HALL OF FAME

1978: 30th in the 125 Motocross World Championship (Yamaha) 1980: 4th in the 125 Motocross World Championship (Yamaha). Winner of 1 GP 1981: 4th in the 125 Motocross World Championship (Yamaha). Winner of 1 GP 1982: 5th in the 125 Motocross World Championship (Yamaha). Winner of 3 GP’s 1983: 6th in the 125 Motocross World Championship (Gilera) Winner of the Cup of Nations with team Belgium 1984: 4th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Gilera). Winner of 1 GP 1985: 9th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Maico) 250 Belgian Champion 1986: 12th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Yamaha) 1987: 10th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Honda) 1988: 19th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 1989: 22th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 1990: 15th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 1991: 42nd in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Honda)

Twice fourth in the 125cc World Championship, Marc was the man to beat during the first rounds of the 1982 season; winner of the first three rounds in Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, he had a tough day in Italy but bounced back in Yugoslavia� The French GP was a nightmare for him, as he crashed and got injured, and was not able to fight for podium honours that season again, and once more missed the final podium in the standings�

After four seasons with Yamaha, he signed with Gilera in 1983 to replace Michele Rinaldi who joined Suzuki; it was another tough season for him, who had to wait to the eighth round of the series to win his first race on the Italian bike, which was not really reliable at this period� The worst memory of the season was the final round in Czech Republic, when he broke the frame during the practice session and couldn’t race the GP as only one bike went trough the technical control�

Moving to the 250cc class with Gilera in 1984 he will again be in contention for a podium result, but even if he won the last GP in Finland, he had to be satisfied with a fourth ranking for the third time in his career� It was his last good season, as Gilera didn’t renew his contract; signing with Maico, who tried to come back to the World Championship, he finished the season in the top ten of the series without any podium result� Changing brand and classes the following years, he was never again in a position to win a race and finally retired when he turned thirty� Very smart rider, able to beat anyone on a good day and considered as one of the best sand specialist, Marc just missed some more experience on hard pack to be more succesful during his career� Winner of six GP’s in both the 125cc and 250cc class, winner of the 1983 Cup of Nations with the Belgian team, he was back a few years ago in the paddock as a technician for the Gebben Van Venrooy team�

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1 MXGP Academy youngsters enjoying the riding session at the MXGP of Patagonia-

Argentina 2 MXGP riders enjoyed an exciting autograph event in Villa La Angostura in front of an enthusiastic crowd of fans! 3 Kevin Benavides of Red Bull KTM Factory

Racing Rally Team enjoying the MXGP action in Argentina 4 Rui Gonçalves, Former MX2 Vice World

Champion made an appearance at the

MXGP of Portugal as he caught up with

Lisa Leyland LIVE on MXGP-TV 5 Alpine Skiing Vice World Champion Luca de Aliprandini came to support his friend

Jeremy Seewer at the MXGP of Trentino 6 Three Generations of the Everts family, Harry, Stefan and Liam signed autographs at the Sidi stand in Trentino! 7 The Organisers of the MXGP Sultanate of

Oman visited MXGP for the first time in

Pietramurata. 8 Antonio Cairoli caught up with Lisa

Leyland for a pre-grid interview at the

MXGP of Trentino 9 MXGP’s official lubricant partner Liqui

Molly representatives enjoyed MXGP races in the sunshine at MXGP of

Trentino. 10 Yamaha Official Tenere 700 Rider Pol

Tarres came to enjoy some MXGP racing in Trentino.

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WHEN JACKY VIMOND WON THE 1986 FIM 250CC MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP HE BECAME A NATIONAL HERO BY BECOMING THE FIRST EVER MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPION FROM FRANCE, PAVING THE WAY FOR THE LIKES OF JEAN-MICHEL BAYLE, SEBASTIEN TORTELLI, MARVIN MUSQUIN AND OTHERS TO GO OUT AND DO THE SAME. HE DID IT WITH STYLE, AND HE DID IT WITH FLAIR; HE ALSO DID IT WITH A BIT OF PINK THROWN IN AS WELL, AND IT’S VIMOND’S TITLE WINNING YZ250 THAT WE WILL FEATURE IN THIS ISSUE OF MXGP MAGAZINE.

When Jacky Vimond first entered the motocross world championship, it was in the 125cc class riding a YZ125� It wasn’t just any ordinary 125cc though; he’d already caught the eye of the French Yamaha importer Sonauto, who liked what they saw� Sonauto wielded a certain amount of power within the Yamaha fraternity and were closely linked to the racing division in Japan, and so when push came to shove, a young Jacky Vimond soon found himself racing a factory bike in the eighth-litre division:

‘Before the 250cc class I raced in 125cc; it was the last years with the factory bike, a real factory bike, in ’81, ‘82’ 83 with Yamaha� Full factory bike� I was lucky with Yamaha Sonauto, they had a lot of power at that time so they were able to get me full factory bikes and for sure they helped me a lot� ’

After placing 2nd overall in the 250cc world championship in 1984 and ’85, Vimond came into the ’86 season full of confidence, but how ‘factory’ was the 250cc that he was racing at this time?

‘It was a normal YZ250; it was the time that Yamaha stopped with the factory 250cc because they were focussed more on the YZM500, so I arrived there at the wrong time� I think the last year that Yamaha did a full factory bike was with Danny La Porte (1982), so when I started in 250cc in 1984, we just rode with the kits from Yamaha - the cylinder, cylinder head, exhaust pipe and some nuts and bolts (titanium), wheels and suspension� But anyway, with that bike I became a world champion so it means the bike was really good� ’ Testing during the off-season was quite limited, with not so many parts to test, but the parts that were introduced for 1986 improved the bike significantly:

‘The power delivery was okay, nothing really strong, just normal� At that time, we start with the valve on the cylinder and the ignition; I mean we had to use the clutch anyway, which was not a really big problem … but one of the main changes was to the suspension, particularly, the front forks, which were the new upside down Öhlins units� It made a lot of difference; it was not perfect but for me it was better than the classic one� In ’85 we ran the original conventional front fork from Yamaha (Kayaba)� I tested the USD front fork and for me, they gave me technically something more, but the problem was to find something more progressive� If it was too hard it gave a problem to the hands (blisters), and if it was too soft, it was coming down quick (in the stroke)� It was difficult to adjust these things at that time� ’

There was also a little bit of trickery being played as well, which might have given the illusion that Vimond was racing a 1987 model, as Jacky recalls:

‘We painted the bike white, (standard was a red frame) because in ’87 the production bike was going to be white� Yamaha wanted to do like a pre-promotion about the ’87 colours so they painted my ’86 bike in white� But seriously, from ’85 to ’86 they improved a few things and I felt really good on that bike� ’

Jacky was also the only rider, certainly from Yamaha at least, to use a rear disc brake, which obviously improved braking no-end as well�

A 7th place finish in the opening race of the season in Austria did nothing to dampen Vimond’s spirits, and after going on a win-rampage, the French ace won four from the next five races, to take over the championship lead�

A poor judgement call, in the first race in Italy at Gallarate also cost him some points, after the hard-pack track had been heavily watered:

‘The problem was, the track it was really hard, and they were watering the track so I hesitated about the tyres� We had so much choice at that time with Dunlop; hard, medium, soft … but it was my mistake! I thought because the track was hard, I should go with the hard tyre, but it was a mistake in the beginning because it was really slippery� I think I did one crash� Yeah, it was my fault! It was a good memory also, because I fight a little bit with Michele Rinladi� ’

He managed to follow up a no score with a 2nd in race two, so the title was still very much looking good�

Two no-scores were registered in Belgium when Vimond reverted back to how he raced in ’84/’85 which he painfully recalls through gritted teeth:

‘Ooooh! That’s a bad memory! It was like in ’84, ’85 where I make one race good, one race bad … and here was TACK! No, I did two really bad crashes there� After this race I said ‘no! No, never again!’ because we were going back to how it was before, STOP! And the race after was in Switzerland at

Roggenthurm … I went 1-1, so it was just a mistake for one weekend, not like I did before�’

One week later at a muddy Rudersberg, Germany, Jacky Vimond romped to an emphatic double race win - his fourth double win of the campaign, and his eleventh win of the season - and wrapped up the world championship with two rounds to spare, and headed off to the USGP at Unadilla with the hope of competing with the top American riders, but things did not go according to plan:

‘So, my goal in Unadilla was really to fight with the American’s you know� At one time I was with the famous guys, one of the most famous guys at that time; he was getting a little bit old but he was still really famous (and still fast); Bob Hannah! And I really wanted to be with him, really tried to beat him of course, and I do maybe 110% and I kill myself after three laps! Not so much for the heat, but I killed myself to try to do more and more like a lap time, for 4 laps, with no stop, because I had one goal you know, and then … yeah! And then maybe also I stopped because I was already world champion� ’

When Vimond returned to Europe for the final round I Sweden, a 5th in race one was followed up with a DNF in race two, the only non-finish of the season due to a technical issue; a broken ignition� Just as well that the title was decided with two rounds to go!

The bike that took Jacky Vimond to the 250cc world title started out as a production YZ250, but with factory kits coming from Japan, the bike came equipped with a different cylinder, piston, cylinder head, ignition but the reed valve was standard� The 38mm Mikuni carburettor was made from magnesium and so too were the wheel hubs� The fuel tank though, was a standard, plastic item and was ‘blown out’ with hot air to make it bigger, particularly for the fuelsapping sand races�

One of the biggest changes was the switch from KYB to Öhlins suspension, with Vimond using the all-new, first-generation, USD fork� Whilst he admits the forks were difficult to set up, they offered him something else, which clearly worked out on track, and although the overall power of the engine might not have been hard-hitting, it was smooth and therefore easier to manage and ride�

From the twenty-four moto’s raced, Vimond placed inside the top three no fewer than fifteen times, elven of those as a winner� He also won a total of seven GP’s overall� So, how did it feel to win the world championship to become the first rider from France to do so?

‘It was a really big thing! You’re waiting for this for many years, and the really first French rider to show the other French guys that it could be possible to be world champion was Jean-Jacques Bruno, so everybody thought it would be Jean-Jacques to be the first one� He was the first one to be riding with a factory bike, who had a contract with a factory bike, you know … with Suzuki, it didn’t happen, so then everybody was looking for the next one� And it was me!’

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