Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

vich. " I was happy I could get to second since I didn't get out of the ga te well. I pushed hard to get Liles and I didn't want to use up all my energy in the first rnoro." Matiasevich said he relaxed after passing Li les and rode just outof reach of the Georgian for the remainder of the moto. " I figured it would be better to follow him , pick up some lines and be stronger later," said Liles. " I would've liked to beat him, but it would be foo lish to p ush it and go flipp ing dow n the track in the first moto of the season." Liles didn 't have to push too hard as he had a relatively comfortable ma rgin on j obe, who had reached fourth o n lap four. Edwards moved by Ni lsson for fifth o n the same lap. Ni lsso n later cam e under attack by Englishman J erem y Wha tley and Swe de Marcus Hansson . Hansson went by bo th ride rs on the sevent h la p , while it too k Whatley severa l mo re la ps to find a way past the fad ing Ni lsso n. Bayle eased h is pace o n the las t lap and crossed the finis h lin e four seconds ahead of Matiasevich , who was eight seconds clea r of Liles. Jobe finish ed fourth , well ahead of Edwards, H an sso n , Whatley and Ni lsso n. Three-time 500cc World Champion David Thorpe finished ninth after passing Belgian Rudy Van Leeuwen in the final bend. Ameri can Willie Surratt worked up to as high as 12th after a midpack start befor e cras hi ng wh en ano ther ri der ran int o him. He finished lSth and it wo u ld be his best finish of the day. The start of th e second rno to saw Nil sson grab th e holesh ot in front of Bayle, while Surratt was amo ng five riders who went down in the first tum. Bayle quickly pass ed Nilsson on th e first lap and then charged away. In 10 mi nutes he had a IS-seco nd lead over a battle for second among Englishme n J ared Sm ith and Kurt Nicoll, Hansson, N ilsson, Mati asevich and Li les", Nicoll fell and dr opped beh ind in to the clutch es of j obe, while Mat ia sevich spent two laps goi ng from sixth to second. Wh en he go t th ere, Bayle was 17 seconds ahea d. " Bayle's been j ump ing to th e lead quickly, and every tim e I get to second he's so far go ne I need radar to find him," said Mati asevich . Wh en a roc k cu t Bayle's rear tire arou nd th e halfway point it looked like Matiasevich might have had a cha nce, bu t Bayle just alter ed h is riding style. Ma tia sevi ch , meanw hil e, fell a n d drop ped to th ird behind Li les. " I saw he had a fla t and bcrzerked it to catch hi m," said Matiasevich, " I caught a hay ba le wit h my foo t and high-sided. " " After about 15 minutes I noticed I had a flat," said Bayle. " I saw it was o kay for a couple of laps so I kept trying hard." Bayle slowed just a bit near the end and crossed the finish lin e 15 seconds ahead of Li les. Ma tiasevich recovered from his fall just ahead o f Hansson, but pull ed away and crossed the fin ish lin e third. Hansson was passed o n the last lap by a battl in g Smi th and J obe, with the En gl ishman holding off th e World Champion to fin ish fourth by o ne seco nd. H an sson cla imed six th over Wh atley, wh o had pa ssed Nicoll two laps from th e end. Marten s fin ish ed ninth beh ind Ni coll after he wen t off the track o n . the fir st lap and go t course -ma rki ng banners wra pped in his front brake. Thor pe ro unded ou t th e top 10. Edwards, who fell and finished 21st in th e seco nd m ot o , grabbe d the holeshot at the start of the fin al race, but Bayl e passed him on the second main stra ig h t. Matiasevich started poorly and was in the midd le o f the pack. Bayle quickl y pulled away , while Edwards broke away from the rest of the pa ck, which was head ed by Belgian Johan Boonen. Close behi nd Boonen was Englishman Brian Wheeler, J obe and Lil es. By the Hl-minute mark, Bayle had eight seconds on Edwards while lobe passed Boonen for third an d was closing fast. Lil es foll owed in J ob e's tracks while Matiasevich worked hi s way up by aggressively passin g Nilsson and Wheeler and bringin g cheers fro m the fans. " The Europeans block you so yo u have to move them out of the way," said Matiasevich. "They're not afra id to slam you ." Near the halfway point Edwards sudde nly dropped back. " I went through on e of the ruts after th e finish line and the bars whacked me in the ribs ," sa id Edwards, who was riding hi s first 500cc GP after moving up fro m the l25cc class. "I slowed down and cru ised for a little whi le 10 get my wind back." J obe quickly went pa st with Liles no t far behind, but the World Champion was more than 15 seconds behind Bayle. Matiasevich was on a rampage wh en he passed Hansson for fourth on lap eight, then it took him just over two laps to reel Lil es in . Lil es fought back a fter Matiasevich passed him , which a llo wed l obe to pu ll away. Wh ile Bayle cru ised on the last lap and let his margin o n l obe drop 10 four seco nds, Mati asevich made o ne last run at the Belgian th at came up one second short. Lil es wisely backed off and finished four seconds behind Matiasevich . " I mad e a last-ditch sprint, but I saw it wouldn't have done me any good 10 pass Jobe ,' said Matiasevich. l obe was th ri lled with his ride in th e fin al mo to, " I was a bit too nervous in the firs t rnoto,' said 31-year-old ] obe. " I was riding stiff and just for results. But in the last o ne I go t a good start and fought the whol e way to show tha t th e old gu y is still th ere. It ga ve me my confidence and now I'm ready to fight for th e cha mp io nshi p ." • H ansson fin ished fifth over Nicoll and Boonen , wh ile Edwards dropped to eig hth where he finis hed one second ah ead o f Nilsson, who had Wheeler on h is tail a t the fin ish . Bill y Liles (5) and Kurt Nicoll (9) navigate the double whoop section. Liles scored 45 p oints (or third overall, the best score among the GP regulars. Saturday's two qualification sessions saw many riders monitoring their rivals' lap times. Bayle and Honda mechanic Ron Heben seemed unconcerned with his time. Four-Stroke Support Michi gan 's Todd DeHoop swept bo th 20-m in u te plus two- lap rno tos of the Wh ite Bros. 4-Stro ke World Classic support race. DeHoop parked h is fami liar Tuf Racing-backed Suzuki RM 250 two-stroke to ride a Husaberg in the event . KTM 's Mik e Fisher grabbed the h o lesh o t in th e first rnoto w hil e DeH oop moved from fifth to second o n the first lap. By lap three DeHoop was pressurin g Fisher, then a lap later inherited th e lead when the chain o n Fish er's KTM dera iled. That p ut Kyle Lew is, aboard a Husqvarna, into second and he battled with AT K rider Brian Man ley until. Manl ey dropped ba ck. DeH oop crossed the fi nis h lin e several seconds ahead of Lew is, wh o had a good margin o n Suzuki DR 350 rider Phil Lawren ce. Mik e Young and Gordon Ward rounded out the top five. DeH oo p jumped out front at the star t of the second moto and was never head ed. Fisher sta rted second but was passed by Young o n the first la p, and before Fisher could battle back he retired wit h another derailed chain . 7

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