Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE N ot a lot was expected of the 1980 250cc U.S. GP at Unadilla. In fact, many of the top American riders didn't even show up for the event. Neither Kawasaki nor Yamaha sent riders and Honda only en- tered Steve Wise. Americans had won the first two years' GP at Unadilla and 1979 win- ner, Suzuki's Kent Howerton, was back and expected to dominate. What no one esti- mated was the performance of another Suzuki factory rider, a then little-known 19-year-old Belgian named Georges Jobe. Jobe, a rookie in the World Championships, was lead- ing the 250cc MX GP World Championship standings coming into Unadilla, but at that time motocross racing on "the Continent" was all about the 500cc class. During that era the 250cc Motocross World Championships were rel- egated to lesser tracks and contested by riders who couldn't make it in the 500cc Championship, or by young riders looking for their big break. So it's easy to see why Unadilla, without all the leading American riders and teams and with second-tier Europeans, didn't generate a great deal of excitement. But as it happens so often, some of the most memorable races just seem to materialize out of thin air, at times, when least expected. Make no mistake; the field for the '80 U.S. GP at Unadilla was not without talent. Never before had there been so much participation from overseas. A full 25 of the 40 pre-entered riders were carrying passports. The notable exception was the absence of a few of the Eastern-bloc riders. The United States boycotted that summer's Olympics (which were going on at the same time as the race at Un- adilla) so it wasn't that big of a surprise when riders from the Iron Curtain like Russians Vladimir Kavinov and Gennedy Mossiev and Czech Jaroslav Falta were no-shows. On the American side, Howerton, along with Suzuki teammate Darrell Shultz and Honda's Steve Wise, were considered top picks. Howerton was at the very peak of his career. In the ab- sence of Bob Hannah, who had badly broken his leg in a boating accident and sat out the year, Howerton laid waste to the AMA 250 Motocross Nationals, winning all but a single round that season. But for whatever reason, Howerton wasn't his domi- nating self at Unadilla. Promotional obligations had occupied his time leading up to the race and How- erton explained, "I haven't trained this week and I can feel the difference." In Saturday's practice, Jobe was the fastest with a 2:26.9 over Shultz with a 2:27.2. Howerton was all the way back in fifth with a 2:28.9. Howerton claimed he couldn't get into a rhythm and got caught behind riders he didn't know in the timed session. Even still, you could sense that the Texan wasn't as supremely confident as he nor- mally was at just about every other race. "I guess we'll see what happens when the gate drops," Howerton shrugged. By contrast, Jobe was beaming after the ses- sion. "I really like the track here and am looking forward to a great day," said the Belgian. What most people didn't know about Jobe at the time was that he had quietly been a protégé of Roger DeCoster's. While still in high school THE COWBOY AND THE BELGIAN P136

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