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“Back In The USSR”

HISTORY: Danny LaPorte & Georges Jobe

Ben Rumbold

Danny LaPorte tells a tale of the funny side to the late Georges Jobe.

Words: Ben Rumbold / Danny LaPorte | Images: Jack Burnicle

Whilst researching my Top 50 Riders of the 80s (By The Numbers) articles, I had a reply from the fantastic 1982 250cc World Champion, and 1979 125cc AMA National Champion, Danny LaPorte.  He had already given me some great tales of his own career and been thoroughly brilliant about it, which you will see when we get to his Top 50 entry in a few months’ time.

The story from Danny was too good to just crowbar into any other article, so it’s here as a little bonus for MX Vice followers. This takes place in 1982, deep in the Cold War, with Ronald Reagan as US President, and Leonid Brezhnev the leader of what was then the Soviet Union.  Kishinev itself is now in the small nation of Moldova, between Romania and Ukraine and just north of the Black Sea. It’s a 30-hour drive from the UK, and riders used to carry bags full of the different currencies needed to see them through the various countries en route.  Some even took a few bits and pieces to sell over there…

For the Motocross context, this happens just before the 9^th round of the 1982 250cc World Championship, which LaPorte led by 6 points over Georges Jobe prior to the USSR Grand Prix at Kishinev, with just three rounds to go after that event.  Danny would go on to beat Jobe to the championship by just 13 points, before Jobe reversed the order in 1983.

 

Danny LaPorte at Hawkstone Park, on his way to the 1982 World 250cc Championship

So here is a tale of the hyper-competitive Belgian that shows a side many of us never saw or even heard of, in Danny’s own words…

“The best story [about Georges], in 1982 Russia was still pretty hardcore. We were in Kishinev, staying at a tourist hotel, designed to keep all visitors to Russia accounted for. You literally had a person on each floor making sure of monitoring the visitors, you probably know that better than I do [my uncle Neil Hudson has told me similar tales of Russian military observation].

“You couldn’t leave the premises, so I went outside to see what was happening with my mechanics and all the other teams that were there. Well, they were all there! It was like a giant paddock [in the hotel car park]. Anyway down in the corner of the parking area I saw one of many soldiers that was there keeping an eye on everyone. We kind of communicated, and finally I asked him if I could buy his belt because it had a Hammer and Sickle [buckle – this was the Soviet emblem as shown on the USSR flag]. I thought it would be a good souvenir lol.. [Yes, Danny LaPorte uses the acronym ‘lol’, just when I thought he was perfect. Never mind…].

“The soldier of course said no, then I showed him a hundred-dollar bill, and his eyes lit up! He told me to meet him later, on the edge of the parking area. He showed up with a bag and he gave me his entire uniform!!!  So first thing I do, I saw Georges and showed him. Immediately he said ‘You have to wear it tonight to the party’.

“In Russia for this big event they had a full sit-down dinner organized by the government, with all the local military higher-ups, dignitaries etc, at least 300 people. I said to Georges ‘I can’t do that, I’m American and if they saw me with that uniform I would be headed to the Gulag [the dreaded concentration camps where political prisoners were literally worked to death]!’  He didn’t hesitate and said, ‘Let me have it, I’ll wear it!’

 

Georges Jobe gives the 250cc Suzuki some gas at Beuern in West Germany, 1983.

“I said ‘OK, but don’t tell them where you got it from.’ I will never forget Georges walking down the stairs to the entrance of the party. Military people all around and there’s Georges, arms swinging in the Russian marching fashion lol!!  I was stood watching this laughing like crazy, Georges had the balls to do that knowing how insulting it was to be imitating them.

“He gets to the bottom and military personnel run to him, to get him to take the clothes off and the first thing they said was ‘Where did you get this uniform?!’ Georges looks around the room and points right at me!!!!!!!

“They confiscate the suit. I get taken aside and asked a dozen questions. I bullsh*t my way out of this, by saying it’s a tradition in America to proudly have a Russian uniform, its respect! lol…

“The General responsible [for the hotel] that tried to find out which soldier sold me the uniform ends up sitting at the same table for dinner. We talked all night and I had to have a shot of vodka to clear things up!  I ended up trading him some JT hats for the Russian Belt, and he got it for me!!

“Georges got me good! I was sh*tting myself thinking I wasn’t going to make it to the GP the next day.

“The Grand Prix itself was maybe the best race of my career!! We traded motos, I won the first moto, Georges won the second, and I won the overall by a few seconds [GP points ties were decided by overall time back then].  We were wheel to wheel for 2 x 45 minutes + 2, you could have thrown a blanket over us.  One thing I felt was that I could race with Georges that close, touching the entire time, but never felt like he was going to take me out deliberately or by accident. He was that good!

“Without Georges my championship wouldn’t have meant nearly as much! RIP my friend…”

And many thanks Danny for that amazing story. You absolute legend.

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Travis to Daytona 500...Of Course!

Legendary motocross champion Travis Pastrana to enter 2023 Daytona 500 for 23XI Racing

Action sports superstar Travis Pastrana is expected to enter the 2023 Daytona 500 as the driver of a third car for 23XI Racing, according to a report by The Athletic. That report states that an official announcement is expected next week.

Pastrana, 39, will attempt to qualify for his Cup Series debut after previously having raced in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Pastrana has made 42 career Xfinity starts, including in 2013 when he ran the full season for RFK Racing. Pastrana won a pole at Talladega and earned four top 10 finishes with a career-best of ninth at Richmond on his way to a 14th-place finish in points. Pastrana also has five Truck Series starts, with his most recent coming in 2020 at Las Vegas.

On Friday evening, 23XI Racing's social media channels teased at an announcement.

Pastrana will serve as a teammate to Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, but he will have to earn one of the four Open qualifying spots in the Daytona 500 field available to non-charter cars. Pastrana can qualify either by being one of the two fastest Open cars in time trial qualifying, or by being the highest-finishing Open car in his Duel qualifying race the next day. Other drivers seeking to qualify for the Daytona 500 in Open cars are expected to include Jimmie Johnson for Legacy Motor Club, Austin Hill for Beard Motorsports, and Zane Smith for Front Row Motorsports.

The majority of Pastrana's racing success has come in rallycross, as Pastrana has four Rally America titles, the 2017 American Rally Association championship, and the 2021 Nitro Rallycross title to his name. Pastrana also won championships in AMA motocross and supercross early in his career.

KEVIN BENAVIDES WINS 2023 DAKAR RALLY

After taking the win on the last two stages, Kevin Benavides has won the 2023 Dakar rally. The start order was reversed for the final day of racing from Al Hofuf to Dammam, so the Benavides and Toby Price set off back to back at the tail end of the pack with Benavides leaving three minutes ahead of his teammate. American Skyler Howes started in front of them both, but could not make up the time he needed to take the big prize. Although the final timed special had been regarded as a relatively simple sprint to the finish, the 136 kilometers of gravel tracks, sand, and dry lake beds threw up a considerable challenge to all riders.

Kevin Benavides: “It’s been an amazing day! I just focused on every kilometer from the first to the last. I didn’t think about the position or the result I just gave my 100 percent over the whole stage and tried to enjoy the day. The special was really fast and tricky, and so muddy – thankfully I didn’t make any big mistakes, but it would have been easy to have an issue out there today. I have worked so hard for this. This year’s rally has been one of the closest ever and there wasn’t a single day where you could afford to ease off. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my team, and all my family and friends. It’s going to take a little while to sink in, I can’t describe this feeling right now.”

A couple of issues early in the stage cost Toby Price the valuable seconds he needed to stay in front, and despite clawing back close to one minute on the latter half of the special, it wasn’t quite enough to overhaul the flying Benavides.

Toby Price: “The first point is disappointment. We’ve come so far, but look, Kevin’s done a great job. Just a little frustrated that, on the last day, they played with these 20-metre rules for the waypoints, and I had to turn back and get three of them. Yeah, hard to take at the moment, but at the end of the day I’m going home in one piece and we got a Dakar trophy. It hurts a little bit. Kevin said he only had to turn back for one waypoint, I think the two waypoints I missed kinda cost us the race. 2023 has definitely kicked off a lot better than 2022.”

Coming into today’s 14th and final stage, Howes trailed the leader by just one minute and 31 seconds – an incredibly narrow margin after well over 43 hours of racing. As the third-to-last competitor to set off into the special, Skyler had a comfortable advantage over the fourth-placed rider and knew, with the two front runners fighting it out behind him, a smooth, calculated ride to the finish was all that was needed to secure his podium result.

Completing the final stage as fifth fastest, Howes was overjoyed with his overall result of third place on what was his fifth Dakar Rally appearance. In just a few years, the 30-year-old has gone from promising privateer to top-three Dakar racer. His podium at this year’s event added to his excellent 2022 season results bode well for Howes as he now looks ahead to the rest of the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship season.

Skyler Howes: “I am so happy! It’s been an incredible race with highs and lows, and it’s come right down to the wire on this final day. I knew the guys behind me would be pushing so hard today, and to go into this final day less than two minutes behind after well over 40 hours of racing is incredible. I arrived at the finish safely, and it feels like a dream come true and such an honor to share it with two legends like Toby (Price) and Kevin (Benavides). Everyone knows what you have to go through to get to this point, and after all that hard work, it makes this moment feel so sweet. Of course I want to come back and see what the other two steps of the podium feel like. But to now be one of five Americans to reach the podium at Dakar, it feels amazing.”

Dakar Stage 12...KTM Retakes Lead

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price has retaken the lead of the 2023 Dakar Rally following a strong ride to third place on stage 12 – the second leg of the event’s Empty Quarter marathon stage. Kevin Benavides placed fifth to successfully retain his third-place position in the overall rally standings, less than three minutes behind Price. Completing today’s special just seconds ahead of Benavides, Matthias Walkner carved his way through to fourth place on his KTM 450 RALLY. Completing the second leg of the marathon stage without issue, Toby Price covered the 185-kilometer timed special on stage 12 in just under two hours. More importantly, Toby not only made up time on his closest rivals in the race for victory, but he also regained the overall rally lead and will have two other riders to chase down on tomorrow’s penultimate stage 13. Racing at the front of the field remains incredibly close with Toby leading the general rankings by a narrow margin of just under 30 seconds. The two-time Dakar champion will draw on all his experience and skill to ensure good, solid finishes over the final two stages of the race as he has his sights set firmly on securing his third title at the world’s toughest rally-raid. Dakar Rally 2023 ----

Tony C