Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Louisiana's Trampas Parker ca ptured his fourth 125cc GP win of the year in Cze c ho s lo va kia , while fellow American Bo b by Moore took seco nd. Austra lian J e ff Leisk claimed 1 -2 moto finishes for the overall w in at the 500cc GP in Italy. He is now th ird in the point standings. World Championship SOOcc MX Series: Round 8 Leiskjams to Italian GP win By Alex Hodgkinson BAL DASSE RONA, SAN MARINO, ITALY, JULY2 A disastrous first .mo to for Belgian Eric Geboers and 1-2 overall finishes for his HRC teammates Jeff Leisk and David Thorpe at the San Marino GP means thatjust25 poin ts separate the trio as the championship goes into the final hj d f h t If 0 t e seas0!1' . . Even more significantly, 18 Thorpe has recovered from hi s poor perfor ma nce a t the U.S. GP to be just 10 po in tsbeh ind Geboers with th e next ra ce a t his hom e tra ck a t Farl eigh Castle in' England o n July 23. Kawasaki's Kurt Nicoll dropped to fou rt h in th e cha rts and is now 40 p oints off th e pace. Ni coll was ho lding his own in third ever since the Austrian G P last April. . A short rainfall j us t before the start of the first race meant that everyone had to be particularily careful. Championship leader Ge boers was too careful and pa id for it with a poor start. Former 250 a nd 500cc World Champion Georges Jobe, from BeIgium, was more anxious and gave not only himself bu t a lso Geboers problem s in . the seco n d uph ill com~r. Jobe tried to nde aro und the outside of the pa ck, normally a good tactic here, bu t in th e we t co nditions the line proved d isastrous. The Honda rider sp u n aro und, putting six riders into th e fen ce, including Finl and 's Kurt L jungq vi st a n d Ital y's Maurizio Do lce, and caused havoc' for those riders in sid e of h im . Gebo ers was one of th em . "I had to stop , a nd with so much wh eelspin, it was necessary for me to leg my way up th e slope," said Geboers. "My legs ar e a little bit short for that sort of thing. " The defending champ 's comeba ck was hindered by the wrong choice of tires, while his riva l Thorpe built up an early advantage with th e front-runners. Thorpe was third behind Holland's Kees Van der Ven and Lei sk. Bu t T horpe could not improve hi s position throughout the moto. " I felt somethi ng was wrong right from the first lap," sa id Thorpe, as he pointed to a damaged front wheel. But aft er finis hing third to Gebpers ' 15th , he had cu t Geboers' points lead a lm ost in half. Van der Ven , wh o was slo w in practice a nd unhappy o n a dry track said, " It is so d ifficu lt to find th e co rrect co m bi na tio n o f ti res a nd suspens io n when we on ly race on th is type o ftrack (ha rd-packed) o nce a year." The fac to ry KTM rider maintained th e lead for 15 minutes before gi ving in to Lei sk. Van der Ven .would lose another position to last year's winner, American.Billy Liles, who quickl y settled into ' second pl ace. At the 30-minute mark, Thorpe made an aggressive pass on Van der Ven and moved back into third. Bu t the dice wasn't over yet, as the Dut ch ma n tried to retaliate which resulted in the two riders bumping into each other on the last lap. Thorpe said, "I'm glad it was a gent leman like Kees. If we had touched any harder, I wou ld 've been down for certain ." Dietrn a r Lacher, who had the fastest time in the morning practice session, was gaining on Thorpe a nd Van der Ven before droppi ng his Honda halfway into the race . Lacher remo u nt ed just a head of Geboers and left the champ well behind bu t was unable to pass Belgian Dirck Geukens for eighth on the last la p. Lacher.s last victim was Austrian Karl Sulzer, who rode a smooth race to pass Jo Martens late in th e rnoto. Serge David, Jean Charles Tonus and Mervyn Anstie were sna p p ing at Marten s' heels. Anstie would've been much higher but he fell ea rly on a fter hitting Nicoll's footpeg a nd again a fter half an hour wh en his front wh eel washed o u t. Nicoll spe nt th e second half of th e race trying to find a way . past local hero Giovanni Ca vatorta, H e event ua lly push ed hi s wa y past the Italian in the final corner. J acky Martens had been well up a t th e start but fell in th e fir st half lap and quit aft er furth er trips over th e handlebars. Italian Franco Rossi looked good for fifth p lace, but, with just four laps remaining, his rear wheel co llapsed. Aft er cr a s h in g in th e se cond corner, Jobe tried maki ng a comeback b ut failed when he crashed again and q uit at th e halfway point. Leisk was obviously determined for a sweep as he blasted out of the gate and into the lead at the start of the second rno to. Second place was Rossi, whi le Thorpe used the tre- mendous power of his facto ry Honda to roost past Van der Van and Gaspardone up 'a long clim b for third. La ch er was al so on th e move but was th e la test victim of th e brutal tacti cs o f J acky Marten s, The Belgian , Marten s, du g his handlebars into La cher's c hes t in a n o ff cam bered turn , kn ocking th e wind ou t of th e German 's lungs. Lacher co u ld not contin ue. Martens moved up and followed An sti e a nd Geboers past Geuken s as th ey disputed over sixth place. They were soo n joined by Liles, wh o had detached himself from the chasing group while Jobe and Nicoll fought their wa y through the dogfight. . Unexpectedly, Leisk was unable to pu ll away at the front and he only had a narrow advantage when T horpe po wered past- Rossi o n the same uphill he had used to pass Van der Ven. With his teammates up front, Geboers got his act together and eventually passed Anstie for sixth at half distance. T horpe responded immedia tely. Real izin g he had litt le cha nce of passing Leisk up the h ill like he had done to Rossi and Van der Ven , T horpe dove inside on a down hi ll. The first attempt fai led as even th e strong Englishman co ul d no t hol d it in the off-cambered tu rn. Bu t, choosing another descent, there was no mistake the second time a nd Thorpe pulled away for the moto win while Leisk sett led for seco nd p lace and th e overall. Rossi had kept in contact until the rear end of his KTM seized , and Gaspardone finall y fell a fter half an hour under pressure from Geboers. That left Van der Ven in a secure third, but Geboers, desperatel y trying to sta y clear of the chas ing Liles, wa s closing fast. An stie and Jobe were next while Nicoll had to battle past Geuken s a nd Marten s. In th e fin al move am ongst the lead ers, Geboers passed Van der Ven in th e penultimate lap to giv e H RC a 1-2-3 sweep while Van der Ven repulsed th e a ttac ks o f Li les. • Result s 0 / A : 1. Jeff Leisk (Hon); 2. David Thorpe (Hon); 3. Bill y Liles (Kaw ); 4. Kees Van der Ven (KTM ); 5. Kurt Nicoll (Kaw ). MOTO 1: 1. Leisk; 2. Liles; 3. Thorpe; 4. Van der Ven; 5. Nicoll; 6. Giovan ni Cavato n a (Hen); 7. Jac ky Vimond (Hon); B. Dirk Geuken s (Hon); 9. Dietmar Lacher (Hon); 10 . Karl Sul zer (KTM); 11. Jo e Man ens (Kaw l; 12 . Serge David (Hon); 13. Je an Charles Tonus (Hon); 14. M ervyn An stie (Hon); 15 . Eric Geboers (Hon). MOTO 2: 1. Thorpe ; 2. Leisk; 3. Geboers; 4 , Van der Ven; 5. Ules; 6. Mervyn An stie (Hon); 7. Georges Jobe (Hon); B. Nicoll; 9. Geuken s; 10. J acky Manens (KTMI; 11. David; 12. Leo Combee ( H on~ 13. Tonu s; 14 . Eno Cardu cci (Hon); 15 . Kun Ljungqvist (Yam). POINT STANDINGS: 1. Geboers (211); 2. Thorpe

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