Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Great Britain's Dave Thorpe is seeking his third 500cc World Championship title in 1989, He is currently second in the series points standings. Guy Cooper, feel th a t Ge boeis and Thorpe ar e going to be the ones to beat, as well as Leisk an d Nicoll. The racing format between GP racing and outdoor Nationals inthe U.S. is basi cally th e same except for a few important differen ces, ' First of all, the rnotos are longer in GP racing. At Hollister, they will ride two 40-minute plus two-lap rnotos, unlike National motocross where they run two 30-m in u te plus two-lap rnotos, Plus, in GP ra cing th e top 15 finishers are awarded points in each moto, and the rider with the most points after the co m p leti on of both rnotos is honored as the day's overall winner. In case of a tie in points, the rider with the best pl acing in the th e Am erica n a tional riders, factory salaries via factory r ides a re w ha t th e riders are seeking or tryi ng to keep . T he H ollister U.S . G P is th e seventh of 12 stops on the 500cc G P circu it, a n d plenty has happen ed u p 10 this point. It all began April 2 in Valken swaard , Holland, where Dirk Geukens, a 25-year-old privateer H onda rider from Belgium, ca p tu re d a surprise win ov er the defending champ Geboers and H olland 's Kees Van del' Ven . But the real story wa s the Aussie - Je£[ Leisk. In his first serious attempt towards working for a World Championship title, Leisk was unstoppable, He came from behind in the first moto to tak e the seco nd rnoto is a warded the better .o vera ll fi nish , H owever , i t's th e poi nts th at th e series co n ten de rs a re co ncerne d abou t, no t so m uch as th eir overa ll fini sh. T he most poi nts th at ca n be ea rned in a single mot o is 20 for first , 17 for seco n d, 15 fo r • th ird, II for fourth a nd th en o ne "po in t less for each p osition down 10 15th. All riders must qualify 10 rac e each GP. T hese qualifiers, based o n lap times, are held th e day before th e even I. Wh en th e 40 rid ers are determ in ed, anothe r tim ed p ractice session ta kes place rac e da y morning 10 determin e sta rti ng positio n in th e first moto. The rider with the si ngle fastest lap time during th is period has first ch o ice o f star ting p osition, th e secon d fastest rider ha s second choice' and so on down th e line. Their finishing order in th e fir st rnoto determines who p icks first in the second moto. As far as prize money, a IOtal purse of $18,000 is up for grabs in th e 500cc class at Hollister an d will be broken down and awarded by rnoto finish. Avrnoto win will ea rn .$850, and th e last payback position in each rnoto is 25th, which will be worth $120. Of co u rse, just as is th e case with T he defending 500cc ' World Champion is Belgium's Eric Geboers (1) . He has a World Championship title in all three classes - 125, 250 and 500cc. lea d a nd what looked to be a n easy win. But on the last lap, Leis k 's H onda spu tte red to a stop wi th a n em p ty gas tank. Leisk cam e back a n d . wo n the secon d mofo. Thorpe had a disap pointi ng seaso n open er wi th a ninth overa ll fin ish . 5 1. J ean D' Angely, France, was th e site o f th e seco n d ro u nd o n April 16. T he battle wa s fought in the mud and th e seco nd m ot o determined th e overall wi n ner. On the la st lap, T horpe passed Vimond and cl in ched . the overall victo ry, T hat shot Thorpe irom ninth 10 seco nd in th e series p oint s ta n di ngs, just II p oints behind leader Geboers, who scored no points in th e first moto and took fifth in the second moto. Opening round winner Guek en s co llec ted on ly three points and dropped 10 fourth in th e sta nd ings . Thorpe con tin ued to climb th e ladder in Sch wanenstad t, Au stria , April 23, as th e bi g Brit h ad a perfect da y, winning both m ot e s. T h is put Thorpe into th e series points lead, dropp in g G eb o er s to second. G eboers went 3-6 in Au stria 10 tak e th ird over l beh in d Thorpe a nd al Kurt Ni co ll 's 4-3 m ot o finishes, L ea vin g Aus tr i a , Thorpe led Geboers by six points, 89-83. Jack y Marten s wa s third with 62, o ne point ahead o f Ni col l. The n ex t stop o n th e tour 'w as Fermo, Italy, Ma y 7, where Geboers en ded Thorpe's hot streak with th e overall win, ' by wa y of 1-2 rnoto finishes. In the first moto, Geboers easily took the win , while Thorpe crashed while tryi ng to p ass Bill y L il es. Thorpe a n d h is d am ag ed O'l 00 Honda limped home in fifth. In rnot o two , Thorpe came back O'l ....... a n d won with C ebo er s tak ing second. However, for Thorpe the damage was done, as Geboers caught back up in th e point chase. Thorpe. an d Geboers left Italy tied for th e points -lead at 120 points each. With 3-3 rnoto finishes, N icoll moved into third, dropping Martens to fourth. Two weeks later in Ruskeasanta, Finland, it wa s Leisk's day. The Australian captured hi s first overall victory of his GP career with 1-3 moto finishes, while second place went to former 250 and 500cc World Champion Georges jobe. Belgian jobe, who competed unsuccessfully in the 125cc GP class last year, went 3-2. KTM 's Van del' Ven had his second best ride of th e season wi th third overall. Geboers and Thorpe finished fifth and sixth , respectiv el y, but for Geboers it was a turning point, for the defending World Champion mov ed back into th e poin ts lead, two points ahead of T horpe, 140- 138. Ni coll still h eld co ntro l of third with 113 points, but Leisk m oved in to fourth, jus t tw o po i n ts behind Nicoll. In Husk vara , Swede n , Ju n e 4, KTM 's Va n del' Ven sco re d th e overall win via 1-2 m oto finishes, w h ile teamma te J acky Martens took seco nd o verall with 5-1 mot o scores. Nei ther Thorpe nor Geboers had outsta nding rides at th e Swed ish G P , fin ishi ng sixth an d fourth ove ra ll. Bu t Ge boers still ma naged 10 gain val ua b le points a nd extended his seri es lead over Thorpe by three points, 163-158. As the 500cc G P co ntenders pack th ei r bags and get ready for the next battle in th e U.S" th e ti tle chase is in hi gh gear with Geboers h aving th e slig ht edge. But Thorpe ca n ' t let Ge boers ge t too far out in front wi th mo re than h alf o f th e seri es already wrapped u p . Wa tch for th e war 10 con tin ue at • the Ba ttle of Ho llister Hills, j 13

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