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Eric Geboers was the overall winner. and his '-2 moto finishes moved him into a tie with Thorpe in the point standings. Jeff Leisk battled with Geboers in moto one and finished 2-4. David Thorpe won the second moto at Fermo. but crashes in moto one relegated him to fifth in the moto and left him second overall. World Championship SOOcc MX Series: Round ,4 Geboers pulls even with Italian GP win By Alex Hodgkinson FERMO, ITALY, MAY 7 Belgium's Eric Geboers won the Italian GP at Fermo with a 1-2 moto score, his secondrace defeat coming at the hands of Brit David Thorpe. Geboers' win means that the HRC duo are now equal at the top of the point standings with' 120 . POl~tS. ChasIng the two Honda 20 teammates in the points table is Kawasaki's Kurt Nicoll, who again completed the top three on the day with 3-3 scores and trails Geboers and Thorpe in the standings by 29 points. In the first moLO Georges Jobe's miserable luck continued when he crashed at the start with Dirk Geukens in the narrow first ,turn and several riders, including Jacky Vimond and Thorpe, were forced off the track. And more drama was awaiting the pack, led by Jeff Leisk and Jacky Martens, as they charged down the long hills to find that the track had IJ.een heavily watered despite in~truclIons from ~e FIM Internauonal Jury that this must not be done. Incredibly only Stuart Coyle fell on the first downhill and everyone missed him. but Dietmar Lacher lost it on the second descent and Giovanni Cavatorta couldn't avoid him. Two potential winners were out, Lacher with heavy bruising o[ the ribs which made it difficult for him to breathe. Lap two claimed further victims as Romano Nannini, trying too hard on a surface which was more like ice, went down in the bottom corner and took Leif Persson with him. "My first good start of the year and that lunatic spoils it for me," said Persson. "I was 14th when I got going again. " The group at the front had already formed. After surrendering the lead to Martens temporarily on lap two, Leisk took command and Geboers was content in third place while TI:lOrpe, having passed 20 riders in two laps, was stuck behind Billy Liles along with Nicoll. Franco Rossi and Karl Sulzer weren't far behind, but Kees Van der Yen was unable to keep in contact as he got used to a new suspension setup. "We changed forks and shock settings after practice," said Van der Yen. "The handling was better, but I needed half the race to get used to it."" By then Vimond and Marc Velkeneers had gone out of the race, Vimond with a broken chain and Velkeneers when his gearbox broke as he approached a jump. Rob Andrews departed in similar' style after fighting off a hard-charging Jobe for many laps. Thorpe had also gone down. "I was too anxious to get past Liles and Geboers," Thorpe said. "They were holding me back. " Restarting just ahead of Rossi, Thorpe had to hold off the Italian with no from brake and a throttle grip almost off the handlebar. On the next lap Nicoll got past Liles and a lap later the sole American contender was out. "I took a stone in the left eye, and as I tried to readjust my goggles I lost control," said Liles. At the same time Geboers came out in from of a bruising battle with Martens, as each rider tried to elbow the other out of the way as they raced side-by-side through the corners. With Nicoll closing fast, Geboers went after Leisk and a tremendous battle ensued. Leisk refused to give in and on one memorable lap they exchanged the lead six times before Geboers finally had the advantage of the inside line: Leisk still pressured to the £lag but couldn't repass again. Nicoll had looked like a possible candidate to pass both Geboers and Leisk at one stage. "I had a wet-weather front tire, and the track was LOtally dry a¢n for the last [our laps," said NicolL "1 had LO work hard then to keep the front wheel in line in every corner." Jobe, the fastest man of them all, pushed Sulzer onto the rear wheels of Thorpe and Rossi on the last lap, but there seemed no chance of a change in positions until Sulzer missed a shift on the run-in to the finish and Jobe took seventh by half a wheel behind Rossi, Thorpe and Martens. Persson recovered from his early-race crash LO ninth ahead of Van der Yen. With Lacher, Leisk and Geboers in front at the start of moto two, Van der Yen, Coyle, Martens; Andrews and Adrian Bosshard were the victims of the narrow first chicane. Coyle hit Van der Yen's rear wheel after they both made superb starts and the other three couldn't avoid them. Lacher couldn't keep the pace and retired in pain after five laps when he dropped out of the points. Still there were three Hondas in front as Geboers passed Leisk, only to have Thorpe take command after five laps. Nicoll worked his way past Persson and Geukens and set off in pursuit of the Honda trio. At half distance the lower half of the leaderboard had spread out. Sulzer in seventh holed a radiator, Rossi lost a silencer and )obe went out when his chain derailed. With Martens chasing Vimond for seventh, Liles was gifted ninth when the rear end of Mervyn Anstie's Honda collapsed. At the front Thorpe always had the measure of Geboers and Nicoll was a distant third wi.th no silencer after passing a tired Leisk. Geukens was Sixth over Vimond, Martens and Liles, while Van der Yen recovered from his first-turn crash to round out the top 10. • Results MOTa ONE: 1. Eric Geboers (Hon); 2. Jeff Leislt (Hon); 3. Kun Nicoll (Kaw); 4. Jeclcy Menena (KTM~ 5. Devid Thorpe (Hon); 6. Frenco Rossi (KTM); 7. Georges Jobe (Hon); 8. Kerl Sulzer (KTM); 9. Leif Persson (Hon); 10. Kees Ven der Ven (KTM~ 11. G i . . - G8Ipllrdone (Yem); 12. Dirt< Geukens (Hon); 13. Mervyn Anstie (Hon); 14. Meurizio Dolce (Hon); 15. Adrien Bossherd (Hon). MOTa lWO: 1. Thorpe; 2. Geboers; 3. Nicoll; 4. Leisk; 5. Persson; 6. Geukens; 7. Vimond; 8. Menen.; 9, Billy Liles (Kew); 10. Ven der Ven; 11. Gaspardone; 12. Romano Nannini (Hon); 13. Kurt 4ungqvist (Vem); 14. Devid Weynents (Hon); 15. Jo Menens (Kewl. POINT STANDINGS: 1. (TIE) GeboerslThorpe (120); 3. Nicoll {911; 4. Jecky Meneno (83); 5. Leislt (76~ 6. Geuken. (70); 7. Persson (56); 8. Ven der Ven (54); 9. Vimond (43); 10. Lecher (38).