Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS e World Championship 500cc MX Series: Round 3 ~...........-~~ EBV B Ku rt Nicoll recorded his second overall win of the seaso n with 2-1 moto finish es. ~ PIZZ R Ano Pantilla won th e first moto, then finished third in moto two for second overall. Nicoll stretches streak with Swedish GP win By Ale x Hodgkinson VISSEFJARDA, SWEDEN, MAY 5 he KT M victory streak in th e 500cc C Ps continued in Sweden as Ku rt Nic oll scored hi s second C P win o f the year a nd mo ved into a 2l -point lead overCeorges j obe in the Championship point standings. Finland's Arto Pa n ril la sco red a se nsa tiona l fi rst-moto win on the hea vil y-criticized trac k wh ich ha d been devastated by rai n for three days p rior to th e event. Pan til la fin ish ed th ird in m o to tw o a n d lo ck ed u p seco n d ove ra ll, wh il e J obe fini sh ed thi rd overa ll after posti ng 4-2 mot o fin ish es. Com petitors could be th ankful th at the Vissefjarda gro u nd, a mix ture of coa rse sa nd a nd crushed stone, took th e wat er well , for th e skies opened up on T h urs day evening a nd rai n fell wi th ' on ly intermittent break s right through to th e race o n Su nday afternoon. In fact , th e start of th e first mo to was dela yed for 90 mi n utes as th e orga nizers tried to repair th e co urse with b ulldozers. In th e end the y had to ac tually lay so me dirt back o n th e track as th ey had scra ped th e surface away righ t down to th e gi ant rocks underneath. It was o bvio us th at passin g was go ing to be extremely diffi cult a nd th e start o f extreme im portance. Just as he did one week earl ier in Finland, Pantilla had th e best reactio ns to th e ga te. T he reactions o f so me of th e o the r ri ders was too good. Kees Van der Ven was stuc k in th e gate as it fell. " I ' norm ally watch th e sta rter here in Sweden, bu t it backfi red th is year," he said. " I saw him move a nd dropped th e clutch , but th e gate was still th ere." J ob e was another to go early, bu i he had time to pull back before th e ga te dr opped. Former World Ch ampi on Dave Thorpe had chosen a gate right next to arch riva l Ni coll on th e ex treme ins ide , but th e points lead er wasn' t inti mi da ted. Wh il e Thorpe exited th e fir st turn in 12th pl ace, Ni coll was in hot pursui t of th e fleeing Pantilla. And th at turned o ut to be the sto ry of th e race as a little more th an 45 m inutes later Pantill a crossed th e fi nis h lin! first with N ico ll sti ll chasing him . '''T h e sta rt wa s everyth ing h er e T 22 toda y," Pantill a admit ted. "But I could never relax for the entire race. Nicoll never go t his wh eel al ongsid e me, bu t he was brea thing down my neck the . who le way. " , It was th e first-ever CP win for th e 27-year-old Finn, who is sup ported by a Belgian tire company. Ni co ll gave Pa ntilla credit for th e win. " We knew th a t th e start was important," sai d th e Englishman. " Arto rode the inside lin e o n every corner for 45 . m in u tes a nd never made a mistake. If I co uld 've got past him . . . but th ere is j ust no way here." Nicoll also had to go for medi cal treatme nt for a pain ful cu t betw een mot os because a rock h it h im just above th e lips abo ut halfway through th e moto. Kurt Ljungq vist ma de i t two Finns in th e to p three for mo st o f the race. H e was in itially chased by Mervyn Anstie, but Ans tie fell a co u ple of laps into th e race and tw isted h is damaged kn ee. An stie con tin ued to 'the finish in 11th pl ace, but was ru n ning a fever due to th e exertion. H is second moto was to last a single lap. The man to pursu e Lju ngq vist was Bill y Liles, but the America n 's Kawasaki threw it s chain within two laps o f him ta king over fourth place. " T he chain got wrapped arou nd the swingarm a nd th e chain g ui de, so it took me a long tim e to pu t it back o n," said Lil es. " I had a sma ll cras h lat er th at lap but th at on ly cost m e a cou p le of seconds. I th o ught perha ps I co uld pi ck up a co uple of points, but it is so diff icult to pass here. A lot of riders pulled over for me because th ey th ought I must have been leading wh en I came up beh ind th em sho u ting, but I cou ld still o nly mak e it to 20th a t th e finish ." When th e race was 15 minutes o ld J ob e and Paul Mal in brok e o ut of th e pack to chase after Lj ungqvist. English teenager Malin was 14th lea ving th e fir st turn a nd was the on ly rid er making mu ch head wa y on th e lead erb oard. H e ca me up rapidly to Jobe, but had trouble ge lli ng past him. " I started to mak e m istak es, so I dropped back a bit for a few laps," sai d Mal in. " I kn ew I had to ca tch h im by surp rise,' so at 35 m in ut es I charged har d and went u nder him hard befor e he kn ew I was eve n the re. I go t Ljungqvist the sa me wa y." Jobe saw it di fferent ly. " I was trying to pass Ljungq vist a nd made a mistake," he said. "Malin took advantage of th e ga p I left hi m." j ob e q uick ly follow ed the En gl ish you ngster past Ljungvi st after th at to fin ish fourth behind Mal in . Ljungvist held o n to fifth at th e finish, while Dirk Ceu kens cro ssed th e lin e to finish six th. T horpe's return to racing follow in g a n injury a t th e ope ni ng round was rewarded with a seventh -place fin ish. The tra ck was in much better condition for mot o two . Stefan Larsson got th e holeshot, but was quickly sideli ned wh en his Kawasaki died just af ter th e start. Pantilla charged past ' Va n der Ven in the first turn to lead again 'and it wasn 't long before Ni coll a nd j ob e ra ced past Van der Ven and . into second and third . At half distance Nicoll used th e sa me passin g move he'd made on Van der Ven to snatch th e lead a way from Pantili a. Although Jobe quickly follow ed h im into seco nd pl ace, Nicoll had built upa defendable lead. " We are gelling sh ock fade a t half distance every week at th e moment," exp la ined Ni coll following a hectic : last lap in which J obe nearly clinched th e m oto win. J ob e felt a backrn arker cost him th e rn o to , " I had decided to wa it for the last lap to ma ke my move, but a backmarker go t in m y wa y at the wrong mom en t," Jobe said. The 20 points for th e rnoto win, th e CP o verall and a 21-point lead in the sta ndings belonged to Nicoll and Jobe was forced to follow him across th e fin ish lin e. After losing th e lead, Paritilla spent th e rest of th e race defending third from J o Martens a nd held him off a t the finis h to cla im "the position. Ronny Weu stenraed slipped past Ljungqvist 'o n th e last lap to finish fifth behind Marten s. Van der Ven eventually dropped to ninth wh ere he finished behind Siegf- ried Bauer and hard-ch ar ging seventhp lace finish er Geuken s. Li les had again sta rted poorly, go t into a series o f tangles trying to wor k h is way throug h traffi c and eventually mad e it more d ifficu lt o n h im self with a fall after 15 m inu tes. H is efforts to recover we re h ampered when his suspe nsio n b rok e after 25 minutes and Liles eventually finished 12th after being passed late in th e ra ce by J oha n Boonen. Of Results TIMED PllAcnCE: 1. Kurt Nicoll (2 minutes, 13.80 seconds ); 2. An c Pan u lla (2:14.80); 3. J o Marlen . (2;15.20); 4. Geo rges J obe (2:15.50): 5. Viestu rs Ga ushle (2:16.10): 6. David Thorpe (2:16.20); 7. Jorgen Gu s~vsson (2:16.60); 8. Kurt Ljungqvist (2:16.60); 9. Dir k Ge u ken. (2:17.10): 10. jonan Boonen (2:17.20): II . Ronny w eusien raed (2:17.40): 12. Pau l Mali n (2:17.40): t3. Mervyn Ansu e (2:17.40): 14. Soren Mortensen (2:17.60); 15. Mark Banks (2:17.60); 16. Brian Wheela (2:18.00); 17. Stefan La rsson (2:18.00); 18. Bill y Lil es (2:18.20): 19. Jack y Martens (2:18.40): 20. Peter Reinh oldsson (2:18.40); 21. Han s Merrins (2:18.90); 22. Ch rister O lsen (2:19.00):23. J oel Smets (2:19.20); 24. Siegfried Bauer (2:19.40); 25. Marco Fau ssone (2:19.50): 26. Magnu s Peuer sson (2:19.50): 27. Carlo Hulsen (2:19.60): 28. J ared Smith (2:19.70); 29. Per Bengtsson (2:19.80); 30. Bjorn j on sson-Boneck (2:19.80): 31. Giovanni Cavarorta (2:20.40); 32. jerden Roijillers (2:21.10); 33. Kees Van der v e» (2:21.)0); 34. Mikad Svensso n (2:22.60); 35. Romano Nannini (2:22.90): 36. Lori . Galli (2:22.90); 37. Marc v elkeneers (2:23.20);38. Eric Dellanoy (2:26.40); 39. Han. Koenen (2:26.80); 40. Stua rt Coyle (2:26.90). . MOTO 1: 1. Arto Pan till a (Han); 2. Kurt Nicoll (KTM); 3. Paul Malin (Kaw): 4. Georges J obe (Ha n); 5. Kurt Ljungqvist (Hon); 6. Dirk Geukens (He n): 7. David Thor pe (Kaw): 8. Johan Boonen (KTM ); 9. Ja rgon Gu staveson ·(Kaw); 10. Stefan Larsson (Kaw): II. Mervyn Anstie (Han): 12. Carlo Hul sen (Ha n ); 13. J ared Smith (Han); 14. Soren Morlensen (Kaw); 15. Kees Van der Ven (Han): 16. J o Martens (Ha n ): 17. J oel Smets (Han): 18. Romano Nannini (Han): 19. Christer Ol sen (Han ); 20.' Billy Liles (Ka w); 21. Hans Mertens (KTM); 22. Loris Galli (Ha n ); 23. Mark Ban ks (KT M); 24. Siegfried Bauer (Kaw ); 25. Per Bengtsson (Ka w); 26. Giovanni Cavarorta (Han ); 27. Brian Wheela (KTM) : 28. Mikael Svensson (KTM ); 29. Magnus Peu ersson (Ka w): 30. Eric Dellano y (Ha n); 31. Marco Fau sson (Kaw); 32. Hans Koenen (Han); 35. Vie5turs Gau shis (Ha n ). MOTO 2: I. Kurt Nicoll ; 2. Georges Jobe: 3. Anc Pantilla; .... J o Marlens; 5. Ronny weustenraed (Ka w); 6. Kurt Ljungqvist; 7. Dirk Oeukens: 8. Siegfried Bauer ; 9. Kees Van der Yen ; 10. Jacky Marten. (KTM); II. J ohan Boonen ; 12. Billy Liles: 13. Car lo Huisen; 14.Jared Smit h; 15. David Thorpe: 16. )orgrn Gu staveson: 17. Viestun Gaushis; 18. Lons Gatti; 19. j oel Smeu; 20. Magnus Pcncnson: 21. Eric Ddlan oy; 22. Romano Nannini; 23. Chri ster Ol sen; 24. Hans Koenen; 25. Mikad Svensson . WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 500 MX SElUES POINT STANDINGS: L Kurt Nicoll (102): 2. Geo rges J obe (81); 3. Ana Pantilla (60): 4. Kurt Ljungqvist (59); 5. Dirk Geukens (57); 6. Jack y Martens (56 ); 7. Paul Malin (51); 8. Ronny Wcustenraed (47); 9. (TIE) Billy Lil es/Johan Boonen (41); AtO. Jo Mart ens (35); II. Mervyn An.tie (32); 12.Carlo Hulsen (22); 13. Siegfried Bauer (19): 14. Kees Van der Ven (16): IS. Jorgen Gu staveson (11); 16. David Thorpe (10).

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