Often overshadowed by the 500cc class, the quarter-litre championship has some close racing and exciting action.
Words: Tim Britton Media Ltd Pics: Nick Nicholls Collection at Mortons Archive
Arguably it is easier to race the 500s, as the bigger bikes have a more flexible engine with a greater spread of power whereas the 250s need to be kept on the boil and any mistake in gear choice means places lost. This often makes for really close racing and never more so than when the 1982 250cc World MX championships headed to Hawkstone Park in Shropshire.
With reigning world champion Neil Hudson concentrating on the 500cc class the 250 contest was set to be an interesting one in 1982. As the season got under way in Switzerland there was little doubt former world champ Georges Jobe was intending to carve his name on the trophy. The Suzuki star had been world champion in 1980, and in 1981 the hard-fought contest went right down to the wire of the last race where he and Neil Hudson had to wait for the results of an FIM tribunal to deliberate on a protest before Hudson was proclaimed world champion.
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Jobe opened the series with a double moto win at Payerne, dominating the GP as lots of the favourites succumbed to the dry, dusty conditions or just plain bad luck like Rolf Dieffenbach’s Honda bursting a coolant hose while he was leading, or Dave Watson crashing while in the lead in the first moto. Most of the pundits in 1982 felt Jobe’s main adversary would be KTM-mounted Kees van der Ven, yet a young Californian Yamaha rider called Danny LaPorte made his mark on the establishment in his first steps into Europe for GP racing.
ultimate physical decider to many a tussle.
As the contest headed for England and Shropshire’s Hawkstone Park, where the Salop club would lay on a superb scramble, it was not unreasonable to expect the UK press to concentrate a bit on the UK riders in the line-up. Favourite was Dave Watson, 20-year-old Yamaha teamster and in the days when mainstream national press supported MX events, journalist Ted Macauley bigged him up in the Daily Mirror’s prevent piece. Dave was one of nine UK riders in the programme, the others being Jem Whatley, Willie Simpson, Peter Mathia, Steve Beamish, Steve Harrison, Perry Leask, Dave Tomasik and Jonathan Wright; though the latter two didn’t make the start.
There was some controversy before the race got under way, at least according to the headline in the MotorCycle’s news pages which proclaimed: ‘FIM ignore sense and stick to the rules.’ The rules at the time stated a qualifying race must take place the day before the GP; this was to create a field of 40 riders for the actual GP. All well and good – but of the 70 riders entered for Hawkstone, only 42 arrived at the circuit. The FIM insisted the rules be followed and the 42-entry field was whittled down to 40. Initially losing out was Puch team man Willi Wallinger who was listed last, with a time nine seconds slower than he thought.
Turned out most other teams also thought his time was incorrect and some hasty checking showed there’d been an error. Wallinger was back in but losing out was Belgian Marcel Dalcourt who joined Greek racer John Efthimiou on the sidelines. Problem was, everyone knew the tough Hawkstone circuit was notorious for knocking riders out of contention and for the second moto the field was 37 riders…
Still, controversy notwithstanding, the contest had been thrown open after Georges Jobe injured himself in the Italian round and took the decision to sit out the French round – he was leading the championship by quite a way – to aid recovery. Going into the British GP, Jobe was on 108 points, van der Ven on 91 points, LaPorte on 89 points, Dieffenbach on 70 points and Dave Watson on 68 points. Leaving the GP, this table would read a lot differently but before then there were the terrors of Hawkstone Park where more than one superstar has come to grief.
As the pack left the start in race one it was to be 19-year-old Jem Whatley who did the leading and held on to the lead for a considerable length of time. All the racing was going on behind him until the favourites kind of sorted themselves out a bit and started pecking away at Whatley’s lead. It was Dieffenbach – a veteran at 31 – who overhauled teenager Whatley and as the race progressed Jem dropped further behind but remained in the top 10 for the full moto. However, by this time it was Dieffenbach pulling away from Kees van der Ven and Danny LaPorte, who battled it out behind him until the ferocity of their tussle forced the pair ahead of the German Dieffenbach. They would remain feet apart until the very last bend of the last lap, when catching up with backmarkers went well for van der Ven but not so well for LaPorte and the moto went to van der Ven. Dieffenbach, so long the leader, was in an equally tense neck-and-neck race with his Sand specialist Kees van der Ven won the Le Touquet beach race five times and was placed in the top three of the MX world championship for four consecutive years in an MX career lasting 21 years. The Dutch rider was always described as likeable – no mean achievement in the MX world – and his successes didn’t just come in MX as he was part of the Dutch winning team at the ISDE in 1984. Retiring from professional MX as a rider in 1990, he went on to run teams for KTM and his rider Grant Langston was the 125 world champion in 2000. friend and rival Dave Watson. In this tussle it was Watson who came off best and Dieffenbach who came off… after dropping his Yamaha into a hole and putting himself out of the race. Jobe showed his championship style though as, despite the effects of his injuries earlier in the season, he pulled past Mike Guerra and kept ahead of the Husqvarna rider until the flag.
British rider Willie Simpson was showing well until his rear tube shredded in the closing stages of the moto… despite a heroic effort Willie slipped further and further back as he was unable to use the power and lucky to keep the tyre on the rim. He managed to hang on to 11th behind Whatley though. Race two of the GP was equally tense with Dutch Maico rider Benny Wilken making up for puncturing in the first moto by leading the second… at least until his Maico blew up. This allowed Dave Watson to take the lead and for 15 minutes the young Brit was chased by LaPorte and Guerra, van der Ven dropping way down the pack as he remounted after crashing on Hawkstone’s hill. Also remounting was Cheshire’s Pete Mathia, he endo’d with some style into the sandpit and, visibly shaken, managed to climb back on and get under way while up at the sharp end Dave Watson had been overhauled by the two American riders.
only he and Danny LaPorte made it to Hawkstone.
Sadly for one American, the deep sand at Hawkstone caused a wrenched knee and Guerra dropped back and in pain. This left LaPorte and Watson leading the field. The leading duo were chased by van der Ven, Jobe and van Mierlo but the fickle finger of fate was to point at Jobe and the Belgian slid off on the rock slab at the start of the downhill stretch and damaged his already weak elbow. This cruel blow meant Jobe’s loss of an almost guaranteed fourth spot which certainly would have helped in the final reckoning. Another cruel twist saw van der Ven lose his silencer, which affected the power of his KTM to the point where he had it all to do to hang on to second place while further back Dave Watson dropped his bike at the top of the hill then missed a gear 400 yards from the end, which meant fourth place for him.
In winning, LaPorte said he’d hoped fellow countryman Mike Guerra would have held on to second which would have benefited him in the points table, but it was not to be.
So, as the dust settled on Hawkstone, the championship stood at Kees van der Ven in the lead on 118 points, then LaPorte and Jobe on 116 points followed by Dave Watson on 86. It would be an interesting GP at Holland where sand specialist van der Ven was expected to do well.
As our archive piece has been about the British GP we’ve only touched on the rest of the series but it has to be said Danny LaPorte fulfilled his promise and was crowned world champion in his first year in GPs. Yes, he had luck and yes, others had misfortune, but racing is never easy or straightforward and LaPorte did what he had to do. The 1982 season would finish with LaPorte top, then Jobe second again and third was van der Ven. In 1983 the same three would occupy top spots but this time LaPorte and Jobe would swap positions.
Results of the 1982 British 250cc MX GP
1 D LaPorte USA Yamaha 12+15=27
2 K van der Ven Holland KTM 15+12=27
3 D Watson GB Yamaha 10+8=18
4 H van Mierlo Holland Suzuki 5+10=15
5 M Guerra USA Husqvarna 6+6 =12
6 G Jobe Bel Suzuki 8+0=8
7 P Decendre Lux Suzuki 0+5=5
8 A Massant Bel Suzuki 2+3=5
9 A Dreschel Ger Honda 4+0=4
10 E Sundstrom Fin Suzuki 0+4=4
World Championship after British GP
1 Kees van der Ven
2 Danny LaPorte
2 Georges Jobe
4 Dave Watson
5 Rolf Dieffenbach
Danny LaPorte
Los Angeles-born Danny LaPorte grew up in an off-road motorcycling environment and soon proved to be a natural at the hectic world of MX. He is credited as being a prime mover in helping US MXers rise to prominence in the sport. From enjoyment riding to competing was a small step for LaPorte and his rise to the higher levels came via youth and regional successes. Turning professional at 16 his first win was $65! Success followed success but perhaps a bit too easily and by 17 he was a bit jaded and looking for new inspiration. Then on a trip to watch Evel Knievel attempt to jump Snake River Canyon in Idaho he witnessed fellow racer Marty Smith winning a share of a $100,000 MotoCross and to quote Danny: “I got re-inspired real quick.” He continued in all classes as the Seventies became the Eighties and some success in the Trophee des Nations set up a desire for him to race in GPs. Yamaha offered a ride in 1982, LaPorte went, did the winning and joined Brad Lackey at the top of the MX world.
Georges Jobe
For some reason Belgium has the knack of producing MX champions and with five world titles to his name, Georges Jobe was one of the greats. He entered the GP world in 1979 and was the youngest ever world champion in 1980 when he took the 250 championship.
He had to give the top spot up to both Neil Hudson in 1981 and Danny LaPorte in 1982 but was back in 1983 with his second title.
Suzuki’s decision to leave the MX world left him without a ride for 1984 until Kawasaki stepped in. Jobe would enter the 500cc class and race against the greats there…however his achievement of winning the 500cc class in 1987 on a private Honda against the works teams must rank as pure brilliance.
He would represent his country in the ISDE and battle his way back from an injury which left him paralysed for a time. Sadly for the world of MX there was one battle Jobe couldn’t win and his battle against leukaemia was lost in 2012 when he was but 51.
Kees van der Ven
Sand specialist Kees van der Ven won the Le Touquet beach race five times and was placed in the top three of the MX world championship for four consecutive years in an MX career lasting 21 years. The Dutch rider was always described as likeable – no mean achievement in the MX world – and his successes didn’t just come in MX as he was part of the Dutch winning team at the ISDE in 1984. Retiring from professional MX as a rider in 1990, he went on to run teams for KTM and his rider Grant Langston was the 125 world champion in 2000.
