Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS e World Championship 500(( MX Series: Round 4 = - - -- - - - - - - , . - . . " . " . . Paul Malin (11) won both motos and became me you ngest rider to win a 500ccGP. Malin magnificent in France By Alex H odgkinson CASTILNAU·DE·LEVIS, FRANCE, MAY 12 aul Malin became the youngestever 500cc GP winner when he scored maximum po ints at the horrend ou sly-fast Caste lnau-de-Levis track in the southwest corne r of Fran ce. The Eng lishman's feat also moved him from sevent h to th ird in the po int stan di ngs at the end of the demandin g five-week schedule, whic h had taken th e riders to all four corne rs of Eu rope. After so man y previou s near-misses, 19-year-old Malin rom ped away with th e win in the opening 40-minu te pl us two-lap moto and enjoyed the taste of success so much tha t he went ou t and resisted the challenges of points leader Kurt Nicoll to win moto two as well. The sweep allowed Malin to sur pa ss for mer 500cc World Champion Dave Thorpe as th e you ngest 500cc GP winner, a mark that stood since 1984 when T ho rpe won th e Swedish GP as a 21 year old. Malin also became the youngest to win a 500cc GP mot o. Ruggedly-d etermined Georges J obe once again overcame the pain from his injured shoulder to record 2-3 moto fini shes for second overall, and he prevented a British 1-2-3 sweep, as Nicoll ro u nde d OUt th e top three overall and was foll owed by fellow Brit Mervyn Anstie in the overall results. America n Billy Liles cra shed OUt of rnoto one, and the hand he dam aged in the incident forced him ou t of the second race. The Georgian saw an y titl e hopes vanish as he slu mped to 12th in the point sta ndings, 91 points behind cha mpionship leader Nicoll. The first moto literall y thundered into action as Walter Bartolini on the four- stroke Husaberg grabbed the holeshot , but within half a lap Malin P 24 was past the Italian and per formed hi s d isappearing act. Bart olini retained second place until halfway aro und the second lap when Anstie edged past him fo r th e runner-u p pos itio n, th en Bart olini quickly dropped downf ield as hi s arms pumped up on th e strenuou s trac k wh ich sna ked ' back and form through a steep -sided valley. Riding a little more conservatively than usual to p rotect his damaged knee, Ansti e relinquished second to Nicoll after about 10 minutes. But KTM 's Nicoll, who had also charged past championship riva l J obe a littl e bit ear lier, was also forced to ease hi s pace. " I mu st have ridd en a littl e too tense in the early ' lap s,' exp lained Nicoll. " My arms started to pump up." Lil es h ad charged through in Nicoll's wheeltracks, but h is efforts to wrestle second p lace from th e Engl ishman ended with his cras h. It appeared th at the rear wheel of Lil es' Kawasak i had kicked over brakin g bumps at th e end of th e main straigh t, but Liles exp lained differently. "T he bars were just ri pped out of my hands," said Liles, who hurt his hand and had to quit the second moto after a few lap s as he was un abl e to hold on to th e bars. An examination of the bik e revealed dam aged internals in the front forks. Liles' mech an ic J oh an Luyton said, "The Kayaba engineer reckons that they were bro ken in the crash, but I'm not so sure. We have never had any handling difficulties before and th e breakage is similar to the' on e we suffered earlier th is year in Finland which event ually brok e the seals." T ho rpe was on the march after starting 12th. H e event ually charged pas t Nicoll for second, but he was being closely foll owed by J obe and h e cou ldn' t sha ke the Belgian off. Job e patient ly foll owed Thor pe and waited for the final corner to make hi s pass. "The bumpy downhill to the tu rn wit h a jump half way down th e slope was the worst part of the track for my shoulder," said Thor pe, referring to th e' injury he suffered at the first GP of the year. Some on loo kers felt J obe T-boned Thorp e, who felt otherwise. " Georges did wha t I wo uld've don e a nd went down the inside to sq uare the corn er in fro nt of me. It was a good pass." At the checkered flag, Malin was just five seconds ahead of jobe, but the narrowness of the winning mar gin flatt ered hi s chase rs. The teen ager was 22 seconds clear when Thorpe had mo ved to .second near the halfway poi nt, and th e gap was on ly narrowed in the final laps. "After so ma ny near-misses, I was getti ng a little nervous in the closing stages an d I simp ly eased my pace a litt le to avoid doin g anything silly," said Malin. . Thorpe fin ished th ird on the heels of Jobe, wh ile Nicoll fin ished nearl y 25 secon ds beh in d in fou rth. Nicoll finish ed JUSt out of reach of KTM teammate Jacky Martens, and a rejuven ated Ans tie found someth ing in reserve in the final laps to prevent Arto Pan tilla from ta king six th pl ace fro m him. Pantilla had ridden from 24th at the end of lap one to his sevent h-place finish. . Soren Mortensen had been pushing Anstie hard unt il cl u tch problems allowed Dirk Geuke ns, J o Mart en s and J ohan Boone n to pass h im for the 810 finishing posi tions. J obe led the sta rt of m oto two, bu t once again Malin was in fron t on the first lap. This time, h ow ever , he cou ldn't escape as Nicoll was quickl y on him and the two pulled clear of the pack to battle the en tire race. It on ly ended when Nicoll fell just over a lap from the end. " I kept dropping back to get out of Paul 's ro ost ," ex p la i ned Ni coll. "There were pl aces where I could catch up , but he was faster over the jumps and ou t of th e slingsho t turns, and it wo uld have been diffi cult to pass. I tried to go in side in a tight corn er, but he stopped in the turn, I clipped his rear wh eel and fell. " Malin was overjoyed at having won the moto by 20 seconds over Nicoll to earn hi s first GP win. " I didn 't get tired at all ," he said. " After winning my first GP moto, I couldn ' t wait to win another and I didn 't make an y mistakes when Kurt was on my rear wheel." J obe was a lso relieved to have fin ished third, some 10 seconds behind Nicoll, and to have gained two points on the championship leader. " No w I can let my sh ou lder heal for a couple of weeks." . Thorpe had come from outside the top 10 and was just about to pounce on J obe and fourth-place Anstie when hi s bik e brok e. " T he motor seized again," said Thor pe. " It seized JUSt a few yar ds after I had landed from one of the big dropoffs. A cou pi e of seconds earlier and I wou ld've had a big one." Anstie hung on for fourth at the finish dropping back 20 seconds behind Jobe. Geukens held off Kurt Ljungqvist to fin ish fifth, while Jo Martens and Boon en were stru ng out behind at me fini sh in seventh and eighth. Pantilla would've likely split them, but he fell three laps from the end after battling forward from 15th. Instead he finished tK 13th. Results TIMED PRAcnCE: I. Paul Malin (2 minutes, 17.67 seconds); 2. Kurt Nicoll (2:17.79); 3. David T ho rpe (2:18.62); 4. Art o Panuila (2:19.59); 5. Geo rges J obe (2:20.79); 6. Billy Lib (2:20.97); 7. Dirk Gcu kens (2:21.73); 8. J oh an Boonen (2:22. 12); 9. Jo Marten' (2:22.38); 10. Kurt Ljungqvist (2:22.48); I I. Darry l King (2:22.8 1); 12. Brian Wheeler (2:22.99): 13. Mervyn Anstie (2:23.05); 14. Ronn y Weustenraed (2:23.26); 15. David Wijnants (2:23.38); 16. Olivier Perrin (2:23.53): 17. Karl Sulzer (2:23.69); 18. Soren Morte nsen (2:23.69); 19. Regis Simo n (2:23.69); 20. Siegfried Bauer (2:23.83); 21. ] oel Smets (2:23.87); 22. Mark Banks (2:24.42); 23. Cianma rco Faussone (2:24.70); 24. Gi ova nn i Cava tc rta (2:24. 74); 25. Wal ter Bartolin i (2:24.92); 26. Paul -Ph il fipe Vandesompe le (2:25.40): 27. Marc Velk eneers (2:25.80); 28. Gio rgio An toniazzi (2:25.94); 29. Jacky Martens (2:26.04); 30. J ared Smi th . (2:26.04): 31. j eroen Roijakkers (2:26.15); 32. Eric Dela nnoy (2:26.51); 33. Ro bert Scon (2:26.60); !4. Rom an o Nanni ni (2:26.92); 35. Stephane Larsson (2:27.08): 36. j ean Marc Blan ch y (2:27.2 1); 37. Mari o Vincenzi (2:2'1 .26); 38. Thierry Tourte (2:28.39); 39. G uiseppe Caspardon e (2:29.38); 40. Carlo H ulsen (2:29.96). MOTO I : I. Pa ul Malin (Ka w); 2. Geo rges Jobe (Hon); 3. David Thorpe (Ka w); 4. Kurt Nicoli (KTM); 5. Jacky Marte n, (KTM); 6. Mervyn Anstie (ES); 7. Arlo Pantilla (Hon): 8. Dirk Geukens (Hon); 9. J o Mart en, (Hon); 1O.]ohan Boonen (KT M); II. Soren Mortensen (Kaw); 12. Kurt Ljungqvist (Ha n); 13. Rom ano Nann ini (H on ); 14. Karl Su lzer (Han ); 15. Darryl King (Kaw) ; 16. Brian Wheela (KTM); 17. Wal ter Banohni (H bg); 18. Ronny w ec srenraed (Kaw) ; 19. Mark Ban k, (KTM); 20. G iorgio Anto· ni azzi (Kaw); 21. David Wijn an u (Ka w) ; 22. Siegfri ed Bauer (Kaw); 23. Joel Smets (Ho n); 24. Stefan Lar sson (Ka w); 25. Gianmarco Fau ssone (Kaw); 26. Marc v elkeneers (Ho n); 27. J ean-Marc Blanch y (Ka w); 28. J ernen Roijakkers (KT M); 29. Regi s Simon (Hon); 30. Eric Delan noy (Ho n); 31. Carlo Hulsen (Hon); 32. Mari o Vincenzi (Ka w). MOTO 2: I. Pa ul Malin; 2. Kurt Nicoll 3. Georges .Iobe; 4. Mervyn Anstie; 5. Dirk Geu kens : 6. Kurt Ljungqvist; 7. J o Marten s: 8. J ohan Boonen: 9. Mark Banks ; 10. Soren Mortensen: II. Jared Smi th (Hen): . 12. Olivier Perrin (Kaw); U . Arlo Pamill a ; 14. Bria n Wheeler: 15. Giovanni Cavaro rta (Ha n ); 16. Stefan Larsso n; 17. Pa ul Vandesompele (Ka w); 18. Danyl King; 19. Car lo H ulsen; 20. Regis Simon; 21. jeanMarc Blan ch y; 22. jercen Ro ijakkers; 23. Gianmarco Faussone; 24. Eric Delan noy; 25. Joel Smets ; 26. Ja ri Vaniainen (Ka w) . WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ~ lIlX SERIES POINT STANDINGS: I. Kur t Nicoll (132); 2. Geo rges Jobe (113); 3. Pa ul Malin (9 1); 4. Dirk Geukens (76); 5. Kurt Lj ungqvist (73); 6. Arto " Pant ill a (72); 7. Jack y Marte ns (67); 8. (TI E) Mervyn Ansue/johan Boonen (55); 10. Jo Mar ten, (51): 11. Ronn y Weuste nraed (47); 12. Bill y Liles (41): 13. David Thorpe (25); 14. Car lo H u lsen (22): 15. Siegfried Bauer (19). World Championship 250cc MX Series: Round 3 Parker to the top in Austria SCHWANENSTADT, A USTRIA, MAY 5 orm er 125cc .MX World Champion Trampas Parker shot to the front of the World Championship 250cc MX Series point standings when he scored th e overall win at the Austrian GP. The American who now lives in Italy POSted 1-4 moto finishes which put him in to the lead by on e point over Mamiqc Bervoets and two points over defending champ Alessandro Puzar. Both of Parker's title rivals had a bad day. Bervoets, who held the points lead coming into the event, recorded 6-9 moto finishes, while Puzar got stuck in the gate in moto one, crashed while trying to charge to the front, then snapped the handlebars while trying to straighten them. Puzar stormed back to win the second moto, Dutchman Dave Strijbos was able to secure second overall with 8-2 finishes , wh ile Parker's Emmepi Honda teammate Michel e Fanton completed the top three overall finishers. Strijbos and Peter Johansson joined Puzar at the back of the pack when they all hit the gate at the start of the first 40-minute plus two-lap moto. German Bernd Eckenbach got the jump and led for seven laps with Peter Dirckx, Parker and Dietmar Lacher close behind. Parker made a mistake which cost him two places, but after that he charged back and tore through to take the lead from Eckenbach on the eighth lap. Eckenbach held second until he F

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