mod erat e start, a nd j obe was un able 1 a void the fall en 0 Italian. th en Manzo fell and finall y Jobe got going properl y in th e final laps after struggling for most o f th e da y 10 forg et hi s 500cc ri di n g technique. , Ameri can Mike Heal ey had a forgett ab le da y. Riding a Yamaha for th e Ital ian importer, Heal ey couldn ' t come to grips with the conditions and fell man y tim es a fter bad starts before the motor seized. • Results 1, Jean ·Michel Bayle (Han) 1·1 ; 2, Davey 5trijbos (Cag) 4·2 ; 3, Bobby Moore (KTM) 2·4 ; 4, Al ain Lejeun e (Han) 7·6 ; 5, M ika Kouki (Yam) 3-1 5; 6. Alessandro Puza (KTM) 0-3; 7. Corrado Maddii (Han) 6·14; B, Arto Panttila (KTM) 15·5 ; 9. Peter Kovar (Kaw) 10 ·11 ; 10, Georges Jobe (Han) 129; 11. Eric Vig elle (Han) B·13 ; 12. J eff Nilsson (Yam) 5-0; 13 . Pedro Tragter (Hon) 0 ·7; 14. Thierry Godfroid (Han) 0-8; 15, Andrea Bartolini (Suz) 90; 16 , Massimo Manzo (TM) 0 -10; 17 . Pasi Hagstrom (Kaw) 11-0; 1B, Alberto Barozzi (Ben) 0 -14; 19. Marnico Berveets (Yam) 13-0; 20 , Albert Van Breugel (Han) 14·0,

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