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/127401
Damon Bradshaw led th e second 250/125cc mo to until he was passed in th e d osing moments. The N orth Carolinian ended up wi th 2-5 finishes in the 250cc class. together. One lap later, Stanto n was raci ng away with the lead as th e trio reversed positio ns. Mali n chased th e Ameri can for three la ps before going down in th e corner before the finish lin e. . " I was j um ping h igh in the berm to rai l it , bu t that lap the front wh eel was jus t too h igh an d it buried in the soft sand at the top and p ulled me down," said Malin: " A lapper ran into me and it took several kicks to fire up again." Stanton had littl e to report as he ra n up a 30-second advantage o n H an sson at the fin ish. Van Doo rn was six seconds beh ind in th ird while Mal in recovered to finish one second behind Van Doo rn. Geukens com pleted the top five. "T hat race was a piece of cake," said Sta nton. " My start was n 't so good, but I had problems movin g th rough. " The leading 125cc class rider after the first lap was Ital ian Andrea Bartolini, who was 12th on the track. He was closely foll owed by South African Greg Albertyn , Everts, Germany's Peter Beirer and Holland 's Ped ro T ragter. Kiedrowski was buried back in eigh th in the class behind more 500s and the Anglo-French 125cc class tandem of Rob Herring and Frederic Vialle. On the second lap Everts took the lead and relentlessl y marched clear of the o ther 125cc riders and finish ed th e race sixth overall behind Geukens for the class win . Diepold sepa rated h im on th e track from 125cc runner-u p T ragter, wh o had ba ttled wi th Beirer from more than half the race. Beirer event ua lly d ropped ei g h t secon ds behind the Dutchman at the fin ish , bu t he was eigh t seconds and two 500cc rid ers - 10th-place Kurt Ljungqvist of Fin la nd and Dan e Soren Mo rten sen - clear of Kiedr owski. " It was strange to be starting from the secon d row, " said Kiedr owski. " By the time I go t past the slower 500s, the leaders were go ne ." Kiedr owski was nine seconds ahead of Bartol in i at th e fin ish , whi le th e Ital ian ha d a com fortab le 20-second ad vantage on Herring. At the completion of the first moto, USA and H olland shared th e lead wi th five points each, with Bri tain o ne point behind. T he 500cc class rid ers 'got a break, but th e 125s had to emerge 45 minutes la ter to race in the second rnoto with the 250s. Again most teams put the bigger bikes o n the front row. Once aga in it was a rid er with three gold cro wns o n a blue shirt wh o stole th e holeshot as Peter J ohansson was in fro nt for Sweden. Un like teammate H an sson, however, he co uld n ' t hold o n fo r long as Finland 's Pekka Veh konen , Brad shaw and Ital ian Alessandro P uzar sto rmed past on the ope n ing lap. Bervoets soo n followed the trio as heinoved to fourth. Vehkonen sprinted clear for four laps, but the n the Finn began to fade and Bradshaw took over first pl ace. Bu t Bervoets had the race u nd er co ntrol and quicky moved onto th e North Carolinian's rear whee l. For several la ps th e Belgian charged alongside Brads haw but never cou ld get in fron t until three laps from the end. "B ervoets caugh t me off guard wh en I ma de a few mistakes," exp lained Bradshaw. " I don ' t thin k he was an y faster, he just made a good pass . If I co u ld have go t right bac k o n h im earl ier, , felt' might have passed h im back because he made some mistakes." Belgium's 125cc World Champion Stefan Everts dominated the 125cc class: (LoR) Bradshaw, Stanton and Kiedrowski seemed to enjoy the opening ceremonies. But Bervoets led Bradshaw by two seconds at th e finish , and they had both left Puzar '8 seconds behind in third. Fourth-p lace J o h a n sso n was 16 seconds beh ind P uzar at th e fin ish, while Holland's Edw in Evertsen al so passed Vehkonen to complete the top five. Ra cing in the 125cc cla ss was even closer. Everts only needed two laps to pas s ear ly leader Beirer, but Albertyn was raci ng clear with the cla ss lead un til h e cra shed on la p fiv e. H e . eventu a lly retired with a sna p pe d th ro ttle ca ble. Kiedr owski go t away bett er this tim e an d was just three pl aces beh ind Ever ts o n la p o ne. '" was right with him, bu t th ere was a real bad cras h j us t befo re the end of th e la p ," said Kiedrowski. " Everts got th ro ugh it, but I got stuck and the n there were always a few guys o n 250s between us until the last three lap s. I went aft er him o n the last la p , bu t came up one second sho rt." They were 15 seconds ahead of th irdplace 125cc rider Tragter at the finis h, bu t only because Tragter fell aft er co ming from way down. "I hi t a tire on the first lap and went . over the ba rs," said Tragter, who was on Kiedrowski's rear fender wh en he fell ag ai n entering the last lap. " I was tryin g to pass too quickly." Ro y Snellingen of Norway cros sed th e fin ish line th ree track posi tio ns beh ind T ragter for fourth while Beir er co mple ted th e top five in the 125cc class . Belgium went to the front of the 'tea m standings on the strength of their 9