Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Afterwinning the previous GP in Holland, M ike Healey rode to 4 -1 fin ishes in Belg ium for second overall . He's currently f ourth in the po int standings. American Trampas Parker took the lead in the 125cc World Championship MX points standings w ith his 1-2 finishes in Belg ium. World Championship 12Scc MX Series: Round 5 Parker pulls away in Belgian GP By Alex Hodgkinson BORG LOON, BELG IUM, MAY 28 Trampas Parker, the 21 -year-old KT M rider from Shreveport, Louisiana, stormed to the top of the 125cc World Championship MX standin gs with a 1-2 overall victory at Borgloon. The win helps make Parker th e hot favorite for th e . . . titl e after pre~~ous pomts leader, Dave Strijbos of Holland, quit after three laps of practice and decided to have an operation o n his inj ured kn ee. This mean s Strijbos will m iss th e rest of th e seaso n. KTM tea m ma te Mike H eal ey made it an American 1-2 by scoring second o vera ll with a 4-1 score, while Italian Alessandro Puzar joined the Americans on the rostrum after 2-3 rides for third. Both riders are th e o nly rea lis tic challe nge rs to Parker' s cham pions hip run. With St rijbos o ut of the way , Parker wasted no tim e in exp loiti ng th e absence of his main riva l for th e titl e a nd before th e co mp letion of one lap he had passed Jimmy Dobb for th e lead. After four laps Parker was so far o ut in front of the pack tha t he could, by hi s standa rds, cruise for th e rest of th e race. The men chas ing him for th e titl e were in less favorable positions. Pu zar had cras hed into a fall en Yves Demaria in th e fir st turn, a n d Heal ey, having coll ided with two rival s but not fall en coming o ut of the gate, was ca ug h t behind th e pil e of riders wh o had join ed Puzar o n the grou nd. By th e end of th e first la p Pu zar and Heal ey were in the top 20 wit h the Italian havin g already nosed a head in th eir p ersonal chase through th e pa ck. T he next man to pass Dobb at th e head of the pack was Bob ~oore, but he had no cha nce of catching Parker a nd, with less than two laps to go , Pu zar charged undern eath him in a downhill-cambered tu rn for a weildeserved second. Heal ey had secu red fourth a few laps from th e end but could n 't improve an y further, wh ile Ma ssim o Contini p assed Ped ro Tragter and Andrea Bartol in i in th e last tum. After the ir firs t-race perform a nces every o ne wa s h opin g th a t both Parker a nd Puzar, each spo nsored by Ch esterfield but riding for th e riva l KTM and Suzuki factories, cou ld bo th avoid probl em s at th e start. A good battl e wou ld th en certa inly foll ow. And good starts they bot h got, but so too did another Ameri can , Rick Ryan , and H eal ey. Ryan , who had not been allowed to sta rt th e first race wh en he failed to get to th e pr e-pare ea r ly eno ugh with hi s ma ch ine becau se of spectator cars blocking hi s route, led for a lap before being passed by a barnstorming Heal ey. Ryan, still troubled by a knee injury he su ffered last November, grad ua lly dropped back to fini sh sevent h, as H eal ey built up a lead wh ile Parker an d Puzar were findi ng a way aro u nd Ryan. Pu zar could never offer a realistic cha llenge to Parker, but was never far behind. For ha lf an hou r the ga p between Healey and Parker rema ined consta nt , bu t th en th e smooth-riding Par ker sta rted to make hi s move. With two laps to go he was alo ngs ide H eal ey, but though he managed th is on severa l occa sio ns he never had th e best lin e in th e turns and a thrilled Hea ley wh eeli ed over th e line for th e moto win and second overall. Demari a made up for hi s first-race di sappointment by ridin g to a lonel y fourth, a long way behind th e first th ree bu t well ah ead of Contini wh o h ad aga i n been forced to rid e thro ugh from a poor start. Even worse from th e start was Moore, bu t he passed Ryan o n th e last lap for sixth pl ace. Resu lts MOTa 1: 1. Trampas Parker(KTM I; 2. Al essandro Puzar ( S u z~ 3. Bob Moore (KTM~ 4. M ike Healey; 5. Massimo Conti ni (Cag); 6. Adrea Banolin i (Han); 7. Pedro Tragter (Suz); B. Thie rry Godfr oid (Kaw ); 9. Jimmy Dobb (Han); 10 . Edw in Evensen (Suz); 11 . Pit Se ire r (Suz); 12. Patr ick Perrier (KTM); 13 . Alben o Barozzi (Yam); 14 . Peter Kovar (Cag); 15. Bernar d Maga in (Kaw). MOTa 2: 1. Healey; 2. Parker; 3. Puzar; 4 . Yves Demari a (Yam); 5. Contin i; 6. Moore; 7. Rick Ryan (Suz); B. Dobb; 9. Ryan Hunt (Han); 10. Trag1er; 11. Ma gai o; 12 . Kovar ; 13 . Warren Edwards (Yam); 14. Stefan Evens (Suz); 15. Craig Pratley (Han). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Parker (170); 2. Puzar (145 ); 3. Dave Str ijbos (13B); 4. Healey (117) ; 5. Demar ia 1 ; 6. Moore (79); 7. Contini (66); B. 821 Tragter (57); 9. Even sen (49); 10. Bartonlin i (40 ). World Championship 250u MX Series: Round 3 Bayle perfect at Czechoslovakian GP By Christian Batteux SVEREPEC, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, MAY 28 Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle dominated the pack at th e Czechoslovakian Grand Prix at Sverepec, as he easily won bot h motos. Bayle left no doubt as to h is supe rio rity as hi s da y was n ot wit hout problems. After a restart of th e first mo to, Bayle worked up and passed defendi ng cham p J ohn van den Berk for the win , th en took th e lead when Rob H errin g cras hed in moto two and held it to th e end. After mi ssing the first rou nd due 10 a brok en arm , Bayle had on ly scored poin ts in o ne pr evious mot o, But h is double victo ry toda y moved him to wi thin seven points of leader 'J eremy Whatl ey and onl y four points beh ind runner-up van den Berk . At the sta rt of the first moto Bayle ' fell o n the uphill foll owing th e start after stri king van den Berk . Gert- J an van Doorn also struck th e pair and soo n there were abo ut 25 rid ers o n th e grou nd. Fortunat ely nobod y was inj ur ed, so the organ izatio n decided to stop th e race and give th e rid ers a cha nce at a no ther start. . On th e restart van den Berk 'go t the hol eshot over Roland Diepold and Broc Gl over. Pekka Vehkonen a nd Rodney Sm ith were just behind th e lead group wh en they both fell at th e beginning of the second lap wh en Vehkon en T -boned Smith. Bayl e moved up and stu ck to the rear fend er of Glover and even tuall y passed him over the only double jump on th e track.' Diepold had passed van den Berk , and Bayl e quickl y moved in on th e rear wh eel of th e World Ch ampion. Bayle then pas sed and forgot him as van den Berk tried to stay with him. One lap later Bayle ca ug ht and passed Diepold, th en stretched ou t a IO-second lead . After the race, Bayle said th at he cou ld've moved o ut further. " I started carefu lly and took care with Diepold becau se he's very hard to pass," said Bayle. " T hen I took enough of a lead to be q u iet, and I did n ' t want 10 strain mysel f. I fini shed th e race in a very fresh sta te." Beh ind Bayle there was n 't m uch cha nge in positi on as Diepol d took second over van den Berk . Gl over cra shed with Whatley and fell back to sevent h . behind Peter Johansson , wh ile Wh atl ey took fifth behind H erring. Herring took th e lead from Bayle at the start of m oto two, but on th e second lap Herring cras hed over th e double jump. Bayle immediately to ok th e lead , but behind him, Diepold fail ed to jump and Van Doorn landed on th e Belgian's back. Fortunately Diep old was safe, but dropped out of th e race. On th e fourth lap Bayle was out front, Van Doorn held a solid seco nd and Glover wa s battling with . Michel e Fanton. The Italian passed Glover , but later reti red with a fiat rear tir e. Just b ehind th em Smith a nd Whatl ey battled, but th ey cras hed hard a nd Wh a tl ey wa s kn ocked uncon sciou s and taken to th e hospital. Two h ours later h e was released . Sm ith ended up fin ishing the ra ce ninth withou t a front brak e. Gl over would event ua lly fini sh the moto fifth a fter -Ya maha team ma tes van den Berk and Vehkon en go t by. Vehkonen , who as usual was very stro ng at th e end, passed van den Berk on th e last lap for third beh ind Van Doorn. Bayle was the winner by abou t 20 seconds. • Results MOTO 1: 1. J ean-M ichel Bayle (Han); 2. Roland Diepold (Kaw); 3. John van den Berk (Yam); 4. Rob Herr ing (Suz); 5. Jeremy What ley (Suz); 6. Peter J ohansson (Yam); 7. Broc Glover (KTM); B. GenJa n Van Doorn (Suz); 9. D. Panerson (Yam); 10. Pekka Vehkonen (Yam); 11. Rodney Sm ith (Suz); 12. Soren Mon ensen (Kaw); 13. Isma Vehkonen (Suz); 14 . R. Van Leeuw en (Yam); 15 . M . Bervoets (Kawl. • M OTa 2: 1. Bayle; 2. Van Doorn : 3. P. Vehkonen ; 4 . van den Bark ; 6. Glover; 6 .1.Vehkonen; 7 . Yannig Kervella (Honl; 8. Y. Guedard (Han); 9. Smith ; 10. Ch ri st ia n Bayl e (Han); 11 . Bervoets; 12 . Johans- son; 13. E. Machtlinger (Han); 14 . Monensen; 15. A. Zemen (Kaw ). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Whatley (67); 2. van den Berk (64); 3. TIE Bayle/Michele Fanton (60); 5. P. Vehk onen (5B); 6. TIE GloverlVan Doorn (49); B. Herri ng (41); 9. Smith (40); 10. J oha nsson (3B).

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