Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

said Vimond, " I cou ld n 't see, and one rid er crashed ahead of me. I tried to miss him, but a second rider hit me and we all went down. It was not good. " Up front, both Lechien and Stanton quickl y overpowered Geboers for th e top two positi ons, bu t th e HRC rider hung in close. Geboers co ntinued to br eathe down th e American's back until Stanton went do wn and dropped to ninth. " I slid o ut in a slippery rut," said Stanton . " I was getting held up and cou ldn 't ge t around th em so I tried a new lin e. The track was real slick a nd I just went down - it 's just on e of those th in gs." Back in the pack Jobe started to pi ck up valuable points, and soo n th e Honda rid er found himself fifth after Anstie and Stanton fell back. Once into th e top five, J obe reeled in Van der Ven, and th e pa ir started to go at it. j obe tried virtuall y every line on th e track, but nothing seem ed to all ow him to make up ground. Meanwhile Stanton was mak ing his cha rge and was in seventh on lap five. Stanton p la yed follow-theleader wi th Ja cky Mart ens for a few laps, befor e fin all y ge tting aro u nd him and J a be. , " I kept getti ng hi t wi th roc ks," said Stanton , "so I decided to hol d back for a whi le until I' cou ld find a go od lin e. Prett y soo n j obe cra shed, and I was in fifth. It wor ked ou t good." Out front Lechien had o pened up an eight-second lead over Geboers, who had a few seco nds on Leisk. Van der Ven was still fourth, abo u t four seconds ah ead of Stanton. Martens and J obe quickl y go t up and occu pied the sixth and seventh pl ace positions. Wh ile mu ch of th e attention was focused on Lechi en 's continuallygrowi ng lead , Nicoll began pr essu rin~ T horpe for seven th . Cham pi onsh ip series points are awa rded per mota , a nd Nicoll was trying to close the points ga p T horpe enjoyed. Over a nd o ver Nicoll mounted severa l a ttac ks, but nothin g seemed ,to be work in g for last year 's n umb er three rid er in the world. Nearing th e three-quarter mar k in the race, Lech ien 's lead had grown to 15 seconds as Leisk began to close th e gap on Geboers. Both riders have won g ra nds prix th is year a n d ap peared to be looking for another win to add to their list. As the race began to winddown, Leisk cont in ued hi s pr essure, but co u ldn' t find a way arou nd Geboers. While Leisk a nd Geboers went on with th eir battl e, Stan ton dr opped Van der Ven to fifth and quickl y reel ed in th e duo of Lei sk and Geboers. A few laps before the finish Leisk go t sid ewa ys ou t of a left-h and turn , and that was all Stanton needed to motor past th e Australian. Lechien motored to a n easy win, more th an 22 seco nds a he ad o f Geboers, Stanton , Leisk, Van der Ven and J obe. Thorpe ma naged to hold off Nico ll, but Marten s slip ped past th em both for seventh. " I just rode my own race," said Lechien , "and whee lied away. I didn 't have any problems wit h the track or la ppers, bu t I did lap severa l people mo re than once." " Every thi ng we n t quit e smoothly," said G eboers, "and I didn't have to ride aggressively. The last few laps I rode quicker because J eff (Leisk) was riding good and started to catch me. Jeff has th e Am erican style and likes the lead ." " I needed second," said Stanton. " Tha t way if I win th e second mota I'd be gu aranteed the overall. Now all I can do is hope I win and someone st a ys between me and Lechien ." Geboers (1) took second overa ll behind Lechien w ith a 2-3 score and ex.tended his points lead to 29 . Stanton's day ended when his Honda seized wh ile he was running second in moto two. Jeff Leisk (1 8) holds off Jeff Stanton in the ,first moto . Stanton got by to take third, while Leisk combined 4 -4 scores to finish third overal l. T he second rnoto saw Lechien grab th e early lead over Leisk, Bill y Liles, C eboers, Brian Myerscough and Stanton. Liles, who hails from Georgia but ha s been compe ting in Euro pe for the past coup le of years, j um ped to the front of the pack in turn three and took control of the race. Sta nton was back in fourtJ1 figh ting to get around Leisk, and o n lap four moved into th ird , three seconds behind Liles an d Stanton. Once in thi rd , Stanton produced a cha rge that slo wly put him a few seco nds behind Lechien . H ow ever , -Lechien quickl y p icked up hi s pace and managed to pass Li les on a tough downhill, then p ulled away from hi s fellow American. Stanton was still third, but strug/?Iing to narrow the m argin separatin g him from second. Leisk soon dropped four seconds behind Stanton with Geboers , Myerscou gh, J obe and Vim ond close beh ind. A few lap s before the halfway poin t, Geboers began maki ng progress and sudde nly found h im self ha ng ing o n Lei sk 's rear fender. Geboers was making an effort to do everyth ing he cou ld to get by the Australian, but time after time he had to settle for fourth. Back in fifth , Myerscoug h , aboard one of two In novation Sports CTi carbon-fiber bikes, was fifth, five seconds beh ind Geboers, and two seconds ahea d of Nicoll. T horpe, Ni coll 's main rival in mo to o ne, soo n dro p ped o ut ·because he wasn't in a points-earning position, and th at allowed several riders in th e back of the pack to pick up posi tions. Back up front, Lechien moved o ut to a three-second lead on Stanton, wh o had passed Lil es, Stanton was ridin g th e course aggressivel y, but wasn 't able to make up any tim e on the hi gh-speed, hilly GP course. , On the 13th lap, J obe and J o Mart ens sta rted di ci n g fo r t he n umber seven spot beh ind Nicoll. J obe ma naged to gain the upper han d an d pass his fellow European after a hard-fough t bat tle. With only a few laps left, disaster struck Sta nton just as he was beginni ng to make his bid on Lechien, "It seized," said Sta nton, referring to his bi ke. " I don't know why, but it just seized." While Stan ton began his lon g trek back 10 th e p its, L iles regai ned seco nd pl ace a hea d o f L ei sk, Geboers, and Myerscou gh , who had Ni coll br eat hi n g down hi s neck wh en he too seized. " Every thi ng was working perfect," said M yerscou ~h . " I was riding a solid pace and felt III control. Then all of a sudden I found myself on th e sid e of the track."

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