Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 O"l ....... KTM's Kees Van der Ven collected a 7 -1 score to claim second overall in his home country. He's fourth in points. Eric Geboers moved int o the World Championship 500cc MX Series points lead after the f irst moto in the Dutch GP . World Championship 500cc MX Series: Round 9 Thorpe injured; Geboers wins Dutch GP By A lex Ho dgkinson LICHTENVOORDE, HOLLAND, J ULY 17 Belgium's Eric Geboers took full advantage of David Thorpe's inju ry-caused absence to convert a nine point defici t to a 28-point lead inthe World Championship 500cc MX Series in Holland with his fourth overall victory of th e - seaso n. England's Thorpe saw his 18 cha nces of a third world titl e di sappear on Saturday (Jul y 16) whe n he flew over th e' handl eba rs in th e closing minutes of free tra ining for th e Dutch GP a nd .su ffered a broken collarbo n e, which wa s al so di sloca ted a t th e shou lder. Before je tti ng back to Engla nd to seek treatment, T horpe told H onda officia ls, " T he bike just sto p ped dead . I wa s o n th e point of fini shing for th e day a nd th en decided to ride just ORe more lap." H onda 's Walter Fleck said, " We have chec ked th e bi ke a nd every thing is in order. T here is no sign o f a stone having lod ged i n th e chain . a nd it has no t stre tched, neither is th ere anything wrong with th e mo to r or brakes. It is a comp lete m ystery. " It was, how ever, suggested by an eyew itness that Thorpe had let th e fro nt whee l dro p in to. a hol e under bra king. It is unconceivab le that T h orpe co u ld ride th e n ex t ro u nd in Sa n Marin o , but Thorpe m ight h ave a cha nce to ride th e final two rounds in Belgi um an d Luxembourg if th e co lla rbone ge ts plated . But, a ny cha nce at th e titl e will m ost likely be out of reach for Thorpe. With Thorpe due to mi ss San Marino and th ird-placed Kurt Ni coll 49 points behind, th e 25-year-old Geboers is looking more lik ely to become th e fir st nder ever to win world titles in a ll three displacem ent classes, and h e co u ld do it on home . soil at th e Ci tadel in Namur, Bel- gium on August 7, just two days a fter hi s 26th birthday. The o n ly man ab le to beat G eboer s in Holland wa s KTM 's Kees Van der Ven, who finally overcame th e battl e with hi s nerv es in homeland GPs to eas ily tak e a prem ium score in th e seco nd m ota. Seemingl y in spired by ra cer s o n hi s favo rite sandy terrain , Andre Vromans followed up h is good sta rts of th e previous week in En gl and by aga in leading th e rid er s a way in race one, but any th oughts of a n easy life in th e ea rly laps as th e favorites fought th eir wa y through the p ack were soon di spelled as Mark Banks hounded th e Belgi an veteran all of th e wav arou nd the difficult course. Banks took the lead on lap two a nd even a renewed attack by Vroma ns cou ld no t shake th e Englishma n's confide nce as he hung on in a close seco n d in front of J acky Marten s. After 15 m inutes, h ow ever,·Banks fell in a turn and 'was relegated to II th pla ce. With in a lap , Ma rte ns , aware th at Ceboers, Nicoll a nd Ism o Vehkone n were cha rg ing ha rd , took over at the fro nt a nd tried to bu ild up a defendable lead while the o thers were ge tt ing arou n d Vromans a nd a d ef ian t Fran co R o ssi. wh o was showi ng uncommon de termi na tio n in sand for a n Italian. Vehkonen , fast est in timed training , had m ade a n awfu l sta rt but su dde n ly found him self in front of Ni coll a s th e Kaw a sak i lead er dropped it in a tight turn. " I .go t alongside Eric on ce, but it was less than a lap lat er that I went down," said Nicoll. " It 's a pity, I don 't know if I co u ld have beaten Eri c, but I might h ave been able to follow him past Jacky. " For a long time G eboers had made little impression on the leading Mart en s even after he had di sposed of Rossi a nd Vromans, but th e lone HRC rid er was very relaxed in hi s ridin g a n d a lways seem ed to have th e situa tio n under co ntro l. With two laps to rid e, he was o n Marten s' rear wh eel , and as th ey burst into th e m ain a rea to start th e fin al lap. th e H onda dr ewalongsid e t he KTM a n d p owered a hea d th rou gh th e fas t, sweep ing turn wh ich co m p let ed th e la p. Geboers had secu red a well-planned 20 points a nd, for th e fir st time this year, the lea d in th e 500cc World Championship. Marten s chased fruitl essl y to th e fla g , Vehkonen wa s a n on e too di stant third and Nicoll fourth to fu rt he r in crease th e points ga p o n Van der Ven. Not for th e first time on h om e gr o u nd, Van der Ven rod e as th ough h e was a ba g.. o f n erves. A terrible start ha d been co n verted into a top 10 placing by half di stance despite a fall o n lap two, bu t a further fall dropped him back again and th e holder o f th e number three pl at e had to do it a ll again to finish seventh, a po stion h e wa s gifted o n th e fin al la p wh en th e throttl e happy Banks ra n out o f fuel just short o f th e fini sh , despite running a larger tank. J o Martens had foll owed Vromans h om e to m ak e it four Belgi ans in th e first six, while th e brav e Rossi kept eigh th a hea d of a slow sta rti ng Kurt Ljungqvist and Bill y L iles. J acky Virnon d had been a nother crash victim an d was fortunat e to rescue even a point at ·th e fini sh . Hak a n Carlqvist had pulled o u t after a bad start. a nd qui t for th e day. "This track is awfu l," he said. " But I ' ll b e b a ck next week in Sa n Mari no." To the deli gh t of the estima ted 13,000 spectators, it was Van der Ven who led a way race two and for o nce in h is ho me GP, he kept hi s nerve to never be seriously cha llenged. Bu t it wa s a fall for Geb oers a fter 30 m inu tes wh ich too k the p ressu re away. T he ti tle leader had moved through co n fide n tly a nd without pani c from fifth a t th e sta rt to d isp lace Dirk Geukens from second pl ace just aft er ha lf distance. The fa ll dropped Geboer s back to third a nd with a l 4-second deficit to Van der Ven wh en he regained secon d pl ace three laps from th e end, a ll hopes o f a 40 points maximum were go ne . But G eboer s had turned a nine p oint lead for th e absent Thorpe into a 28 point lead for himself. Initially secon d, Mervyn An stie, troub led with his ri ght knee since twisting it in England, dropped back rapidl y to event ua lly fini sh 18th , bu t fell ow fast sta rter G euken s made up for hi s first race fall s to keep third to th e finish . I t had looked a t o ne sta ge as though Ni coll would ca tch him. but Nicoll fell a nd dropped behind Leif Persson aga in o n th e same lap as G eboers had hit th e ground and had to be sa tisfied with 26 points for the da y which tak es h im to with in 21 of Thorpe. Nico ll had co me through from 10th for hi s e\ en tual fourth. Persson, who had cras hed into th trees early in race o ne, co nt in ued to show m uc h improved form a nd ro de sensi b ly so th at hi s fifth pl ace never came in da nge r, part icu la rly a fter the chasing Vehkonen had bailed o u t in a bi g way a nd was so badl y winded that he co u ld no t co ntin ue. First-race hero Marten s had been brought down by a fall en rid er on lap one, raced back through th e pack on ly to fall again on his own at th e same spot o n lap two , as h e n ervousl y tri ed to regain lo st gro u n d LOO quickl y. After 35 minutes, Marten s was cha lle ng ing Ljungqvist for six th but h e went down aga in a nd h ad to p ass J o Marten s on th e final lap for an eigh th place which co u ld have been ea rned in eas ier fash ion . Dutch 500 Ch ampion Carl o Hul sen , h aving fail ed to qualify a ll year on grass la nd tracks, showed just how much different a rider he is in san d by cha rgi ng to seventh. Vim ond had sta rte d well but found ther e was n owh e re 10 go wh en Geboers closed the door in a co rner o n Ma rte ns w ho in turn lea ned on the Frenchma n. Fro m last in tu rn two, th e ex-250cc Worl d Cha m p io n co u ld get no hi gher tha n 13th. Ba ttl es right through the fiel d for th e p lac ings had been a fea ture of th e day and n on e was bett er th an th a t between Ban ks a nd fellow Englishman J ared Sm ith, wh o fough t too th a nd nail from start to finis h. In th e end , Sm ith won th e personal battle for 10th as Banks rode into II th o Rossi a nd Liles had been th eir riva ls for part of the race, but th e Italian had to quit with hi s eyes full o f sand, while th e Ame rican pulled o ut unabl e to breathe p roperl y. " I hurt m y. back before England. a nd it's still not right," sai d Liles. • Results 0 / A: 1. Eric Geboer s (Hon) 1-2; 2. Kees Van der Ven (KTM) 7 -1; 3. Kurt Nicoll (Kaw) 4 -4; 4 . Jacky M art en s (KTM) 2-8; 5 . Di rk Geukens (Kaw ) 12 -3; 6. Kurt Ljungqvi'I(Vam) 9-6; 7. Jo Marten. (Kaw) 6·9; 8. Andre Vroma n. (Kaw) 5-12 ; 9. Ismc Vehkone n (Hon) 3- 0; 10 . Carlo Hu tson (KTM) 12 - 7. POINT STANDINGS: 1. Geboe rs (27 91; 2. Thorpe (251 ~ 3. Nicoll (230); 4 . Van der Ven (168); 5. Vimond(1 32); 6. Lju ngqvist(121); 7. Jacky Manen. (11 7); 8. 8ank. (103) ; 9. Vehk onen (871; 10 . Geukens (82 ).

• Cover