Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; M orDeROSS Beaucaire International M X e Tallon Voh land (16) led m uch of the first mo to un til Schmit passed him. Donny Sch mit won die opening moto and wen t on to score the overall victory. Schmit edges Everts in France By Alex H od gkinson B EAUCAIRE, FRANCE, FEB. 16 onny Schmit started hi s season o n a high note in the Fren ch Riviera after winning the Beau caire Int ernation al MX. The American newcomer to th e R inal di Yam ah a team clinched the overa ll win in the threernot o event but shared the spotlight with runner-up, l25cc World Champion Stefan Evens. who scor ed wins in two of the three races. Evens' fifth -p lace finish in th e first IO-lap, 25-minute moto, which was won by Schmit, effectively cost the Belgian the overall victory. Instead, Evens settled for second overall, whi le America ns Ta llo n Vo h land, Bo b Moore and Mike H ealey rounded out the top five, respec tively. The Beaucai re Intern ation al MX is traditiona lly the first meeti ng of all the Worl d Championship GP stars . The riders compete on eit her 250 or 500cc mach in ery, a ltho ug h the tig ht track, fea t u r i ng m an y multipl e j u m ps, favored the 250s. Most use the race to chec k their preparation for th e Worl d Championshi p MX Ser ies, wh ich begins April 5, and Sch mit seemed to have p lenty of confide nce that he's ready for the season to begin. " It is too earl y to pro ve any thi ng for certain, but I think the 250cc Worl d D 4 Ch ampionship is go ing to be betwee n Stefan and me," said Sch m it. Evens. wh o spe nt the previo us month com pe ting in the Camel Supercross Seri es, seemed temp ted to agree but restri cted his comments to those of satisfactio n at hi s two wins. " My conditio ning is bett er than it was at this stage last year, but I am still building it up," said Even s, who will return to the U.S. in March for the Daytona and Charlotte Supercross event s before the World Ch ampionship 250cc MX Series begins. If the event proved an ything, it was that the privateers who will contes t the 250cc GPs will be at a di sadvantage to the factorv Yamaha and Suzuki efforts. The overwhelm ing mechanical superiority of the 250cc factory bikes was evident as bo th brands are now pu shing performan ce levels equ ivalent to the open class mod els. Schmi t and Evens got a bad sta n ap iece in th e first two mote s, but th e two rivals foug h t wh eel-to-wh eel in th e fin al rno to before Everts won the 10-lap race, bu t he was o ne-point short of Schmit for the overa ll victory . Eng land's Kurt Nicoll o n the factory KT M was the best of the 500cc riders, as he finis hed eigh th overa ll, althoug h th e 1991 Beaucaire cha mp, who was racing for th e first time in eigh t months since he bro ke h is thigh, appeared to be muc h better th an hi s final placi ng would show. A severed front brak e lin e pus hed Nicoll back from third to eig h th in th e opening mo to, an d he finis hed second between winner Evens and th ird -p lace Schmi t in moto two. He pulled ou t of the fin a l moto after a poor sta n . T he only other 500cc cla ss rider to register a top -I n finish was Warren Edwards, and o n ly a cras h whic h occu rred whi le trying to avoi d team mate Bill y Li les in moto two, prevent ed him from finish ing better tha n ninth overall. Lil es started the second and third mo tos despite getti ng sha ken u p when he crashed hard in the first race. After a long spell of mi ld weat her , the course was in prime condition over its fu ll widt h and severa l top riders, including . World Ch ampions Evens and fellow co unt ryman Georges J obe, risked starting from the middle of th e gri d in race one. It turned o ut to be a mistake as those wh o lined up o n the favored left side rai led around th e o ut side of the sweeping left-hand first corne r to ho ld the in side lin e at the tigh ter right-hand second turn. American s Vohland, wh o will contes t the 125cc GPs, and Dean Matson led the way over Englishman Edwards and Germ an Dietrnar Lacher, while Nicoll quickly pa ssed three-time 500cc Worl d Ch ampion David Thorpe to chase fifth-place Schmit. Matson dropped back to fourth on lap two, th en a lap later he hit a tree and dropped back to mid pack. Vohlan d was alo ne o u t front, and he cont inued to mo ve furth er away for abou t a th ird of th e race. But Schmi t was cha rgi ng hard and within tWOlaps he was o n Vohl and 's rea r wheel. Vohland held off the 1990 l25cc World Cha mpion's attac ks for several circuits befor e Sch mi t made the decisive pass with two laps remainin g. Sch mit finis hed fir st, two seconds ahead of Vohlan d. Healey raced out of the pack and finished a distant third after fight ing off a midrace cha lle nge by Moo re. Everts came through fro m even furt her back in the field to pass French man Yves Demaria on the last lap to take fifth . N icoll 's front brake ' problem dropped h im back behind seventh-p lace finish er Edw ards . Finn Pekka Veh konen lost eig h th to Nicoll wh en he fell on th e last lap, while 1990 250cc World Ch ampion Alessandro P u za r , troubl ed with pumped-up forearms, was held off by Frenchman Frederic Bolley for ninth. At one point Lil es had reached sixth , but he crashed and fai led to fin ish. . Jobe also crashed and pulled out in pain from his left shoulder, wh ich he had origina lly hun in practice. Nicoll put the power of hi s 500cc KTM to full use, as he .led th e pack through th e firs t turn a t the stan of mo to two. Despite being a little offform due to hi s eight-mo nth . layoff , Nicoll he ld on to the lead unti l lap seven when Everts went past a nd rode on to the win wi th two seconds to spare on Nico ll. Poor starts and fir st-lap cras hes pl agued many of the other top riders . Schmit started ninth and Vohland was 16th after clashing with Moore as they left th e lin e. Schmit and Moore charged up to dispute third by the halfway po int, bu t Moore mad e an error two laps before the end and German Roland Diepold snuc k past to finish fou rth behind Schmit. The Ital ian Puzar made up two positions from his eig hth-place stan and finish ed six th be h i nd Moore, wh ile Voh la nd ended u p sevent h . Healey's cl utch burned o ut on the starti ng gate and he did well to fini sh eigh th after starting 18th. Edwards was amo ng the fir st-lap cras hers when he tried to avoid Liles, who had slid sideways. Thorpe went down as well. Vehkonen , Bolley and Mat son also went down on the ope ning lap and . pulled ou t. Li les fini shed 11th after hi s sus pension faded. . In the fina l moto, Diepold o pened up a lead of almos t 10 seconds on th e o pen ing lap , as the oppositio n looked for a way around Swiss rider J eanCharles T onus and Fren chman Christian Chaumard . After a cou ple of laps, Vohland, Schmit and Evens were all

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