Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Georges J obe lost two championship points to Martens after posting 3-1 finishes. He leads Martens by II points in the standings with two GPs remaining. Jacky Martens captured the overall victory at the Citadel with 1-2 moto finishes, Martens claims the • WIn at the Citadel By Alex Hodgkinson NAMUR, BELGIUM, AUG. 4 acky Marte ns moved two points closer to 500cc World Ch am pionship leader Georges J obe as he scored the overa ll victory in th e Belgian G P, held at the famo us Ci tad el circuit. Each of th e two titl e rivals from Belgium won o ne of the 40-minu te plus two-lap motos, but Martens was the runner-up to Jobe in the second race to clinch the overall victory. Since Jobe finished thi rd in mo to on e. he ga ve up two points to Martens and now holds an l l -point lead in the stan din gs with two GPs remaining (th e August II Luxem bourg round and the August 25 U.S. ro und). England's Paul Malin led in bo th motes, but ended the day with 2-3 mo to fin ish es to complete the to p three overa ll. His points for the day lifted him back into third in the standings, but he has no chance of winning the cham pionship. American Bill y Liles once again had a frustrating day. but although he is tied for six th in the standings, he still rem ains only 18 · points away from third -place Malin . Liles fought through th e du st after a bad start to fin ish fifth in moto one, then he was in vol ved in a collision before the first tum at the start of moto two and scored no points in the moto. At the beginning of th e year, Belgium declared the ancient Citadel J 34 fortress a national mo nument. threateni ng the GP. But at the req uest of the loca l govern ment, the monument was exemp t from the normal law s concerni ng such sites so that the GP could continue. The GP course starts in the Ci tadel Esp lan ade, wh ich is like an are na in the shadow of the old for tress. which sits at the top of a hill. The riders then drop into the forest , going betwee n huge trees and under old stone bridges. A portion of the trac k also traverses a cobblestone street, where spectators can sit at tables o n a cafe porch to watch th e action. It was at this cafe wh ere 1983 500cc World Ch ampion Hakan Carlqvist stopped to sip a beer on his way to winning both rno tos in hi s last G P victory before he retired in 1988. After climbing back through the woods, the riders make a spectacular lea p ba ck onto th e Citadel gro unds. The two title candi da tes ma de the best starts at' the start of moto one. but i n th e lon g . sweepi ng firs t turn Mart ens took full adva n tage of hi s ins ide pos ition and pushed Jobe out toward the fence. It was a tactic which pa id off, and for Martens the result was j us tified. . " J obe cu t acros s me and we touched. tha t is wh y I pushed him ou t," said Martens. Jobe wasn't angry with Martens and ga ve a slig h tly different versio n of wha t hap pened. " We to uc he d. but it wa s Di rk Geuk ens who p ushed me right o u t in the first tu m and then he held me up [or severa l laps by weaving a ll over the tra ck!" Ma lin had cu t under them all to take the lead with Martens second, an d th e two soon opened up a tremendous advantage wh ile J obe, L iles and threetime 500cc Worl d Champion David Thorpe were at the back of an -eightma n pack disputin g thi rd. " I was at the back of tha t pack," explained Thorpe. ," The d ust was so bad in the trees that I just had to sit there and try to follow Bill y (Li les). If I had tried to move forward, I would have probab ly en ded up wrappe d arou nd a tree. " After 15 mi nutes the visio n began to improve slig htly as Arto Panttila and J ohan Boonen broke clear in third and fourth whi le the other three were try ing to rind a way past the fading fifth -place Joel Smets, Once J ob e got past Smets, he quickly caug h t up to Boonen and Panttila, but by that time he was already more than half a minute behind the fleeing leaders and rode a conserva tive race once he had taken over thi rd p lace withou t mu ch oppositio n . . J obe ho ped that his po ints loss to Ma rt en s, who sti ll trail ed Mal in, would be restricted 10 jus t two po ints. But with four laps to go , Marten s closed in on Mal in . "It didn 't ma tter if he got close because it is so difficult 10 pass an d I wasn '{ tired," Mal in said. " At a corner in the woods a backmarker kn ocked me off. I shouted to him and he moved over, but just as I went u nd er in the tum he cu t across me again. " Martens quickly went past and rode 10 the win , while Malin recovered to sa lvage second, 27 seconds behind Martens and 13 ahead of Jobe. Pant tila finished seven seco nds beh in d J obe in fou rth wi th Li les righ t in hi s trac ks. Like Liles, T horpe had also passe d Srnets an d he fin ished sixt h, 20 seconds dow n o n Liles. Seventh went to Smets followed by J o Martens , Soren Mortensen and Siegfried Bau er as the lower leaderboard sa w a host of riders disappear late in the race. Geukens broke a shock [our laps [rom th e end, Boonen l ost a lap with a carburetor problem. a n d Kurt Ljungqvist broke a wh eel. J erem y Whatley hurt hi s left ankle in a crash wi th Ronny Weustenraed, but he managed to finish 11th. At the start of race two it was again Mal in a t the front o n the open ing lap with Walter Bartol in i beh ind him leading Jobe and Jacky Mart ens as th ey left the Esp lan ad e. Liles and Geuken s colli ded on the sta rt straigh t and went down. " It was all (Ro nny ) Weu stenraed's fault, " cla imed L iles. " He veered to the right an d pus hed me into Dirk. Then I [ell down agai n in the first comer and bro ke the front brak e lever. " T h orp e. Mo rten sen , Bau er and several ot her riders went down in a big heap in turn two. T ho rpe was forced o u t o n lap two when his chai n brok e. By the end of the first lap, J obe was bitin g at the rear wh eel of Malin and l'tnrten s was all over Bartolini for third. It wasn 't lon g before J obe was racing to a 32-second victo ry. " In the du st today I knew tha t I had to get.to the front quickly," said J ob e. For a long time it looked as though J obe and Marten s, who had passed Bartolini for third, would end the da y with eq ua l po ints [or the th ird suc cessive GP. But second-pla ce Malin had no answer to Marten s' cha rge after 30 minutes. " Jobe go t me when I overshot a comer, but Marten s j ust rode around me wh en I started 10 get tired," said Mal in . " It's been a lo ng tim e since I fin ish ed two 45-mi nu te motos." M artens could n' t cha rge an ywhere near J obe and settled for second, 22 seconds ahead of the fadin g ' Mal in . Ljungvist and J o Martens rou nded out the top five, both a considerab le distance apart. Smers scored another sevenh behind Kees Van der Ven, Geukens finished eight, whi le Bartol in i had dropped back to ninth at the finis h C' Results TIMED PR ACIlCE: I. Georges J o~ (2 min utes. 55.0 1 seco nds ); 2. David Thorpe (.:55.58); 3. Pau l Malin (2:55.9 1): 4. Ro nny weusten raed (2:56.74); 5. Ana Panuila (2:56.89); 6. Jacky Man

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