Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW World Cham ion Alessandro puzar ~man ::: ;::l . ~ By Alex H odgk i nso n hen Alessandro ·Puzar sensib ly toured the Unad illa Va lley Sports Center circuit at the U.S. Grand Prix to clinch the 250c<: MX Worl d Ch ampion sh ip , he becam e the first Italian to ever win a World MX title o ut~ide of the I25cc class .. The ha rd work had already been don e in the firs t half of the season as th e 21-year-o ld fro m Ceva , in the district of Cun eo near Turin in northern Ita ly, won I I of the first 13 motos in th e World Champioship 250cc MX Series. Even though "Sa ndre ," the short form of h is nam e used in hi s fami ly, ha s been in th e top four in the Wor ld Ch ampionship MX G Ps for three years now , he remains very mu ch the mysterv man of the MXG P scene. Puzar's provincial upbringing has cu ltivated a di slike of slick city life, and , a happy-go- lu cky typ e when relaxing away from the serious bus iness of winning motocross races, he has a winning cha rm wit hou t any tinge of the brashness whi ch is so often evident in you thful spor ting talent. Learning English sim p ly doesn ' t fit into Pu zar 's lifestyle at the present tim e, and this inevitably crea tes a barrier between th e most ta lented European motocrosser of the year and the no n-Ita lian media . It is a problem that his team manager in the Ches terfield Suzuki team is full y aware, for Mich ele Rinal di was in the very same position when he first bu rst onto the wor ld scen e with TG M and Gilera. In the ab sence of an Ital ian-speaking team boss to help him o ut of the predi cam ent w h en h e in evi tabl y moved to a j apan ese firm to win the 125cc title in 1984, Rin aldi did his lesso ns well and now assists as an interpreter for for eign journali sts. It was as a l -t-year -old tha t P uzar first took to mo tocross raci ng on an Ital ian -built 50cc Aim at the Pin erol o track not far from hi s hom e. T hree yea rs la te r , after stea dy prog ress throug h the ranks and with a cro wdp lea si ng ran ge o f cli ckers i n hi s repertoire, Puzar was sent on th e GP trai l by the Ita lian KTM im po rter and he immediate ly stood ou t as a teenager to wa tch. The first 125 GP of 1986 was in sout hwest Fra nce, and it rained. T he ho t Dut ch teenage d uo of Dave Strijbos, who wo uld go on to win the titl e tha t year, and john Van den Berk hit tro ub le in the m ud. Pekka Veh konen won that day , wh ile a new French kid named j ean -Michel Bayle scored a fifth in race two . Bayl e ha d fin ish ed 12th in th e open ing mo to , and four places ahea d of him was Puzar. Regu lar po ints are a lways d ifficu lt in a ride r's first GP season, but Pu zar kept pi ling them u p , eve nt ua lly totalli ng a h igh l ycred ita ble 51 for 18th in the series. He fin ished five places ahea d of Bayle and with almos t twice as man y poi nts . . T he hi ghl ights ha d been a fo urth p lace at the ru gged Dalecin track in Czechos lo vaki a, and fourth overall at W 44 Laubus-Eschbach in Germany, where he fin ished secon d in race two. Tha t -earne d h im a ride a t th e Mun ich Supercro ss wh ere he fini shed fou rth in a race won by j o h nny O 'Mara. Bu t even better fin ishes were to co me. T he G en o va Super bow l i n Nove mber of '86 was a ro und of the FIM Rodil Cham pio nsh ip , and Pu zar astound ed o ne and all when he won the Sunday fina l in the dou blehea der even t just days af ter his 18th birthday. T h is stri ng o f excell en t resu lts shou ld have been the springboard for a to p-10 ranking in G P com petition in 1987, but it was not to be. just o ne top- six fini sh a ll seaso n and 23rd in the Wor ld Championship l25cc MX Series was a bitter disappo intment. By halfway th rough the seaso n th e KTM impo rter was no t even prepared to let hi m go 10 the remai n in g G Ps after he fa iled to qua lify a coupl e of tim es. So wha t went wrong? " I let the successes of 1986 go to my head ," says Puzar. " I tho ug ht I had mad e it, and let my train ing and com mit ment slip. It doesn' t matter ho w mu ch talent you have, yo u can' t be a cha mp ion with o ut a lo t of effort. I guess a lo t o f teenagers have to learn that. In the winter of 1987/ 88 I trained h a rd a n d m y resul ts sp ea k for themselves." Ind eed they do. A th ird in the Italian 'mud of Cas tig lio ne, and a sixth place from a terribl e start in the sand at Belgiu m were a marvelo us start . His o nly five ro u nds guaran teed him th e nu mber fou r p late for 1989. After Amer ican Rod ney Smi th gave Rina ldi a bro nze medal in hi s first season as a team man ager in 1988, he persu aded his backers, Chesterfield, that it wo uld be a sou nd investm ent to race in both 125 and 250cc classes in 1989. Rin aldi then sig ned Puzar to ride the wh ite Suzu kis in the smaller class. Bu t th e japanese decided tha t they wanted bikes in their corpo ra te yellow to be in fro nt in the G Ps and gave all the factory b ikes in the class to the ri val team man aged by Sylvai n Ge boers. However. ho t favorite Dave- Str ijbos got hurt and so did every other member of th e officia l team. After victory in the prestigious preseason Ita lia n Open Series, Puzar was widel y tipped as Strij bos' most serious riva l. They ma tched each ot her po int for po int a t th e Italia n opener, and Puzar was twice victo rious in Po rt ugal even befor e Strijbos was pu t o u t of actio n. It was a few more weeks before the rest of the Geboers team were sidelined and th e orders came to sup ply the all- important special parts to. P uzar, but the titl e. had alrea dy been lost to Trampas Parker and KTM in H oll an d. A first corner co llisio n in the ope ner had seen Puzar start dead last but move up to eigh th desp i te an injured arm. In the second race he stormed to the fron t until forced to stop to cha nge a fla t tire befor e ano ther barnstorming cha rge to 11th . ., That day at a ss in H oll and, Parker scored 35 poi nts and Puzar 13, a difference of 22. The difference at the end of the year was 16 po in ts. Two ha lf seasons don ' t make a year but the do mina tio n of P uzar through th e second half of 1989 and the first half of 1990 sho uld not be overlooked. Fro m the second race in Czechoslovakia in '89 unt il th e second race in Fran ce last su mmer, Puzar co m peted in 24 G P m o to s, He won 18 of them, was second in four, finished fourth after starting last at Magg io ra , and had o ne DN F in England. Only T orsten Hall man in 1962-63 has ever had a mor e successful streak. In th e races whi ch foll owed his early season dom ina nce in 1990, Puzar was more con ten t to accu mula te the poin ts to clinch the title, bu t it was a bitter disappointmen t to h im that he was rob bed of the chance to secure the titie in front of thousa nds of Italian sup-

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