Then the 500s were back, and Jobe, now at Kawasaki, returned to tackle his favourite circut. Awaiting them, a colossal double jump, built on a rutted straight between the bombhole and the footbridge. Georges gained instant cult status by soaring over the head of title rival Andre Malherbe (Honda) during the second moto, though a crash denied him any chance of defeating double winner Dave Thorpe and runner-up Andre Vromans. Echoing the glory days of the fifties and sixties, 21 year-old Berkshireman Thorpe decimated the field on another warm, sunny day and rode an unprecedented lap of honour on his Honda as ecstatic fans poured across the track in unforgettable adoration of their new idol!

Double jumps were subsequently banned from GP tracks by the FIM so by the time the 500cc grand prix circus returned in 1986 it had been filled in. On a damp, demanding day Thorpe, the reigning World Champion, lost out to battling Belgians Jobe and Geboers and the inevitable Kees van der Ven (KTM). But a furious Jobe believes to this day that he beat Geboers in that astounding final lap of race two, carving away the Honda's three second lead until they stormed across the line absolutely side by side. Eric got the verdict and Hawkstone Park got itself a proper, painted finishing line!

Eric 'the Kid' Geboers came back for the bright and breezy 1987 British 250 GP, locked in mortal combat with Pekka Vehkonen's Cagiva for the World title. The Flying Finn won race

one from dynamic Swede Peter Hansson (KTM) and Italian Michele Rinaldi's Suzuki. Eric retaliated in race two, but Pekka's second place ahead of Jorgen Nilsson's Honda ensured overall victory while national champ Jem Whatley (Suzuki) gave the home fans someone to support. Even better, on a nasty, wet day in 1988, Dave Thorpe repeated his dominance of '84 as he destroyed Geboers and van der Ven in both races of an especially testing 500 GP.

A fresh set of faces showed up for the 1989 British 125 round. Another champion elect, outspoken American newcomer Trampas Parker (KTM), triumphed thanks to first race winner, friend and foe Alex Puzar having his Suzuki seize in the second moto. Parker, nursing a knee injury, followed home that other extravagant American, Mike 'Gunner' Healey (KTM) in race two, then rewarded the crowd with the most gripping, honest and intriguing winner's acceptance speech Hawkstone Park has ever heard. The whole place fell silent and listened attentively to every word.

1990 proved the pits for loyal British fans, despite another beautiful sunny Shropshire day. With Dave Thorpe outclassed at Kawasaki, Belgium blitzed the 500 GP, Eric Geboers beating modest Honda privateer Dirk Geukens and KTM's Jacky Martens on his way to a fifth World Championship. And in 1991, despite the wildly applauded efforts of British champion Jem Whatley on his Action Workshop Kawasaki, winner Geukens and Jacky Martens were joined on the rostrum by old warhorse Jobe, who typically drove fearlessly through the pack after an early fall, never flinching for a full-on 45 minutes. That vivid ride deprived 28 year-old Whatley of a podium place by one point, but the Hampshireman went one better to snatch third overall in 1992 behind buccaneering Georgia Boy Billy Liles, who won all three shorter motos of a thankfully shortlived new FIM race format. Jobe, headed for his fifth World title, shared second places with two emerging young Belgians, Johan Boonen and a certain Joel Smets!

Foreign domination of the most fearsome and revered motocross racetrack in the World continued throughout the nineties. Swede Jorgen Nilsson took his Honda to victory in 1993, though he lost the World Championship to Jacky Martens' four-stroke Husqvarna. Jacky returned to win the British GP of 1994, then Joel Smets (Husaberg) triumphed at his favourite circuit in 1997. This was the year that Signor Upligio, the founding father of famous Milan magazine 'Motocross', paid his first visit to what he had always been assured was the track that epitomised the full-blooded, full-on sport his magazine represents. He was not disappointed!

Another Swede, the elegant Peter Johansson, won the last grand prix of the century, fittingly, for KTM. Also fittingly, that 500 GP was the 30th and final World Championship round to grace those proud Shropshire woodlands. But in February, 1999, we had also witnessed our first Hawkstone Park pre-season International and the birth of yet another chapter in the rich history of the Salop Motor Club.

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