Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

held o n to eighth, while J oha n Boonen and j o Martens rounded out the top 10. Thorpe was 31st at the end o£ lap one, but he had hardly made a ny pro gress towards the fro nt wh en he pulled out at the halfway point, " I got out of shape th is morning in ti med p ractice and twi sted my left kn ee badly," said Thorpe. " It happened o n the same jump where Nicoll crashed. I d id n't know how bad the knee was until 1 raced. " Thorped didn 't 'sta rt rnoto two, a nd the first tum claimed Mal in at th e stan of the race. "I caught th e ga te as it went down and that spoiled my getaway," said Ma lin. " Whe n we went into the first tum, the ri ders inside me drifted out and those outside were trying to co me across the track. 1 caught Jobe's rear whee l a nd went down. " Mal in took down many o thers , includ ing Geuken s, Hulsen and Morten sen . Ge ukens' arm got caught in another rider's wheel, bu t he still got away before Malin, while a shaken Hulsen was two-thirds o£ a lap down by the time he could continue. Mortensen soon quit after he fell again. Jacky Martens, Kees Van der Ven and Jobe headed the pack at the start, but before the first lap ended J obe realized that hi s foot was too painful to last the mota a nd stopped at th e en d o£ the circuit. While Mart ens moved away Cor a n undisputed win, Liles quickly dem oted Van der Ven Cor second, but Liles lost the position to Jo Martens one-third of the wa y through the race. "Jo got past me when 1 C , but 1 ell was confident that I could beat him," said Liles, who ended up finishing second, six seconds behind Jacky Martens. " I was glad he fell near th e en d though. It was getting to be real hard work out th ere." Their bailie had been Cor eig h th p lace in the point standings and the last automatic quali£ication position. Jo Marten s was frustrated at having to fini sh third, 17 seconds behind the American. , "I lost eighth place in the first race when I got such a bad start," he said. A long way behind th e Liles/Jo Martens battle, Jared Smith rode a magnificent race to pass Van der Ven a t half distance and mainta in fourth over the Dutchman to the finish. Ljungqvist had been passed for sixth by Mark Banks in mi drace, bu t go t the position back at the finish when Banks had to slacken his pace because of a bad stomach. Ro n ny Weustenraed, eli minated from the first moto wh en he lost his seat, also demoted Banks to eighth wi th a lap to go . Peter Herlings finished ninth a nd H ulsen charged back from the first-tum melee to complete the to p 10. Malin 's hopes of sco ri ng any points following th e first-turn crash fin ally ended after 25 minutes. " I was coming through quite well, but then after 15 minutes I got into a big tank-slapper and ended up in the fence ," said Mal in. "T ha t cost me four places, and wh en I had another silly fall 10 minutes later I decided it was poin tless to continue." lJ'( Results TIMED PIlACTtCE: L Pa ul Malin (2 minutes, 10.97 lI

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