Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

" I wanted that trophy," said Johnson , referring to the statue of an eagle in flight presented to th e winner. ''' But I'm happy for Geboers, that he went out with the overall win in h is last ra ce." Johnson had to settl e for a slightly smaller eagle and the satisfaction of being the only Ameri can to reach th e podium with his second overall finish. KTM 's Nicoll comp leted th e top three with his 5-3 mot o fin ishes and, like J ohnson , didn't mind seeing Geboers at the top. " It's beuer that Eric got the overall instead of Johnson or another American," said Nicoll , wh o finished the season second in th e po int standings behind Geboers. "T he ga p between th e Europeans and Americans isn 't as wide as it used to be, a t least not in the 500cc class." The two other American stars, Ma tiasevich and O'Mara, comp leted th e top five overall. Matiasevich 's pair of fourths earned him the same overall fin ish , while O'Mara struggled throughout the second rnoto to a ninth-place fin ish and fifth overa ll. KTM 's Jacky Martens combined 67 moto finishes for sixth overall, but that wasn 't enough to overtake Dirk Geukens for third in the final point standings. Geukens fin ished eigh th overa ll bei nd Kurt Ljungqvist. Jo Martens and Jeff Leisk comp leted th e top 10 overall. In the 125cc Support class, l25cc National cha mp Mik e Kied rowski claimed the overall win with 1-3 moto fin ishes. Honda's Kiedrowski handily won the opening moto over Suzuki's Larry Ward a nd Mike LaRocco. Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, who was using the race to prepare for th e Motocross des Nations, won moto two o ver LaRocco , whil e Ward cr a sh ed. LaRocco claimed second overall and Bradshaw completed the top three. Kiedrow ski took home $750 of the $5000 I25cc class purse. A special Vintage Iron Invitational moto was also held, featuring former MX stars aboar d vintage machinery. Goat Breker, who made a brief assault on the 500cc GPs two years ago , was the runaway winner. . The event also marked five-time 500cc World Champion Roger DeCester's debut as a promoter. DeCoster teamed up with Arizona-based Motolink lO present the U.S. 500cc MX GP, which dr ew a larg e cro wd , much industry involvement and praise from the riders. " It was ver y, very good," sa id Geboers. "T his even t was dying the last few years, but (today) put alot of new life back into U.S. ou tdoor and GP racing. " -DeCoster laid out th e course at th e base of a steep hillside, but the trac k o nly cli m bed ' th e h ill twice. The remainder of th e track was on relatively fl at grou n d a n d feat ured man y supercross-style obstacles. 500GP When the pack thundered through the first turn at th e start of the first rnoto, O'Mara emerged with the lead ahead of Geboers, Team Gr een/Pro Circui t/Shoei rider Larry Brooks, Finland's Kurt Ljungqvist, KTM 's Kees Van der Ven, England's Mervyn Ansti e and Rick Johnson. Australian Jeff Leisk wasn 't far behind Johnson and ahead of Nicoll , Martens and Matiasevich , but he fell on the first lap a nd retired a short time later. "I crashed in a pil e of mud," said Leisk , "1 got going last and decided to wait for the second moto. I didn 't feel motivated. " Martens passed Nicoll on the first lap and moved up on Johnson, then the top eight spen t the second lap nearl y nose to tail. It wasn 't until lap three that O 'Mara and Geboers bega n to leave a baule for third between Brooks , Ljungqvist and Johnson , and on the sam e lap Geboers too k the lead . "I passed him the American way," said Geboers. " I went insi de him in a turn and th en went straight. That move cam e fro m su percross. I go t a littl e bit too excited, it may have been better if I waited a bi t lon ger to pass hi " rrn. Geboers didn 't wai t for O 'Mara to cou nterattack, however, as he quickly put a coup le of seconds on th e American. By th is time J ohnson had moved to third, Martens had stu ffed a fadin g Brooks and Ljungqvist had dropped back to sevent h behind Matiasevich. A sho rt tim e later Matiasevich wa s chall enging Martens, while Brooks fell into a battl e with Ni coll and Ljungqvist, " I' ve been sick all week," said El Cajon, California's Brooks. "I knew it was a long moto so I wanted to save myself for the second race - I'm looking more at the overall and not rnoto fini sh." . Up front, O 'Mara wasn 't letting Geb oers get away. But every tim e O 'Mara got close to the leader, Geboers would hold off hi s ad vances. The two riders were far ahead of Johnson, whi le further back Martens held off Matiasevich for several laps until Matiasevich finall y got by after 20 minutes. " Wh en I got behind Marten s I started making m istakes," said Mati asevich, " I was passing people in the su percross sec ti on, and was rig h t beh ind h im before that sectio n when I made a mistak e. I finally got him th ere, though. " With Johnson far ahead, Matiasevich seu led in to protecting fourth as Martens st aye d close with Ni coll pushing hard. It wasn't long before Matiasevich was able to pull away from the battling KTM teammates. O 'Mara was still pushing .Geboers. and hi s strugg le lasted to th e end of the moto. Although O'Mara pulled up to Geboers ' rear wheel' several times, the World Champion answered every challenge to take the win by a few bik e lengths. "I was riding ill my limit," said Geboers. "T hat was one of the toughest races of the season, and the most pr estigi ous win for me. I'm exha usted, I gave it everyth ing I had." " H e' s tough, .I've been raci ng aga inst h im for nearl y 10 year s," said O'Mar a. " I could've won , I was goi ng just as fast bu t there was the roost factor. I ra n out of tear-offs abo ut six laps from the end. If I could 've kep t him behind a cou ple more laps a t th e begi n ni ng h e would ' ve ea ten my roost ." J ohnson rema ined a lon ely th ird througho ut the race, and the onl y time he dro pped more than six seconds behind O'Mara was when he stalled in a tigh t turn. Nicoll event ua lly found a way pas t Martens nea r the 30-min'ute mark then began to close on Matiasevich near the end , but he couldn' t get close eno ug h to mak e a cha llenge. "I expected Matiasevich to tire , but he didn 't," said Nicoll. " Bu t is he ever aggressive," Nicoll add ed, referring to the bump he got early in the rnoto as Matiasevich made h is way to fourth. " I go t near him and I knew he wasn 't go i n g to le t me b y without a misdemean or." Aft er being p assed by Nicoll , Martens quickly fell off the pace as he used too much energy earl y in the rnoto . Van der Ven spent much of the moto bauling with Ljungqvist, and it Kurt Nicoll (4) trails Jacky Martens (5) and Jeff MatiasevicH in the first moto, Nicoll passed Martens, but couldn't catch Matiasevich before the end of the race. After Johnson (65) passed Matiasevich (68) for the lead in molo two, he watched the overall victory fade away when Matiasevich couldn't hold off Geboers. wasn 't until late in the race that th e Du tchman finall y go t by. T hen Geukens passed Ljungqvist as well and cha llenged Van der Ven to th e finis h. "Lj ungq vist slowed down at th e end," said Van der Ven. " I was just do in g my own pace and caugh t him. In th e beginning my knee was stiff from being taped; it swelled up after practice." "The bik e is a little different th an my GP bike," said Ljungqvist, who used a Pro Circu it-prepared Hon da to fin ish ninth. " It was diffi cult to keep the front end in con trol. Plus it was too hot and I got tired. I got th e flu when I came over here. Van der Ven and Geukens passed me too easily because I was tired." J o Mart ens rou nded out the top 10, while Brooks ended up 11th aft er putting up a fight for every position he gave up. Leisk grabbed th e holeshot at th e start of moto two ahea d of Mati asevich, . Ljungqvist, Nicoll , Anstie and Johnson. Geboers was mi red in midpack .a n d O'Mara was a few posi tions behind him . "They held th e gate, my clutch got hot and went away," said O'Mar a-, Geboers moved up quickly and was 7

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