Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

American Mike Healey captured third in the championship standings. Trampas Parker clinched the 125cc MX World Championship w ith a second-place finish in the f irst moto. It al ian A lessandro Puza r won both motos at the French GP and w rapped up second place in the final po int standings. 10 po ints beh ind Parker. World Championship 12Scc MX Series: Final Round Parker crashes, but still clinches title in France AH UN, FRANCE, AUG. 27 KTM 's T rampas Parker became the first American-born rider to capture the 125cc World Champion sh ip MX crown when he finished second p lace to Italian rival 26 Alessa ndro Puzar in th e first I fin al ra ce of th e seaso n. Puzar moto o f th e French GP , th e ended up in seco nd pl ace in th e ser ies final point sta n d in gs, finishing just 10 points behind Parker , while Americans Mik e H ealey an d Bobby Moore, both riding for KTM, claimed third a nd fourth in th e series. Italian Andrea Bartolini rounded out th e top five. Parker, wh o now calls Italy his home, suf£ered hi s o n ly DNF of th e 24-m oto, 12-ra ce G P seri es in th e seco nd race wh en he cras hed while leading. Although unhurt, it spo iled th e Fari o li KTM team rid er 's strin g o f top-four fini sh es he held th ro u gh ou t th e season. Going into th e final GP o f th e seaso n, Parker , from Shreveport, Louisiana , n eeded just two points to cli nc h th e World Championship 125cc MX title, which would str ip Fren chman J ean-Mi ch el Bay le of th e number-one p late. (Bayle did not try to defend his titl e a fter switching to th e 250cc class this sea so n). On this day, however, Park er 's m ain conce rn was th e factory Suzu ki pilot., Puzar, wh o was th e o n ly rider wh o had a realisti c, although slim, cha nce o f defeating th e Ita lia n -license holder , Parker, in th e fin al p oint sta n din gs. In a distan t third in th e sta ndin gs was an ot he r Am erican, Mik e H eal ey. Despite o n ly n eeding the tw o po ints, Parker ro de th e event a t Ah u n, as th ough he had a two-point def icit. H owever , h e co u ld o n ly p roduce a sixth -p lace sta rt wh en th e ga te dropped for the sta rt of the fir st moto , w h ile .P uzar jumped o u t to a co m ma n din g lead. Even though a sixth- p lace finish would easily sec u re th e title for Parker , the KTM pilot didn 't hold back and was sett ing hi s sigh ts o n th e front-runners. As a p p ro xima tely 6000 spectators watch ed th e final race o f th e season , P ark er m ad e his fir st m o ve b y p assing Belgian Suzuki rid er Stefan Everts, who was making his debut co me bac k ride a fte r su ffe ri n g a broken wrist ea rl ier in th e year. It took four laps before Parker found a n opening to pa ss Everts. Once a rou n d th e Belgian, Parker found h imself amongst his more familiar riv al s, teammates Bobby Mo ore a n d H eal ey , a n d Italian Alessio Chiodi , a lso aboard a KTM. It took at lea st two-thirds of th e ra ce for Parker to ride around the three riders, and once he did, he found a 20-second gap separating himse1£ from the leader Puzar, At this point, Parker realized his chance of catching Puzar was out of the question, so he was content in second place, knowing that the championship would be his after a few more laps. Puzar easily won th e moto, 27seconds ahead of the new champ. P a rker wa s followed b y Healey , Moore, Italian Andrea Bartolini and Everts. Another American, Hondamounted A.J. Whiting finished 10th . Even th ough Parker had wrapped up the championship in the first rnoto, he sh o t out of th e starting chute in th e secon d moto as determined as ever. H e a nd Puzar were side-by-side heading into the first turn, but it was th e Am erican who em erged out in front as they exited the first turn. The KTM pilot led for the next four la ps until crash in g hard and lyin g motion less on th e tra ck for a few minutes. Parker eventua ll y got back o n his feet and wa lked off the tra ck a little sh a ken, but in good shape. H e ca lle d it quits for th e day a nd th e season. With Parker o u t of th e moto, Puzar cruised out in front , enjoy in g a huge lead over Moore and H ealey. The Italian would eventu ally cross the fini sh lin e 28 seconds ah ead of Mo ore, a nd th en H eal ey, signin g off th e season wi th a I-I clean swee p. On his wa y to th e title Parker won eigh t o f th e 24 m otos, wh ich wa s ac tu ally two less th an Puzar, and took six overa ll victories. Puzar al so failed to sco re poin ts in one moto, but h e also finish ed o ut o f th e top five three times. • Results MO TO ONE: 1. A lessandr o Puzar (SUl); 2. Trampas Parker (KTM); 3. Mike Healey (KTM); 4. Bob Moore (KTM); 5. An drea Bart olin i (Hon); 6. M assimo Contini (Cag); 7. Edwi n Even sen (Suz); 8. J ames Dobb (Hon l; 9. Glen Bell (Hon); 10 . A.J. Whiting (Hon): 11 . Massin; Gazzarata (Sull; 12. Al essio Ch iodi (KTM); 13 . Stef an Evert s (SUl); t 4 . Ryan Hunt (Hon); 15. Harald On (Hon). MOTO TWO : 1. Puzar; 2. M oore; 3. Healey; 4 . Patr ick DeM ar ia (KTM); 5 . On ; 6. Gazzarata : 7. Evensen; 8. J ose Raba (Han); 9. Hun t; 10. Craig Pratley (Hon)); 11. 8 ell ; 12 . Fabio Buda (Hon); 13. Rick Ryan (SUl); 14. Hans Merteps (Honl. FINAL POINT STA NDINGS: 1. Tram pas Parker (3 93); 2. A lessandro Puzar (377 ); 3. M ike Healey (254); 4 . Bob Moore (240); 5. A ndr ea Barto lin i (147 ); 6. Edwin Evertsen (139); 7. Dave Str ijbos (138) 8. Yves DeM aria (134) ; 9. M arc el Van Drun en H 29); 10. M assimo Contini (124); 11. Rick Ryan (98); 12. Ja mes Dobb (771; 13. Pedro Tragter (761 ; ,1 14. Teus Visser (711; 15. Stefan Everts (701 6. Harald On (63); 17. Thierry Godfroid (54); 18. M iche le Ront i (53)" 19. Werner DeW it (46); 20 . Ch arel Sw eebe (35).

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