Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ MOTOCROSS WorldChampionship 500(( MX Series: Round 4 m H onda's J eff Leisk ended Ka wasak i 's stranglehold in the World Championship 500cc MX Series wi th a victory in France. American Bill y Li les finished third. Leisk breaks throug h • for French G W P In By Alex Hodgkinson BROU, FRANCE, MAY 13 he Chambers HRC team of j eff Leisk a nd Eri c Geboers fin a lly broke Kawasa ki 's stra ngleho ld o n th e World Ch ampionship 500cc MX Seri es this year with a 1-2 score in front o f th e usuall y ma ssive cro wd a t Brou , in northern France. C eboers and Leisk fini shed 1-2 in th e first mo to , but a lat e-race fall by Leisk in th e terribly du sty seco nd moto ga ve th e moto win to cha m pio nship leader Bill y Lil es. Leisk recovered to fin ish th e moto t hird whic h, co m b i ned with his runner-up placing in the first mo to, ga ve th e Austra lia n th e overall victory. Forme r 125, 250 a nd 500cc World Cha mpion C eboers finished fift h in th e second mot o and ca me up o ne champions hip point beh ind Leisk for second overa ll. L iles' firs t-mote eighth after a co llision with Bri t Mervyn Anstie left th e American ri der third overall but st ill leadin g the po int sta ndi ngs 124·109 over C eb oer s of Belgium. T England's defen ding Worl d Cha m pi on David T horpe fini sh ed fou rt h in th e first mo to but dro p ped po ints to h is ri val s wh en he ha d a big cras h o n his facto ry Kaw asaki near the end of the second mo to. Ceboers snatche d the lead in the ope ni ng 40· mi n u te-p lus· two· lap moto a nd even o pe ned up a sma ll lead during th e first 15 min ut es, as Belgia n jacky Martens and Leisk sought a way pa st An sti e. Bu t b y half-d istan ce Ceboers, Martens a nd Leisk were bac k together agai n. Marten s swept into firs t a nd soon built up a co m ma nd ing lead , as Ce boers co nce n tra te d o n holdi ng off his tea mmat e. As th e race m oved into th e fi nal lap s, th e t wo H ond a s ree led i n Ma rt en s' KTM inch b y inc h, a nd C eb oers do ve.in side the leader as they went into the first turn for th e fi nal time. Leisk a lso p assed Ma rt ens in the n ext co r n e r and th e tired and frustra ted Martens had to settle for thi rd after loo king like a w in ner for so lo ng. " I tried just a litt le bit too hard during the middle of the race," said Martens , wh o had never raced the Fren ch circu it before. " I felt so good when I was p ulling a way and mad e the mistake of extend ing myself too far." In the to p three's wa ke th ere was a fascina ting batt le for mu ch of the race betw een An stie , Dir k Ceukens , Paul Ma lin, Ku rt N ico ll , T horpe a nd Li les, wh o had q ui ckly ca ugh t u p from a poor start. T h is grou p's superio rity over th e rest was dem on strat ed as the nex t man, C eorges j obe, was a lrea dy I I seconds do wn after 15 minut es. T he first posit ion al cha nges ca me whe n Ni coll was passed by th e two Kawasaki s behind him . " I cou ld n 't find an ywhere to pass Malin and bot h T ho rpe and Li les were fast er over the big ta bl etop," sa id Englishman Nicol l. Malin and C eu kens offered litt le resista nce to the two Ka wasa ki rid ers as well , bu t Anstie proved to be more troublesome. Thorpe was th e first man pa st, aga in on th e tab letop, but befor e th e end o f the la p Anstie, trying to mak e an insi de pass to regain fourth, co ll ided with th e defending champ. Neith er rider fell , but it was Anstie wh o was fourth aga in a t th ey regai ned their balan ce and set o ff along th e stra ight. Thorpe soo n passed again cleanl y, a nd Li les, not wa nting to lose co ntact, dove past Ans tie down a h ill as th ey di sappeared from view. Onl y An stie rea ppeared, " He T vboned me," roared a n a ng ry Liles im med ia tely af ter the race. " I was pas t him a nd he j ust took me o u t. I'll let hi m o ff wit h a warning th is tim e, but I've made it p lain th at next time somethi ng like th at ha ppens, he is goi ng to get it." _ With th e clutch lever broken o ff, Liles remounted ninth but rep assed Malin before th e fini sh for eig h th whe n Malin sta lled o n th e last lap under pr essu re from Lil es. " Billv must kn o w I didn 't ta ke h im o ut o n 'pu rpose," said Ans tie. " I had wobbled on some stu tter bumps wh en he passed me, but he was going too fast down th e inside line to mak e the inside turn at th e bottom. I went for it and he clipped my rear wh eel o n the exit. That's li fe. H e wo uld've done the same to me, I' m sure." With no time left for Thorpe to cat ch th e lead ers, he sett led down for a narrow lead over Anstie to th e Ilag, while Nicoll, ha ving finally gotten going, passed Geu kens two la ps fro m the end for sixth. During the interval between motos the angry Liles comp la ined to the FIM jury abou t Ansti e, but in th e absence o f a n official protest, the elder statesmen declined to becom e in volved. They did heed th e requests of industry rep Dave Ni coll a nd ordered the club to water the trac k, but th is was ignored and a junior race was run accord ing to th e program. The result wasn 't good. Vision was virt uall y zero at many par ts of th e tra ck a nd rid ers had to rei y o n mem ory to kn ow th at a corner was · a p proach ing. " T his is not wh at we expect from a Fren ch CP," sai d Thorpe. " Everything else this weeke nd has been o f its usual high sta ndard, b ut we shou ld not be expec ted to race in those condi tio ns. Kurt Ni co ll , ho wever , sp ra ng to the defens e of th e club. "T hey sho u ld have watered as we ask ed th em , bu t in rea lity it was not as dangerous as it looked. Most o f the dust was a t th e slower parts of th e track or where the grou nd was level. It was more da ngerous last week in Austria as the track was so rocky." As th e crowd peered through the murk after the first turn at the start of the second mot o , they could see that jo Marten s a nd Franco Rossi had made th e hol esh ot in front o f Lei sk. Martens was soon dropping pl aces, though he took full a d va n ta g e of th e earl y ha ndicap for th ose furt her back to retain sixth place to the finis h. Rossi led by the end of the firs t lap , but Leisk got him j us t' befor e half distanc e a nd loo ked set for th e win as Liles closed in o n th e Ital ian. T hre e laps fro m the end Liles forced h is way inside Rossi a nd sudden ly fo u nd that he had not tak en second pl ace but th e lead , as Leisk slipped o ff in loose d irt . Leisk qu ick ly remounted to finish third in front of the ad van cing Ni coll. Ni coll had sho wn th e most determination co m ing through th e pa ck as he alwa ys kept C eboers a nd Thorpe a t arm 's length. Bu t j ust over two laps from th e end Thorpe sud de nly wasn 't th ere a ny more. " I kn ew where I cou ld pass Eric (C eboers) if I co u ld get o n hi s rear wh eel, a nd I was trying to do th a t when I lost it in a big way ," said T horpe. Cuts a nd bruises and a helmet with a massive dent showed just how big th e crash had been . With Thorpe go ne, C eboers slackened hi s pace, secure in th e kn owledge . that fifth p lace would giv e him second overa ll to Leisk with Liles joining th em on th e ro strum. j acky Ma rtens had been th e on ly likely challe nger to th e leading trio, but he too k a rock on his left foot earl y in th e race and retired after dropping back quickly from an initial third to 16th a t th e halfway point. After falling in th e first turn Mark Banks had ridden a su per b race from last to 15th in the fir st 15 minutes before th e gea rbo x broke, a nd An stie retired wh en th e rear a xle bent after he had ridden many la ps o n a flat tire. Kurt Ljungqvist rod e a n even better race to pa ss j obe four laps from th e end , jumping past him on the inside of the double jump to sna tch eigh th behind Geukens. Karl Sulzer was a lonely 10th ahead of Stefan Larsson. CN Results Q UAUFYtNG : I. David Thor pe (2 m in . 42.86 Nicoll (2:43.72); 4. Dirk Oeu kens (2;11.65); 5. Pau l Malin (2:44.70): 6. Eric Ceboers (2:44.95); 7. Mark Banks (2:15.23); 8. j ell Leisk (2:45.11); 9. Karl Sulzer (2;45.16); 10. jaeky xtan ens (2:15.55): II. Bill y Lil es (2:15.60): 12. 1.<0 Combee (2;15.66); 13. Mervyn Ansu e (2:15.1l4); 11. Franco Rossi (2;46. 15); 15. Leil Persson (2:46. 18): 16. Mare v elkeneers (2:46.211: 17. Robert Scull (2:46.32); 18. Anc Pannrla (2:46.86); 19. Ludovi c Lu cquin (2:47.31); 20. jo Martens (2:17.86): 21. Auilio Pignoni (2:18.02); 22. Siegfried Bauer (2:18.23); 23. Mark Eastwood (2:18.30); 24. Brian Wh ttler (2:48.30); 25. Mauro Moretto (2:48.56); 26. Chris tian Vimond (2:49.32); 27. j ean -Cha rles. Ton us (2:19.87); 28. jean -Michel Mid ey (2:49.88); 29. Stefan La m on (2:19.96): 30. Rob Andrew, (2:19.99); 31. Stuart Coy le (2:50.37): 32. Rob ert o Costa (2:51.01): 33. Kurt Lj un gqvi st (2:5 1.21); 34. Rom ano Nannini (2:51.4 1): 35. Fred Van Loon (2:52. 11); 36. j erce n Roij ak kers (2:52.25); 37. Kees Van der ven (2:52.38); 38. Frank Pali nck x (2:52.49 ); 39. Mar co Fausso ne (2:57.04); 40. Giovan ni Ca vatorta (3:08 .3 1). MOT O I: I. Eri c Oeboers (Ho n); 2. j ell Leisk (Hon); 3. j acky Mart en, (KT M): 4. David Thorpe (Kaw); 5. Mervyn Ansrie (Han ); 6. Kurt Nicoll (xrM): 7. Dirk C eukens (H un); 8. Bill y Lil es (Ka w): 9. Georges jobe (Ya m); 10. Pa ul Ma lin (Ka w]: II. Ma rc Velkeneers (Ka w): 12. Karl Su lzer (KT M); U . Fra nco Rossi ( KT M); 14. Kurt Lj ung qv ist (Han); 15. Robert Scott {H o n) : 16. j o Martens (Kaw]; 17. Ludovic Lu cq uin (H o n); 18. Ar lo Pan nila (Han); 19. Siegfried Bauer (Kaw ): 20. Christian Vimond (H a n); 21. Mauro Mo ret to (Ha n ); 22. Roberto Costa (H on): 23. j ea n-Mich el Midey (Ka w ): 21. Kees Van der Ven (KT M); 25. j

• Cover