ROUND 3: BELGIUM

After the hectic trip for spare parts to keep the HRC Honda in top condition between Ireland and Great Britain, the 18-year-old Belgian rider Eddy Lejeune scored his first-ever world round win.

The other big talking point at the event was the theft of three machines the night before from the Grand Hotel in Verviers. The machines stolen were the winning Majesty Yamaha machine of Mick Andrews, the Ossa of Spain’s Joaquin Abad and Mike Skinner’s Montesa.

The event consisted of three 28-mile laps with 20 sections per lap! Martin Lampkin got stuck into the action and was a brilliant second, out-pointing Yrjo Vesterinen by four marks.

On a very off-tune Montesa the championship leader Ulf Karlson was very fortunate to finish the event with a smoking machine after his engine crankcase seals failed.

Eddy’s elder brother, Jean Marie Lejeune, came home sixth, and after many crashes, John Reynolds took a well-earned single point for 10th position.

Making its first appearance in the world championship series was the new Ossa ‘Gripper’ model in the hands of Alberto Juvanteny.

24 FEBRUARY 1980 • 45 ENTRIES

RESULTS: 1: Eddy Lejeune (Honda-BEL) 112; 2: Martin Lampkin (Bultaco-GBR) 120; 3: Yrjo Vesterinen (Montesa-FIN) 124; 4: Ulf Karlson (Montesa-SWE) 126; 5: Bernie Schreiber (Bultaco-USA) 143; 6: Jean Marie Lejeune (Montesa-BEL) 144; 7: Manuel Soler (Bultaco-ESP) 154; 8: Malcolm Rathmell (Montesa-GBR) 160;

9: Claude Goset (SWM-BEL) 161; 10: John Reynolds (Beamish Suzuki-GBR) 164; 11: Rob Shepherd (Honda-GBR) 168; 12: Jean Luc Colson (Montesa-BEL) 171; 13: Charles Coutard (SWMFRA) 175; 14: Xavier Miquel (Fantic-ESP) 185; 15: Nigel Birkett (Montesa-GBR) 186.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS

RESULTS: 1: Karlson 35; 2: Vesterinen 25; 3: Lampkin 18; 4: Rathmell 18; 5: Shepherd 18; 6: Schreiber 17; 7: Lejeune 16; 8: Andrews 15; 9: Soler 14; 10: Jean Marie Lejeune 5; 11: Reynolds 5; 12: Myers 4; 13: Coutard 3; 14: Goset 2; 15: Subira 2; 16: Birkett 1.