Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ M GrGCRGSS Motocross dts NatioDli ~. Jeff Stanton easil y won the second moto, then charged to second behind Alessandro Puzar in the final moto. America wins 10th straight in Sweden By Nate Rauba VIMMERBY, SWEDEN, SEPT. 16 t wasn 't pretty, but Ameri cans Damon Bradshaw, J eff Stant on and Jeff Ward ga ve the U.S. its 10th consec utive Mot ocross des Nation s titl e in the 44th runnin g of the World Champ ionship team event at Squirrel Valley near th e small town of Vimmerb y. Althoug h each member contribu ted to the team 's success, it was a move by Stanton in the fina l rnoto that sealed the victory by one po int over th e Belgian team. Unlike the past two years when the U.S. had the titl e wrapped up after two of the three motos had been run, thi s year the ou tcome was in doubt until near the end of the th ird and final 500/ 250cc class rnoto, " It feels great to win , but it wasn 't easy," said Stanton, who was a lso a member of last year's winning team . Among the thi ngs tha] made the going so difficult was a crash that forced Bradshaw out of the second mo to, a blown rear shock that dropped Ward back in the final rnoto , a demanding sand track and st ron g challenge s by th e Belgian and Swedish teams. T he Motocross des Na tio ns format consi sts of three 30-mi nu te plus twolap motos wh ich combine two classes on the trac k at the same tim e. The first rnoto features the 500 and 125ccclasses, rnoto two the 250 and l 25cc classes, with the 500 and 250cc classes combined for moto th ree. A team's best four of six moto scores are counted towards the cha mp ionship. Ear lier in the year a new ru le was passed by the FIM that will count a team's best five fin ishes, but it takes 18 months for a new rule to go into effect. The U.S. was in trouble after the second rn o t o when rook ie tea m me mber Bradshaw, who finished fourth in the l25cc class in th e first rnoto, crashed after landing on an other rider off a jump. Bradshaw didn't get up and was taken 10 the hospital for X-rays whi ch showed no broken bon es. Fortunat ely for the Americans, the I 6 Belgian team , that led by a point following the first moto on Stefan Everts' win in th e 125cc class and Dirk Geukens' fourth in the 500cc division , also ran into tro uble in moto two when Everts broke his cIu tch lever a nd . fini shed 16th in his class while teammat e Marniqc Bervoets took fou rth in the 250cc division. With Belgium a nd host co un try Sweden close behind at the end of moto two, the U.S. team needed two strong fini shes in the final moto 10 secure th e win. But early in the moto it was clear that Ward wouldn 't come close to hi s Iirst-rnoto second behind Luxembourg's Jacky Martens in the 500ccclass as he began to fade early with a blown rear shock. Ward, who has been on seven of the 10 winning American teams, fin ished the moto ninth in the 500cc class. Sore ankles and a sore back, the result of the demanding track, had hampered Ward . That left it up to Stanton. After easily winning the 250cc class and the second moto, Stanton had to charge through the pack in the last go. During Stanton's charge to second in the 250cc class behind Italy 's 250cc Wo rld Champion Alessandro Puzar, he intentionally knocked down Geukens. " I parked hi m," said Sta nton. " He screwed with us one too many times and I got tired of it." Although Stan ton didn 't realize it at the time, his move assured the U.S. victory as it cost Geukens, who was moving in on 500cc class winner Jeff Leisk of Australia, valua ble time and positions. Geuk ens sti ll finished the moto second in the 500cc division , but the Belgian team lost the title to the U.S. by one poi n t, 9-10, as Bervoets took third in the 250cc class. Had Geukens caug ht and passed Leisk and held o n fo r the 500cc class win , Belgi um would've won its first title sin ce 1980. " We won as a team , that's the most important thing, " said Stanton. Swede n finished th e event th ird overa ll with a l2-point score, while Puzar led the Ital ian team with his 250cc class 2-1 score to fou rth, th ree points down on the Swedes. Once aga in American expa tria te Trampas Parker, who now lives in .Italy, contributed to th e Italian team 's efforts as he tallied a 7-5 score in the I 25cc class. The Neth erlands team , an other prerace favorite to knock off th e .Americans on the sandy course, comp leted the top five with 17 points. Pedro Tragter led th e team with a pair of seco nds in the l25cc class, while Kees Van der Yen contribu ted the other two scores in th e 500cc clas s wi th 8-5 finishes. Dave Strijbos failed to finish . either 250cc moto. An est imated 9500 spectators attended the event, which featured a sandy track laid out in a forest. There were many drop-off jumps, that had the riders sailing back over the tops of the other side of the narrow valley. The track became very rough , so choppy that both Stanton and Ward said that it was the roughest track they'd ever ridden. Ward almost n ever made it 10 Sweden to rid e the track. As Ward prepare d to leave the U.S., he discovered th at his British passp ort had expired (Ward was born in Scotl and). Fortuna tel y Ward 's girlfriend had friends in the British consu la te and he . was able 10 pick up a new passport on his way to the ai rport. T he whoops began forming early in the first practice session on Sat urday, a session that saw Bradshaw a nd Stanton q uic kly get up to speed, while Ward preferre d to put in on ly a few fast lap s at a time. T he whoops, dropoffs and one particularly peak ed jump with a fiat landing soon took their toll - Stanton broke the rear wheel on hi s H onda - an d it became clear tha t the rid ers wou ld have 10 go easy on their machines if they expected to finish. It also became clear that the Belgian team was going 10 be a threat as Geukens often tai led Ward and Sta n- ton, cha lle nging th em in both of Saturday's pr actice sessions. In one in stance, Geukens nearl y landed on Ward when the America n ro lled over the pea ked jump. Geukens contin ued trying 10 app ly mental pr essure to the Amer icans in th e pract ice session before the race. Geukens never go t to race with Ward as he spun on th e starti ng lin e when th e ga te dropped for the first 500/1 25cc moto, Swede Stefan Larsson strea ked off with the holeshot, whil e Ward spent part of the opening lap behind Leisk before passing th e Australian. " We always use th is same gate for th e GPs throughout Sweden, " Larsson lat er expl ained about his quick start. " I wanted to be out front, but I had too mu ch wheelspin,' said Geukens , who held 10th at the comp letion of the first lap. Belgian teammat e Everts was right behind Geuk ens, in the lead of th e I25cc class, with a couple of 500s separating him from a pack of 125s consisting of Tragter, Parker, Ireland 's . Alan Morrison , West German Peter Beirer, Bradshaw and Swede J oakim Karlsson. ." At th e front of the pac k, Ward quickl y moved his Tom Morgan/Scott . Stouffer-tuned factory Kawasak i in on La rsson, but then foll owed him for several laps before taking the lead on lap eight o f what would be a 17-lap moto. " La rsson was going faster th an I wanted to go at first," said Ward. " I decided to wait for him ' to make mi stakes. One tim e I swapped and barely stayed on the the bike. " While Ward was' waiting for his chance to seize the lead , Martens had been steadily mov ing towards the front. After passing England's Paul Malin, Denmark's Soren Mortensen and then Leisk, he was soo n right behind Ward . Martens quickly fol lowed Ward around Larsson; then took the lead one lap later. " He was going slower than me, braking too earl y into th e corne rs," said Martens, wh o is known for his sand riding ability. Although Ward stayed with in str ikin g distance, he could never mount a cha llenge and fini shed a few seconds behind Martens. " Mar tens was riding the sand pr etty well ," said Ward . "T o pass you have to berzerk it, and I was having problems in a lot of the corners. I was riding on the ragged edge." Larsson held third for several more laps before Mortensen quickly moved in on him after passing Leisk. Once past Larsson, Mortensen was in for an easy third. Larsson continued to fade, as did Leisk, and Geukens took advantage of them both late in the race to claim fourth at the finish. " I was pleased with fifth," said Larsson. "When you take the start and have the crowd screaming, you can pump up and get tired . The other guys were faster." In the 125cc war , it took T ragter a few la ps to ge t by th e 500s th at separated him from class leader Evert s a t the star t, but once he did T ragter q uickly reeled in the Belgian. Tragter passed Everts once, bu t Everts repassed h im and the two rid ers struggled for su premacy in the 125cc class. Everts event ua lly prevailed with the help of a 500cc rider. " I had problems with a 500 (rider), spent two or three laps behind him," sai d Tragter, who fin ished eig ht h overa ll a few seconds behi nd Everts. Bra dsh aw never co u ld get into content ion, a t first struggling to pass Beirer an d in the p rocess see ing Karlsson pass them both. Bradshaw eventually put his Mike Chav ez/jon Rosenstiel-tuned Yama ha ahead of

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