Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ,». ~. ~ 00 00 O"l ~ ~ eo ..... rJ.J ~ bJJ ~ ~ Hakan Carlqvist (left) rode hi s f inal GP of his career in Luxembourg. while Kurt Nicoll (right) walked away with the overall vi ctory. 1 American Billy Liles took the win in the first m oto but crashe d in t he second for a 15th. .He ended up finishing eighth in t he series. With hi s w in in Luxem bourg, Great Brita in 's Nicoll netted second overa ll in th e championship point sta nd ings behi nd Eric Geboers. World Championship SOke MX Series: Final Round Nicoll takes series end'ing .win in Luxenbourg By Alex Hodgkinson KOHLENBERG, LUXEMBOURG, AUG. 14 England's Kurt Nicoll won the final round of the 1988 World Championship 500 Motocross Series to finish the series ju st 21 points shy of new Champion Erick Geboers, who crashed out with a knee inju ry which threatens to keep hi f h . , 1m o ut 0 t e '. upcom mg Motocross des Nations, 22 . Ni coll 's win wa s th e th ird GP overa ll o f hi s career and co mes 19 years after his father Dave won th e Luxembourg Clas sic. Complet ing a trio of happ y Nicolls was you nger bro the r Arr a n who p repared the bike for the on ly rider to - finis h a ll 24 motos in th is year's seri es. Arran will be assisting the U.S . team in France for th e Motocross des Nations September II. Billy Liles, the only Am erican ridin g the series, had a h appy en d to th e year. H e won the first moto a n d sec u re d eig h th in th e final standings which ensures that he is au to ma tically qualified for the first six G Ps next year. . With th e first four p laces in the cham p io ns h ip a lready decided seven days earlier in Belgium, th e main interest for the pathetically small _crowd la y in the battle to fin ish in the top eigh t of th e series. Jacky Vimond and Kurt Ljungq. vist on the factory Yamahas only had to stay o ut of tro ub le to ensure their places, wh ile Dirk Geukens , Hakan Carlqvist an d Ism o Vehkonen had on ly an ou tside ch an ce of th e riders ahead of the m making mistakes. Seven throu gh nine in the seri es were Mark Banks, Liles an d Jack y Martens . T wo of th em would m ak e it a nd th e o ther would be dis appointed. The first moto h ow ever, started dramatically as Vimond, Ljungqvis t, Banks and Carlqvist were amon g the riders who h it the gate, claiming th at it had dropped too slowly. In tum three -two more stars were in trouble. Geboers, having shown little interest in training, had made the start but h e went down and took N icoll with . him. Nicoll sa id, " If Erick doesn't want to race, then h e should stay back in his truck. He went down like a novice, and I could do nothing to avoid him. The first good start I've had all year this happened." Geboeis rode just four laps before pulling out with a twisted knee, and he was to last no longer in the second moto. Nicoll remounted around 30th a n d rode su p er b ly through the swir ling dust for third at the checkered flag. Those who had hit the gate took places sixth through 10th along with Kees Van der Yen , whose front wheel had washed .ou t in a tum as he was about to take fifth place. Up front the battle was between Liles and Martens. Liles passedthe Belgian on the first lap, onl y for the KTM rider to retake the lead within a few turns. For half the race Liles was content to sit and watch his rival as they pulled further and further away from th e chasers with th e star names battling through from the back. On the half hour Liles burst arou nd the outside of the lanky Martens at the end of the start straigh t to hold the inside line for th e next turn. But Martens was not giving up. He took the outside line which gave him the slower line to th e followin g left-hander. L il es sa id, "T h at guy is nuts. He jus t wen t stra igh t o n in th e turn. He made no a ttem p t to turn at all. If I hadn' t brakes, h e would have put m e straigh t over the berm a nd the fence. H e just stop ped dead at the last m inute right across the tra ck, physically turned on the spot like a trials rider losing a mark and carried on. Then he just quit and let me pass real easy before attacking again after two laps. He was hitting my rear wheel in every comer then and, knowing we had a big lead, I was tempted to stop and drag him off the bike. " Finally the race was decided with . two laps to go when Martens made some bad mistakes and Liles opened up a defendable lead. Ljungqvist sixth and Vimond eighth, were now safe, but Liles held seventh in the standings with 153 points. Banks seventh in the moto had 150 and Martens 146. The matter wa s effectively decided on the second lap when both Liles and Martens fell in separate incidents. With the front brake lever broken off, Liles could only recover to 15th at the finish , but Martens was only one place ahead and h is automatic qualification was safe. Banks took the lead on lap three from Magarotto, but, signalled of the plight of his rivals, he rode conservatively rather than risk throwing a season's hard work away once Carlq, vist and Nicoll had gone past him. Banks finished sixth, but came dose to losing it when the chain adjuster broke on the final lap. Carlqvist, double winner in Belgium, was riding his final GP moto at the age of 34, and wanted to go out with a win. He stormed past Banks and opened up a substantial lead before Nicoll got through to second. But th ere was no stopping the Englishman even though the rear brake line had been damaged when he hit the fallen Claudio DeCarli in tum one. Within two laps of taking second he had pulled back Carlqvist's eight second lead and moved past and away with ease . It was an emotional win, 'b ut so too was Carla's second place. After crossing the line he completed a lap of honor to tremendous applause from the small but enthusiastic crowd. • Resu lts 0 / A : 1. Kurt Nicoll (Kaw) 3-1; 2. Hakan Carlqvist (Kaw) 10-2; 3. Jacky Vim ond (Yam) 8-3; 4. Dirk Gau kens (Kaw ) 4-8; 5. 8illy Lile s (Kaw ) 1-15; 6. Jacky Martens (KTM) 2- 14; 7. Mark Banks (Hon) 7 -7; 8. Kurt Ljungqvi st (Yam) 6-9); 9: Ja red Smith (Hon) 11-6;'10. Franco Rossi (Kaw) DNF-4. : FINAL WORLD C'SHIP SOOccMX POINT STANDINGS: 1. Erick Geboers (333); 2. Nicoll (31 2); 3. Dave Thorpe (251); 4. Kees Van der Ven (212~ 5. Vi mond (185); 6. Ljungqvist (169); 7. 8anks (159) ; 8. Liles (154); 9. Martens(l48); 10 . Carlqvist (138); 11. Geukens (137); 12. Ismo Vehk onen (126); 13. Smith (89); 14 . Rossi (77); 15 . Mervyn Anstie (69); 16. Dietmar Lacher (67); 17. Lei! Perrson (531 18. Jeff Leisk (45); 19. Jo Martens ; (45); 20. Claudio De Carli (45).

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