Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Kurt Nicoll finished th ird overall and moved to second in the point standings. KTM's Jacky Martens got to the front early in both motos at th e German GP and turned his advantage into a pa ir of overwhelming victories. Martens walks away with German GP win By Alex Hodgkinso n GOLDBACH, GERMANY,JULY 15 elgian jacky Martens dominated the German G P at Gol dbach as he won both motos by large margins. In the first race, Martens finished nea rly 10 seconds ahead of Eri c G ebo ers, the n topped KTM teammate "Kurt Nicoll by just over 10 seconds in moto two. Geboers fin ished the second moto fourth to clai m second overa ll, despite being disa ppointed with his performan ce, while Nico ll took the final spot on the rostrum. But Geboers still holds a 73-po int lead in the standings over Nicoll , who moved into second when Dirk Geukens, th e . Honda privateer wh o star ted th e da y second in the standings, crashed a t the start of th e first moto, Geukens had also crashed during Saturday's practice and injured his right ankle. World Champion David Thorpe completely dropped out of title contention. Following a first-turn crash, Thorpe finished a disma1l2th in the first moto, then pulled out of the fina1 moto, In the ludicrous fir st corner, a sweeping downhill right-hander, a : whole collection of riders crashed at the stan of the first moto and Geukens was unable to avoid them. After remounting, he did one lap well B 16 behi nd the pack before he withdrew for the day. Georges lobe, Thorpe and Mervyn Anstie were among those who went dow n but on ly j obe was injured. The Belgia n pulled a muscle in his neck and was on his way home before the race was fin is hed . It was n't clear exactly what happened. "j obe was the one who too k me out, but I' m sure someone had already pushed him," said Thope. _ Wh ile Thorpe was p icking him self up 10 complete the first lap 28th, it was his young Kawasaki teammate and fellow Englishman Paul Malin who led. But on lap two th e front wheel slid out from under Mal in on a downhill right-hand turn and he had to rejoin the race eigh th. Malin's crash left Martens and jared Smith well ahead of the pack and they du elled for a couple of laps before Martens started to pull away . Behind them Kees Van der Ven was being pressed hard by Dietmar Lacher, Marc Velkeneers, Geboers, Kurt Ljungqvist and Malin. Only Nicoll, who had been handicapped orr the stan when Lacher was pushed orr line into him, was to challenge these riders throughout the race. Geboers was the first 10 get pas t Van der Ven and he quickly Caugh t a fading Smith, but Martens was a different proposition. By half-distance the KTM rider was already 30 seconds ahead, and it would have taken a superhuman ride to pull h im back in the hot conditions. Geboers is far too clever 10 risk losing a certain 17 points so he cruised in second. Lacher had challenged Geboers for a time , bu t th e German crashed just after the halfway point and handed third 10 Malin, who had recovered well. La cher remounted just ahe ad of Van der Yen, Sm ith, Ljungqvist and Velkenee rs a nd soo n had a cl ear adva ntage over them aga in but with no chance to regain third. After 30 minutes, Van der Yen fell in a run at th e bottom of a short climb and had to push up th e slope to restart. That put him down to 14th and the exertion of pushing meant that he had no energy in reserve to fight back up the leaderboard. Nicoll , 15th on lap one , was the only rider to advance very far in the points scoring posi tio ns an d, even though his arms had pumped up as he hit all the bumps in the bl ind ing dust, he had enough stren gth to advance fro m eighth 10 fifth on the last three laps. His last victim was Ljungqvist. Thorpe came back to 11th after 35 minutes, but Austrian Siegfried Bauer had slotted in behind him when he was pa ssed at the 15-minute stage and with just under two la ps to go Ba uer repassed the World champ. The second rnoto again saw Martens and Malin at the front, an d they fough t a superb battle for 15 minutes. Mal in wasn't givi ng an inch to his more experienced rival, but the pace began to tell and Malin gra dually dropped back, event ua lly being caugh t by his chasers after half an hour. On ce back to eigh th, ho wever, Malin regai ned h is composure a little to maintain th e pos ition to the fin ish. With Martens long gone for hi s second 'win , the first to catch Mal in was Nicoll , who had passed Ljungqvist for third place on lap three. Malin o££ered stern resistance for a couple of laps once he had been caught by Nicoll and this allowed the chasing Hondas of Lacher, Geboers and Ljungqvist to close on the two Englishmen. Seeing the Hondas coming, Nicoll made a desperation pass and immediately pulled away, but there was still drama for second place as the oil seal on Nicoll 's KTM burned out with four laps to go and the KTM missed a beat on a number of occasions in the final stages. It wasn't Lacher or Geboers who posed a threat 10 Nicoll, but it was Anstie w ho wa s cl o sing in from behind. Ansti e was only 12th at the begi n ni ng after he was too cautious in the first corner to prevent a repeat of th e first moto, but he overcame fati gu e and came very close to snatching second after he passed Geboers with a lap to go. Lacher faded fast in the final minutes, not surprising after his long layoff du e 10 injuries. Although fourth , Geboers was dissatisfied with hi s performan ce. " I sho u ld have done bett er," said Geboers. " I didn 't ride well at all. " Van der Yen had latched on to Anstie wh en the Englishman went past him and he 10 0 stormed past Ljungqvist and Lacher on the final lap. Van der Ven just m issed adding Geboers to his conquests. Thorpe was running seventh for half the race, right behind the th ree leaderboard Hondas, when he pulled off th e track. La ter, in th e p its. Thorpe came out of a conference with team ma nager Alec Wrigh t and Ha kan Car lqvist 10 exp lain. " I am just riding badly an d I don't know why ," Thorpe began. " I wish I did . I am an em ba rrasment for Kawasaki th e way I amriding at the moment. I am paid 10 win and I'm not capa ble of doing so at the moment, that's why I pulled out. I feel low physically as well , and I have done so for a long tim e. I had a virus before the Austrian GP in May, and I recently had some med ical tests and the results will be availabl e tomorrow so perhaps I will know more then. "Perhaps it is ph ysical , perhaps not, but I am just riding badl y and can 't deliver th e goods. I have no confidence in myself. Everyon e is pointing at me and that just mak es it worse. I don't know yet if I will be at the next GP in San Marino th e way I feel at th present." D Resul ts TIMED PRACTICE: I. David Thorpe (2 minu..., 18.32 seconds): 2. Dietm ar Lach er (2:19.35); 3. Kun Ni coll (2:19.92); 4. Paul Malin (2:20. 14); 5. Ano Pan ttila (2:20.92); 6. J ohan Boonen (2:20.95); 7. Jacl:y Marten s (2:21.03); 8. Er ic Geboers (2:21.15): 9. Siegfried Bauer (2:2 1.18); 10. Georges j obe (2:21.56); 11. j o Mart ens (2:2 1.46); 12. Romano Nannini (2:21.90); 13. Bjorn Honeck (2:22.05); 14. Ro bert Scott (2:22.25); 15. Leif Persson (2:22.26); 16. Kees Van der Ven (2:22.771; 17. Mare Velkeneers (2:22.82); 18Mar k Banks (2:22.87); 19. Ma uro Moretto (2:22.91); 20. Rob Andrews (2:22.94); 21. Jea n-Charles Tonus (2:23.2 1); 22. Kun Ljungqvist (2:23.35): 23. Marco Fau ssone (2:23.41); 24. Mervyn Anstie (2:23.49); 25. Werner Siegl e (2:23.82); 26. Brian Whee ler (2:23.83): 27. Giovanni Cavatorta (2:24.29); 28. Dirk Geukens (2:25.35): 29. Giuseppe Gaspardone (2:24.52); 30. Jared Sm ith (2:24.76): 31. Serge David (2:25.09); 32. joel Smeu (2:25. 13); 33. Stefan Larsson (2:25.62); 34. Ervin Kraj covic (2:25.62): 35. Eri c Delannov (2:26.28): 36. Toni Gabenhuel (2:26.42); 37. Maurice Golay (2:26.53): 38. Ru~",1 Jarman (2:26.78); 39. Stuart Co yle (2:26.95); 40. j erdu n Ro ya kkers (2:27.05): 41. Roberto Costa (2:28.2 1). MOTO t: I. Jacky Man en , (KT M): 2. Eric (Hon); 3. Paul Malin (Ka w): 4. Dieun ar Lach (H o n); 5. Kur t Nicoll (KTM ): 6. Kun Ljungq vis (H on); 7. Marc velkeeeers (Kaw); 8. J ared Smith (Ha n); 9. Ro mano Nannini (Ha n); 10. 10 Marten (Kaw) ; I I. Siefried Bauer (Ka w) ; 12. David Tho (Kaw); 13. Brian Wheel er (KTM); 14. Kees Van Ven (KTM); 15. Johan Boonen (KThI); 16. M Anstie (Ha n); 17. Ana Panttila (Ho n ); 18. Persson (Hon ); 19. Robert Scott (Ha n ); 20. R Andrew, (Hon); 21. Mar co Fa usso ne (Kaw); 22. Mauro Morett o (Han); 23. Werner Siegle (Kaw); 24 Stefan La rsson ( Kaw ); 25. Gi ovan ni Cavato (H a n ); 26. Ro bert o Co sta (Han ); 27. J er d u Royakkers \Ho n); 28. Erie Delannoy (H on); 29 Mau rice Go ay (Yam); 30. Ervin Krajcovic (H a n) . MOTO 2: I. Jacl: y Marten , (KTM): 2. Kurt Ni col (KTM); 3. Mervyn Annie (Ha n); 4. Eric (H o n); 5. Kees Van der Ven (KTM); 6. Di Lacher (Hon); 7. Kurt Lj un gqv ist (Hon); 8. Pau Ma lin (Kaw); 9. Mar c Velkeneers (Kaw ); 10. J Mar ten. (Ka w); 11. Giovanni CavalOrta (H a n); 12 Stefan Larsson (Kaw); 13. Brian Wh eeler (KTM); H Ro bert Scott (Ha n); 15. Werner Siegle (Kaw); 16 Jared Smith (Ha n); 17. Eric Delannoy (H a n); 18 Jerdun Royakkers (H a n) ; 19. Bjorn Bonecl: (Kaw ) 20. j ean-Charles T onus (H o n); 21. Mauro Morn (H o n ); 22. Maurice Golay (Ya m ); 23. Joc:l Sm (H o n); 24. Ervin Krajcovic (H o n); 25. Giu>Cp Caspardone (Kaw ). 500« WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POIN STANDINGS: I. Eric Oeboers (259); 2. Kurt Nicol (186); 3. Jaci:y Monen. (173); 4. Dirk Geuken, (168) 5. (TIE) !lilly Li leslDavid Thorpe (t56); 7. Kees V der Ven (99 ); 8. Jeff Lei.k (90); 9. Mervyn An• . (82); 10. Franco Roui (77); II. J o Manms (76 ; 1 Kurt Ljungqvut (61); 13. Gcorges Jobe (54); 14. Velkeneers (53); 15. Paul Malin (50); 16. S Larsson (35); 17. Jared Sm ith (34); 18. Leo Com (28); 19. Lei! Peruon (25); 20. Karl Suber (24).

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