Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Beirer and chall enged Karlsson, but the Swede held hi m off. Bradsh aw dropped back a bi t near the end of the moto and Malin go t by to fin ish 10th overa ll and seven th in the 500cc class. " I go t screwed up behind a 500 (rider) and Karlsson got by me, " said Bradshaw. " I was riding the bike as hard as it could go, wide open andjust trying to stay on two wheels . I chased Karlsson for a while, but a 500 (rid er) h eld me up and he got some breathing room." " I star ted out . near the front and worked my way back ," said Parker, who finished sevent h in the l25ce class behind England's Rob Herring and Beirer, " I just couldn't get an y rh ythm, all the kids were going by me pre tty fast." When the second moto left the line 250cc class rid er Peter Johansson of Sweden gra bbed th e ho leshot as Stan to n ' tu cked in behind h im. West German J och en J asin ski bri efly held th ird before being passed Pu zar, Several 125cc riders started on the first row as well, wi th Morri son and Joakim getting the jum p on the field at sevent h and eight h overall. Everts was a first-row starter, but he went do wn early on the first lap. "Somebody crashed in front of me an d I ra n into th em," said Everts, whose clu tch lever was brok en in the fall. . Bradshaw, who started on the second row behind Stanton, was 16th overa ll and the sixth 125 on th e track. Tragter was abo u t 10 pos itions behind. Pu zar got by Stanton on th e second lap, but a lap later Stanton h ad repassed the Italian and taken the lead from Johansson as well. Stanton then quickly pulled away on his Dan Betleypr epared Honda and rode alone out fron t to the fin ish. " I was up th ere at the start where I wanted to be," said Stanton. " I kn ew th ey'd be fast at first, bu t once I got by I just kept pullin g away, riding my own race." T he real race was for second in th e 250cc class between Johansson and Puzar. The Italian passed Johansson on the fourth lap, but several laps la ter the Swede fought back and retook second. The two stayed together for the rest of th e race, .and Johansson was unable to retaliate when Puzar passed hi m two laps from th e fin ish. "Maybe I passed Puzar too early becau se he had many bad lin es," said . J oh ansson. " I took h im and he saw my lin es, then passed me wi th two laps left. I tried to pass him again, it was very close." Bervoets broke away from an early battl e wi th Austra lia n Cra ig Dack and closed in on Jasinski near the halfway point, then assumed fourt h for good a short time la ter. Jasinski held on to fifth , while Finland's Pekka Vehkonen charged up from way back in the pack to take sixth from ·Dack. In the 125cc class, Morrison could on ly hold back Joakim for three laps before he started sliding back. England 's Rob Herring got by as well and closed in on Joakim, while Tragter worked his way to third in the l25cc class. Herrin g soo n got past Joakim, while Tragter spent severa l more laps reeling in the Swede and then pa ssed him. As Morrison began to fade, Brad shaw was picking up his pace and got within sight of him just before the halfway point. A short time later they were both on the ground and out of the race after" colliding over a large plateau jump. " I had been behind Morrison a ways and caught up to him," Bradshaw later said after being released from the hospital. "I went one way to pass him, and he didn 't make the tabletop. I' didn't even have time to think. " "I was rid ing my norm al line, and Bradshaw came from nowhere," said Morrison , pointin g out the wh ite pa int from Bradshaw's fram e on the back of hi s helmet. " I had settled into a comfortable pace and was goin g for " a steady result." Herring stayed well ahead of Tragter for the 125cc win, with Joakim third in class and 10th overall on the track. Austrian Erwin Machilinger was the next 125 at 13th overall , followed by Parker, who had fought his way up a fte r an ea r Iy crash, a n d Ismo Vehkonen. "Somebody got sideways in front of me and I h it them ," said Park er. " I did a dance tryi ng to dod ge everybody " and got go in g last. I had fun comi ng " through th e pack, you can run into things on a 125 and not cras h." Leisk charged into the lead a t the start of the fina l moto ahead of Van der Ven , Mal in, Austri an Siegfried Bau er, Johansson and Ward. Stanton was mired in midpack after a close call just ou t o f the gate. "A Ru ssian rider just got all sq uirrely and hi t me, there was nothing I cou ld do," said Sta nton. " I was way back; and in the firs t corne r I was off my bike, ru nni ng beside it, after I got rammed. I got back on and I knew I had to ride an d do the best I cou ld." Malin took con trol on the first lap and Leisk let him go. "I realize I'm not in perfect condition at th e mom ent so I decided not to chase him but try to ma intain my pace," said Leisk. Ward hung ou t in fifth for three laps before he dropped off the pace when his shock gave out. " I was just trying to pick my lin es and stay th ere," said Ward. " My shoc k wasn't working from th e beginning, and once it went I just tried to hang on for poin ts. The rebo und (da mpi ng) went on th e th ird or fourth lap and it was just a pogo stick. I knew on ce I fell below fourth Damon's score would come in and it wouldn't matter if I was 20th ." 'Johansson and Puzar, who had star ted from the first row , p icked up their battle in the 250cc class as th ey moved to third and fourth overall, wh ile Geukens was on the move and as sumed fifth ea rly in th e ra ce. Mart ens' charge ended early in th e race when his foam-tubed rear tire began comi n g off the rim. Puz ar passed Joh ansson and closed the ga p to Leisk by the half way poin t. A co uple of laps later Pu zar was in th e lead. " When I saw -I was p u lli ng away from Leis k I started settling down a little bit when Pu zar came up," said Malin. "Then I just lost the back end. I got up and Leisk and Guekens had also gone by." Stanton didn 't reach fifth unti l just past the halfway point when he passed a battling J ohansson and Vehkonen in one corner. Stanton had to pass Malhi before he could begin to close in on Geukens, whil e up front Puzar held a comfortable lead over Leisk. It didn 't take Stanton long to get Geukens in his sigh ts, and after following the Belgian for abo u t a lap Stanton "came ou t of the back section of th e track a lone. " In practice Geukens follows you, passes you back and forth ," explained Stanton. " It's stupid, and I got tired of his BS all da y. So I put him down in the back." Geukens only dropped one position on the track to Vehkonen and was further dela yed when he collided with Malin as he remounted. With, time running out, there was little cha nce to catch Leisk. Damon Bradshaw finished fourth in the 125cc class in the first moro, then crashed when he landed on another rider in the second moto and was unable to continue. Jeff Ward (I) battled with Sweden's Stefan Larsson (22) in the 500cc class during moto one. Ward finished second, but shock problems hindered him in the fmal moto , England's Paul Malin (7) led th e third moto until he fell, while Belgian Dirk Geukens (25) fell after an incident with Stanton which assured the American victory. 7

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