Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127285
eM
orDeROSS
e
Masters 01 Motocross Series: Round 2
Jeff Stanton (2) and Eric G eboers (5) each briefly led the first moto. Stanton finish ed
second, while Geboers dropped back to fifth, twisting hi s kn ee along the way.
Donny Schmit (6) easily won moto two , but his chance for the overall victory ended
with a disastrous start in moto three. J~n-Michel Bayle (3) was the overall winner.
Rayle belts out win in France
By Alex Hodgkinson '
VILLARS·SOUS-ECOT, FRANCE, OCT. 21
ean-Michel Bayle overcame the
pai n of a badl y bru ised bicep, th e
resu lt of a flying rock in race on e,
to win the Masters of Mot ocross at
Villars-Sous-Ecot in his native Fra nce.
Bayle came back to win the first 25minute plus two-lap rnoto af ter rega in ing the circulation in h is arm, had
trouble in the second race with cra mps,
then clinched th e o vera ll victo ry with
a la te-race pass on J eff Sta nton in the
fina l rnoto whi ch was won by fell ow
French man Yannig Kervella. The win
also moved Bayle into a cha lle nging
position for the Masters titl e as Stanton
leads the standings by a single po int
J
over 250cc World champ Alessandro
Puzar.
Stanton earned h is second consecutive runner-up fini sh of the series,
while Puzar was edged off the rostrum
by 125cc . World Ch am p io n Schm it.
Ameri can Schmit could pu ll himself
into con ten tio n for the Masters title in
the next round since no ne of the ot her
conte nders hav e ente red the Scheven ingen Beach race, wh ere the top pros
h ave to weav e th eir way through
hundreds of amateurs.
Th e fir st rno to was a bsol ute ly
superb. Bayle led on the firs t lap and
the last but in between Puzar, Eric
Geboers and Stanton each had a tim e
at the front.
Puzar " ad taken the holesh o t, on ly
to be pas sed hal£way around the first
lap by Bayle. Butthe ultra-aggressive
Ita lia n Puzar had regained the lead by
the end of the first of 13 laps with
Geb oers, John Van den Berk and Yves
Demaria also ahead of Sta nton, who
was th e firs t American . Larry Ward
and Mike La Rocco were also in the
first dozen, with Sch mi t 13th and Ri ck
Johnson dow n in 24th after getting
sq ueezed bet ween two riders a t th e
start.
Puzar set a tremendous pace early and
determined Geboers also went around
Bayle. The Belgian 500cc World Champion even closed down on Puzar when
the Italian began to struggle with
forearm pump after 10 min utes. Van
den Berk was dropping back and out ,
in trouble with hi s left ankle.
"I had a n o peration to remo ve a pi n
last week, but I knocked it again this
mornin g," said Van den Berk. " T here
is still someth ing wro ng ."
T hen on the sam e lap bo th Bayle
a n d Dem ari a went dow n brie £ly.
Demaria dropped right down th e field
but Bayle got goi ng again in a distant
fourth behind Stanton.
T he American was sta rti ng to push
on hard as Geboers looked for a way
pas t Puzar and in the end bo th o f the m
went pas t the Italian on the same lap
at hal£ di stance. Bayle was also sta rting
to move aga in and quickl y pus hed
Puzar dow n to fourth, bu t it didn 't
appear as if the hom e hero , riding in
his native country for the fir st tim e this
yea r, co u ld ca tc h - th e two frontrunners.
But Geboers had chosen the wrong
co mpo u nd for hi s fro nt tir e and was
in big tro uble on the dryin g trac k,
dr opping ba ck to fifth a t the fin ish.
Sta nt on had a handsom e lead , bu t
Bayle was gaining two seconds per lap
and wi th th e two -la p board being
readi ed he powered past his .American
H onda teammate along the mai n
straigh t 10 clinch the win.
Schmit had ridden po werf ully to
catch but no t pass Puzar, and j ohnson
took sixth from Ward o n the penu ltim ate lap. LaRocco had go ne o ut
when .he ran out of front brake o n the
hill y course.
There was last-m inu te panic in the
Geboers cam p just before the start of
rnoto two when it was discovered tha t
the new fro nt tir e was Ilat. But they
need not have bo the red to get it
changed because it took the Belgian
less than a lap to real ize that he could
no t race since he had twis ted h is knee
near th e end of the first mota.
There were still plenty of sta rs in
th e race and Sta nton went ins ide Puzar
for the lead in turn two as the fastgating Italian q uickly dropped 10
fourth behind Schmit and j ohnson.
Bayle was fifth but it was Fren chman
Yan nig. Kervella who was selli ng th e
crowd aligh t. 00 lap two he pa ssed
Bayle, whi le johnson dropped to the
back of the lead pack. After 10 minutes
bo th Puzar an d Kervella went pa st
Stanton, and finally the Italian had no
answer to Kervella 's cha rge.
Schmi t, however, was in a class of
hi s own in th is race. After his hard
ride throug h the pa ck in race o ne, he
too k 'co mmand of moto two o n th e
second lap and n ever wa s in th e
slig htest da nger from anyone.
With Bayle falling a t the halfwa y
po int and having to fight off th e
cha ll enge of Pekka Vehkonen for
sixth , it was actua lly Schmit wh o had
ih e o vera ll lead after two races. Kervella fin ished seco nd in the mota ah ead
of Puzar , Stanton arid johnson , but the
Fren chman's 12th in mota one put him
ou t of the overall picture.
LaRocco had another disappointing
ride and Ward was gelling changed to
go home before the end of the mota
du e 10 his shoulder injury su ffered at
the Budds Creek National MX.
"T he pain was getting too grea t,"
. said Ward. " It was better that I stopped
befor e I go t hurt even mor e."
Schmi t's ho pes of victory went in the
first few hundred yards of race three.
First he go t pushed in to the pack as
Bayle move d across j ohnson, who was
forced in to Schmit's path. Then in the
third corne r japan's Yoshida Izumi fell
righ t in front of Schmit. Remounting
at th e back of the pack, the I 25cc World
cham p was 18th after o ne lap and 13th
af ter two , but all th ree of his rivals for
the overall win were near the front.
Ho wever, none of them were goin g
to take the mota win as Kervella was
again in sp ired and led from start to
finish. Stanton was initially second
ahead of Van den Berk , j ohnson and
Bayle wi th Puzar q uic kly movi ng into
sixth. johnson, however, was q uic kly
in trouble.
" I just lose my gri p after a few laps
on fast tracks lik e th is," said Johnson.
" My wrist still isn' t right."
Nevertheless, there was lillie movement amongs t th e leaders until hal£
distance. T he n Bayle went for it.
After passi ng j ohnson , Bayle
q uic kly pu lled in Van den Berk and
four laps from the fin ish he repeated
hi s race-one pa ssin g mov e on Stanton
along the main stra ight to clinch the
overall victory. H e didn't hav e to catch
Kervella.
Havin g seen Bayle go , Puzar also
sta rted to move and narrowly failed to
pass Sta nton for th ird on the fin al lap.
With Schmit passing Van den Berk on
the las t go-aroun d, the 10 meters that
separated Sta nton and Puzar at the
fi nish was th e d ifference between
second an d fourth o verall. Kervella 's
moto win gave h im fifth overall.
La Rocco had crashed with French man Lud ovic Lucquin in th e first turn
to end hi s mi serabl e day.
T he next ro und on the beach in
Ho lland will gi ve the Dutch and
Belgi an sand experts the cha nce to gain
points, but then come the supercross
ro unds which will decide wh o will be
the first Master of Mo tocross .
m
Results
MOTO I: I. j ean -Mich el Bayle (Ho n ): 2. Jell
Stan to n (Hon); 3. Alex Pu zar (Suz); 4. Donn)' Sch mit
(Su, ): 5. Eric Ce boers (H e n ); 6. Ri ck J ohnson (Ho n) :
7. Larry Ward (Suz): 8. Stephan Everts {Sue): 9. Pekka
Veh ko nen (Yam); 10. Frederic Via Ue ( Ka w); 11.
Frederi c Boll ey (Ya m ); 12. Yannig Kervella (Kaw);
13. Yan Guedard (Kaw}; 14. Thierry Belh y" (Ho n):
15. Edwin Evensen (Kaw): 16. Nicola. Catl ly (Sw );
17. Erw i n Mach tlin ger (Hon); 18. Mar cel Van
Drunen (H a n); 19. Pedro Tragter (Suz); 20. Lu dovic
L uq ui n (Ho n): 21. O livier Rober! (Ya m ): 22. Eric
Bernard (Yam): 23. Thierry Godfro id (Kaw ): 24. S i~i
Zachman (Yam ): 25. Beat Flury (Yam): 26. Frederi c
Rouiller (Su,): 27. j ean -Mich el Midey (Kaw): 28.
Pette r! Kytola (Ho n); 29. Yosh ida Izum i (Han); 30.
J erome Belva l (Suz): 31. Jo h n Van den Berk (Suz):
32. Yves Demaria (Yam ): 33. Mike La Rocco (Sw ):
34. Ern est Gunzinger (Yam ): 35. Mark East wood
(Hen ): 36. J urf en Fink (H o n).
MOTO 2: . Sch mit: 2. Kervella : 3. P war; 4.
Stanton; 5. Jo hnso n; 6. Bayle: 7. Vehk on en : 8. Van
den Berk; 9. T rag ter; 10. Evense n: 11. Bolles : 12.
Everts: 13. La Rocco: 14. Van Drunen. 15. Bernard;
16. Robert: 17. Bethys: 18. Zachman : 19. Eastwood;
20. Midey: 21. Godfroid: 22. Kytola: 23. Izumi : 24.
Ward; 25. Dem ar ia: 26. . Ca illy : 27. Vialle: 28.
G unzinger; 29. Luq ui n: 50. Flury; 31. RouiUer; 52.
Fin k: 33. Geboe rs.
MOT~J: 1. Kervella: 2. Ba yle; 3. Stan to n; 4. Puzar;
5. Sch mit; 6. Va~ den Beck: 7. J ?hnson ; 8. T ra gter;
9. Everts: 10. Ca,lly: I I. Machlmger : 12. Evensen:
13. Godfroid: 14. Eastwood: 15. Ro ben; 16. Vialle :
17. Zachman : 18. Rou ill er; 19. Kytol a: 20. Midey:
21. Van Drun en: 22. Fl ury : 23. Bernard; 24. LaRocco:
25. Dema ria : 26. Bethys: 27. Bolley: 28. Vehkonen.
0 1A: I. Bayle; 2. Sta nton: 3. Sch m it; 4. Puzar:
5. Kervella: 6. J ohnson : 7. Everts : 8. Van den 1l