Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Graham Noyce, Yam aha 's Neil Hudson , Kawasaki 's Dave T horpe and privateer Suz uki rider Jeremy Whatley third. The West G ermans were fourt h fastest ahead of the Italian sq uad of Gilera-mounted Michele Ri naldi and Corra do Ma ddii , Maico-m oun ted Ma urizio Dolce and Guisep pe Andreani on a KTM . Race day wea ther was aty p ically hot and it wo u ld affect most of the rid ers. It al so hel ped kick up some dust, bu t' the trac k was in excell ent condition. The star ting ga te is at one end of a long undula ting grass-covered vall ey that funnels into a fast left-h an der before a hard right. R ight off the start things looked good for the young America ns. The "J oh nny 0 '" show was playin g up fron t wit h Chandler, Wh a tley, Gibson, Everts, Vromans and Bail ey following. All four Honda riders were in th e top seven. J obe was the needed third score for the Belgian team and he slogged through an indifferent start and was just inside the top ten . Thorpe was also in the to p ten , but the British team's hopes were diminished when Noyce crashed o ut of contentio n. J ust befo re the one-third m ark, Chandler passed O'Mara and wo u ld never be headed. The only q uestion was how much he would wi n by and wo u ld he get the support. O 'Mara held second wi th Whatley, a su rprise in third, ahead of Gibson, Vro ma n s and Thorpe. Neil Hudson, on a 1983 produc tion 250 Yamaha, mo ved int o the top ten and gave Britain the an chor the y needed. Bai ley was slowed temporarily when one of th e radiator shro uds on hi s water-cooled'R C250R came loose, bu t he kept th e number " I" machine in the hun t. The' ha lfway point ca me and went wit h Chandler holding nine seconds on teamma te O 'Mara. T he British racin g gr een helmets of Thorpe and Whatley now ch all enged in th ird and fourth ahead of G ibso n , Evert s, Vromans and Bailey. Dieffenbach was th e top German in tenth place wi th th e enthusiastic cro wd waving him on. T horpe got th e best of a duel with O 'Mara and took over seco nd, fifteen seconds behind Ch andler. O' Mara was slow ing and was passed by Whatley and Everts. " My stomach started to hurt toward the end of the first rn oto," O 'Mara said. " Maybe it was something I ate , but I felt real bad. I hadn 't ridden a 250 since the last stadi um race and my hands ar e blistered pretty badly. Ri din g a 250 is a lot different than my 125." Chandler took the checkered flag after wh a t seemed to many to be the worl d' s lon gest mo to. Ten seconds behind ca me Thor pe and Whatley, followed by Everts , a last-min ut e p ick of the Belgian s, O 'M ara and Vro mans. In a la st corner scuffl e Dav id Bailey hel d off J obe for eighth with Gibson taking ten th. . " It 's good to get it over with ," O 'Mara said. " 1 co u ld n 't wait for tha t last la p." " Righ t after practice I felt sluggish;' said Bailey. " But I just ha d to relax or know that I was going to ge t tired. This is the first time that I've been to Europe and I ha d never experienced jet lag before. " "He had an ins ide line an d turned and hel d it wide open ," Gibson sa id of his last lap pass by J obe. " H e almost didn't ma ke the turn ei ther. " With an hour and a half between motos the riders tried to cool down while awaiting th e seco nd moto. The poi nts from the fir st race showed the Americans with 14 to England's 16 with Belgi um third wi th 19. "J o hn ny 0 " led the flying wedge int o the left-hander a t the start of the second moto with Chandler, Thor pe , Everts and G ibso n in a bu nch beh ind him . Disast er struck for th e Belgi an team further back in the pack. " Dieffen bach cut me off turning to th e inside and when he did Dreschel hi t me from behind and knocked me do wn," said Jobe. He remounted a nd started his ch arge fro m the rear, but in th e n ext co rner more mi sfortune occurred with Everts goi ng down in a pile with two other riders. H e was visibly shaken , but sh ru gged it off after a few mi nutes and stayed to watch, but not ride, the race. With Everts out and Jobe in last place, tbings were looking up for the young American team . Chandler made his move at the 10 minute mark an d started to disappear. " In the first moto I passed J ohnny and in the second one he moved over and let me past," Chandler said. "They told the other riders to move over and let me by if I was coming up on th em. Roger (DeCoster) knows how I can ride once I get going so he told the other guys to move aside. If someo ne's in front of me I ride their pace." At the 15 mi nute mark it was Chandler, Vromans, O'Mara, Thorpe and Gibson. Jobe was passing everywhere on the course and soon cut into the top ten . "I th ink if I had gotten a good start I . co uld have race d with the leaders , bu t starting fro m th e back is difficult. I didn't thi nk of q u itti ng because I knew I had to get a good finis h, " Jobe explained. Seven seconds separa ted Chandler and Vromans a t the 30 minute mark with a small gap to O'Mara and a 14 second gap to Dieffenbach and Bailey. T he American vic tory seemed secure as did the Belgian runner-up spot. British hopes were dashed when Thorpe flipped his Kawasaki a few laps from the end and m o tored into the impound area, joining Noyce who'd broken a rear brake, gi ving him a pair of DNF's for the day. Thorpe reentered the track at th e end of th e race just to give th e British side th e req ui red six fin ishes for an overall p lacing. However, he was p rot ested for not . ha ving gl oves and for no t fastening hi s helmet wh en he re-entered th e' track, and the British team was disqualified after a lengthy protest by the Germans who inherited th ird. " Wha t does it matter if we' re secon d, third or 9l st," No yce said. With eig h t laps to go the complexion of th e race was changed cons ider a bly by an insect. Chandler, who is allergic to bee stings, got stung, " I didn 't think I was going to make it ," he said. " I thought ' May be I ca n do it. ' Then four laps from the en d I felt myself gelling over it. " H e motored to a 26 second win over Vro mans and coasted exhausted across the finish line with a clenched fist raised. O 'Mara, who'd done this once before, took third ahead of Dieffen bach . jobe's charge netted him a fift h ahead of Bail ey in sixth and Wh atley was ahead of Gibson in eighth. "T he heat reall ydrains my strength," Gibson said. "T here are about th ree or four races a year that the heat really bothers me in. I didn 't know wh at to expect since this is the first time I've raced against the Euro pean s." Gibson is rumored to be riding for Yamaha in the 125 GP wars next year. " I' m thinking about it ," he said. " I was a little suprised by the heat ," Bailey said. " I brought a lot of coa ts and long p ants. I was home getting ready for th e Trans-USA series. The last race that I ran was the 250 USG P. I felt OK yesterday and Friday, bu t I thin k th ey were afraid to tell me tha t the jet lag would hit today." The mood was subdued in the American camp after the victory, unlike last year 's jubilation. Particularl y affected was O 'Mara. "It's pretty exciting to win, but I'm thinking about Donnie. He's my best friend," said O 'Mara. (Above) Gibson leads two Europeans. (Clockwise from be lo w ) Britain's ' Jeremy Whatley (32) p unct uat es an American parade of O' Mara, Chandler and Bai ley (2 , 3 & 1). Chandler in tired, bee-bothered victory . O 'Mara checks out his blister ed hands with Lisa Petty Hansen. Chandler was off for a quick shower to cool himself down from the reaction to the bee sting. When he returned to the pits he was scratching himself all over and pouring water all over his body. "T he best thing to do is put ice on it , but there's no ice around here. It gets hard to breathe and I start itching everywhere. The bee went ri ght underneath the shield a nd hit me on the cheek," Chandler said. " It was a hon ey bee that got me today so it wasn 't as bad. I got stung by a wasp out in California and had to leave the track:' The defending champs now have a week 's rest before the Motocross des Nations in Wohlen, Swiuerland, where they'll race the bi g-bores and try again to do what they thought was impossible in the World Championship team events last year, by taking th em both. Resu lts • 1st M OTO: 1, Danny Chandler (Hon); 2. David Thorpe (Kaw); 3. Jeremy Whatley (Suz); 4 . Harry Everts (Suz); 5. Johnny O'Mara (Hon); 6. An dr e Vro · mans (Su z); 7. Rolf Dieffenbach (Hon); B, David Bailey (Hon); 9. Geor ges Jo be [Suz]: 10. Jim Gibso n (Hon). 2nd MOTO: 1. Danny Chand ler (Hon) : 2. Andre Vr omans (Su z); 3. Joh nny O'M ara (Hon ): 4 . Rolf Dieffenbach (Hon l; 5. Georges Jobe (Suz); 6. David Baile y (Hon); 7. Jeremy W hatley (Suz); B. Ji m Gibson (Hon ): . 9. Neil Hudson (Yaml 10. Ar no Drec hsel (Hon). 19

• Cover