Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

David Thorpe (5) passed Georges Jobe (14) and Bill y Liles (6) to win the first moto, Thorpe only had to pass one rider on his way to winning the second moto. Belgium's Jobe clinched the 500cc World Championship with 3-2 moto finishes. - Thorpe wins, J clinches title in Luxembourg obe By Alex Hodgkinson FOLKENDANGE, LUXEMBOURG, AUG, II a vid Thorpe was totally dominant on hi s way to sweeping both mot os of th e Luxembourg GP, b ut hi s feat was overshadowed by Belgian Georges Jobe clinching th e 500cc World Ch ampionship. But a co ntro versy arose o ver J ob e's finish in th e seco nd moto, Jobe was credited with seco nd pl ace, but th ere was question as to when he actually cro ssed th e fin ish lin e in th e second moto, as he appar ently celebra ted his titl e just a few feet too soo n (see sidebar). A prot est by titl e rival J acky Martens was rejected and Job e was given seco nd, wh ich com bined wi th h is first -rnot o third and Marten s' pointless da y gave him an insu rmou nta ble 43-point lead o ver Martens wi th o n ly th e U.S. GP at Gl en Hel en rem ain ing. Martens, wh o trailed Jobe by o nly II poi nts a t th e beginning of th e GP, had a foam- fill ed tire problem in the first mo to a nd a broken shock in moto two end hi s title hopes. Martens ' is assured of seco nd in the championship, bu t the bronze meda l is still up for g rabs a n d co u ld be ta ke n b y America n Bill y Li les. After fin ishing seco nd in th e first moto, G eorgi a 's L iles was in volved in a cras h off th e start o f moto two a nd cou ld on ly mak e it ba ck up to 10th at the finish . Li les is fifth in th e sta nd ings, 16 points behind Belgian Dirk Geukens , who finished fourth overa ll beh ind Swede Jorgen Gustafsson, and on ly three points behind th e in consistent Brit, Paul Malin. J obe go t th e perfect start in th e first 40 -minute plus two-lap rnoto, i n con tras t to the poor start of titl e rival Martens wh ose " h o m e " GP was quickly becoming a nightmare. Despite passing several riders on th e first lap, the Belgian ' KT M factory rider, D 6 who competes with a Luxembourg license, was a lowl y 10th. O ver the nex t 10 min utes Marte ns was able to adv a nce two pos it io ns, but th en his progress came to a halt and it was soo n clear th at he was struggling with hi s tir es. Every co m pe titor struggled for gr ip on th e polished su rface o f th e track , whi ch lies on a former coa l tip, bu t none seeme d to be as troubled as Mart ens. Martens began to fad e badl y after 25 minutes, unab le to accelera te wi th a ny degree of aggression ou t o f th e tu rns. By 35 minutes Mart ens was do wn to 13th , and with a lap to go he dropped out of th e top 15 poin tspaying positions on his way down to a 21st-place fini sh. While Mart ens locked himself aw a y in his mo torh o rne, J aak Van Velthoven co nfirmed that the tires had been a problem. . "J acky has been co mp la ining he has no grip all weekend: ' said Van Velthoven . " He is struggling beca use he is the only rider wh o is being expected to honor hi s co ntract a nd co nt in ue to rid e Dunlop (tires) rather th an using P irell i. T he (KT M) tea m ma nager Dave Ni co ll m ust no w go and tell Dunlop that they are breaking the contract." ' Dave's son Arran , a KT M factory mech anic wh o was helping the Belgian KTM riders since h is eld er brother Kurt was out with a bro ken thi gh suffered ear lier in th e season, said, "Jacky wasn 't usin g Du nl op foam. H e was usin g a Du nl o p tire fill ed wi th some foa m of hi s ow n a nd the filling di sintegrated . Tha t would n' t hav e happened if he had used the Dunlop foam." While Martens' titl e hopes slip ped away, Jobe was fightin g a t th e front of the field to collect as many points as he possibly cou ld. On th e sixt h lap of what wo uld be a 17-lap rnot o, Liles sprinted past J obe to tak e over th e lead . T hroughou t th e foll ow in g lap J ob e and three-tim e 500cc World Ch ampion T hor pe exc hanged seco nd severa l tim es in front of th e pa cked ga lle ry with Jobe sti ll emerging in front. But a t the 25-minute ma rk, Thorpe finall y got by for good. " Jobe was riding a negative race," said T horpe. " I didn't want to interfere with h is titl e chances , but he was not interested in racing. All he wanted to do was hold me up, a nd in th e end, I go t a ngry a nd put him o ut har d to get pa st. He co uld eas ily have go ne ' down. I do n't understand him ; he m ust hav e known that Ma rten s was dropping back, because I knew it from reading the si g na ls Geo rges was getting fro m his wife." Within a lap after Thorpe passed J obe for second, th e Englishman was leading as Li les went down . " I lost bot h wheels o n a downhill a t th e ba ck o f the tra ck," exp lained Lil es, who scor ched back to snatch second fro m J ob e o n th e fin al lap. " Georges was riding all of th e inside lin es, but I had seen th is o ne pl ace where I co uld dr ive arou nd him ," Li les also said th at he a nd J ob e nearly cras hed togeth er a t o ne point as th ey closely battled. J ob e had clearly been livin g dan gerously, b ut th e points he earn ed for third increased hi s ad vantage over the po in tless Martens to 26; a sim ila r result in mo to two for each o f th em would deci de th e ti tie. L a st- lap p ositi on cha n ges we re num erou s. More th an 30 seco nds beh ind j ob e, Italian Walter Bartolini, o n th e four-stroke Hu saberg, had driven under Geukens halfway around the final lap for fourth place, only to lo se out to th e Belgian aga in three co rn ers from th e finish . It was an im porta nt pass for Geukens in hi s quest to retain th e number-three plate as hi s rival Mal in had been put on th e deck in th e first co rne r. " I go t tan gl ed wit h J erem y Wh atley co m ing ou t of th e ga te, but we got free," exp lai ned Malin. " In th e first turn Joel Sm ets ran into me and wrench ed the bar s from my hands. From th en it was just a matter o f trying to pull back as man y pl aces as possible while trea ting the sli p pery track with th e necessary respect," Mal in passed J o Martens for eigh th p lace and could see Kurt Ljungqvist two places a head in six th after the Finn had ma de a la te pass on Gustafsson who, after starti ng second beh ind J ob e, ha d hung o n bette r th an he could have hoped. " Finally, I got a good star t a nd could ri de m y ow n lines," said G ustafsson. " It is so much easie r when you get away so near th e fro nt, My wrist had been taped up an d I o nly had a few twinges, bu t I start ed to feel tired after about half a n hour. I was able to snap o u t of it, thou gh , a nd on ly dropped to seven th at th e finis h," Gustafsson led th e start o f th e second mot o over T horpe a nd J ob e as a host o f th e top ri ders went down in th e first turn. Among th em were Liles, Ljungqvist, Soren Mortensen a n d Bria n Wh eeler. Liles was very unhappy. " I was seco nd o ff th e start, but J ob e bumped into me and I had to go a , litt le wid e: ' said Lil es. "Then so meo ne ca me hurtlin g into th e corner lik e a novice and took us all down," Thorpe a nd Jobe were soo n past Gustafsson , but th e Swed e lost no more positions and it soon became clear that Jobe was go ing to clinch the title, barring any di sasters.

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